We asked some of our favorite Savvy Business Owners how they handle the craziness of the holidays on top of their already crazy business responsibilities. What are their top tips and ideas for making the holiday season more manageable? They had so many great thing to share, we are having to split it up over a few days to share all the goodness! Don't miss the other posts in this series!

holiday hacks for the busy female entrepreneur

STEPHANIE DAVID of POPNOD shares...

The holidays can be a crazy, unapologetically stressful time, especially if you are a consumer-facing business. The pressure to ride the holiday marketing wave, fulfill orders or client requests, and double-down on social media can be all too consuming. On top of that, the holidays are a time to anticipate a new year and new beginnings, to commit to a whole new set of resolutions and goals. What did I not accomplish this year? What financial goals did I miss? What project did I not get to do this year? A year ago I, too, fell into the trap of critical self-assessment and felt overwhelmed.

Tip #1: Call a Time-Out

No matter how crazy the holidays become for you, call a time-out from your business. This means shutting down your computer, stepping away from social media, and putting aside your emails for later. No compromising. I recommend at least three days if you can. I stepped away from my business for a week. What did this do for me? It helped clear my head, reset myself, and shift my perspective on things that weighed me down. I also gained the focus that I needed for Tip #2.

Tip #2: Celebrate Your Successes

Not only should you set your goals for the New Year, but also celebrate your successes from the past year. We so often focus on what we failed to do, rather than what we did do. When I intentionally took some time to reflect on all that I had accomplished and what I truly enjoyed doing, I surprised myself! I had forgotten about what my team had done 10 or 11 months ago, but all those little wins were critical to the journey that brought us here. Take an inventory of all your successes and all that you loved doing, because no matter how big or small, they are worth celebrating.

Tip #3: Do More of Them

Take your successes and what you truly enjoyed doing, and do more of them next year! Revisit your vision, set some stretch goals, and sprinkle in opportunities for personal growth, and you have the foundation for your New Year planning. When you’re not planning from scratch, rather building upon what you learned from past experiences, you will feel confident about having a purpose-driven plan that is attainable. Come next year, you’ll want to celebrate more successes!

Stephanie David is the founder of POPNOD (popnod.com), a marketing studio that champions brands with purpose. Through creative campaigns and marketing strategies, POPNOD exists to help the stories that matter be heard. Stephanie’s background in business development in Fortune 500 corporations such as Microsoft, along with her love of stories and travel, and a little bit of serendipity, led her to finding her passion in 2013.

Website: https://popnod.com / Instagram: @popnodshop / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/popnodapp