Are You Ready for "Dead Week"?

If you're friends with me on Facebook, you know that I have many nieces and nephews. So today's blog post references a topic that was discussed quite heavily over the past few weeks among my high school-aged nieces.

If you remember back to high school -- and college -- you'll remember that the week before Finals was referred to as "dead week." That was the week when teachers were supposed to "lighten the load," allowing students to cram in extra studying for the upcoming semester-ending tests, rather than focusing on daily homework assignments or short projects.

Taking the cue from school, then, I want to extend an invitation (challenge?) to resume writers as we approach what is often the busiest month of the year for us. (In the Resume Writers' Digest Annual Industry Survey, January consistently ranked as the top choice for busiest month for resume writers.)

Before January 1 rolls around, why not take the week leading up to the New Year and focus on preparing your business for your best year yet? From Christmas until New Year's Day is often a slow time for resume writers -- either because you've intentionally closed your business, or because prospective clients are focused on their own families and festivities.

Here are three possible projects for you to focus on during this time:

1. Create an irresistible opt-in. 
One of the best ways to attract prospects, turn browsers into buyers, and/or thank clients is to give them valuable content that will help them in their job search. That can be an ebook or special report, video or teleseminar recording or even a short course. Creating your opt-in can take as little as an hour, if you start with Pass-Along Materials content.

Some of my favorites for creating opt-ins:
Jobseeker's Guide to Salary Negotiation
Jobseeker's Guide to Leaving Your Job
Brag About It! Accomplishments Guide (see how this was turned into a Kindle book)
Jobseeker's Guide to Virtual Interviews
Your 2014 Career Roadmap

Watch this video to see how easy it is!



2. Launch that membership site you've been thinking about. 
Whether you've been thinking about a micro-continuity site (small monthly fee with ongoing resources), a fixed-term membership site (defined content that runs for a specific time period), or a recurring membership program, now's the time to get it going.

If you're thinking about a micro-continuity site, I recommend getting Kelly McCausey's "Little Monthly Payments" training program. She teaches you how to create a membership site that can generate several hundred (or thousand) dollars a month from subscriptions as low as $5/member per month. (Buy through my affiliate link and send me an email to get my "Membership Site Ideas for Resume Writers" special report as a bonus!)

It's easy to set up a membership site using Wild Apricot. It's what I use for BeAResumeWriter.com, and it offers WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) setup, with no programming skills required. Try it for 30 days for free using my affiliate link. (And let me know if you have any questions! I'm happy to help!)

3. Schedule your social media. 
Social media sites -- like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn -- can be a great way to cultivate prospective clients. But it can be tough to find the time to create content to post on social media when you're busy serving clients. I suggest pre-scheduling your content using a site like Hootsuite (free for up to 3 social media accounts) -- with or without the help of a virtual assistant.

Looking for ready-to-go social media content? Purchase my "Tweetable Tips" bundle, which includes "Job Search Advice: 365+ Ready-To-Go Tweets and Facebook Posts," "Career Checklists: 100 Tips for Success In Your Job Search" and "Positive Encouragement for Jobseekers."

Available for a limited time at the sale price of $17 (regularly $27; a $60 value), this bundle offers enough social media content for a full year.

You know what they say: "If you want something done, give it to a busy person." With that in mind, although I know you've got a lot to do holiday-wise in the next nine days, I'd still urge you to see if you can cross one of these three tasks off your list before the new year rolls around. Share a comment below if you'll take the challenge!