5 Key Dates to Schedule In Your Planner for a Productive + Organized Year

Hello my Charmed Ones!

Today, I wanted to share with you 5 Key Dates to Schedule into Your Planner Right Now for a more Productive and Organized Year Ahead!

Since we are halfway thru January already, I recommend making sure you have these dates clearly marked off in your planner as soon as possible to avoid any overwhelm or complications later in the year.

1. Birthdays + Anniversaries

First, and this is an easy one, go ahead and make sure you have the birthdays and anniversaries for people you celebrate in your planner as soon as possible. I know this is a simple one, however, with covid I’m sure many of us will be mailing cards or gifts again this year as opposed to celebrating face to face and that requires some extra lead time that you might not normally take into account for celebrations. This is such a simple thing, but I’m sure for the loved ones you are celebrating it will be that much more meaningful that you sent your cards or gifts to arrive in time for their special day, so take this as just a gentle reminder of an easy thing to do to spread happiness during a difficult time.

2. Doctor’s Appointments

Second are doctors appointments, specifically annual checkups or well visits. Covid has put a strain on many doctors offices, so scheduling out those annual visits now is going to be crucial to ensure you fit in those important health appointments and that you get seen in a timely manner. I know last year I didn’t do this and when I went to schedule my annual exams I ended up having to wait several weeks to get in to see my doctors, so avoid that hassle this year, call and schedule those appointments as soon as possible and get the dates locked into your planner.

3. Vacation Time

Third is your vacation time, another great thing to have scheduled out now in January to avoid issues later this year. Some of you, I’m sure, need to get your vacation time approved by a manager, so getting those requests in now avoids any scheduling conflicts that might happen later in the year. I’m always surprised to see the statistics on how many Americans do not use all of their paid vacation time during the year, and I want to make sure you take the time you are owed because you work hard and you definitely need the break. If you are like me and work for yourself, take some time and map out the days you want to take off. I’m going to try to take some vacation time on a quarterly basis as opposed to what do now, which is not schedule any vacation and then just take a bunch of time off when I burn out at some point during the year. I think scheduling time off might work better for me productively and I hope it does for you as well.

4. Scheduled Maintenance

Fourth, think about scheduled maintenance you might need to have done on your home, vehicles or appliances and get those dates in your planner and any necessary appointments scheduled. Again, don’t just wait until you’re closer to the approximate maintenance date to get those things scheduled because with covid we have no clue how backed up maintenance workers are going to be. Better to have the foresight now and get it scheduled in your planner.

5. Due Dates for Projects

Fifth and finally, make sure to schedule the due dates for projects- this could be work and personal projects, whatever pertains to you, but that is something I am making sure I have clearly scheduled into my planner. I’ll take the due dates from my project plans, especially ones that pertain to my annual goals, and make sure they are clearly tracked in my planner. I’m going to even take those a step further and schedule reminder dates like 1 week and 1 month until a project is due based on it’s size. Whatever you can do to keep those projects on the top of your mind the better. Time moves so fast, especially in quarantine so its easy to loose sense of time and urgency and this is a way we can combat that for ourselves and be a little more organized and productive this year!

Watch this video on the 5 Key Dates to Schedule In Your Planner

Also, if you are interested in learning more about planning your year and improving your productivity, I welcome you to join my Productivity + Planning Master Mind. February’s master class is on the topic of functional planning and it will be filled with tips for managing your tasks and time.

I hope this information helps you plan a more productive and organized year. I would love to hear from you in the comments and know what other tasks for the year you like to plan out ahead of time?

xoxo,

How to Set Better Goals, Organize Your Tasks + Get More Done!

I’d like to ask you a question…

Are you excited about today?

✔︎ You have a plan laid for what you need to do, where you need to be and know by the end of the day all the most important things in your life will be taken care of.

✔︎ You feel like your life is together. Like the successful, productive and organized person you know you are.

✔︎ You’re not worried about anything, you’re not rushing to get things done or thinking about skipping meals or your personal tasks to make sure you get urgent priorities for others accomplished.

