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The AOI Holiday Files! - Part 2 - 10 Steps to Prepare Your Business for the New Year Episode 34
75 Plays1 year ago
Today, Beth and Ayla talked about end of the year responsibilities as business owners. For a lot of the creative business owners out there, it can be easy to finish up your last project, your last gallery, and then to just go right into vacation mode until January. While we are BIG believers in taking this time of year to rest and reset, the fact still remains, that there's a feeeeew more tasks that need your attention as the New Year approaches. We developed a list of 10 things to do to set your 2024 up for success, and even wrote it down for you as a freebie! Just head over to our instagram, hit the link in our bio, click "download our New Year’s Prep Guide PDF" and it's yours! We can't wait to see you over there.
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Transcript
Introduction to Art of Intention Holiday Series
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to the Art of Intention Holiday Series. This December, we'll be sharing all things Christmas as we prioritize taking the holiday season to rejuvenate and spend time with loved ones. We hope you do the same.
00:00:22
Speaker
All right, everyone. Hello, hello, and welcome to our second installment of the Art of Intention Holiday Files, the Bethanyla Christmas Extravaganza, whatever you want to call it. Welcome.
00:00:34
Speaker
So last week we did a super fun, a super cozy episode where we chatted about our most favorite, most nostalgic holiday traditions and we read traditions from our listeners. So if you missed last week, you'll definitely want to go catch up on that.
Preparing Businesses for the New Year
00:00:47
Speaker
This week, we wanted to quickly hop back into business mode and talk about 10 ways you can start preparing your business for the new year. Right now is a great time to sit back and look at your last year in business and take action for next year. That's actually right around the corner.
00:01:01
Speaker
So if you're starting to prepare your business for another great year, definitely keep listening.
Lightroom Classic Update Issues
00:01:07
Speaker
Okay. Real quick, before we hop into the episode, I have a quick little community news update. It's an update from some news I shared a couple of weeks back, probably about a month or so ago now times hard, but a little while ago, you might remember me sharing about a recent Lightroom classic update that was implemented. It's version 13 and 0.01 something.
00:01:28
Speaker
Everyone will know the update I'm talking about because it notoriously slowed down Lightroom Classic for everybody. I heard not very many good things about this update. All of the new things that they implemented that were supposed to be so cool. I've heard nobody really using those. All I've heard is just bugs and slowdowns and file sharing problems.
00:01:49
Speaker
specifically just random file sharing error messages that have never popped up before for people who've exchanged catalogs the exact same way for years. That happened to me with one client and it was so stressful because I was like, how do I troubleshoot this? What could this be? We figured it out, but just new problems. Then I especially noticed a new slowness when toggling between photos. Anyway, if you were there, you'll remember I'm also here to
00:02:15
Speaker
report that Adobe has since made it a new update for Lightroom Classic and it was a bug fix update, which is great news. I've been keeping an eye out for that for weeks and it automatically applied to my Lightroom. So it's not like a whole new version where you have to like change every catalog that comes in after that. It's just a quick little bug fix. And so far I have found it pretty helpful.
00:02:37
Speaker
I'm finding there's certain clients I work for where I do quite a bit of masking, brushing, and for those ones, there is still a bit of a delay, which is kind of understandable. That can happen anyway. But it has made my normal catalogs run a little bit smoother. It's still, in my opinion, not as 100% perfect as it was before the update, but it helped. So if you have fallen victim to the Lightning version 13, the Lightning Classic version update,
00:03:05
Speaker
Go ahead and check your Creative Cloud now. There should be a bug fix update if it hasn't already automatically installed. And I think you guys will find that'll help out a bit. I'm still hoping things polish up a bit more, but it has eased me a little bit. So go look for that if you haven't yet. Yeah, definitely. Good news there.
00:03:22
Speaker
All right.
New Year Preparation During Holiday Slowdown
00:03:23
Speaker
Another week, another holiday episode. Well, I think we're definitely all slowing down and taking in the holiday season. We did want to include at least one business centered episode with some practical applications for us. Um, as I think that's a huge reason a lot of you actually tune into the show. Uh, we get amazing feedback on our business content. So today that's what we're doing.
