Episode 299 – Managing My Business During The Summer Holidays

In this week’s episode, I’m taking you behind the scenes of my business as I prepare for the upcoming summer holidays. With the specific challenges of managing a business while being a parent to two young children and navigating the long summer break without formal childcare, I’m sharing my practical plans and insights. We’re talking about pre-scheduling content, balancing solo parenting with family activities, and the importance of being present in the moment. Whether you’re a parent facing similar challenges this summer or simply interested in efficient business planning, this episode offers valuable perspectives and practical tips. So, grab a cup of tea and join us for a candid discussion on balancing work and family life over the summer months.

00:00 Planning for summer with kids and work.

05:48 Privileged, excited for solo time and travel.

06:43 Prepare and schedule content before taking time off.

11:40 Limited availability, plenty of resources, future support.

13:14 Caring for family, rest, looking forward to summer.

*Resources mentioned during the episode*
1:1 Coaching & Mentoring – If you’re looking for one-to-one support to help you achieve your specific life and business goals, Anna has a limited number of spots for individual coaching and mentoring. www.onestepoutside.com/coaching

Managing business during summer holidays

I want to take you a little bit behind the scenes of my business today and share with you my plans for the summer. And yes, that sounds pretty arrogant of me to think that you would care about this, but I’m sharing this through the lens of a parent of two children having my first experience of having the long stretch of the summer holidays ahead of me without childcare, as it were. And I thought it would be helpful to share openly and transparently how I’m managing this. Of course, I can always come back later in the year and tell you how it worked out after the fact. But for now at least, how I’ve set myself up to work within the parameters of what’s possible to keep the business going, while I’m also being present with the kids, with my family, and having a lovely time over the summer. So apologies to those of you in the southern hemisphere, you can either do these things even though it’s cold, or you can save the episodes for when it’s summer where you are now. As I said, this is my first experience of having the whole summer because we previously had the kids in nursery, which here meant all year round, so they only really closed down the one we went to over, you know, Christmas holidays and that kind of thing. So it really was throughout summer we had the childcare.

And in fact, when I did go away with the kids, we would then have to keep paying for the child kit while we were away. So that wasn’t particularly fun. But it’s this classic conundrum that I’ve seen people on social media and people talk about in person as well, and for years and years, that finally has hit me now having this summer holiday and thinking of how to manage that, you know, as co parents, as a business owner in my case, and how to get that balance right. So I shared last week another personal episode and how my business has evolved, how my personal circumstances as well have evolved over last decade or so. And when I first started working, I didn’t have kids and so on, kids and so on, house, etcetera, all those adulty things. When I first had the kids or first had Sophia, rather one child, you know, it was relatively easy is an interesting word to say, but I could manage the business around having a little baby that you just put here or put there. Yes, I wasn’t sleeping, but I was able to manage the calls and pre record stuff and so on. Right.

So since then we’ve had the nursery and so on, and now this has been my first year of having school, which is five days a week, but of course shorter days. So that’s also been an interesting evolution to our working week. So I am conscious, and I had this in a recent work life balance workshop that I ran, that I now see a lot of what I say through the lens of being a parent of young kids. So I want to put that out there and apologise to those of you who’ve been in my community since before then, or perhaps coming to it new, who don’t have young kids. I always try to make it relevant, and certainly the broader concepts and questions are 100% applicable whether you are, you know, pre kids, post kids, no kids, grandkids, empty nesters, whatever your situation, the questions and so on are always relevant, and my philosophy of designing a business around your life’s aspirations and situations still very much apply. This particular episode is very much related to managing the summer holidays with the kids. So no offence taken if you want to skip this episode. If this doesn’t apply to you, and probably if you’re a more experienced parent than I am, you have more to teach me about this than I have to you.

So this is more just a behind the scenes peek, my business and how I’m managing this. Hilariously, as I shared in last week’s episode as well, I wrote lots of articles pre having children about how you can manage maternity leave and your business when you have young children. And although they’re very good articles and they still very much apply, it was rather arrogant of me to write those before I had had that experience. I’m doing the same thing now. I’m just planning the summer without really knowing what I’m doing. But so take a step back. Seven weeks of holiday, basically, and when we come back after the summer, the kids will be in five days a week. So my daughter will have school five days a week, and Zach, who’s younger, will be doing kindergarten five days a week, shorter days, and then starting school in a year.

