Everyone, no matter how organised they are, will know the sinking feeling. The clock is counting down to Christmas, the to-do list is growing longer, and the carols playing on repeat in every shopping centre have begun to sound more threatening than cheerful.

That feeling is amplified tenfold for Australia’s small business owners, who don’t just have a personal to-do list to take care of, but also an even longer list of tasks to tick off as they try to either prepare for the holiday rush or to close down over Christmas. 

Get it right, and your business will sail through the holiday period. But get it wrong, and you’re facing staffing issues and cash-flow problems that could threaten your livelihood.

Forget Christmas, it’s beginning to feel a lot like panic. 

But the good news is there is way to take the stress out of Christmas for this nation’s two-million-plus small business owners. Follow Mentored’s 12-step guide to preparing for the holidays and your mind will be off work and on Christmas lunch in no time. 

1.Settle up

There’s nothing worse than going into the holiday period with things hanging over your head, and given this is really your last opportunity to actually be able to reach people before January 2020 (or later, if your clients are extending their holidays), now is your opportunity to clear your books. So if you have the money to hand, settle your outstanding accounts for 2019 and start the new year afresh. 

2. Get your Christmas gift

Ok, there’s one thing worse than going into the holiday period with unfinished business, and that is knowing that you’re low on funds, and that nothing is likely to hit your account until 2020. So with the clock counting down, now is the time to chase any money you’re owed to ensure your holidays are a little less Tiny Tim this year.

3. Budget, budget, budget

Now you know exactly how much money you’ve needed to pay out, and how much money should be coming in, it’s time to put those numbers to work. Christmas is a precarious time for any small business, mostly because incoming funds tend to dry up until January, so be diligent with how much money you’ve got, and exactly how far it will take you.

4. Stock up or down

If yours is a business that stays open during the holiday period, or even in the lead up to it, then you’re going to need to work on your stock levels. It doesn’t matter whether you’re busier in the lead up to Christmas, or if you’re quieter, either way, your stock levels will need to change to meet the demand and ensure you’re not wasting money. 

5. Plan your people power

No matter whether you open or close over Christmas, it’ll mean a change to staffing levels. Remember, your employees are equally keen to plan their own holiday periods, and you can, and should, ease that process by giving them as much warning as you possibly can around how much they’ll be required, or if they’ll be required at all.

6. Track your cashflow

This point is critically important. Remember, 2020 won’t begin in the same way that 2019 ends, clients and customers will be on holidays or simply not thinking about work, and for most businesses, the year won’t really begin to rev up again until February. But your suppliers and staff will still need to be paid, and bills still need settling, and you need to make sure you’ll have the funds coming in to cover it. If you don’t, then you need to start investigating ways to lower your fixed overheads until business is booming again. 

7. Then keep going

One of our most popular Mentored assets is the cash-flow forecasting cheat sheet, and now is the perfect time to put it to use. There is no better, more freeing feeling than confidently marching into 2020 knowing exactly where you’ll stand financially for the next 12 months. 

8. Sing it from the rooftops

Every business, no matter how big or small, lives and dies on the strength of its relationship with its customers or clients, and nothing will kill that relationship stone dead faster than surprising your valuable clients with a ‘sorry, we’re closed’ sign. So engage with social media, fire out a note to your database and update your hours on Google so people know if you’re open, when you’re open or when you’ll be back in 2020.

9. Don’t forget thanksgiving 

No business is an island when it comes to success, and there is absolutely no doubt that people around you helped contribute to the success of 2019. If it’s your staff, then tell them how integral they were to the success of the past 12 months, and hype them up for 2020. If it’s your loved ones who have helped support you during all those long days and nights, then now is the time to show the how much you appreciated it 

10. Set your resolutions

Were you entirely happy with the way 2019 went for your business? Totally, 100 per cent satisfied? Of course not. But if you don’t identify the mistakes you made over the past 12 months you’re destined to repeat them in 2020. So take a long, hard look at the year that was, identify your missteps, and determine how you’ll stop them happening again next year.

11. Crisis management

No plan is bulletproof, and so you need to prepare for what you’ll do if something goes wrong over the Christmas period. Will you be on call? Will you be nominating someone else? And how will you be letting your clients and customers know the plan?

12. Relax

It’s been a hard year for small business, and 2020 likely won’t be any easier, so perhaps the most important step on this list is this one. Take care of yourself over the break, and enjoy it, because believe me, it will all feel like a distant memory come January. So relax, you’ve earned it.