00:03:45
Speaker
Yeah, so like you all heard today, we are sharing 10 things that you can start doing to prep your business for the new year. In my first year of photo editing, I was scrambling on the last few days of my holiday break. It was the Wild West back then. I just suddenly realized there was kind of a lot to do.
00:04:01
Speaker
to prepare for commencing my second year in business and I learned a lot about end of year work in prep and now these days just for life I personally always take about two weeks off for the holiday season but out of those two weeks I take a couple days around two to three to do some back-end work for the business and prepare for the new year and it's not so much like I spend my holiday working but it's like I need two to three dedicated days to not have catalogs
00:04:27
Speaker
to not have any client calls, to not be doing the rest of my daily work, but specifically prepare for the new year. And I've been able to zone in on that the last couple of years, which has been really helpful. And that's helped me start the new year off a little bit stronger. So yeah, we'll be diving into some of the tips and tricks I do. Beth, I'm sure you have lots to share.
00:04:46
Speaker
on it too. Yeah, exactly. I think it can be easy, especially for those in the photography and photo editing world to wrap up their last job after a busy season, you know, wrap up their last project and then just be done for the year. And while we definitely understand the eagerness and the importance also of resting during this time and caring for yourself, spending time with loved ones, all things that we totally encourage you to do. It's also important to note that there's definitely things on the back end that need to be taken care of.
00:05:13
Speaker
before signing off for the holidays or even just during your break, like Ayla said, just a couple of days. And it might sound intimidating, but we hope our little breakdown today can help you create a list, tackle it one by one. And the great thing is you can help set up your whole next year in business for success just by taking a few days right now to prepare.
00:05:32
Speaker
Yeah, it really is that simple. It's just a few days, a few hours of your time that can change the course the whole year. Cause then you're not going into it scrambled. You're ready. You have a plan. And like Beth said, it's easy.
00:05:44
Speaker
for us, especially as creatives to kind of like, yeah, wrap up the last thing and be done. I'm kind of guilty of this. Like 90% of the year, I would say I'm pretty motivated to like get done what I need to get done. Like you don't really have to tell me like, Hey, it's time for you to go to work. I'll be there. You actually have to tell me like, yeah, it's done and to like close the computer and be done. Right. But around this time, after I've gotten through a busy season, especially this one, it was just so intense.
00:06:08
Speaker
that it's super easy for me when I have a spare day where I'm at home and it would normally be a work day and I'm caught up on galleries. It's easy for me to be like, okay, I'm going to stay in bed or, you know, I'm going to go and doing other errands is all good and productive, but I'll go, I'll kind of go for like fully lazy because I haven't gotten to do that in so many months. And there is a sense of like using that time to decompress from busy season and yeah, take a lazy day, take a day off totally.
00:06:31
Speaker
But it is easy for me to just pretend like there's nothing else to be done. And that's not quite the case. There's definitely still a few little things to take care of. So with that, this is our guide of 10 ways you can begin preparing.
00:06:45
Speaker
your 2024 year for success.
Client Gifts and Holiday Sales
00:06:47
Speaker
I roughly wrote these kind of in order. So from start to finish, but of course, whatever works best for you, you can take this, however it works best for you and your business and your household. And I also listed most of these things kind of happening in December, but of course some projects should be started in November. Some will carry into January. You guys get it. So let's jump into it.
00:07:09
Speaker
All right. Number one on the docket. This is definitely, this one's big for photo editors and Bethel. I'll ask you in a minute if this applies to you too, but I'd say, let's see, this episode is going to be on December 12th. So definitely if you haven't started this yet, I'd recommend getting it done and off your plate now. And that's client gifts.
00:07:27
Speaker
So kind of talking to photo editors here, I think it's a really good idea to prepare a little something, something for your clients at the end of the year, a little thank you for just them supporting your business throughout the year. If they're an amazing client, which I'm sure they are, you definitely, it's a good idea to give back and just show that you appreciate them. And honestly, it's a good business strategy too. Lots of businesses will do things like client gifts to show appreciation.
00:07:52
Speaker
I usually try to have my client gifts done and out the door before December 10th, especially if you're mailing client gifts places. I'm mailing pretty much everything from Canada to the US, so that signs me up for a couple weeks of shipping time. So I just try to take all of that into account so that everyone's getting their little goodies before Christmas. Not the end of the world if you pass Christmas, but you know.
