What are your set’n’forget business tips?

by Rachel Smith
02 December 2022

These tips were entered as part of an Instagram competition we ran in conjunction with Rounded and The Content Byte. There are loads of great ideas on how to keep your freelance business ticking over during the Christmas break. Let us know your favourites in the comments.

Set’n’forget business tips from Rachel’s List

• Tee up a trusted freelancer to be on call during your absence (and make sure you let your clients know!
• Write and schedule an optimised blog post or two so you’re still working on your SEO (while you read a book on a deck chair).
• If you absolutely have to keep on top of things or face disaster in January, use a time-boxing technique – where you set a time each day to take care of essential tasks, then get back to your holiday.

Set’n’forget business tips from Rounded

• Set an auto response for your email so expectations are clearly set about when you will respond. Respect your own boundaries and don’t respond any sooner to anything not absolutely critical! 
• Send all your invoices before the Xmas break to help prevent cash flow issues in January. Also use your accounting software to send automated overdue invoice reminders so you don’t have to log on to send them manually.
• Give your office/work space a good clean tidy before you log off for the holidays! Nothing worse than being refreshed and energised then sitting down next to December’s coffee cup!

Set’n’forget business tips from competition entrants

• Scheduling ALL my social media content from mid December to early January, says Sabrina Rogers Anderson
• Automate as much as you can. That goes for invoices, but link your bank accounts too so you don’t need to mark things as paid. If your clients are via Facebook, set an autoresponder with links where they can self-help and saying when you’ll be back. That’s a good year-round one to cover weekends and different time zones. Oh, and works for email responders too, says Bianca Smith
• Share a slightly extended out-of-office date range with clients to give myself uninterrupted time to work on my business planning in the new year, says Penny Carroll
• Writing and scheduling 10 subscriber emails to go out while I’m away through December and January, says Sherene Strahan
• Setting up an out reply email with a link to a booking calendar to schedule time with me for 2023, says Ronelle Richards
• Schedule time off and enjoy a complete rest. Even if it is only for a few days, give yourself a break, enjoy family and friends, the Australian summer and a change of routine so you can tackle 2023 with renewed energy, says Louise Di Francesco
• One thing that worked well for me last year was to create a valuable digital “xmas/NY gift pack” to share with clients and anyone who contacted us. This was a landing page that had a list of popular resources that I’d created that year (training, podcasts, guides, & partner resources too). I added a link to the gift pack to my email signature and out of office notice for the holiday period. Also emailed it out before Xmas. Got a number of people reply to say they loved it, says Anfernee Chansamooth
• Set up automatic invoices and/or direct debit, and have a good new years email with blog ready and scheduled to send out Jan 2nd, says Lachlan Nicolson from LeaderGuide.com.au

And even more set’n’forget business tips from competition entrants!

