How to successfully run your business during school holidays

The issue of how to run your business during school holidays comes up time and time again. With parents struggling to juggle their business and their kids.  Today I am sharing my top tips for business parents so that you can keep your business running and enjoy time with your kids during school holidays.

Okay, so this post is specifically aimed at parents who are running their own business and can set their own hours, such as work from home parents.  If you have a shop for example and need to be there whenever it’s open, then realistically you’ll be looking at full-time childcare during the holidays or arranging cover.

The tips I’m going to share below may suit some of you more than others.  Just take what works for you.

Prioritizing is an absolute must during the school holidays

Sit yourself down and make a list of the things you will really need to prioritize during the school holidays.  For each of you, these things are different.

It may be client work.  For me personally, when my son was younger I didn’t book coaching calls when I knew my son would be at home. As he got older and understood my business and turned into a teenager who really loves his bed in the mornings, I was able to schedule a few calls in the morning on days we weren’t doing anything special.

On top of that, my priorities are making sure that I have regular content going out on my this blog and my quick tips blog (haven’t quite got to grips with getting regular posts up on my Ideal weight challenge blog yet.)

And once the content is up, to make sure it’s promoted properly.

So my top priorities look like this:

• Schedule coaching calls around my son
• Ensure regular content is going out and being effectively promoted
• Ensure regular contact with course students, coaching clients, social media followers

Those are my top three.

I don’t create any new courses etc during these times or commit to any outside work, like creating content for other people.  My priority is to keep my business running super smoothly in as little time as possible during school holidays.

Plan ahead with your family

Try to plan in some special times during the holidays, whether it’s an actual holiday away, days out, a trip to the beach or the cinema, plan them ahead of time so that your family knows what’s going on and your children have plenty to look forward to.

The summer holidays are the longest here in England,  so planning something special each week will help the children and you feel like the holidays have been special and enjoyable rather than stressful and wishing they were over.

I’ll add an image of my weekly school holidays planner at the end of the post as some other tips tie in.

Schedule as much as possible before the school holidays start

Before you even get to the school holidays, schedule anything that you can in advance.  For me, I can schedule blog posts, YouTube videos, some social media before the school holidays.

This definitely takes some planning but it’s well worth the effort.

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So instead of having to come up with ideas, type, add images, edit, promote each blog post, I can have them automatically set up and scheduled in advance.  I’ve also set up my blog posts so that they automatically (on publishing) get shared on various social media sites.  So even when I’m away things still get published.

NOTE: Automation and scheduling is not 100% so please do check that your scheduled posts are actually getting published.  I had a little error with mine whilst I was away last week and two of my posts didn’t get published.  Mostly though it works a treat.

Work out the business tasks that you can do when the kids are around

I’ve always enjoyed having my son around when I’m working but I know there are some things I can do when he’s around and some tasks I can’t.

For example; I often write blog posts or have my social media time when he’s around, but I then proofread the post when he’s not.  I can also message my course students and coaching clients whilst he’s in the room with me, but I wouldn’t take a coaching call.

You know your business best of all.  What are the things you can do when you’re kids are around?

Teach your kids to play alone

Okay, I’m not suggesting you shut your kids in a room alone all of the school holidays or indeed ever.  What I’m talking about is teaching your child to play alone close to you.

So this might mean they play in the garden happily whilst you work from the patio.  Or they play nicely with their toys or draw whilst you work on the computer for an hour.

Some kids just don’t seem to know how to do this.  If your child finds it hard to play alone, it’s up to you to show them how and set some boundaries.

You can start off by saying to your child.  I’m going to set the timer for 15 minutes.  You can play with your toys on the floor or you can sit at the table with me and colour.  Then when the timer goes off we are going to get ready and go to the park.

Build this up, so that your kids learn that it’s okay for them to entertain themselves.

You’re not neglecting them.  In fact, you’re teaching them a new and valuable skill.

NOTE: If you use the time idea and promise a treat afterward, stick to it otherwise it will not work the next time.

With older kids, you can give them exercises to do whilst you work.  This might be a household chore to earn some extra spending money, you could have a writing competition where you get your kids to write a story and at the end of the holidays a favourite can be chosen as the winning story for a prize.

You will need to get creative but that’s just a part of being a business parent.

And I’m probably going to get loads of complaints here but I’m saying it anyway.  Let the kids watch a favourite film or TV show whilst you get some work done.  If you have the TV on all day, this won’t work.  If you make it a special time – Favourite film, popcorn a nice calm environment, it works a treat.

Arrange play date swaps with other parents

This works with any parents but especially other business parents.  Be completely honest and upfront before the holidays even start.  If you have friends in the same situation as you who are trying to juggle business and the kids being home, they will appreciate this time as much as you do and your kids will have a great time.

It’s important that the kids get on.  You wouldn’t want to send your kids somewhere where they hated the other kids or were scared of them in any way.  However, the play dates don’t necessarily need to be with school friends.  They can be with your friends and their children (even if the kids don’t know each other that well or are different ages).

Again some forward planning is needed here.  Plan in advance and be fair.  This kind of playdate arrangement requires one for one thinking. If you have the kids at your house, the other person has the kids at their house in return. This is why you need to be completely upfront when setting this up.  It’s not the same as a school friend inviting your child over for the day and then in a few weeks, you might do the same at your house.  This is an arrangement to ensure your children are well cared for and you and the other parent can get some work done.