✔︎ You’re not putting out fires at work or at home, everything is under control and moving according to plan.

I truly hope this is how you are feeling today!

My students have these kinds of days often and I love hearing them talk about them because I know they feel in control of their lives and their is no greater feeling than that!

But for most of them, days like this were few and far between before they started working with me and my productivity resources.

• Their lives felt rushed.

• They had little time for themselves.

• They often fell asleep and woke up with a sense of exhaustion and overwhelm.

That is seriously no way to live, not when I know that just a few simple tools, strategies and skills can begin to transform your life in a matter of hours.

That’s right, I said hours! Because there are resources that you can access and implement immediately that can drastically change your productivity and release that sense of overwhelm.

Once the overwhelm is out of the way, you can ease yourself into a new way of living, a better way of living, by aligning your daily actions intentionally with your priorities and goals.

You, too, can wake up feeling refreshed, with a sense of purpose and direction, knowing that you have a solid plan in place for your day, and the knowledge and stamina to hurdle obstacles throughout your day.

If this is how you would like to feel in your own life, you owe it to yourself, your family, your job, your community, and anyone else that relies on you to show up and do your best work everyday, to invest in the resources that will make you an inspired, motivated, and productive person!

If you are ready to get started on this new path, I recommend you begin by purchasing your copy of YOU GOT THIS! The Goal Setting and Planning Workbook.

YOU GOT THIS guides you through 132 pages of real world productivity lessons, 16 instructive and enlightening activities, and 18 step-by-step worksheets to help you:

✔︎ Get clear on your priorities: Stop feeling like you’ve got your head on a swivel jumping from priority to priority working exhaustively but not making any significant progress for your efforts.

✔︎ Set achievable goals: Start putting your attention on strategic goals with action plans so clear you can practically feel the final result.

✔︎ Organize and simplify your life: Feel the relief that comes from systematizing mundane tasks, and enjoy the time you’ve earned back for efficiently managing your life.

Remember, if you are struggling to fight overwhelm, poor habits, and the downward spiral of anxiety caused by them…

NOTHING CHANGES IF NOTHING CHANGES!

You need to take action and make a change if you want things to change in your life. I promise you, no matter what your situation, there is a better, more productive way to live and through learning and implementing my key strategies, you can feel relief in a matter of hours, you can create a plan in a matter of days, and you can see concrete results in a matter of weeks!

What are you waiting for? Make TODAY a very productive day for you and purchase your copy of YOU GOT THIS now!

xoxo,

9 Reasons You Didn’t Achieve Your Goal + How to Make it Happen This Year!

We are standing at the precipice of a New Year, and if you’re like me and set your goals already, you may have noticed that some of those goals might be repeats from previous years that were never accomplished. Now, of course we all know and have heard many times over that last year, 2020 specifically, was a very different and challenging year. If you set goals last year and didn’t meet them, I do believe in having grace with ourselves, however, I also believe in being realistic with ourselves and taking accountability that we had goals we wanted to accomplish and for some reason or another were unable to do so. I think it’s very important for us to identify and understand what held us back in the past so that we can take the appropriate steps to ensure our goals are met this time.

From my research into the topic of goal setting, I have identified 9 very common reasons why people do not meet the goals they set for themselves, so I will outline those now and explain what you can do to overcome each.

Reason #1: You Didn’t Write It Down

The first reason that you did not achieve your goal in the past is that you chose the goal, but you never actually wrote it down. I know that is such a simple thing, but there is a well known statistic that says when you write down a goal, you have a 41% increased chance of seeing it through. Many of us set goals and resolutions for the year in our heads, we decide what we want, but we don’t formalize it by putting pen to paper. Luckily, this reason is easy to fix! This year, make the effort to write your goals down.

