Coming Back From A Break

Overcoming Business Interruptions in Hectic Times 

Have you not had the time to post on Instagram for a while now, skipped sending out the newsletters or can’t seem to find time to promote you upcoming workshop or digital product? We’ve all been there. When life throws you curveballs your online presence will most likely suffer. In this blog post we'll explore strategies to overcome these interruptions and get back on track, even when life gets hectic. And even better; we’ll talk about how we can best prepare ourselves for these interruptions so that our online business won’t suffer.

I recently completed my mission of posting daily 📆 for a year on Instagram, that was a bid deal for me- I had never done that before. As you can imagine I was definitely happy to take a few days off after hitting that goal, with the intention to continue to posting frequent but not daily. I felt relieved to take the self imposed pressure off but I didn’t anticipate me having a hard time coming up with content ideas and get consistent again. It threw me off my game.

In hindsight it makes sense; For 30 consecutive weeks I released Podcast 🎙️ episodes that I turned into blog posts,  and I turn the key takeaways into social media posts. The Podcast lead the way. Now it so happened that life got interrupted, Podcasts episodes had not been recorded and everything else derailed.

Here’s what happened: I recently traveled to California for work and my husband’s surgery .I was well prepared to record while being on the road, I brought my recording tools and planned on continuing recording my weekly episodes. But those plans got pushed to the side when my hubby got sick 🤧 after surgery and he was unable to sleep at night, his cough kept waking him up. I did everything I could to make him more comfortable and help him fall asleep but after 3 nights I was also run down and got a  head cold, lost my voice and felt awful. Not only couldn’t I record the podcast episodes and do the work I had scheduled, I had to cancel all the fun things I had planned; hanging out with friends, triathlon training and going to a fun food and beverage event. I found myself overwhelmed and exhausted.

It was an awful trip and we needed another week to recover from it all. But life didn’t exactly slow down; now it’s time to catch up on work, fly over to the big island to participate in a triathlon, followed by and unexpected modeling job on Oahu. And when I came home again our puppy got neutered and needed my care and supervision. You can probably relate; life gets pretty intense and crazy at times and you are ticking off the boxes, crossing things of your list and can’t seem to get a break.

To avoid a burnout It's crucial to pause, reassess, and recharge. Nothing is more important than taking care of you physical and mental health; you have nothing more to give if you are depleted, sick or depressed. This past week I was finally able to slow down and catch my breath. A good place to start up again and rethink 🧐 my strategy. Yes It sucks to feel behind to feel like you are not doing enough  but Instead of dwelling on feelings of inadequacy, you have to give yourself some grace and then pick it back up.

And you know what; everyone is so preoccupied with their own lives, your audience most like didn’t notice even notice that you didn’t post content, didn’t send out that newsletter etc. But they are going to be happy to hear from you again! That’s why they follow you on Instagram, that’s why they signed up for your newsletter. Leave the worries behind, let’s focus on how you and I can avoid  these business interruptions when life gets hectic. The not so secret answer to this is:

1.Batch content creation: Dedicate focused blocks of time to create extra content. By batching tasks, you'll streamline your workflow and ensure a consistent flow of valuable content for your audience.

For example: If I had already recorded 4 podcast episodes  before I left on the CA trip I would have had a content plan for those weeks. Even better if I had already created that content ahead of time I wouldn’t even need to create content while traveling. And on top of that I could have used a service like Hootsuite or Sprouts Social for automated posting and Manychat for automated comment reply’s (learn more about Manychat in this blog post) 

I know this all sounds wonderful but how do you execute this when you feel like you are barely reaching your social media and marketing effort now? Start with 1️⃣ week of content; shoot all your reels and create all your posts for the week in one go. When you are in creation mode it will be less time consuming to get in the flow and everything is already set up. You do have to schedule this in, even if that means doing in on the weekend so that you don’t have to think about it again all week.  It takes some time to get used to but it will be well worth your effort!

If batch creation sounds great but you don't see yourself doing it right away and you need something right now then you should:

 2. Repurpose Existing Content. Look back at your previous successful post or content. Repurpose them into new formats; a new cover photo, a slightly different edit, create a carousel post. This saves times and keeps your audience engaged with valuable content they may have missed the first time around. Remember that your posts only get seen by a small percentage of your audience, it’s totally fine to repurpose.

I hope this blog post will encourage you to get started again, once the wheels are in motion schedule your batch content creation and reap the benefits of being on top of your business and soon ahead of the game. 

Business interruptions are inevitable, but they don't have to derail your progress. With strategic planning and a flexible mindset, you can navigate life's challenges while maintaining a thriving online presence. Stay resilient, stay creative, and most importantly, stay connected with your audience.

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