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THIS WEEK 
Business Growth Jobs to do in the Summer Slowdown Period
ALSO IN THIS EDITION
| Small Business Tips: Business Growth Jobs to do in the Summer Slowdown Period |
In most countries, summer is the time when many businesses slow down. People take holidays with their kids, and generally think of anything except business.
 So what can you do with this gift of time? Here are my top 10 ways to get the maximum use out of your summer slow time.
Take a holiday and get away. Small business owners traditionally find it hard to take a break. This is the one time of the year when it is considered "normal" to take a holiday and your customers don't stress if your business is closed for a few days. Book in a few days away and recharge your batteries.
Get a massage, healing and take care of your health. You have been carrying stress for the rest of the year. Book in time to get a massage or energy healing to recharge your batteries. Book in to get those medical tests you have been avoiding. Small business success relies on the health of the business owner. You can't grow a business if you are sick or in hospital. Take time out to care for your health.
Take a business planning day. Planning your strategy in terms of business direction, marketing plan and business goals is a key part of business success. Either hire a facilitator, business mentor or just run a process by yourself to reflect on your business direction – what has worked, what needs to be improved and what you are going to do next. Create a detailed monthly calendar of activities what you are going to do when. The act of taking time to plan and set goals sets up a different vibration in your business – which increases the likelihood of success.
Update your website. Most businesses websites tend to get a bit dated. They have outdated prices or information on them, as well as content that no longer reflects the direction of the business. Polish your website words until they sparkle!
Refresh your marketing material. In a down economy you need to market more than ever to attract and retain new business. Take a look at all of your business cards, flyers, profiles, ezines and newsletters and work out what needs to be refreshed for maximum impact. Get professional photos done in summer (you look more relaxed) as well as organise professional profiles to be written.
Clear the clutter. Clutter creeps into every business over time and saps energy and focus. Take a few days to totally clean the office from top to bottom. Archive material you no longer need, review all files in filing cabinets, go through email folders and delete old emails (it helps to free space on your server in the process), tidy electrical cords around your computers that tend to get out of control during a year. Doing this now means you are more likely to be able to quickly find things when things get busy again and save you stress at that time.
Write articles. Articles are a great way to help boost your businesses credibility. Put pen to paper and share your ideas with customers and potential clients. Create a store of articles you can match to your marketing calendar throughout the year.
Computer maintenance. All computers need maintenance. Take the time to defrag your computers, take full back-ups of everything and generally run a system tune up. Book your IT guy in early as their diaries often are full this time of year.
Update your emergency procedures. No one likes to think of the worst, but it does happen. Take time to run through what would happen if your office caught on fire (yes that means doing fire drills) as well as reviewing your disaster recovery procedures. Do you have back-ups? Do they work? Is your insurance up to date? Do you have your key documents stored in a safe place? How would you begin to function again if the worst did happen?
Touch base with your contacts. It is really easy to get out of touch with key clients, colleagues and alliance partners. Take some time to reconnect over coffee or phone calls. Working with trusted colleagues is a great way to gain ideas, share resources and grow your business. Summer quiet time is the perfect time to reconnect and build relationships for the coming year.
Summer is a brilliant time to grow your business – if you take the time to do it. Use your time wisely and your business will flourish.
| HR Tip - Helping Employees De-stress Over Christmas |
 Employees are human and bring their humanity to work with them every day. If they are stressed over money, being too busy rushing around trying to organise Christmas, worrying about family functions and trying to fit it all in to their life - this WILL affect their productivity at work.
Wherever possible recognise this additional stress burden on people around Christmas and don't add to it at work (unless you want a lot of short fuses exploding and crappy work that needs to be redone in the New Year).
The best bosses take the pressure off slightly at Christmas. They organise seated massages for their employees to physically release tension in shoulders, they allow slightly longer morning teas and lunches and even give their employees a half day on full pay to finish their shopping in one hit.
They make it a rule that no new projects will be started in the week before Christmas - that the week is to be used for clearing email folders, tidying files and general clutter clearing.
They know that allowing steam to be released in a safe way on the lead up to Christmas pays dividends in terms of happy, more productive and healthier employees in the New Year.
The trick is not to do these things for your employees with "catches". One manager I knew of used to tell his employees "HR told me to do this - so I am. But I expect you to be grateful and twice as productive in the New Year". He then wondered why his employees didn't behave in that way!
Relax ... enjoy ... celebrate with your employees. Be grateful for their input and support during the year. Tell them how much you truly appreciate them. All of these are little things that make a difference to your business and to the people who run your business.
I know I have mentioned these guys before, but Candy Bouquet is a brilliant business that creates stunning arrangements that look like flower arrangements - but they are all made of lollies and chocolates.
Debbie James is our Brisbane candy wizard and has worked miracles on some of my Christmas gifts.
She can arrange delivery anywhere in Australia. It is not too late to get in for last minute Christmas gifts so check out her website and give Debbie a call.
I have been madly racing around trying to finish my shopping and found some brilliant gifts you probably won't want to buy your loved ones this year.
Planning your marketing for 2009
exuberantly yours
Ingrid
Heart Harmony
PS: This week's Small Business Tips blog also included posts about
focussing on what matters
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