When the holidays arrive, I usually look at the season in three ways. First, it’s a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Second, it’s a time to get together with family. Third, it’s a calmer period in the world of work (unless you’re in accounting or retail). Kids are out of school, most people take vacation days, and many industries take a collective two-week breather.
I’ve found this “quiet period” to be a great time to develop new products for the upcoming year. Sometimes, our creative juices can be maximized when the phones aren’t ringing all day and the inbox isn’t getting flooded with email. For instance, I’m using the two-week holiday break to develop a new video instruction course called “How to Build an Online Community.” I’m excited to launch it in January.
If you experience a period of downtime during the holidays, use it to develop new products, services, and revenue streams to grow your business or non-profit. For example, you could:
- Outline the manuscript for a new book
- Create short e-books on focused topics or short stories
- Develop a new speech or teaching presentation
- Revamp your website text and marketing language
- Make a list of potential alliances and promotional partners
- Write out several newsletter issues in advance
Allow me to clarify that I’m not encouraging you to work over the holidays if you’re already tired or your kids need quality time together. As I mentioned above, taking time to develop new products should come after the priorities of God and family.
However, if you have the time available, use it wisely. Don’t just sit around watching boring football games or the same old reruns of Christmas movies. Use the season to create new products that can boost your revenue in 2015. Turn your holiday into a payday!
