“Sick” and “Solopreneur” Don’t Mix: Tips for Working Smart During Cold and Flu Season

Despite our best efforts to take care of ourselves and stay healthy, germs sometimes get their way. Tis the season for colds and the flu, ailments solopreneurs don’t have time for. Getting hit with “a bug” does more than just make you feel lousy, it could also…

• knock  your productivity down a few notches.
• keep you from attending meetings and networking events (and if you do attend you won’t be putting your best foot forward).
• make the quality of your work suffer temporarily.
• put you behind schedule and hinder you from reaching your short-term revenue goals.

I feel a little ill just thinking about all that!

Nobody likes the thought of getting sick, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take some proactive measures to prepare for the worst. While most clients will understand and be sensitive to your predicament, you’ll need to find a way to fulfill your commitments to them in a timely way.

Tips for Staying on Track when You’re Sick:

• Don’t overload your project schedule.
  Especially during cold and flu season, give yourself some wiggle room. Purposefully schedule windows of open time so if you get behind, you’ll have time slots available to do catch up work. Even one or two half-hour windows each day can help save you from a major backlog.

• Do your “no brainer” tasks when you’re down for the count.
  Although you might not feel up to creative work or heavy-duty number crunching, try to accomplish some essential, but rather mindless must dos while you’re waiting for your mojo to return. Log your business mileage, organize receipts, update your website portfolio…whatever you can do effectively in your under-the-weather condition.

Of course, the very best way to keep up with your business responsibilities is to take care of yourself so you’re better able to fight off whatever viruses make the rounds this season. You know how it’s done! Get enough sleep each night, eat the right stuff, take your vitamins, drink a lot of water, exercise, wash your hands often…I know, “blah, blah, blah.” But it’s important. As a solopreneur, your business depends on you. So, put some thought into how you’ll manage your work if you get hit by the cold and flu bus, but better still, do what you can to not get run over in the first place!

How do you keep from falling behind on your work when you’re feeling under the weather? 

By Dawn Mentzer