Reason #2: Your Goals Weren’t SMART

Reason number two that you may not have hit your goal in the past is that it wasn’t a SMART goal. SMART is an acronym that stands for a framework that you can use to ensure that your goal is actually something that you can achieve and has a reasonable set of expectations for you to use to actually execute on it. If you have ever set a vague goal like “get better sleep” or “lower my stress” you know that these goals are sometimes hard to turn into action items for personal accountability because most of us don’t have sleep monitors or stress test machines in our homes to be able to gauge our quality of sleep or stress. By using the SMART framework, you can make a vague goal much more specific and set parameters and measures to ensure your success. SMART stands for:

S | Specific: What is the specific outcome you are seeking?
M | Measurable: What measures can you use to ensure you are making progress?
A | Actionable: What are you able to do to affect the outcome?
R | Realistic: Do you have the time, energy and resources to achieve this goal?
T | Time bound: What is the due date or when do you plan to work on the goal?

Take each of your goals and work them through this simple framework to come up with the outline of a plan of action you can use to move forward with your goal.

Reason #3: You Didn’t Create a Project Plan

The third reason you did not achieve your goal in the past was that you didn’t break it down into a project plan with clear steps and any sort of tracking for personal accountability. Once you have ensured your goal is SMART, you should take that outline one step further and break your goal into an action list for a project or objective. That way you always know where you are in your progress and what you need to do next. I have and recommend using project planning inserts like the ones I use in the Master Plan System, or if you have a planner for the year, you can purchase a bundle of project planning inserts separately as well by clicking here.

Reason #4: The Strategy You Chose Wasn’t Effective

Reason number four that you did not follow through with your goal is that the strategy you chose to execute on wasn’t effective for you. I personally believe that there are numerous different ways we can execute on any goal or objective and I think that certain strategies work for certain people. So, it’s very possible you chose a strategy that just didn’t work for you. That doesn’t mean you can’t still achieve you goal. Now that you know what doesn’t work for you, you can find another strategy that may be better suited to your needs now that you have some experience in going after that goal. Don’t give up on your goal, you still have an opportunity to accomplish it!

Reason #5: You Weren’t Checking In Often Enough

The fifth reason you may not have achieved your goal in the past is that you weren’t checking in with your goal often enough. You took the time to write down your goal, make sure it was SMART and even list out the action steps but you got out of the habit of checking in on the goal and stopped taking action on it. I find this can often happen when people keep their goal related plans in a separate or dedicated binder and not side by side with their daily planner. This is one of the major reasons I preach one person, one planner. Because when you have goals and plans kept separately, it can easily become an out of sight, out of mind scenario. Now, it is also quite possible that you are using a planner that just doesn’t give you the ability to really manage project plans alongside your calendar and agenda, and if this is the case, I highly recommend upgrading to the Master Plan System because it is the best Functional Planning System for ensuring you have visibility to your goals and a build in system for tracking them. Click here to purchase yours now.

Reason #6: You Didn’t Anticipate Obstacles

Reason number six that you may not have achieved your goal in the past is that you didn’t anticipate and make a plan to overcome obstacles. Nothing in life ever runs smoothly, we always have some obstacles that pop up on the way to our goals, and many times those obstacles can be anticipated and prepared for if we take the time to think through our plans and identify what could go wrong. In the past you may have been that person who hit an obstacle in their plan and then just gave up because it vexed you, but you don’t have to give up just because you need to adjust course a bit. Right now, I recommend taking some time to think of what might come up for you this year as you work towards the goal and make a quick little plan for how you are going to overcome that issue if it comes up.

Reason #7: You Just Didn’t Take Action

Reason number seven why you didn’t achieve your goal in the past is one that happens to be a tough pill to shallow. Perhaps you just didn’t take any action. I know it’s tough to take this level of accountability- to be able to say, it was my fault, I just didn’t try, but it happens to so many of us. Now, when I researched why this happens there was one glaring reason that I found over and over again; Mindset. Your mindset and more specifically, the limiting beliefs you hold about yourself are a major reason why you do not take action, and this is something even I struggle with, especially when I am setting a very big or ambitious goal. If we don’t believe we can achieve the goal, or if we don’t believe we are worthy, or something in the way we were raised is telling us consciously or subconsciously that we can’t or shouldn’t want a specific goal, then we will sabotage ourselves with inaction.