00:08:15
Speaker
Everyone likes to have their gifts on or beforehand. And I could probably make a whole other section about ideas for client gifts. And I'm going to keep mine a secret for now because they're in shipment now. So I wouldn't want to say what my clients are about to get and spoil it. But I usually just do a few little things, a little something sweet. In the past, I've done a couple little Canadian things. I made some maple popcorn once and did little baggies.
00:08:42
Speaker
And I put a chocolate loony in there. A loony's our dollar coin and you could buy like chocolate dollar coins or loony's as we call them. So I put like one of those in there. So just, and then usually a little card or letter. So, um, and something handmade. So mine take quite a bit of time to like put together and send out. Some people do something as simple as Starbucks gift cards. And I think that's a great and effective gift too. So.
00:09:04
Speaker
just decide if that's something you're going to be doing for your business. And I'd get that role in as early as you can in December. But Beth, not to be on this topic for too long, but would that apply to photographers at all? It's a different client relationship. So I'm wondering if you do something like that.
00:09:19
Speaker
Yeah. Well, first of all, I love that. I think it's awesome, but it's doesn't apply. I don't think as much to photographers because like you said, it's a different relationship. Like you work with your editors for, or with your photographers for years as an editor. You know, you guys are, you have a really close, you know, business relationship, you know, but you also start to maybe become friends with them. Um, for photographers, the closest thing I've ever heard to that is like, sometimes photographers will send out like a little, um, a little like newsletter or something, but yeah, or a little postcard or something, but not, not so common with us.
00:09:49
Speaker
All right, for sure. So photographers, you're lucky you can skip this step. But photo editors, if you haven't already, start thinking about client gifts. All right, what's number two? All right, number two. Oh, but I will say photographers, if you want to do that, I mean, by all means, that'd be awesome. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. We won't tell you what to do.
00:10:06
Speaker
You know where I could see that actually. Okay. And if you're a photographer listening to this, I'm about to give you a million dollar idea.
End-of-Year Social Media and Tax Preparation
00:10:11
Speaker
You could do that for businesses that you've worked with. I feel like small business because that's often a different relationship. Like if I work for a brand, for example, or like if I go and work for like, I photograph something for Marriott, the hotel chain, and I'm working with like one of their upper management people.
00:10:27
Speaker
there's often a lot of like gifts they give me throughout the process. So during the holidays, sending them like a nice little something is, you know, although you have to be careful. Here's the thing also with photographers, you have to be careful that you're not going to do anything that puts them in the position of looking like they were bribed. So that's why it's, it's kind of a balance. But if you can find that balance there, if you know what I'm talking about, that is a, that would be a time where it'd be kind of cool. Or if you're working with small businesses, like a small local business, giving them a little holiday gift would be fun. I'm sure they would enjoy that as well.
00:10:57
Speaker
Totally. Maybe if you're often paired up like similar vendors over time, if you're working events together all the time, that might be, you know, that's a great idea. Good. Cool.
00:11:06
Speaker
Yep. Vendor, vendor Christmas gifts would be great too. Yeah. And if you always work with a certain videographer or certain caterer or certain planner, dude, we're whipping out good ideas left and right today. Okay. Love it. Okay. All right. Number two, you asked. Sorry. Uh, number two, uh, would be decide if you want to hold any kind of Christmas sale or giveaway. This definitely applies to both photographers and editors. I would think.
00:11:31
Speaker
But photographers, as you know, this might be something that you think of more starting in November or, you know, uh, earlier, but even now you could still do like a Christmas mini session sale, something like that. Or if you want to do just a giveaway for the holidays, you know, 12 days of Christmas giveaway, stuff like that. There's still time for that. Yeah, exactly. There's still time for all that. You could do a new year's giveaway, but definitely this is the time to start thinking about that busy season is hopefully wrapped up for you. So it's you, you know, you can have time to do a little something like that.
00:12:00
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I have dreams of doing something like that. I've never, I've done sales before, but I've never done like, I still haven't done a giveaway for my business and I'm always kind of brainstorming on what would look good. Yeah. So this year, probably not quite, at least not in the next few weeks, but it does get me thinking for later in the year, what's something I can do.
