Episode 308: What Every Dog Sitter Needs To Know For The Holidays

It may be September, but the best thing you can do to save yourself time (and sanity) is to plan ahead for the holidays. Plan what business will look like, and how much or how little you are wanting to take on. Then prioritize everything. Right now you may be so swamped that the thought of planning for the holidays sends you into overdrive, but stick with me. Are you wanting to take a holiday trip to the cabin? Maybe a tropical vacation to the Bahamas. Spend more time with those who are most important. Prioritize what is important first and plan accordingly. This week I am breaking it down for you, giving you the exact tips you will need to plan for the holidays . After all, it is the season to be jolly, not stressed. Biggest Takeaways: 1:22 Big rocks first 2:20 Batch social media content 4:10 Set goals 6:30 Down time for yourself Recommendations: Are you stuck in your marketing? Tripping up on the newest changes and trends? Maybe doing better in marketing is one of your goals. While you plan for the holidays, plan that your content will be the driving force of your business. And potential clients will want to see trendy, professional, content that stands out from the others. Doors are opening for Better Marketing With Bella, where we have professional content branded for you and your business for 6 months. You can't afford to miss out on great marketing. Links: A Valuable Lesson For A Happier Life Better Marketing With Bella Bella Vasta Instagram Mastermind Group Transcript This is episode 308 of Bella in Your Business. Hi there, I'm Bella Vasta from Jump Consulting. You might know me from CBS, NBC, Fox, Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, or maybe you've seen me speak on stage or read my book The Four Dogs That Every Business Owner Needs. In any case, get ready because you're about to get your hashtag Bella Butt Kickin' in this next episode of Bella in Your Business. So what do you say? Let's get ready and jump. Welcome to another episode of Bella in Your Business. My name is Bella Vasta and jingle bells, here they come. Ready or not, get prepared. Today, we're going to talk about planning ahead in your business for the holiday season and things I want you to consider that will save you time and your sanity because I want to make sure that you're ready to go. So here's the thing, and this is something I do in my life and it's very helpful. Sometimes I even tell certain people in my life, “You’re my big rock.” And what that means is—if we had a mason jar and wanted to fit as much stuff as we could in there, we’d start by putting the biggest things in first, like the big rocks. Then the next biggest, and then the next, all the way down to the sand. And then when we’re done with the sand, you can actually fill it up with water. That’s how full you can get that jar. But most of our jars are overflowing and spilling out, right? Well, I want you to put your big rocks in first—which means look at your priorities. That could be events, people, or even you. I’ll have Jillian put a video in the show notes on the website—there’s a really cool video that demonstrates that mason jar “big rock” concept. It’s one of my favorite mindset videos. It teaches you to put the big rocks in your life first—figure out what the most important things are that you want to do or spend time on. Do you have a holiday experience planned for you and your family? A trip up to the cabin or maybe the Bahamas? Put your priorities first. Maybe there’s a certain person that you want to make sure you spend quality time with. Put your big rocks first. The next thing I want you to consider is that by the beginning of October, figure out how to batch social media content. What are you going to talk about? What are your buckets? What types of blogs and emails are you going to write? What about posts, carousels, or reels? When are you going live—and what will it be about? Do as much as you can ahead of time. Social media can be scheduled. And if you do that, all that’s left is replying to people and doing outreach each day. How great would it feel to know your marketing is done for you? Then all you’d have to do is post on the fly during the day—whenever you’re excited, motivated, or have something interesting to show. That’s what we do in the Better Marketing with Bella program, which is opening its doors right now. If you go to jumpconsulting.net/marketing, you’ll see it there. And this year, we’re doing something extra special—but you’ll have to go to the website to check it out. This can be life-changing if you sit down and think about how you can schedule as much as possible. Make a planning day, as if you were a teacher creating lesson plans, and plan and schedule it out. Make sure your copy has hooks. Make sure your social media is built for engagement—and by engagement, I don’t necessarily mean likes or comments. I