In order to overcome this issue, we need to first identify the limiting beliefs that are holding us back and then work through them so that we reprogram our mindset and subconscious to know it is safe for us to go after this goal and to achieve it! If you need more resources for mindset and limiting beliefs, I have created a wonderful workbook of journaling prompts to walk you through identifying and overcoming limiting beliefs as part of the Productivity + Planning Master Mind Membership.

Reason #8: You Were Being a Perfectionist

The eighth reason you didn’t achieve your goal in the past is that you were being a perfectionist. Now, I do believe that perfectionism is a form of a limiting belief. Perfectionism is when we set unreasonable or unnecessarily high expectations for our outcomes that ultimately cause us to obsess over actions or the conditions under which we can or will take action. It’s not uncommon for perfectionists to take some action, but often they will set up many hurdles for themselves before they will allow themselves to do the work or they will continue to work on the same action repeatedly, never satisfied with what they have produced.

If that sounds like you, I have two suggestions for breaking free of your perfectionist mindset. First is to really lean into the fact that perfect does not exist. Logically, we all know this to be true, so explain to yourself why perfect is a lie and why it’s not necessary for you to have unreasonably high expectations for yourself. Wouldn’t you rather have it done well enough then not completed at all? My second suggestion is to start talking to yourself like you would a friend or loved one who came to saying they couldn’t do X because it wasn’t perfect. Would you tell your loved one it was okay to give up or would you support and encourage them to make steady progress to their goal? Most of us talk to ourselves much more like our worst enemy than we do someone we love and it ends up ruining our confidence and self-esteem. Changing the way you talk to yourself can go a long way to overcoming perfectionism.

Reason #9: You Didn’t Have Any Accountability

The ninth and final reason you didn’t achieve your goal in the past is that you had no accountability. Accountability is an interesting subject because there is internal and external accountability types and some people require one more strongly than the other. On one hand, maybe you didn’t have any personal accountability or self-discipline and gave yourself excuses not to take action. On the other hand, maybe you need but didn’t have an external support system of people keeping you accountable to your goal. Many of us need other people checking in on us, a support system or community cheering us on, in order to feel accountable. That can go such a long way to ensuring we make progress with our goals! You can find accountability buddies via your friend or family, or if you would like a more structured type of support, the Productivity + Planning Master Mind includes accountability support and is a wonderful place to find a community of like-minded women who are all learning to plan and act productivity together towards our goals. Click here to enroll and join our accountability group!

I do hope this information has been helpful to you. If you would prefer to check out my recent video on this topic, I will link it below!

In the comments of this post I would love to know which reasons have been holding you back and what you plan to do to move forward with your goals successfully this year so tell me all about it below!

xoxo,

5 Lofi Christmas Playlists I’ve Been Loving

Hello My Charmed Ones!

I hope you’ve had a wonderful and merry December thus far!

One of my favorite workday productivity tips is to listen to music while you work. Since many of us have been working from home this year due to the pandemic, I am sure things have started to feel monotonous and we could use a little holiday cheer right about now to perk ourselves up.

Since December 1st, I traded in my usual all-season lofi playlists for some Christmas and Winter themed beats instead and I’ve been loving listening to them this month. They have done a lot to keep me excited for the holiday’s even though I accept that things are going to be different this year.

Of course, I wanted to share them with you, so this post is going to be a roundup of my favorite 5 playlists within the Christmas, Holiday and Winter theme.

Lofi Christmas Playlist #1: Holiday mood 🎄 [study/sleep/homework music]

Lofi Christmas Playlist #2: Cozy Christmas Beats 🎄 Lofi Hiphop Mix

Lofi Christmas Playlist #3: 🎅 a lofi christmas mix

Lofi Christmas Playlist #4: Merry Christmas 🎄 Cozy Lofi Christmas Beats

Lofi Christmas Playlist #5: ❄️ Chillhop Essentials Winter 2020 [cozy lofi hiphop instrumentals] ❄️

I hope you enjoy this selection of Lofi Christmas tunes and that they help you find some joy and productivity in your workday this month.

xoxo,

5 Easy Planner Deco Hacks with Tombow Markers

Hello My Charmed Ones!