00:12:21
Speaker
All right, number three is content creation prep. Now, I will be honest right now and say, I'm not very good at this. I haven't done it so far this season, so do as I say and not as I do. Don't go look at my Instagram and look at the last time I posted because-
00:12:40
Speaker
We'll actually get to this later on talking about the new year and goals and resolutions, but I'd like to be better about my content creation, so I will be getting there. But early December is a good time to prep some of your online presence because if you're like us and you are planning on taking time off on the holiday, it's a good idea
00:12:59
Speaker
to do so but to not disappear from your platform, especially as a photographer. I feel like us photo editors, we can kind of get away with less consistent posting if we are not actively marketing and searching for clients because it is that more long-term relationship. Now, I don't think you should disappear from socials, but I'm saying we're not always in marketing mode. But photographers, it's all about you constantly showing up, constantly showing up in someone's feet and constantly being there.
00:13:25
Speaker
How does your content change from Christmas to springtime to this? So it's a good idea early in December when your photography season slows down to maybe take that time and just prep some content you can share through the holidays. Do you have an Amazon storefront? What do you do for the holidays? You know, whatever reels or posts look like for you, prep them ahead of time so then you can schedule them and release them over your holiday and then you won't really disappear.
00:13:49
Speaker
Um, I'm actually, I am hoping to get on a little bit of that before I fully dip out of office. And it's just a nice way to stay consistent, but also take your holiday season easy. So we're still, I would say in early to mid December and it's still good time to prep. Honestly, even just three to four reels to put out over your holiday, just to keep your presence going.
00:14:08
Speaker
I love that. Yep, exactly. As I like to say, you should take a break, but your social media shouldn't to be honest. Yeah. Okay. So let's see. Let's move on with a number four. So this might sound a little painful, a little scary, but we've also mentioned it before. Finalize any bigger purchases. This is for tax reasons. If you go back and listen to one of our really early on episodes, actually, um, yeah.
00:14:31
Speaker
Yeah, attack season episode. We actually interviewed an accountant on that one. Spoiler. My husband, um, chat in the house. Exactly. But anyways, we got lots of good small business tips from him. And one of those was to finalize any bigger purchases. If there's a lens you've been like dying to buy, if you're an editor, if there's an editing program, or if there's any piece of, you know, like maybe a new laptop you've been wanting to get,
00:14:54
Speaker
whatever it is, if you can do that before the year ends, that's gonna help you out to get to pay a little bit less in taxes when the next tax season comes around. So in a few months from now. Yeah, it's totally no pressure if it's not the right timing. Spoiler alert, well, not spoiler, sneak peek, some news. I am upgrading my editing setup this year, so I will be switching to a desktop. I'm super excited about it. I still need to, yeah, and I still need to like actually
00:15:23
Speaker
I'm going to be making payments so it doesn't really matter, but I do still want to initially make the purchase this year. And it's just like Beth said, any bigger purchases can help make this year your 2023 taxes. Obviously that's a write off and that write off will apply to this year. So when you go right into your taxes in a couple of months, you'll have that write off. And I learned this at the very beginning of this year, I made huge purchases for my business in January. I purchased like a desk, a desk chair, like I fully purchased an office set up.
00:15:51
Speaker
which was great, but then it's like, I won't see any of those write offs until a couple months from now. So anyway, it's, it's not a thing. It's not too big of a deal, but again, you just set yourself up for an easier start to the year. If you get rid of all your bigger business purchases before the year ends. Exactly. And that's why we wanted to be talking about this in the episode now. We don't want you to wait to be thinking about this kind of prep after the holidays. Think about it now.
00:16:15
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. And with that, the second tax related one and number five on our list is to kind of start, and I hate this, but start gathering information for taxes. So start finding all those little receipts or hopefully you have a good storage system throughout the year. But in my spare time, because my season has slowed down, I will start getting all my bank statements for the year, getting
00:16:39
Speaker
You know, internet bills, all those things that I'm going to be needing. Of course you can't fully file quite yet. Like there's still some things in December that will apply, but just doing a little bit of gathering here and there can make tax season. When it comes up, you'll already be a little bit ready for it. So it's a good idea to just start at least being aware of where all that stuff is and getting it together. If maybe you haven't organized it throughout the year, now's a good time to kind of start.
