Officially the 12 days of Christmas start on December 25th … in fact Christmas isn’t technically over until 5th January – better known as 12th Night.
Don’t worry; you don’t have to start making door wreaths again, but Twixmas isn’t just a chance to take a well-earned and probably much needed break but catch up, clear the decks and vaguely think about how you’re going to approach 2023.
You don’t have to do them in the order we suggest – heck other than sending/posting a thank you to your customers and paying the bills none of it is essential so you can just sit and chill - but here are some of the things we reckon could be done – chucking out the mugs is something we do every year … very cathartic!!!!
December 25th
Relax, enjoy and eat far too much!
December 26
Relax and enjoy some more
December 27
Enjoy the extra day but if bored prepare an email thank you to your customers – possibly with a discount voucher to encourage them back (remember always a percentage not a fixed monetary amount) or at the very least social posts. They may not respond but they will notice.
December 28
If you are in because of funerals and other orders, use any down time to clear the decks. Chuck out all the grotty mugs and invest in pure white ones - you'll be amazed at how pleasing it is!! Do the same with any other tatty things like pens, old knives, scissors bits of string etc etc. It will make you feel a whole lot better!
Spend the rest of the day clearing all old emails and backing up all your devices
The quickest way to clear the in-box is to sort by ‘sent from’ and if you’ve got hundreds from the same company, you can delete a whole tranche of garbage in nano seconds. As for junk just delete the whole bally lot! Trust us an empty in-box is a marvellous thing!
When backing up either invest in a cloud system – we use One Drive – or buy a decent remote hard drive. Check all your social media accounts and make sure you have all the pictures saved somewhere; you do not own those platforms and it is NOT a reliable cloud storage system - you could lose the whole bally lot!
December 29
Do the paperwork and review your Christmas trading. Analyse what did and didn't work, what did and didn’t make money and think how you could streamline. Chances are they are ideas that you can use at Valentine’s and Mother’s Day too.
December 30th
Pay all the bills you can so you start the year knowing your true financial position. If you are going to find it hard to pay your suppliers/rent/VAT talk to them – don’t just put your head in the sand.
The VAT and PAYE people are actually very helpful, your supplier, assuming you have a previously good track record, will probably be supportive too and landlords are not ALL ogres; chances are they’ll prefer a slow paying tenant than an empty building
December 31st
Write down your dreams and aspirations for 2023 but DO NOT make any radical decisions - like shutting the shop - until you have really thought about it and taken professional advice.
If you are thinking about shutting the shop because Christmas wasn’t that brilliant, please don’t; well not until the New Year and not until you have taken plenty of advice because closing down/moving out into a studio/back home comes with its own issues and may not be the best decision.
A knee jerk reaction when you are tired/worried/trackled is not a good thing and it could be that working smarter rather than harder would produce better results.
January 1st
Relax, enjoy and eat far too much again!
January 2nd
Unless you’re in Scotland this is the last official day off ... use it wisely so you are ready for the opportunities ahead because there WILL be opportunities
January 3rd
Sign up for a group like The Girls Mean Business or apply to join Good Florist Guide. To survive 2023, you need to be with professionals on your same wavelength/stage of career.
Facebook groups are all very well but paying for or applying to be part of something has an added power and value because you’ll be mixing with people like you; the ones prepared to invest in their futures and not just looking for free advice.
January 4th
Make sure every bit of Christmas is packed away or donated. Dump/donate anything else that is cluttering your workspace ... clear minds and surfaces work wonders
January 5th
12th Night ... the official end of Christmas.It may be time to think about Valentine's Day and how to maximise sales given it's just 40 days away but key to surviving 2023 will be remembering that your business is a 52 week of the year affair … not just about the peaks. Think about how you can maximise turnover and sales the rest of the year. It's not only easier on the body and mind but probably overall a lot more profitable!