So that will be, you know, by then we’ll have two kids at school and it’ll be, I guess, easier, although they’ll only be at the same school for one year and then suffer or go off to a different school. But at least we’re in our stride now. We know what we’re doing in terms of school drop offs and pickups, and both of them, as I said, are in kind of term time education or childcare, whatever you want to call it. So first challenge is that Zach is in a kindergarten for a private school, which he won’t be going to, but the school has earlier finishing time. Hilarious. So it starts the summer holidays two weeks before Sophia. So we have then decided to put him into holiday club. Not every day, but for those first two weeks, putting him in there, because it means that I can’t go away anywhere with just Sophia.

And as much as I love having quality time with one of my children, realistically, that adds two weeks to the summer holidays. That would give us nine weeks. That’s a lot to manage without having any significant chunks of work and so on. And it’s a really fun, creative club that he’s going to be going to. So hopefully that’s. That’s a good decision for him, as well as kind of bringing his holiday dates up in line with, with Sofia. So we’ve got both kids finishing the same time. I am having the incredibly.

I’m going to say privileged, which is not the right way, but I’m very privileged. I’m excited to be saying that I’m going to have a whole week by myself back in Geneva, where some of you will know I spent almost a decade pretty pre business and pre kids and so on, working and living my best life. And I have so many of my good friends still there. So I’m actually gonna have my first week, I think. I’ve only been a couple of days away from the kids before, so it’s definitely a challenge, but, you know, an important one as well for all of us. So I’m gonna have a week in Geneva, and then I am going to take the kids by myself to Denmark to see another good friend from Geneva, in fact, who’s now living in Copenhagen. We’re going to train it up to Stockholm, where I will meet my parents, briefly, overlap with my sister and her kids, and then fly back, and then that is actually the end of the summer. So that sounds pretty crazy because I feel like seven weeks have just gone in, like, a couple of seconds of explaining things, but there you go.

So that all sounds very doable, doesn’t it? Here’s how I’m going to handle it. So, first of all, and this is always my go to, I’m going to prepare a lot of content before I go, right? So, full disclosure, I’m recording all these episodes to take me into September and before I finish in July. So they’ll all be edited, transcribed, scheduled, and so on. I’ve got my assistant working anyway, so she can keep working, but obviously better if we can have everything lined up and prepped before. So I’ll be editing transcripts and writing social media posts and all of that jazz in the weeks before we finish. So that’s really batch recording and then pre scheduling all that stuff, which is what I did pre maternity as well. It’s what I always do for holidays. Having said that, I also give myself permission, and again give you permission to not do any content over the summer at all if that’s what you want to do.

Right. I follow people who do content sabbaticals. Really role modelling. Hey, let’s take some time off. I’ve come up with a creative idea for August in particular, so listen out for that, where I’m going to do a really mini series for you to help you make the most of the summer reflection time for your career in business. So that will be, you know, short for me to record and short for you to listen to, which is a win win for everybody. But obviously I’ll be scaling back the content creation and publication that I’ll be doing over the summer too. I have also been, to be honest, since January, really.

But certainly these last few weeks been pushing more than usual when it comes to sales activities, both in B two c, so my individual business mentoring and coaching, and in my B two B corporate work. So what? That’s either with the intention of getting some cash injections, as it were, before the holidays. So maybe some one off strategy sessions or I’ve done a sprint, some fine little workshops here and there, or lining up calls and work for after the summer. So that’s kind of front loading, making sure I’m doing more work perhaps than I would otherwise do if I had a very stable. If I had my whole year to just play around with as I wanted to. So I’m just recognising that the summer quarter is going to be less, you know, in terms of income and work. And so on my week in Geneva, I’m planning on working during the day. All my friends are going to be working.