00:17:03
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Now's a good time to start for the rest of your life. Start keeping it organized as you go, but of course life gets crazy, and if your stuff's kind of everywhere, now's a good time to start gathering it, basically.
00:17:13
Speaker
Exactly, and if you need a refresher on any of that, remember our tax episode, you can go listen and we lay out so many tips for you for that and everything you'll need to know. Okay, let's move on a little bit as well to another one.
Business Goals and Resolutions for the New Year
00:17:25
Speaker
This one is a good one to start doing right now. Decide if you're gonna raise your prices, begin notifying your current clients of that, update your website for that, update your pricing guide, develop your new packages. Go ahead and start doing that now.
00:17:40
Speaker
because if you do have anybody who wants to inquire over the holidays or early next year, you're going to want people to know what your new pricing is. So you don't want to be scrambling as new inquiries are coming in in January. You don't want to be scrambling to go, actually, wait, I have new pricing in my head, but I haven't gotten it out in the pricing guide yet. So right now is the perfect time to do that.
00:17:59
Speaker
I was just going to touch on this one a little bit and say I always, because so far every year I have raised my prices each new year in business. I actually have it on my contract that my clients are contracted per year and they re-sign my contract per year, which gives me the freedom to be able to do that. I actually just write up and send a little end of year news, kind of like you were saying Beth, like a newsletter email.
00:18:22
Speaker
my clients. This has my updated pricing office hours because I've changed my hours around. They're not set in stone, but it's generally, here are good times to contact me, all of that good stuff. Then this is a very unique situation just to me, but because most of my clients are based in the US,
00:18:40
Speaker
If I do change my prices, I actually have a little chart that I make every year with conversion so that they know, because it can look like, because I operate in Canadian dollar, it can look like you're paying a lot. Like right now, I think my rate's 37 cents an image for basic edits. I would have to jump over and convert, but that's something like 32 cents US. So if I change my prices,
00:19:01
Speaker
to 40 cents an image and they think they're paying 32 to 40 cents. That's going to be a crazy price increase, but it's not just conversion. Anyway, I just think ahead of little things like that to eliminate confusion and send all of that out in an email. And I write up this email during my holiday break and I send it out when I'm back in office, usually January 4th or 5th. And it's just a little end of your news. And then any questions people have, it should all be in there, but that's where I update my pricing, pricing guide. And of course,
00:19:30
Speaker
This might sound obvious, but you'll have to go through everywhere. Your prices are listed, your Facebook, Instagram, your pricing guide, your website everywhere. So that, you know, you don't run into a conundrum later where you've got the wrong price somewhere. I'd say changing your prices in and of itself is a whole day. I would even brought it down bad.
00:19:50
Speaker
Yeah, I would even say, I think for me, it's like two days because I have a lot of, I have a whole pricing packet that I sent. It's for family sessions, it's different, weddings, it's different, you know, all that couples is different. So just be aware if you're an editor, listen to the timeline, Ayla's telling you, and if you're a photographer, listen to this timeline, you know, and just kind of think also for me, I think for photographers, like you said, you send your newsletter out around January, I would encourage photographers to get this information out before the end of December.
00:20:20
Speaker
Yeah. Good call. Good call. Okay. Yeah. I'll do the next one. And this is to start thinking about, I guess resolutions, but resolutions can mean a lot of things. We don't mean like eat healthy and lose weight. I'm talking about goals and resolutions for your business. What is something maybe that didn't work so well in 2023 that you want to change in 2024?
