The summer is a great excuse to not work, and with the sun only in Seattle for short periods of time, we tend to skip out on work to take advantage of it. But, work still needs to be done, bills have to be paid, life and business don’t stop in the summer. But that doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of the weather.

Find ways to meet your clients where they’re at. Not in their office, but get creative. Meet at the dog park, or walk Green Lake, take your coffee OUTSIDE, or meet on a nice restaurant patio for happy hour. Get creative, everyone’s happier when the sun is shining and they get to be out enjoying it instead of trapped in a conference room.

On Wednesday I attended the monthly eWomen Network luncheon. This month we were treated to Tammy Redmon, a Business Growth Strategist. Like me, she jumped ship on “cubical nation” and runs a thriving consulting business. Tammy talked about Knowing your Blind Spots. She gave 7 power tips to keep you moving forward and not getting stuck in the roud about of business and life.

My favorite tip was the first- Know Your Energy Zappers. This has been my biggest challenge since starting Yellow Dog Consulting. Since starting my business everyone wants to grab coffee, meet for a drink, or have lunch. And that’s great. I love to catch up with friends and meet new people who might become a friend or business connection. But I also have a business to run and leaving my house for two hours for a meeting with travel time that gives someone a lot of great tips but leaves me with a bigger pile of work is a challenge.

To combate my Energy Zappers I schedule days at home, and if someone wants to meet (that’s not a client) I try to build those meetings around OTHER meetings, especially if I can do it before or after a client meeting (so I’m at least billing something that day!).

Take a look at your schedule. Where are your Energy Zappers? And what gives you energy? Who and where do you need to spend more of your energy?