By now, busy salons are bracing for the holiday rush. Thanksgiving. Hanukkah. Christmas. Are you ready?

This isn’t only your busiest season, it’s also the end of the year. It can make or break your earning goals. Will you finish off 2016 with a bang? Will your books be full for January and February of next year?

I love this time year. It forces us to be on top of our game. To be organized. To be ready. To have our days planned. To keep our communications clear with fellow team members and our customers. To know our limitations.

Let’s not forget what the real reason of the holidays is: to spend time with your family and friends. Sure, we want to be there for our customers but not at the expense of our family and close friends.

Back at the height of my mobile grooming business, I lost sight of this. I, along with most of my team, were booked the gills. I often joked if my clients didn’t tip me in cookies and nuts, I would’ve forgotten to eat altogether during this time of year.

My work day would typically start at 5 o’clock in the morning. It would start by preparing all the client’s holiday gift bags for my team of stylists.  By 8 o’clock in the morning I was at my first stop. I would typically groom seven, eight, or even nine dogs a day in my mobile unit. This was before the age of generators. With each stop, I had to plug in. What a pain! Those chords were long, heavy, and cold on your hands! Running out of water was a real concern, too. After all, it was Michigan. The temperatures were plummeting below the freezing zone. Many times I would not get back to base until well after 9 o’clock at night. By the time December 24 rolled around I was so exhausted all I could do was fall into bed. One year I totally missed all Christmas Eve activities as well as most of Christmas morning.

That was the year I came to my senses. I love to be busy. I also love to take care my customers. But I had pushed myself too hard. I learned that year how take control of my schedule, to create a plan, and how to use the word “No.”

Here are the few of the things I did to reclaim my sanity so I could enjoy the holiday season with my friends and family.

1. Blocked out time for myself. Long before the holidays arrived, I blocked out times for myself and family events. Holiday parties. Holiday shopping. I made sure I had enough me time scheduled so that I could be at the top of my game for both my customers and my family.

2. Maintained a healthy diet. Seriously – we cannot survive on cookies alone – although I have tried! After a long day standing at a grooming table – who wants to spend time cooking! Long before the holidays hit, I would prepare healthy dinners and freeze them in individual portions. I learned my crockpot was my friend. For breakfast and lunches, I made sure I had plenty of healthy items that I could just grab. Cut up fruits and vegetables. Lean proteins. Water. Today, with Pinterest – there are plenty of ideas of how to put this together. And when all else failed, a collection of my favorite restaurants I could call for takeout as I drove back to base.

3. Stockpiled supplies. As we went into the holiday season, I made sure that we were well stocked. Shampoo. Conditioner. Specialty shampoos. Paper towel. Laundry soap. Cotton balls. Quick stop. Kool Lube. We were very proactive with our ordering activities to ensure we had everything we needed and would not run out.

4. Maintained my mobile unit/salon. The last thing any of us need is a hiccup with our equipment during our peak season. With our vans, I made sure everything was serviced prior to the onslaught of the holiday season. Oil changes. Brake jobs. Maintenance to the interior workings of the units. Replaced old or tired equipment. I carried this pre-maintenance over to my salon, as well.

5. Premade bows. I am a bow girl. I love their creativity and the sparkle they add to the finished grooming job. It’s like icing on the cake. During the holiday season, our most festive bows were all premade. Glitter bows. Sparkle bows. Pom-pom bows. Tulle bows. Beaded bows. Ribbon insert bows.  I hated taking the time to make them on-the-fly. All our special holiday bows were made well in advance. I would choose the bows myself based on what I saw in the client’s home or I would let the client select their own bows in the salons.

6. Focus. Focus. Focus. When grooming, I used every speed trick in the book. Prepping. Bathing. Drying. Trimming. Wherever I was, in an instant, I could see a clock. I paid attention to minutes – not hours. I would set mental time goals on every single step of the grooming process and fight to stick to them.

7. List keeper. I love lists. Once it’s on paper I can get it out of my mind. My lists allow me to remember the finer details and stay on track. There’s great gratification in crossing things off a list. When it comes to holidays, I have master lists for everything. Shopping lists. Cleaning lists. Gift giving list. To do lists. Decorating lists. If it is something you must think about each year, consider building a master list for the task. I have a folder on my computer called organizational templates. I store all my master lists in that single spot.

8. Took care of my best customers first. I started pre-booking my most regular customers starting in September. I would start with my weekly and biweekly customers. Once they had their appointments locked in, then I would move to the three-week and four-week clients. I would finish off the pre-booking with my five and six-week clients. Typically, by that point, there was very few openings left in my schedule.

9. Pre-booked appointments. Traditionally, January and February in the northern climates can be somewhat slow for most grooming salons. Pre-booking is so important this time a year. By taking advantage of the high traffic in November and December, it’s easy to pre-book January and February 2017. Smart pre-booking can increase your income without adding a single new client.

10. Took the week off between Christmas and New Year’s. For my businesses, which are strictly grooming-related, I always reserved that week to regroup. To rest. To allow myself some “me” time. Some years the entire team would take the week off. Other years we would take a more relaxed approach to work by not grooming any pets. After all, most of your clients have already been groomed. We would take that time to address special projects needing to be done in the business.  Deep clean. Paint. Replace worn and tired equipment. By the time January 2 rolled around, we were all refreshed and ready to begin a new year.

At one point my life, I dreaded the holiday season. The demands of my grooming services and my time made it so that I couldn’t enjoy this time of year. Once I reclaimed my time – my life – the holidays once again became that special time of year.

With a little forethought, you can set the stage. You will be able to generate the maximum amount of income from your busiest time of the year without losing your sanity.