00:20:42
Speaker
now is a great time because let's be honest not only does it happen to go along with the new year but we are as photographers and editors entering our slower seasons and actually this is a slow season for businesses kind of across the board restaurants, boutiques, good stores, malls like everywhere is going to slow in January so for businesses everywhere it's a good time
00:21:03
Speaker
This is why people look back on their previous year and what they want to change. It's just a good time to be doing it. So set next year's business goals, create a vision board, create, this was actually best idea, but pulse on your Instagram, ask the people who engage with you and follow you what they want to see more of what's something that maybe wasn't working for them. Just things like that. Really get some insight on your business and set specific goals on what you want to change. I've gone into every new year of business with either
00:21:31
Speaker
a change or something I want to do better. Last year, I spent the first half of the year doing just my business full time. And that was my main goal. And I got to learn a lot from doing that. And then my other goal, I think, was to not die so much in busy season. I was like, when busy season comes around, I don't want to drown. I like half accomplished that. I think I was more prepared for it, but it was still just the wave that I think it's always going to be. But anyway, learn what you didn't like about last year and find ways to improve it. And if last year was great,
00:22:00
Speaker
Great. How can you make it even better? And I would say almost set up like a physical kind of vision board and like, yeah. And this one's kind of a packed one, but start really thinking what's going to change. Are you going to rebrand? Are you making like a new slogan, a new motto? Do you need new photos taken? Anything new that's going for your business, start making that list that you're going to tackle throughout the whole next year. I suppose.
00:22:23
Speaker
Yeah. Love that. 10 out of 10. Okay. Let's see. Uh, I think number one, number eight now. So we know this can be hard. This is another one, but try to have all your galleries back before Christmas so that you don't have any link, any like lingering work during the holidays, during Christmas and new years. And now just a little caveat with this. I know that everyone runs their business differently. And if you did like last minute mini sessions or you did a December wedding, like obviously that might not be the case.
00:22:53
Speaker
But any of those ones that are kind of like piling up, it's really, it feels so good, you guys, to have every gallery out before Christmas. Like it is a different feeling. And for a lot of photographers, it's going to be a very foreign feeling to have absolutely zero sessions in the queue. It feels so good. You feel like a new person going into the next year. So if you can, I think that is just something that is a great thing to go for.
00:23:21
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Like we know everyone runs their businesses differently. Not telling you what you do, we're just saying it feels really great. And this kind of goes into my point for number nine, which is to rest. I don't know about you, but at this point in my business, I have to take at least a week off to enjoy Christmas and New Year's and I'll get into this.
Balancing Rest and Preparation During Holidays
00:23:40
Speaker
I know maybe not everybody has that luxury.
00:23:42
Speaker
But at this point, for me, it feels like a yearly reset that I need. Like at this point with how busy business has gotten and I'm thankful for it, I couldn't really imagine continuing to work through the holidays. Even if I took Christmas Eve and Christmas off and maybe New Year's, I couldn't imagine not having a break at this point. Because it's at this point if I didn't force the break to happen and let my clients know that I will be out of office,
00:24:08
Speaker
the work would likely keep coming or I would have stuff that lingers. And it's like, where is that break? Where do you take it? So my whole brain kind of resets, my house kind of resets during this time. And it feels like, okay, a new business. I have this new drive. I'm refreshed. The work feels new again. And like Beth said, that feeling is unmatched of having at least four or five days where you don't have anything in the queue
00:24:33
Speaker
you don't have inquiries coming in, it is so unmatched. Like literally, I just recommend this for your own happiness. But yeah, go out, like, if you can, take at least that time, like there's always a week between Christmas and New Year's, if you can, try to have that week completely off, go out on the town, walk around in the snow, get outside if you can, where you live, see your family and friends, go get breakfast with a friend and be away from your laptop.
00:24:59
Speaker
And with this, I understand this may look different for brick and mortar shops. Like I said, Beth and I obviously both run our businesses mostly online and it is very seasonal and we are picking our own hours. I understand if you run a boutique or a restaurant or a coffee shop, this might look different. I understand you can't just close for like a month, but I truly hope you as a business owner can find ways to pause during this time of year.
00:25:24
Speaker
Most business owners who run coffee shops that I've worked for in the past do set some kind of holiday time, whether that's three days or a week. They do set something because it's so necessary for everybody involved. So whatever it looks like for you, I just hope you're finding the time to take a pause this holiday season for sure.
00:25:41
Speaker
Whether or not you celebrate the holidays, it's just, it's winter time. Your body is meant to rest. Exactly. And I, that's so, that's such a good point. I love everything you said and it was making me think like, you know, if you don't prepare for this break, it's going to happen anyways. Like you'll still probably not work Christmas day. You'll still probably not work a couple of days because you're spending time with family.