Ask for family help

If you have family who are able to help out during the summer holidays, make use of this.  Speak with them in advance and again be up front.  Let them know you have still got to work during the holidays and you’re trying to sort out some times when you can have some child-free time to get on with your work.

Ask if they would be able to have your child(ren) at all over the holidays.

Arrange school holiday clubs

There are some really fantastic clubs run throughout the school holidays, some full time and somewhere you can just book on for the odd day.  Find something your kids will enjoy and you’re on to a winner.

• Look in local papers
• Ask at the school
• Ask friends and other parents
• Google School holiday clubs in (add your local area)
• Ask at sports clubs

Hire a babysitter

Your children are off school for the holidays and that means that secondary schools, colleges, and universities are also closed for holidays and that often means that teens are looking to earn extra money.  If you have friends with teens, you can ask them if they want to babysit. Arrange set times each week.

Also, note that you don’t need to go out to hire a babysitter.  All this means is that your child is being looked after and entertained whilst you can be in a different part of the house getting on with your work.

So you might feel unsure about leaving your 3-year-old with a 13-year-old to go out for an evening, but if you’re only going to in a different area of the house in case they need you, this is a great option.

Also, think about retired people that you may know who would like to take on this role and maybe take your kids out to the park for an hour or two.

When you have child free time WORK on your priority tasks

This is super essential.  When you do get that time alone to get on with your business, really do get on with the high priority tasks that can’t be done when the kids are home.

So don’t browse social media or respond to non-urgent emails.  Save these kinds of things for later.  I often speak with parents who say they can only dedicate about an hour or two to their business each day if they’re lucky.  When they ask me how to make the best use of this time, I always respond.  Know your priority tasks and get straight on with them the second it’s work time and don’t stop until it’s time to go back to family time.

When you develop this kind of mindset, you’ll end up getting more done in an hour than other people get done in a full day.

Don’t overcommit

This is something I advise any parent whether it’s school holiday time or not.  Don’t overcommit.  Again this comes back to priorities.  Know what’s important and what’s not.

Don’t say yes to helping out at a summer fayre if it’s not something you really want to do and the kids can be involved in.  It’s a nice idea, but it’s not YOUR priority.

Don’t say yes to a friend who wants help using social media, at least not during the school holidays.

Read Don’t overcommit

Get your kids involved

I’m a firm believer in getting the kids involved in household chores, helping prepare and cook meals and also even some business tasks. Obviously, these need to be age appropriate but even very young kids can do little bits to help.

So you might have spent the morning working and now you have to clean the house and get a meal ready.  Well, that’s life.  Don’t beat yourself up about it.  Get the kids helping.  You’ll get it done faster (maybe) and the kids will feel involved.

Top Tip: Rather than sending your child off to do something separate from you, do things together.  You chop the veggies whilst your child washes them and arranges them nicely in a bowl and sets the table.

Read Get the kids involved

Kids mostly want you to spend time with them, feel loved and wanted.  You don’t need to be doing exciting days out every day for them to have a nice school holiday.

It’s okay to totally switch off

So many parents have an inner guilt monster shouting at them whatever they are doing.  When they work, they feel like they should be with the kids during the school holidays.  When they spend time with the kids, they feel like they are neglecting their work.

The reality for most business parents is the school holidays does mean juggling business and the kids.

So I’ve already shared my WHEN YOU’RE WORKING – WORK! rules.  But also keep in mind that when you’re spending quality time with the kids, do just that.  Switch off and thoroughly enjoy that time.

There will be times when both worlds happily join together, such as when your child is happily playing alone and you are sat on the sofa interacting with your Facebook group members.

There will be other times when you need it to be just business time and other times when you must make it just kids time.

Your plan ahead school holidays schedule

I’ve already talked a lot about planning ahead in this post but I wanted to give you an idea visually of how this might work.  The image below isn’t super clear so I’ve included a link where you can view it, edit and print out for yourself.

You can also view at School Holidays Planner for Business Parents This is a word document, so you can download and edit for yourself if you want to.

It doesn’t have to be perfect.

When I work with clients who have bricks and mortar businesses (such as a shop or restaurant) who haven’t taken a holiday in years because they feel they need to be in the business.  I share this advice.  Find someone that you trust, train them to do your key jobs and then get your holiday booked.  We ALL need breaks.

The person you leave to look after your business may not do everything the same as you would and they may not do as much as you do.  But as long as they keep your customers happy and the business is still running, you’ll be fine and your business will be fine.

The same can be said for your business if you’re a one-man band (or one woman in my case).

So when the kids are in school you might work 30-40 hours a week and now you’re down to about 10.

You know what, it’s not the end of the world or the end of your business.  If you’ve got the problem of trying to run your business during the school holidays, you are one of the luckiest people in the world because you have kids.

Follow these tips on how to run your business during school holidays, do what you can and catch up when they’re back at school.  Most importantly enjoy the time.  It’s precious.

Share your own tips

This blog has never been a place just for me to give advice.  It’s a place where you can all share tips that are helping you too.  Please share any tips that you’ve found helpful to run your business during school holidays.

This is a big problem for many business parents, so I would very much appreciate it if you would share this post on social media or send directly to your parent friends.

Many thanks and enjoy the holidays.  This is a time you will never get back.