Todays Mompreneur

Sure, Halloween isn’t a real holiday. Unless you live in my house. My daughter has been asking if we could go trick or treating again since the day after Halloween last year.

I have always been a fan of this holiday. At least, I was a fan until I started working from home. Now I find myself working holidays, a lot. Sure I could take half a day off so we could still enjoy all of those fun things that come with Halloween, but in my world the hours I don’t work are the hours I don’t make any money. Normally it is not a big deal, but there are necessities that need my attention and it’s getting close to the time when I need to start buying Christmas and birthday presents for my lovely daughter.

So I will be working Halloween.

Unless you planned ahead, you might also find yourself working today. That does not have to happen every time a new holiday approaches, though. Here are a few tips to help you prepare so you can have that much deserved day off.

#1

If you work on an hour to hour basis, see if you can readjust those hours.

Many mompreneurs freelance their services for hourly pay, and if you have a deadline this can make it hard to take a day off. There is a good chance the deadline does not land on the holiday itself, but if it does land on or the day after the holiday you need to plan ahead to make this situation work. It could mean that you’ll need to work a little later each night, or you’ll need to wake up a little earlier each morning. Determine how many hours it is you’ll need to work on each individual project and split those hours up as much as you can.

#2

If you have daily tasks that require your attention, splitting up your hours just won’t work.

You are the business owner. Simply trade the day you usually allow yourself to have off with the day you want off. This is hoping you do allow yourself at least one day off per week.

If you don’t, then you need to scale back anyway. Now might be a good time to hire a virtual assistant to help you with some of the more mundane tasks that come with running a business. Make sure to hire someone in advance. Your new VA will need some time to adjust to your needs, and you need to account for that.

#3

Those times when you would normally avoid work for time with your kids, send them to a friends house.

By getting the kids out of the house, you can work a little overtime without any distractions. It’ll pay off in the end when you can safely avoid work on that holiday. Just make sure to take advantage of the quiet. Fill as many extra tasks as possible, starting with the things that need your attention the most.

#4

Get enough rest.

Although you might not have expected this to be on here, it is true. If you don’t get enough rest, you will not be working at your optimum speed and that can slow you down even more. No work, no email, no business is more important than making sure you are at your best. Sometimes you just have to say, “I’ll do this later.” If you don’t, you’ll find yourself reading one of my How To De-Stress articles in the near future.

Photo Credit: Jonathan Talbot

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