If you're looking to make the most of your summer while still achieving your business goals, this episode is for you. Today, we’ll dive into how you can stay productive during the summer slowdown and the importance of having efficient systems in place to save you time and energy. Plus, I'll introduce a valuable resource that can help you streamline your operations and set yourself up for success. Tune in to discover how to maximize your summer productivity. Let's get started!

If you are listening to this episode when it goes live, it is the first Thursday in August and summer is in full effect! I know some of you are counting down the days for the kids to go back to school. And if you haven't already taken a vacation, I hope it’s because you have one coming soon. During summer weather, I spend as much time as I can out of the office. I have become really fond of working in local coffee shops, working out on my deck all day, or just relaxing by the pool. One of the smartest things I started doing years ago was implementing summer hours. I maintain my four-day work week but I shorten my business hours for two or sometimes three months.
This is the best time of year to do this because of the summer slowdown. Think about it, your clients are taking vacations, so this opens up time in your schedule because you tend to have fewer meetings. That being the case, there are several things you can do to enjoy the slower pace of the summer and still get things accomplished in your business.

One of the key resources that can help you maximize this slower period and set yourself up for success is the 90 Day Goal Setting Worksheets, available exclusively inside The MY-T Society Membership. Let's talk a little bit about how these worksheets can help you plan effectively and make the most of your summer, while also providing value all year long.

The 90 Day Goal Setting Worksheets are designed to help you break down your big, audacious goals into manageable, actionable steps. Here’s how they can transform the way you approach your business goals:
Clarity and Focus: The worksheets guide you to define what you want to achieve in the next 90 days. By having a clear focus, you can align your daily tasks with your long-term vision, ensuring that every action you take is purposeful and productive. For instance, there’s a section where you can clearly write out your SMART goals—Specific, Mind Your Business, Appropriate, Realistic, and Treat Yourself. This framework not only helps you set clear and realistic goals but also ensures you stay motivated and positive.

Prioritization: It’s easy to get overwhelmed with a long to-do list. These worksheets help you prioritize tasks that will have the most significant impact on your business, allowing you to work smarter, not harder. There’s a dedicated section for listing your personal and business goals and tasks that support these goals. This helps you focus on what truly matters, whether it’s increasing your savings for a vacation or launching a new product.
Accountability: One of the biggest challenges in achieving goals is staying accountable. The worksheets include sections for tracking your progress and reflecting on your achievements and setbacks. This helps you stay on course and make adjustments as needed. The daily and weekly plans allow you to schedule and time block your tasks, ensuring you stay disciplined. Plus, there’s a weekly review section to reflect on what went well, what can be improved, and how your 90-day plan is progressing. And you can find an accountability partner inside of The MY-T Society; one of them will be me.

Flexibility: Life happens, and sometimes plans need to change. The beauty of the 90 Day Goal Setting Worksheets is that they are flexible enough to adapt to your changing needs and circumstances, ensuring you stay resilient and responsive. For example, there’s a section for identifying potential challenges and strategies to overcome them. This proactive approach allows you to pivot and stay on track even when unexpected events occur.
Motivation: By breaking down your goals into smaller, achievable milestones, you can celebrate your successes along the way. This keeps you motivated and energized to continue pushing forward. The worksheets include prompts for listing ways to celebrate your progress, whether it’s treating yourself to a nice dinner or taking a day off to relax.

Let me share a personal story about how these worksheets helped me. Last year, I set a goal to increase my revenue to replace the income from my day job so that I could quit. By breaking this goal down into weekly targets and tracking my progress, I stayed motivated and ultimately achieved my goal. Now let me tell you, it wasn’t easy but because I had a clear and simple plan I didn't get overwhelmed. Each week, I reviewed what worked, what didn’t work, and made adjustments when needed. I also made it a point to notice and celebrate small wins along the way. This kept my spirits high even when things didn't go as planned and I didn’t lose my momentum.
I also had a cheer squad that helped me stay focused on the goal because a few times I wanted to give up. I want you to find this type of support inside of The MY-T Society membership. We all need people in our circle we can laugh with, cry with, brainstorm with and support when they need it.