In today’s video I am sharing 5 Easy Planner Deco Hacks you can use in your planner with Tombow Markers. As my OG followers know, I am more of a functional planner, and I don’t do much pretty planning. I use very few stickers and never touch washi tape, but I do still like my planner spreads to get a little color and deco to help keep them interesting, to highlight any key information and to create hierarchy on my spread when necessary. So, I have a few functional decor tricks for using a marker in your planner.

Deco Hack #1: Add a header to your spread

Deco Hack #2: Add checkboxes or a checklist

Deco Hack #3: Create appointment boxes to highlight key events or tasks on your spread

Deco Hack #4: Create your own habit trackers

Deco Hack #5: Divide your spreads or create visual hierarchy

✔︎ Get your own TomBow Markers I used #817 in the video

I hope these simple hacks help you create more organization in your planner. I would love to hear which hack is your favorite or one you would like to try in your own planner, so please leave me a comment below!

xoxo,

3 Holiday Gift Guides | Planner Addict, Boss Lady & High Vibe Babe

Tis the season to get gifting and this year I have put together three awesome new holiday gift guides to help inspire you to find that perfect something for the special ladies in your life.

I can’t tell you how helpful I find these sorts of holiday gift guides so I am so glad to be able to share my own with you.

So, the three gift guides are themed for three specific women | The Planner Addict, The Boss Lady & The High Vibe Babe!

Let’s start with The Planner Addict

This gift guide covers a few chic but essential elements that any planner lover is sure to lust after. Stylish planners, trendy highlighters and some elegant stationery. Don’t worry, I’ve done the leg work and provided you links to the items below!

  1. 9” Black Leather Notebook Cover
  2. Tombow Dual Brush Pen Set
  3. Marble Sticky Notes
  4. Muted Toned Sticky Flags and Tabs
  5. The Master Planner
  6. Classic Ballpoint Pen

Next, here are some great gift ideas for The Boss Lady

This gift guide covers modern yet feminine office necessities that the boss lady in your life is sure to enjoy. Chic desk accessories, a functional project planner and even a powerful hair styler to ensure she is always zoom call ready!

  1. Elegant Mini Bust
  2. Laptop Riser
  3. Acrylic Desk Sorter
  4. Revlon One Step Hair Dryer + Styler
  5. Project Planner
  6. Chic Desk Pad

Finally, here are my gift suggestions for The High Vibe Babe

This gift guide covers some unique self-care favorites that any vibe conscious lady is sure to appreciate. Crystals, relaxation and meditation tools, and even a guided journal to help your loved one manifest their dreams.

  1. High Vibe Bible
  2. Galaxy Projector
  3. Diptyque Candles
  4. Sound Machine
  5. Geode Crystal Cluster
  6. Rose Quartz Eye Mask

I sincerely hope that these gift ideas help give you some great inspiration for how to spread your own holiday cheer this season.

There is no better feeling than when you receive a gift from someone you love that feels so you!

I am personally not a big fan of the money or gift card gifting that has become popular in the last few decades. For me, I prefer to take my time and find a gift that fits each person on my list. I know not everyone has that sort of time, so I hope these gift guides help you make quicker work of your holiday shopping.

Wishing you and yours a safe, happy and healthy holiday season!

xoxo,

Entrepreneurial: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Hello My Charmed Ones and Happy December!

I hope you have been doing well, staying safe and healthy at home as we hit a very delicate time of year for our health during the pandemic. 

I know you have heard this so many times already, but it bears repeating that although we have limitations due to the pandemic, it doesn’t mean that December and this holiday season can’t be just as wonderful and merry as always. Things may look different, but the reason for the season is still the same for you if you embrace it.

So, in this month’s installment of my public Entrepreneurial journal entry, I thought I should share about some awesome live events I have scheduled for this month. 

