There is that word again. People are jittery and business may be down for you. But if you have more time on your hands, this can be a valuable thing. 

A client emailed me to say that she is proud she has not discounted herself even though her business is down. Since she had recently raised her fees, she is not hurting as badly as she would have been. She may hold on raising her fees again, though. But she does have more holes in her schedule. Here is what she wrote me:

I am focusing instead on using those gaping holes in my calendar to learn new skills and get my office de-cluttered and re-organized to energize my physical space for “incoming money”.  These new skills will let me be ready when new clients ask for those things.  I’m taking more short walks and working in my garden more to fuel my body and spirit so I’ll be physically and mentally refreshed when business does pick up again! 

 

This is the right attitude to have and I simply couldn’t have said it better myself. When I have downtime, I go to my “back burner” list. I catch up on blogging (like right now!). I recently updated my bio on my website when I had some client cancellations, and I spend time networking when my days are freer. When I am very busy, it’s difficult to find time to connect with people. So how can you best take advantage of your own “down time” and use it to propel your business forward? What have you been putting off doing due to lack of time???