Spark An Idea Thursday: How To Stay Motivated During The Summer

Sparkplugging is starting a new tradition called ‘Spark an Idea Thursday’. Each week we’ll be sharing some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers. We invite you to grab our image and carry the tradition through to your own blog! If you do, please link back to this post so we know where you were inspired!

Ahhh, summer! Who doesn’t look forward to three months full of sunshine, picnics, and warm lazy days??? I guess you can blame it on the fact that we had a summer vacation during our school years, but for some reason, when the temperatures start rising, a lot of people put their businesses on the back burner.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m all for taking a break here and there. But… I don’t think summer is a time for total rest and relaxation. Your business is still a business and you need to treat it like a business if you want to make a profit.

Plus, the busy fall and winter season will be here soon and this s the time to start gearing up for it. Putting in some extra marketing work now will pay off big time in a few months!

If the thought of future profits isn’t enough to keep you motivated, here are some tips:

Make a Plan: It’s always easier to get your work done when you have a game plan to follow. You’ll know what you have to get done to stay on track.

Get Child Care: If you have school age children, you may find it hard to work your usual hours with your kids on summer break. If this is the case, don’t feel guilty about arranging for child care. This doesn’t have to be a formal daycare situation; it can be anything from having the kids go to Grandma’s for a few hours during the week or having a younger teen come over and play with them while you get some stuff done in your home office. Another idea is to trade child care with a couple of other Moms in the neighborhood. Your kids will have fun playing with their friends and you’ll get some quiet time to work!

Work Smart: There are lots of ways to work smarter, not harder! For example, you could hire a virtual assistant (also known as a VA) to help you answer email and take care of other administrative tasks.  You can also take a few days to do blocks of work, which might help you stay focused. For example, take one day per week to write several blog posts and set the timer within your blog  so that they are  published throughout the week, or create newsletters in advance and load them into your autoresponder so that they are delivered on the day you’d like your readers to get them.

If you would like more ideas to help you stay motivated this summer, download the Summer Biz Guide by clicking here. It’s a free, 29 page guide full of articles and tips!

I will also be hosting The Summer Biz Sessions, starting June 2 and lasting through August 25. We will be meeting in a web room each Tuesday at 9pm Eastern to discuss different business topics. We will have a different guest speaker each week, and the line up is fantastic! We’ll be hearing from Jenny Hart, founder of Sublime Stitching; Sue Blatt, founder of Renegade Craft Fair; Casie Metcalf, owner of IndiePublic.com; Claudine Hellmuth, founder of Collage Artist; Amy Schroeder, founder of Venus Zine; Laura Allen, co-founder of 15 Second Pitch; and that is just to name a few!!! For more info and to register, click here.