mean things like swiping left on a carousel or copy that’s so good people press “see more.” Sit down and do it. And if you can’t do it, reach out to me. I also want you to set goals. How much do you really want to grow? Do you want to be overstaffed so you can say yes to everyone? Or do you want to know the schedule for the entire month and stop at a certain capacity? Or do you have stretch goals where you want to go pedal to the metal and celebrate the holidays in January? What do you want? Maybe you’re a dog walking company and you just want to shut down for the whole week between Christmas and New Year’s. If I had a dog walking company, I’d do that—I’d tell everyone they get that week off. Because guess what? No one’s really working during that time anyway. And if they are, they’re not really working—at least in the United States. What are your goals? What do you want? Yes, I’m passing the mic to you today and asking, what do you want? I feel like The Notebook—you know that part where he asks her, “What do you want?” and she says, “I don’t know.” And he says, “What do you want?” That’s one of my favorite movies. You have the power. This is your business. This business works for you. How do you want to go into the holidays this year? What is something you’ve always wanted to do but never happens because you didn’t make it a big rock first? What are your goals? How do you want to show up this holiday season? How do you want your family to feel about you? “Mom’s always working.” “My wife or my husband’s always working.” “There goes their phone again—it’s more important than me.” How do you want to show up? I’m telling you right now—it’s only September. You’ve got time to plan this out. Your family deserves to have you. You started this business so you could have freedom—time and money freedom to choose what you want. But somewhere along the way, a lot of you got off that path. I’m trying to bring you back to it. The last thing: build downtime for yourself. I can’t express to you how good it is, not only for your mental health but also for your business, when you completely shut off and walk away. You’ll be amazed, after you get over the initial “I thought I heard my phone buzz,” or “I have to check my email,” or all those impulses we have. Once you get past that, you’ll be amazed at the thoughts and ideas that come to your head—because the clouds clear, and it’s bright and sunny in your mind. You have to set time aside for yourself to recharge, rethink, and redo. And I don’t mean going to get your nails done or a pedicure while you’re sitting there on your laptop. That doesn’t count. I mean legitimately turning off and quieting your mind. Every dog sitter needs to know this for the holidays: Put in your big rocks first. By the beginning of October, have your social media figured out. Set your goals. Build downtime for yourself. The way you show up will directly impact your first quarter. I want you to really consider this. I’m putting this out in September for a reason—because I want you to have time to prepare. We also have the doors open for Better Marketing with Bella. You can join us at jumpconsulting.net/marketing. If you don’t know what you’re doing with your marketing, if you don’t know the latest changes, or if you feel like you don’t want to be on camera for Reels—yeah, I know you don’t. That’s why the Reels I give you in the program don’t require you to be on camera. And my clients are getting 5,000 to 10,000 views on them—because I know what I’m doing. They have professional graphics—your logo, your colors, your font—so when people consider using you for the holidays, they see not only cute pet photos or videos, but also professional content that looks like it came from a legit, organized business. If you’re not proud of your marketing, you’re probably doing it wrong—and we can help. So, we’ll be back next week to talk about three ways to beat your competition at their own game. Ooh, I’ve got some juicy ones for you! It’s not as competitive as you think—many of you are “collaboration over competition,” and that’s great—but let’s be real: there are still people you want to win out on. And I’ve got three things for you—things you might already know, but I’m going to remind you because you need to be doing them. There’s a big difference between knowing and taking action. And we’ll talk about that next episode. I hope you enjoyed this. I hope you loved it. And we’ll be back again next week. Remember to always keep jumping. Bye now. So, what did you think? Did you love this episode? I sure hope you did because I put a lot of love into this for you. The best way you can show me that is by going to iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or wherever you listen to your podcasts and leaving a review. I just might read it on the next episode. I also want to remind you that when life gets you down, remember to always keep jumping. Thanks for listening.