FACT: Holidays can kill momentum.
After an action-packed 3 weeks of visiting my hometown Vancouver (after almost 3 years of being away), one would assume that leaving freezing snow for balmy Australian warmth would be enough to kickstart anyone's goals for the new year. I thought as much as well, that is, during the holiday. I was pumped to go home and start rocking out heaps of new ideas.
This is my fourth week back in beautiful Melbourne, and I'm only just starting to become fully immersed in running a small business. It was hard enough getting back into the good ol' day job, catching up with mates outside of work, and trying to put aside some cash to run your passion project. Further, if you're 'flying solo' (heh), you often don't get the encouragement you need to jump back into it.
This is how I personally managed to get back into the swing of things (but not without some whinging and naps), and I hope that you can apply it to your own life.
Here's some encouragement: you will probably do it in a much shorter timespan than I did.
Week One - What am I doing here?
I'll be honest - the first week back was a brutal write-off. It's fair to say that going on holiday is almost more tiring than not going on holiday, but I won't complain there. Swinging between -15C to 42C within a day, 2 connecting long-haul flights, and trying to set a routine was hard enough. Plus, I jumped straight back into my day job 48 hours after landing. Jetlag is such a joy.
Through glazed eyes, what I did manage to do was sit at my favourite café for a whole 45 minutes. There, I wrote 2 pages of goals - and I didn't care how big or small it was, but I wrote them. My weary eyes were closing and my fingers were shaking. But it's only pen and paper, pretty harmless stuff.
Step 1: Write a list of goals. Anything. Anywhere.
Week Two - That escalated quickly.
You know how you write something down and immediately forget what happened? Enter me, stage left. I do it all the time, so this notebook ended up sitting in my backpack, unread until much later.
Putting something in writing does something to you though, and after writing, I started sketching. The Ashvault motorcycle backpack plan was next up in the line of motorcycle gear. It always was, but it lost its grounding last year after the Sheba Rides Australia trip proved my first prototype to be a failure (it wasn't waterproof enough).
I thought about the people who supported the Ashvault Backpack when the idea first came out, and started connecting with them.
Step 2: Connect with at least 3 people in your business network, in the way you feel the most comfortable.
Week Three - Pull up those socks.
By week 3, enough orders were coming in organically to start giving me momentum again. One in particular set the record for the biggest order in our business history, and it came from one of the emails I sent in Week 2. There's no magical formula to do it, but if I hadn't written the email, I'd still be at ground zero.
Connecting with people makes a difference. I'm very well and truly an introvert, so it's not easy meeting up and having a casual chat. I'm glad I did though, because one particular meeting may have pivoted the direction of Flying Solo in 2018.
Now's a good time to tighten up my ship. I chased invoices that were left all over the desk before leaving on holiday. I sorted and filed receipts for the whole week. I started a trial on Xero (which is pretty awesome, if the thought of accounting scares you). Finally, my debt. I looked at it head-on, reviewed it, analyzed it, and found out how it came to be. This is the year I will be debt free.
By the end of the week, I started to see the failures of last year... along with the opportunities of 2018. Motorcycle backpack - here we come!
Step 3: Tidy up your admin and compile your personal list of weaknesses.
Week Four - Pounding pavement.
As I'm writing this now, I'm feeling pretty good about what is to come in 2018. I've touched base with several gurus in different aspects of business, mostly in marketing and social media. I'm not going to say I understand everything in business. After spending almost a decade in strength training, being in front of a computer is almost a shock to the system. The rules of the game remain the same: Recognize your weaknesses so that you know where to prioritize your training and growth.
I don't know about you, but I'm the type of person who enjoys knowing what my weaknesses are so that I can tackle them head on.
Step 4: Using the sliver of motivation from Weeks 1 and 2, be brave and gather yourself for Week 3. Use Week 4 to start tackling your own shortfalls. We are only as strong as our weakest link.
So, those are my two cents.
What do you do to gain momentum back after a holiday?
Would you ever try this method?
What do you think?
About the author:
Amanda is the managing director of Flying Solo Gear Company, and has no background in journalism or marketing whatsoever. She really just enjoys riding and eating.
