So much to do between now and the holidays, with so little time left!
Although we sold our Tastes of Idaho business and no longer deal with the holiday rush, I find myself missing all the planning and ordering during this time. Over the years, we developed ways to deal with the hustle and bustle of holiday orders — knowing that the closer we got to Christmas the busier we would get. Eventually, we would be too busy to think of anything else other than packing and shipping orders!
Sound familiar?
Tips and techniques to keep you from panicking during the holiday rush!
- Plan your work and work your plan. It is so easy to get sidetracked during this busy time of the year. There is still time to set up a plan: Set up your inventory, your packing station and extra materials needed to get your orders out the door. When tasks get rushed, your planning streamlines the process making you faster and more efficient.
- Do one thing at a time and do the important things first. Multi-tasking is a myth! If you tend to try to do more than one thing at a time, you may be surprised how much more efficient you can be by finishing one task before going on to the next. Prioritize your most important tasks first thing in the morning or the night before, so you are ready to go the next day. You may need to deal with minor interruptions, but having your plan in place (preferably on paper) keeps you on track!
- Don’t do it all yourself. This might be the time to solicit some extra help from family and friends. One holiday season we got an order for 100 gift baskets that needed to be assembled and delivered within a week or two. Rather than turn the order down, we hired a friend to help us get the order out in time.
- Manage your thinking. What goes on in your head can cause more havoc and panic than what tasks are actually waiting to be done. I find that taking action stopped this ‘stinkin’ thinkin’ routine that I often go through when I feel overwhelmed. Suddenly, you find that the fear that was driving your panic can be redirected into action — moving you closer to getting done what needs to be done!
- Enjoy yourself and have fun with your business. Too often we just look at the drudgery of a busy time. Instead, make a game out of it. My husband and I would make bets with each other on how many packages we could get out the door each morning before the mail lady showed up! Honestly, if you don’t enjoy what you are doing, why are you doing it?
The above article was inspired by a post from Wholesale-in-a-Box