00:26:03
Speaker
It will just be more chaos after because you didn't prepare and you'll be stressed throughout. So you're going to get a break anyways. It's just going to determine. Thank you. Yeah. No matter what, you're going to get the break, but it's just going to determine how you're going to feel during and after.
00:26:19
Speaker
That's what the preparation is. That's why you want to think, I'm going to take a break. Here's how I'm going to prepare for it. Like Ayla was just saying, really listen to everything Ayla was saying. It's so important. So yeah, just plan it out. It's very important. It's going to happen anyways. I promise there's going to be a few days around Christmas, around the holidays, you're not going to work. And it can either be really enjoyable because you set yourself up to enjoy it, or it's going to just be so stressful. And it's just going to feel like you set yourself back and you're more behind than when you start.
00:26:47
Speaker
Oh, okay. Guys, literally rewind a minute because that summed it up perfectly. So yeah, it was great. So we just have one more point after that.
00:26:57
Speaker
Yeah, there we go. We're wrapping up on our point. Okay, this one is just to take time to reset your home. I mean, come on, you guys. If you've heard our episodes, you know we're big proponents of this. Do a deep clean, purge old clothing items, donate items if you can. The holidays is a great time to look into that. If you don't normally do that, there's probably some extra donation things going on.
00:27:19
Speaker
Totally. Yeah, clean up holiday remnants post Christmas, get your home back into order to maybe tackle small projects that you've been procrastinating. That's just really a great way to get yourself started off on the right foot for the new year. We're big proponents of this. We say this for everything. If your mind's cluttered, clean your home, stuff like that.
00:27:39
Speaker
Yeah. I'm a big believer in Christmas cleaning, not just spring cleaning, but like not during Christmas. Obviously have your fun, you know, be merry. I am saying, um, and I actually have this listed as kind of like,
00:27:52
Speaker
December 26th and onward, like when Christmas is done, because you might have your decorations out, you've had parties, whatever. But I'm also saying like, for me, at least I noticed this huge buildup in the fall, busy months of just like crap around my household. And I become the worst at maintaining it. And my husband is such an angel. He takes over
00:28:11
Speaker
just so much of the daily cleaning that has to happen. But every year in business so far, I've noticed in Christmas when things finally slow down, I step back and notice stuff's dusty, my clothes are everywhere, there's unfolded clothes. And of course, something I wanna get better at in the future, but I think it's inevitable no matter how much you have your life together during busy season, your home might suffer a bit. So this might sound like maybe a silly list item, but I fully believe a full purge, deep clean,
00:28:39
Speaker
Get your house back in order. Get it like nobody lives here. Clean it just to go back into your new year in an organized space. And of course mess is going to happen again. But there really is something about like walking through your home and every room is put together to start yourself off. Right. Again, it's like a huge mental shift. And obviously you don't, don't just clean your home during the new year. You can clean it throughout your life. But I'm saying now is a good time to really just do a deep
00:29:05
Speaker
Clean reset and tackle any projects you've been you've been putting off Exactly and I would even I mean that's 100% agree with all of that. I will say I also do a Clean before Christmas just to enjoy them because that's just me though. I'm so like that totally Yeah, I get so like you were saying I'm the same way mess just kind of builds up during busy season I mean as clean as you want to be as clean as of a person you might be
00:29:30
Speaker
It's
Community Engagement and Holiday Experiences
00:29:31
Speaker
busy season stuff. It's gonna happen So I I do a little bit of a mini clean wind right before I decorate so I if I have a day to decorate Yeah, because I also try to usually have a decorating day or at least a half a day But I try to make it a day because I spend the first half cleaning and then the second half decorating So there's so many different ways to do it Definitely agree with anything you haven't cleaned before during the holidays to clean right after so you recent year
00:29:56
Speaker
And it's totally okay to ask for help. Ask if you're married or living with anybody. Hey, can we take a day and tackle this? If you're like Beth and I, if we lived in the same place, it would totally be, hey, do you want to go over to each other's houses and clean for the new year? Oh my gosh. That'd be a dream. Yeah. It's totally, totally a real one there.