Now, let’s talk about another critical aspect of managing your business effectively—systems. You need to have systems in place to save you time and energy. Systems are the key to working efficiently, which saves you time. And systems complete routine tasks for you, which saves you even more time. Now when I say system, I am referring to a documented step-by-step process that tech tools can be integrated into for automation. Then you can identify what needs to be done manually by a person and who that person is. And it doesn’t have to be you!

But your systems must be in place BEFORE you try to delegate to a VA or anyone else. What I’m about to say is contrary to popular opinion, and honestly, I don’t care. You should not try to hire a virtual assistant just because you’re overwhelmed by your business. If you hire a VA and you don’t have any systems in place, both of you will be frustrated, and you’ll spend a lot of time putting out fires during the summer instead of enjoying the weather. I did an entire episode on the pitfalls of hiring a VA without business systems. I’ll put a link to that in the show notes. Be sure to listen to that episode if you think bringing a person into your chaos is going to solve your problem. It’s going to magnify the problem. So don’t inflict that pain on someone else!

While you shouldn’t have to train your VA to complete the work they are hired to do, you need to invest time to help them get familiar with how you operate your business. That means you need to create systems BEFORE you hire and then easily integrate them into your existing system.

If you have little to no systems in place right now, summer is a great time to give this some attention. And if you have some systems in place, this is a great time to audit those systems to ensure they are efficient. One valuable resource available to members of The MY-T Society is the Biz Ops Checklist. This checklist can help you do a quick audit of your back office, making sure everything is running smoothly and efficiently.

There are six core systems you need. Last week’s episode gives an overview of each. There will be a link to that in the show notes. One of the main systems that fall under the communication umbrella is a customer care system, which starts the moment a person reaches out to you online or through your website and inquires about your services. The first impression you make is a lasting impression, and there are no do-overs.

You can take care of all your potential customers without living your entire life in your inbox or constantly wasting time on the phone following up on dead-end leads. You need a documented process, templates, and a scheduling system. Research shows that 35% of customers prefer scheduling appointments during non-business hours, and 40% of online bookings actually happen after working hours.

The bottom line? People want to book their appointments with you when it’s most convenient for them. In the busy and fast-paced world we live in, that often means doing it outside of your business hours. I hope you have set business hours. But that is an entirely different topic I’ve already covered in multiple episodes.

Since you don’t want to sit by the phone 24/7, an online scheduler enables you to attract customers even when you’re not available, and existing customers have the same access to your calendar as well. And the great part about having an online scheduler is you can create intake forms that gather the data you need BEFORE you get on a call with someone. So in essence, it starts the screening process for you, and you can gauge whether they are a good fit for you. How cool is that!

Now, let’s recap what we’ve covered today.

We started by talking about the benefits of implementing summer hours to enjoy the slower pace of the season while still making progress in your business. We then explored the 90 Day Goal Setting Worksheets, highlighting how they provide clarity, prioritization, accountability, flexibility, and motivation.

We discussed the importance of having systems in place to save time and energy and how vital it is for you to establish these systems before you start outsourcing.

Finally, we talked a bit about the Biz Ops Checklist, another valuable resource in The MY-T Society Membership, which can help you audit your back office.

So, if you’re ready to take control of your business goals and achieve measurable results, I invite you to join The MY-T Society Membership. Not only will you get access to the 90 Day Goal Setting Worksheets, but you’ll also gain a wealth of other resources and support to help you streamline your operations and grow your business without overwhelm, including the Biz Ops Checklist to help you audit your back office.
Visit the link in the show notes to learn more and sign up today. Let’s make this summer a season of intentional growth and success!

Until next time…keep calm and streamline!