• I’ve got two. The first is put recurring costs like subscriptions into tax spreadsheet or Rounded expenses list so they don’t need to be added again each time. And the second is use a social media scheduling tool like HootSuite or SocialPilot and load with posts across different platforms each Monday for the week. That way your marketing is always on (best practice for freelancers) but not having to spend time every day thinking about it. These are from Rosalyn Page.
• My top tip – and it’s one that possibly only a freelance sole trader would understand – is to send my invoice immediately after sending my first draft. No more dithering. I learned this tip from my plumber, who unapologetically bills me from his ute approximately 35 seconds after leaving my house. I draw on him for inspiration every time I worry about invoicing! From Annie Merindol
• We’ll be offering a free downloadable resource on our website that highlights our area of expertise to help generate leads for the new year, says Kathy and Danielle from Playbook Creative
• I have one well crafted email which I can copy and paste to those ‘You don’t me, but I would love to pick your brain, so let’s meet for a coffee’ kinda requests. The email basically says ‘no’, but gives them other (free and paid) options to engage with my work, says Joeri from The Magic Sauce
• My end of year focus is all about fostering/ maintaining relationships. This is twofold, but also very basic. Firstly, I send a little Xmas card and gift to each client who has made my year a successful one – a lovely candle is a good one as it serves as a little reminder of your working relationship whenever they use it! Secondly, I set myself a goal to make one small social connection with existing/ prospective clients per day over the break. This can be anything from commenting on their Instagram post, to reading their new content and reaching out with an email, says Hannah Vanderheide
• Mine is just the good ol’ OOO reply. I used to lie and say I was “on assignment” but now I’ve amended my out-of-office to indicate I’m taking a much-needed rest (which yes, even freelancers are entitled to). From Jessica Wynne Lockhart
• Setting my out of office a week before I ‘officially’ finish to give myself time to finish straggling jobs, or do some end of year housekeeping such as making and scheduling social posts and email newsletters for the holiday period. It’s always madness at this time of year and I never regret giving myself some breathing room! From Michelle Bowes
• My biz tip is to update your email address with your Christmas break times, and let clients and potential clients know when you will contact them again. Don’t leave them hanging! From Jo Draper
• Make sure those invoice payment reminders are on! It’s easy for clients to forget things this time of year, and you really don’t need to add chasing people for money to your plate. An easy thing to turn on that keeps the payments coming through during the break! From Sam Mularczyk
• Don’t just set an email out of office when you go on hols, update your social accounts with auto-responders too. Even if you aren’t closing over Christmas, you use them to set expectations about your response times so you and your customers are on the same page. From Lindsay Salmon
• Scheduling email replies and having my CRM set up ready for 2023! From Jeremy Mura
• Have your social media posts scheduled in so you can sit back and relax! From Teagan Ryatt

Final set’n’forget business tips…

• Double-check those backups to make sure everything is safe and secure over the Xmas break! From Kieran May
• Duplicating and prefilling invoices on Rounded means I don’t need to create a new invoice EVERY TIME! Saves me at least 30 mins. From Jess Ramsay
• Automatic email@replies are a life saver! Set the dates, fill with some client love content. Done! From Vikki YourVA
• Use a CRM to handle your customer enquries. Set up an auto email series with your 2023 return date, and then a few others to celebrate the year that was (as well as some engaging on-topic emails that relate to their enquiry). From Photographer Pete
• Communication and automation! 1: Communicate with your clients so they know when you’re not available and likewise so you know when they are not available. Everyone needs a break! 2: Automation – Automate everything you can. 3: Enjoy your break! You deserve it, says Kelly Morton
• Use Rounded, budget all year, pay yourself like normal over the break. Hit the ground running. Because of Rounded. From Royce in Oz
• My tip: abide by the Rule of Three. Three outcomes to achieve each day, three for each week, three for each month and three for each year. Doing this actually better segments your goals and makes things seem less overwhelming. You can also review at the end of each week/month and see if your strategy needs to change to more effective reach those long-term outcomes. From Rebecca Haddad
• Set yearly recurring alerts a week before all the significant days/weeks/months associated with industries you work with. For instance, if you work in the health space this could be R U OK? Day, or Melanoma Awareness Month. The week prior alert gives you plenty of time to collect content ideas to celebrate the dates and reach out to organisations that might need your support. From Sarah Coleman
• Set up an automated promotional period for loyal customers to take advantage of during Christmas and New Year; not everyone shuts down for the holidays so it’s nice to have a special deal for those working through and it may create some unexpected business for you while you’re enjoying your Christmas ham! From Jess Lomas
• Schedule and automate whatever you can before you go on leave, then only use your phone for ‘life’ and not ‘work’ during your break. Give yourself a genuine chance to recharge, so that you’re ready to fire things up in the new year. From KB
• Nothing better than having automated Instagram posts with the full set of relevant hashtags as the first comment. Amirite? From Nguyen Dang
• Get good systems in place and automate what you can, invoice reminders (thanks Rounded), Template emails and scheduling posts. There is no sense in working hard than you need to; we have the technology, use it! From Rhiannon Hopley

Thanks to everyone who supplied a tip and if you’ve got one you’d like to share, please do pop it into the comments!

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Rachel Smith

As a kid, Rachel used to carry around a little suitcase of pens and paper so she could stop and write stories whenever inspiration struck. These days, she writes for a living, in between running the show at Rachel's List. Some of you may actually believe she looks like a megaphone in real life, but it's not the case. Honest.

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