Yellow Dog Consulting

Sales & Marketing Consulting for solo-preneurs.

Respecting the Schedule

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norm caught his tail
After a sick week – Norm was so excited for daycare he caught his tail…

I live and breathe by my daily schedule. Because of that, I’m able to be flexible when changes come up. A good friend of mine is a massage therapist and I scheduled an AMAZING massage with her a few weeks out, and since it was on a weekend I mentioned that if she needs to bump my around in the schedule as it fills up, that I’m flexible that day. And her response was awesome…

She said that every time she does bump one client to accommodate another it inevitably ends up a mess. Her belief is that if you scheduled first you win. And I really like that she respects it. The conversation was a good reminder that I need to be better about that. On the other end of the spectrum…

The place I get my nails done is great, and they are ALWAYS hustling. I can usually get an appointment within a day, but often times they’ll call me back and ask if I can come earlier or later in the day. Just this week they called in the morning to see if I could come earlier (nope) then they called an hour before and said to come a half hour later because another appointment showed up.

Respecting your clients and customers that are loyal and consistent should be rewarded. We all have days where the schedule goes out the window and we need to cancel or reschedule, or you’re running late to an appointment, but make sure your priorities are straight and you aren’t burning bridges.

December Decisions for Solo-Preneuers

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norm picking the perfect treeThe end of the year can cause a lot of anxiety for many small business owners. We’re trying to squeeze all we can out of the year, wrapping up projects and getting prepared for the big exciting projects coming in the New Year. From a marketing perspective there’s a few decisions you have to make as well that I thought I’d remind you of. Don’t stress out – none of these are required, all of them are worth making sure you consider!

  1. Your December Newsletter – if you send out a regular newsletter, when should you send it out? The last week of the year is often a dead time to send newsletters since so many people are on vacation. And how far into the week before Christmas can you send out a newsletter? My suggestion is to send it by the 21st. If you don’t send a regular newsletter – consider sending out a Happy New Year email newsletter in January when inboxes aren’t quite as clogged (wait till the end of the first week of January so inboxes are cleaned up from vacations)
  2. Client Gifts – If you plan to send gifts to clients make sure you have them ready to send by the 2nd week of December and hopefully get them sent out that same week. Pro Tip – I like making a donation in my client’s honor, no one needs more stuff, and this is a thoughtful way to show your appreciation and give to an organization (CPA husband tip: donations are tax deductible!)
  3. Holiday Cards – I was labeling holiday cards today to send out to our friends and family and I know many businesses also send out email or mail holiday greetings – if this is on your to do list get them in the mail at least a week before Christmas to ensure delivery. And if you’re card is more general or you prefer, aim for Happy New Years and mail them out the week of New Years when you might be less busy!
  4. Prep for Early January – If you’re taking time off at the end of the year – make sure to consider what tasks you typically accomplish at the end of the month and beginning of the month. Make sure to do these in advance if you can, or add them to the top of your to do list when you return to your office!
  5. Take a Break! I’m a big fan of taking time off, especially if my clients are. I know that most of my clients will be on vacation and taking time off the last two weeks of the year, and I plan to take most of that time off as well. It’s certainly not required, but if your schedule allows, take some time to rest so you aren’t exhausted in January!

What other year end tasks and “December Decisions” do you have?

November Pop Culture Roundup

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november pop culture round upNovember is such a great season for Pop Culture. Books and albums are coming out in time for the holidays and thanks to Netflix, there are always new and great binge worthy shows to get you through those long holiday weekends! November’s been a great month around here, and with a road trip for Thanksgiving, I caught up on a few podcasts that had been lingering…

Listening

WTF with Marc Maron – I really like WTF when he has someone on that I’m interested in. Billy Crystal was on a few months back and we finally listened on the drive to Eastern Washington. It was a great interview with someone who’s been in show business almost his whole life. I had no idea what a cool musical upbringing he had! The recent Ron Howard interview was also worth listening too. A great guy who has been in show business his whole life.

Fresh Air – Similar to WTF, if there’s someone interesting on, I love Terry Gross’ interview style. She did a great job with Anthony Bourdain (who’s book I really want for Christmas, hint, hint). I always enjoy Stephen Colbert and I can’t wait to read Anna Kendrick’s* new book.

Hannibal Buress: Handsome Rambler – I really like Hannibal Buress, my brother and I went to see him in Portland last month. If you’re a fan of his comedy, or enjoy him on Broad City, then the podcast is worth checking out!

Reading

I have been in pre and post election fatigue so a lot of what I’m reading lately is rants on the state of the country and our future president. And I had a stack of magazines that was out of control (pro tip – Real Simple has fantastic crockpot recipes), so while I picked up a few more books this month, nothing has been read.

I did however clean up the comic books a bit and am caught up on Clean Room, which continues to be a favorite if you like crazy cult stuff. Which we all know I do.

Watching

Holy crap those final 4 words! I tried to watch all of Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life on Friday when it came out but with crappy wifi at the in-laws (this isn’t news to them so I don’t feel bad about the shaming) I only made it through Winter and binged Spring/Summer/Fall upon our return on Saturday night. It was PERFECT. It was just what I wanted and exactly the warm fuzzy feeling I needed to launch the holiday season. But wow those final 4 words – that was NOT what I expected!

I also watched The Crown on Netflix this month. I’m a big fan of the Royal family and loved The King’s Speech a few years back. It’s a story I knew nothing about till I watched the movie, so I was eager to watch this show on Queen Elizabeth II. It’s a little slow, but great history and John Lithgow was fabulous as Churchill.

Parts Unknown has been extra great this season (although my husband hated Buenos Aries), and I’m still in love with Jane the Virgin. I’ve decided Crazy Ex Girlfriend is best binged, so will hold on to that. I have the whole season of the Walking Dead on my DVR still and am trying to decide if I watch it, drop it or skip the first episode and continue from there. Thoughts?

SNL had a fantastic month of hosts. Benedict Cumberbatch and the Koehler toilet sketch was awesome. I never got into Dave Chapelle but he certainly was the host we needed the week of the election. And Kristin Wiig was great at being Kristin Wiig. My favorite sketch from these 3 was actually cut for time, and the perfect amount of holiday weird…

*My family actually reads this blog post each month, so I have a better chance of these gifts showing up by writing about them than adding to my Amazon Wish List!