December is the time of year when I like to wrap up my projects for the year and do my goal setting for the upcoming year. This year, like years past, I am again hosting my Annual New Year’s Goal Setting + Planning Class, however, this year the class is going to be held exclusively for my Productivity + Planning Master Mind members on this upcoming Saturday, December 5th @ 2PM EDT.

So, if you want to join, get yourself enrolled in the membership- it costs just $22 a month and each month you get an exclusive private class, plus loads activities, inserts, extra content and a private chat with our master mind group as well as myself.

In year’s past the New Year’s Goal Setting Class has cost twice as much to attend, so your investment this year into the membership goes so much further for your productivity and personal development.

The second live event I am hosting this month is my 2021 Planner Setup Party on Saturday December 19th @ 2PM EDT. This event will be a live steam on Youtube FREE to my community where you will follow along as I set up my planner for 2021. 

In this live stream I will share how I clean my leather planner, my process for printing and binding my inserts at home, and of course I will walk you through how I am setting my planner up for the new year.

I would love for you to join me for the livestream and set your planner up alongside me. It should be a fun and informative time and of course I’ll be taking Q+A live so it’s a great chance for us to hang out and get your planning questions answered by me.

I’ll be sending out emails for this event the morning of to those on my email list. If you would like to ensure you receive those emails and a direct link to the even, click here!

Well, that is everything I have going on for December!

Like you, I am just hoping to wrap up my year in a nice bow, get in some rest and relaxation and start the new year with a fresh slate. 

I would love to hear about your plans for December and how you are preparing for the close of the year. Feel free to leave me a comment and let me know your plans. I do hope to see you inside my Productivity + Planning Master Mind to kick off a fresh year together in January!

xoxo,

What to do with unused planner inserts?

What do you do with unused or missed inserts in your planner?

On Saturday I posted a video sharing my thoughts on how to deal with and make the most of unused planner inserts.

If you have been using a planner for any length of time, I am sure you have faced this situation before, where you skipped planning and have some dated inserts that are left empty in your planner.

So, what should we do with them?

First, it’s important to understand that this happens to many of us, that we start a planner, but skip using it sometimes.

It’s nothing to get too bothered over, so if you feel a sense of guilt for not using your planner for a period of time, take a deep breath in, exhale and let that guilt go.

You just need to check in with yourself to determine what the issue was that caused the lack of planning.

Is your planner the culprit? Perhaps its not the right system for your needs.

Or perhaps, you got distracted from planning?

Both are very common situations, but it’s up to you to identify the cause so you can address it and use this information to plan and do better in the future.

For more details on this topic, check out my YouTube channel and this latest video below.

And if you have watched the video or have an opinion on how to deal with unused planner inserts, please leave me a comment and share your thoughts!

xoxo,

How to Break Down a Project and Manage it to Completion

Click play above to watch a short walk thru of my Project Breakdown + Management Workbook.

Hello My Charmed Ones!

This month in the Productivity + Planning Master Mind we covered the topic of Project Management with a dedicated master class and workbook intended to help you take a big goal or objective and turn it into manageable daily tasks.

In the workbook, I laid out two key processes:

  • The first is the process of breaking down your goal into a project plan.
  • The second is the process of managing your projects to ensure completion.

Both processes are necessary if you want to achieve any goal or objective because you can’t take action without a solid plan, and yet a plan alone does not keep you organized and focused enough to take action.

Planning + Organization = Easy Execution

(Leave me a comment 👇🏼 and let me know which part of the process you struggle with more, or perhaps you struggle with both equally?!)

If you are ready to translate your big complicated goals into strategic daily actions, this class and workbook will give you clarity to tackle even the most overwhelming objectives with ease!

BUT in order to get these awesome and valuable tools, you need to be part of the Productivity + Planning Master Mind with me!

OR send me an email and let me know what’s holding you back from making this small but significant investment in your personal development and success.

I would love to welcome you to the Master Mind where you will be part of a group of like-minded women all learning to plan and organize on their best lives ever, together!

When you do enroll in the Master Mind Membership, you get immediate access to all past content in the group, including master classes, workbooks, inserts and other designs, plus you are set for our upcoming monthly master classes for the duration of your membership enrollment.

xoxo,

How to Create an Easy Holiday Promotion for Your Business!

