Surviving (and Thriving) Through the Holidays

Prep Now, Coast Later.

The more that you can delegate and automate before those holidays magically appear on our "to-do" list, the further ahead you will be! It is so hard to not get bogged down with the dailies while presenting the image that we have it "all together". Never mind that you were up 'til midnight trying to craft an angel costume for the Christmas play, went to reheat your cup of coffee, only to open the microwave to find yesterday's cup there already- clearly not making it past that same process. You have emails to answer, texts to reply to, and oh yeah, little Timmy needs 4 dozen cookies for the bake sale by 3 pm this afternoon. Those things don't even have a single thing to do with actually getting your product to the hands of your dedicated consumers or you delivering your expertise. However, what if we took a fine-tooth comb and really skimmed our lists and could eliminate so much by either employing someone (Missing Piece Solutions wink wink) or a program like Meta or Honeybook to just handle that? (No, we are not affiliated; we just know what works.) By allowing others (whether it be a program or a human) to work with action-triggered information, people will learn to appreciate your efficiency, and you'll start to enjoy the return of your sanity. If you have an interest in learning about the research we have already employed in this area, let's schedule a call, and we can tell you all about it!

Boundaries, Boundaries, Boundaries!!

Learn the art of defining your "availability".

We are all inundated with tasks during the holidays. Sure, some of them are ones we simply cannot get out of. However, ahem, speaking from experience here, one of the BIGGEST time and energy zappers that we fall victim to is giving more to those than is necessary. Setting client expectations and drawing the hard lines of business hours and personal downtime is crucial for your sanity. How does one professionally say-- sorry I am out without coming across as rude or inattentive? First, and I cannot say this strongly enough, I will even shout it for those of you in the back -- set these boundaries early in business relationships!! Post your times clearly and make them known. I promise you, when you have a client who is set to be in a book signing on Monday and she has no books to sign on Friday afternoon, it is going to be an emergency! Maybe one that could have been avoided had it been addressed the previous Wednesday. Not always, but often our clients get so used to us "saving the day" that they forget we have lives too. We want them to feel heard and seen and attended to. We WANT them to get the best service possible; however, after a few emergencies, we are no longer serving ANYONE in the capacity we want to be. However, saying no or looking the other way is virtually impossible for many of us. The key to this is saying early on (before the emergencies are catastrophic), "This is something that definitely requires some further investigation, and I would be more than happy to handle that when I am back in the office tomorrow morning". Your client will then understand, Oh, ok, I am heard and I am seen, but clearly not going to get the answer I need right this very moment. Then they can make the adjustments needed on their own behalf. This eliminates so many misunderstandings where they think they are being neglected and underserved.

So set those boundaries and then stick by them. Trust us, you will NOT regret this.

As always, thank you for trusting Missing Piece Solutions to be part of your journey! We’re so grateful for our amazing clients and friends who make what we do possible. Wishing you and your family a joyful, peaceful, and beautifully blessed Thanksgiving holiday.

The Team at Missing Piece Solutions

Melissa, Jennifer & BeckyAnn

Find us at: mpvirtualsolutions.com