#033 Holidays...The Upsides of Downtime

14/10/2018 13 min
#033 Holidays...The Upsides of Downtime

Listen "#033 Holidays...The Upsides of Downtime"

Episode Synopsis

In today’s episode, Neil discusses holidays and dives into the upsides and downsides of taking a break and the effects it can have on your tutoring business. Discover how to remain productive and effective throughout the holiday periods and how you too, can use this downtime to your advantage and leverage the free pockets of time to think about the future and strategically plan ahead.
Tune in today to hear Neil talk holidays and what the positives and negatives can mean for your businesses.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Toughest Tutoring Times:
Voids
Cashflow is down
Crisis of belief in students returning
Aimlessness
During The Long, Holidays Consider These Questions
Long-term – is there anything you’d rather be doing than tutoring?
Is there anything that is as rewarding as teaching the subjects you love to people you like?
Is there a more fun way to make a really good living?
So what can you do during the time your friends (by which he meant students) are away to make it even better when they come back?

Holidays are blessing and a curse, as individuals and tutors it’s up to us to choose which aspect dominates our thinking. The above powerful re-framing questions will help you to ride-out the disruption and downsides of holidays, and help you keep an eye on what’s good about it all.
A forced break such as religious holidays or bank holiday is vital and it gives us the chance to review and take stock of where we are and how we’re doing in our tutoring business. It allows us to think about what we’d like to change and gives us time to ask ourselves: What’s working well? What’s not working? And lets us consider what we can; start doing, keep doing or stop doing. Forced holidays are a strategic planning opportunity for our business.

During the holidays the opportunity cost of bunking-off to attend courses is lower because you’re sacrificing lower revenue at this time. Use holidays as an opportunity to learn/travel and try something different and develop products or services and get busy marketing yourself.

Every six months, set aside at least one day to process everything in your business and to review and plan. This will give you the vital mindspace to create a plan and take the first action to achieve that plan.
BEST MOMENTS
“Personally, I’d rather be getting fired up than chilled out”
“Taking myself away from the thing that I love to do, is a less effective use of my time”
“During forced breaks the pressure to produce and earn is off, there’s nothing we can do about it, so take a step back and look into the future and ask yourself if what you see there is what you want”
“If you don’t plan, you’re going to be buffeted around by circumstances because you don’t have a course to stick to”
“Holidays break nice and regular routines which are carefully built up over the years”
VALUABLE RESOURCES
Neil Cowmeadow - Weird Things Guitarists Do
www.Neilcowmeadow.com
ABOUT THE HOST
Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!
CONTACT METHOD
[email protected]