3 Steps to Creating a Stress Free and Profitable Holiday Promotion

With the holiday season quickly approaching, now is the perfect time to quickly arrange for a holiday promotion for your business. The Thanksgiving to Christmas time period tends to be an extremely profitable season for online shops and businesses, with many retailers seeing exponential sales and traffic in this time with the aid of some well planned and executed holiday sales. Now, if you have never planned out a holiday promotion, or have yet to do so this season, I’m here to tell you that the process is much easier than you think and doesn’t have to involve complicated marketing planning or lots of time and effort. You do still have plenty of time to pull off a successful holiday promotion without stress or extra long work days, but you do need to act fast to get your plan in place to maximize sales before Black Friday kicks off in a few weeks! In order to help make this process even more streamlined for you, I have also created a free DIY Holiday Promotion Planning Guide that you can use to plan and keep track of your promotion. CLICK HERE to get the FREE Guide and get started today!

Step # 1: Decide the logistics of your promotion

There are many types of promotions and sales specials you can run during the holiday season to drum up excitement for your business and increase traffic and check totals in your shop. You can do something as simple as create a special coupon code for a percentage off items in your shop, you can put together bundles of popular products that coordinate, or simply discount your best sellers. You can make your sale as simple or complicated as you’d like and do one or more of these things, but decide what works for you and your business and of course, plan out how long you want these promotions to last. I’d highly suggest running a sale on Black Friday at the very least. Personally, this year I plan to create some limited time only bundles, provide a coupon code to VIPs on my email list and social media followers, and I also plan to host a giveaway to entice sales during my promotion which will last 3 days from Black Friday to Sunday. If you don’t want to discount your products due to product constraints, you can also create non-sale promotions that include either a giveaway wherein customers during the time frame are opted in to win a prize. You can offer a digital freebie to drive traffic to your shop or even give a free gift with purchase. Think about what will work for your sales goals and business and outline the details of your promotion asap!

Step #2: Shoot your promotional images

If you run an online business, you know how important great product and styled shots are to driving sales. Once you know the parameters of your promotion, you can arrange for a quick photoshoot and get all your images ready for your shop, social media and any ads you may run. If you don’t feel confident in your photography skills or need help understanding how to take great photos that sell, definitely check out my Charmed Digital Styling Lightroom Photography Course. It’s a video module based course with 3.5 hours of content that you can watch while taking notes and arranging your own photos. In the course I teach you everything you need to know to quickly get your styled photography under control and streamlined to make shooting promotional images a breeze! I’d highly recommend taking the course if you need great photos for your holiday promotions, it will save you time and money in the short term if you are someone who pays for stock photos, and the course even includes photoshop tutorials that will teach you how to create promotional sales graphics and advertisements as well!

Step #3: Start spreading the news

Once you have your promotion planned and your images are ready to go, you can start sharing the news of your promotion through your various communication methods and continue to do so through the duration of your sale. I’d suggest starting to actively promote your holiday sale anywhere from 2-4 days before it begins using any and all methods you use to communicate with your customers. If you have an email list, you will want to send a list to your email a few days before the sale starts and give some previews of the sales to come, and if you use social media or YouTube, make sure you tell your audience in these locations as well. If you use any methods of advertising, you also want to get those set to go for about three days out from the sale to drum up excitement and provide a call to action to get new potential customers onto your list. Finally, if you have an affiliate program or even a network of friends who can help you spread the word, make sure you coordinate with them on promotional messages and details that they can share with their audience as well. It’s the holiday’s after all, so the more the merrier when it comes to cross promoting sales and specials!

That’s it! Three easy steps to a stress free and profitable  holiday promotion. You still have time to get your promo planned and off the ground and I’d highly suggest planning something rather than nothing because failing to promote during the holidays means you are leaving a lot of money on the table. Make sure to grab my free DIY Promotion Planning Guide to help keep you on track!

Wishing you a productive and successful week and holiday season ahead!

xoxo,