Here are some of my school holiday time management tips. When I started Charlie Moo’s, back in 2008, my main aim was to make a bit of money and be a full-time mum. This is still my main aim, even though they are grotty teenagers now and I’m mostly a taxi driver! I still get excited about no routines and spending quality time with the children BUT I also have a small business to run.

If you are anything like me you want to spend the school holidays like this ….

After burgers, sausages and corn there’s always room for marshmallows!! #summerfun

A photo posted by Joanne Dewberry (@charliemoos) on Aug 4, 2014 at 10:58am PDT

Not like this …..

The trick is effective time management.

School Holiday Time Management Tips, 5 Ways to Stay on Track: 

1. Schedule Your Social Media: Scheduling is your friend. Schedule a few blog posts. Schedule updates on social media. Twitter and Facebook have their own scheduling system which has better reach than 3rd party apps.  Scheduling;
    Frees up headspace 
    Frees up time 

    Keeps your content consistent

    Work smarter – not harder
   With all these things scheduled if you are too busy/tired that you don’t have time to do anything you won’t feel stressed about your reach and if you do have time to post organically – bonus! Here are some of my tips grab a calendar for the month and start filling in;

   Content awareness days (for example Easter key dates would be Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and Easter Monday, April content awareness days include the 7th April World Health Day and 25th April World Penguin Day)

    Seasonal dates (Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year)

    Personal days (birthdays, school holidays)

    Split your content 20% sales / 80% other stuff

    Look at your Facebook memories do you have some great content to reshare?

    Break down blog posts ie. 5 Tried And Tested Wedding Hacks To Save Money each hack = one Facebook post so this blog can run over 5 days randomly or in a row up to you

    Use the scheduling facility on the platform it has a better reach

   Value-added content – don’t have any content relevant to Boxing Day use my DIY office storage made using old boxes and fabric sharing other people’s content also helps to grow your audience.
2. Email Organisation: Start with setting your email autoresponder, that you are working diminished hours due to school holidays and family commitments keeping clients and potential ones aware of the situation and giving you a bit of breathing space. At the start of the day (usually, before the grotty teens are even awake), I like to spend 5 minutes checking my emails. Delete anything that isn’t useful straight away so it doesn’t clog up your inbox.  Reply to anything urgent or send a quick “I am working reduced hours at present and will reply to your email on …”, then set time an hour or two in your diary to reply properly, or do the actual work the email requires.  NOT however in the evening when you are totally shattered as this is counterproductive. Make it a time when your partner is around, your child is at a club, or have a working from home day whereby they utilise the facilities you have at home.
3. Network: If you do need some small business/blogging stimulation meet up with others in the same position. This way it’s a win-win, children get to play and you get that adult conversation. Send out a tweet/Facebook invite, pack a picnic and go get outside! Or contact your local soft play to see if you can get some discounted vouchers.
4. Be a NO man! and a YES Mum! It’s OK to sometimes say no! Don’t try and take on a project or extra workload when you are working reduced hours. The children won’t thank you for being grumpy, stressed, and tired and you won’t enjoy the work. Say Yes to spending time with the children, enjoying days out, walks in the forest, and cooking on rubbish BBQ’s.
5. Chill Out Man!  How often do you get time just to chill? Probably never! It’s the holidays, enjoy them as before you know it you’ll be redundant and no longer cool enough to hang out with! Spend time relaxing and recuperating, give your brain time to rest. You will also feel so much better when you come back after the school holidays with fire in your belly and a good night’s sleep!

Do you have any top tips to stay sane in business during the school holidays?  If you are more visually minded you could employ the use of Timeline Templates to help keep projects on track with your clients whilst you are on semi shutdown.