So several of those days, you know, I can. I can work on the plane over there, I can do some work during the day and you know, that’s going to be manageable without in any way taking away from my enjoyment. When I’m in Sweden, I usually, because I’m a saddo, I work in the evenings because realistically, when I’ve got the kids, I actually can’t leave the house anyway in the evening without obviously childcare. So certainly most evenings I’m going to be at the flat with sleeping children in the building. So then I might as well do a little bit of work. And when I say work. That kind of work is the fun stuff that I like. So strategy or coming up with ideas or that kind of thing, I wouldn’t do anything too hardcore and I’m certainly not booking any calls while I’m gone.

And then with my partner, we’re going to be sort of dividing and conquering a bit. I’m sure we haven’t planned that out at all. But when we are together, which hopefully will be a little bit, we can do a few, you know, you take them in the morning, I’ll take them in the afternoon, or I take them today, you take them tomorrow, that kind of thing, which is, I think, what most parents end up doing. But I also want to really enjoy the time together, right. And do family things. We have quite a few fun weekends planned with friends coming down and so on. So I’m hoping, thinking about this as I say it, that there’s a good mix of sort of solo parenting, family stuff, friends and all this. Right.

So that’s it, really. That’s my amazing master plan. There you go. How clever and strategic am I? Most of all, and this is what’s so important, I think, for you as well, is to recognise that my clients are also either companies that wind down kind of over the summer anyway, right, because people are away or individuals who also need a break. And so it’s no harm done if I’m not there, necessarily. And I do accept that it will be a slower period. This is not going to be my biggest, like, income months. And that’s fine because I’ve planned for it.

I’ve done more before and I’ll do more after. So that’s just, you know, every business model is different. I have a friend in, a mastermind I’m in who has a wedding consulting business, which is interesting because even though all her clients are super busy over the summer season, because that’s when all the weddings are happening, she’s actually not very busy because they’re busy, her clients are busy with their clients. So that works out quite well, actually. But of course, if you’re in the wedding industry delivering weddings, that can be your busiest period. So that’s also why it’s so important to think about the business model that you’re choosing, because it’s going to affect how you can handle these holiday periods. But there you go. Very brief little peek behind the curtain of the summer months for me.

A few trips, well, one trip without the kids, one trip with the kids, and lots of fun things in between. If you are wondering, hey, am I going to be available to talk to? Yes, absolutely. But not as available as usual. And you know, there’ll be, obviously you have the 300 episodes worth of content from the last five years of the podcast. You have the course that you can do. The business academy, for example, is available to do in your own time. There are lots of individual bite size workshops that you can do and so there’s a lot of resources available that you can use in the meantime as well as doing, doing self reflection and so on by yourself. And then, yes, I promise I will make my calendar, open up my calendar in September when I’m back to have calls to make sure that I can support you going forwards.

If you do choose to get started then as well. And I suppose I should also say that I’m my business accelerator. We’re sort of starting in earnest after the summer as well and had a bit of a hiatus on that one and really excited about repositioning that and got a good group joining me for that. So if that’s of interest as well, then that will be picking up again after the summer. So I’d love to hear how you handle this. Obviously, any advice for me, much appreciated. But generally for me it’s the mindset, it’s recognising that this is sort of, it is what it is, as they say. This is also the point for me of life, I suppose, if not business is being present wherever I am is the key objective for me.

Be with the kids, be with the family, take care of myself, have a rest. I’m sure I have lots of creative ideas and strategies and things coming up as a result, and spend time with my parents, my sister and her kids, my good friends and yeah, I’m really looking forward to it. I’m not feeling stressed about at the moment. So cheque in with me again closer to the time and we’ll see. But if this is your first summer without childcare, then know that I’m here in solidarity with you. We can do this together. If you have lots more experience, then please share with us all your expertise and top tips on social or via email podcast at one stepaside.com and in any case, and again, if it’s only applicable if you’re in the northern hemisphere, but I’m wishing you a wonderful, wonderful summer. If I’m not here to talk to you directly.

And yeah, enjoy the time, whatever you choose to do with it, however you choose to design your business and your holidays around kids, family situations, whatever else is going on for you and looking forward to seeing you when I get back. Enjoy.

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