00:30:13
Speaker
Um, here, maybe I'll just rapid fire, like read that list out again, just to kind of like condense it all. So number one, tackle client gifts. If you've decided to do that, number two, decide if you're having a Christmas sale or giveaway and make necessary preparations. Number three, prep your content creation. Number four, finalize any bigger purchases you want to make in 2023.
00:30:34
Speaker
Number five, start gathering little bits of information for taxes. Number six, decide if you're going to raise your prices and start changing that. Every road needs to be changed. Number seven, start thinking about 2024 goals and resolutions. Number eight, try your very best to have all your galleries and projects sealed, done, put away before Christmas. Number nine, rest and prepare well for your rest. And number 10, take time to reset your home.
00:31:00
Speaker
There it is. Woo-woo. That's perfect. Thank you for that recap. Actually, that is, I love summaries. I love summaries. We love a good summary. We do. And yeah, in case we went off track, there you go. There's the track. Exactly. All right. So I guess that is what we have for you today. We hope this helps you narrow down what's a priority during this time and as business slows down.
00:31:24
Speaker
And for this week's fun holiday freebie, as you'll remember, we're kind of starting to throw those in this month. Um, for this week, you can find our prep for the new year guide as a PDF on our Instagram. So if you hop to our Instagram right now, you can head to the link in our bio and select download our new year's prep guide PDF.
00:31:44
Speaker
And then you can have these tips for you and for your business wherever you are. You can obviously download it on your phone, computer, wherever it's the best for you. And we also recommend downloading today's episode wherever you listen, and then you can pull it back up if you need it. And if you missed last week's episode, first of all, we really do genuinely think you'll enjoy it. We tried to be really intentional about making that one fun. Check it out. It's all the cozy Christmas vibes. There's an atmosphere. We put our heart into it. So please go.
00:32:14
Speaker
You'll love it. You'll love it. And if you feel kind of like I have felt a little bit this year, you're like, where's the holiday spirit? I feel like it's not super Chris. Where's Christmas? I don't feel like it's Christmas right now. Go listen to that. We're going to remedy that post taste anyways, but we talked about our favorite Christmas movies. Sorry, go ahead.
00:32:33
Speaker
We talked about our favorite Christmas movies and I actually have a recommended Christmas movie marathon list for the whole month of December. You can also snag that through the link in our bio as well on Instagram like Ayla was saying.
00:32:45
Speaker
And with that, before we fully let you go for this week, if you caught last week, we started doing weekly Christmas polls on our story. We don't have one for every week this month, but we do have one this week. So we put out a poll a couple of days ago, just fun little Christmas Christians again, to get everyone into the zone. And we are sharing the results right here on the show. So with that, we did put out a poll a couple of days ago. We have the results and we're going to hop in and share what those were.
00:33:15
Speaker
Okay, so here we go. I'm going to read the first one and I will read the results. So the first question was, do you decorate the outside of your house? I was super curious about this one. It was actually spit a hundred percent 50 50 down the middle.
00:33:30
Speaker
Yeah, so I actually do not decorate the outside of my house. We didn't when I was a kid either. And I used to always tell myself, yeah, I used to always say when I'm an adult, I'm going to decorate the outside of my house so much. It's going to be the greatest thing ever. But I just haven't really gotten around to it. We don't really have a house, you know, apartment living. Right. So yeah, but when we do have a house, I plan to deck it out. What about you, Ayla?
00:33:53
Speaker
Yes, my family always decorated the outside. We did lights. We did for Halloween, too. We didn't do any blow-up things. We just did lights on the outside of our house. And then we did snowflakes in the windows, kind of stuff like that. And I'd love to do that again. It actually bums me out. I was planning on doing lights because we have a balcony in our apartment, but there's no outlet outside. No!
00:34:16
Speaker
I don't know I'm trying to figure out if I can just like run it through the door or something so I'll see but I at least want to do lights like in our windows because I love when something can shine down into the streets so yeah like as of right now we don't have anything on the outside but growing up yes we always did the outside of our house
00:34:34
Speaker
To be fair, quick point to be fair to my parents, cause probably a lot of work. They did string lights. I think most, if not every year, just on the balcony, but like I'm so, okay. Maybe I was wrong. If like that's, they did that, but that was like kind of the extent of outside house decorating. Like, I feel like there was some people who like decorate the outside of our house. We did lights, which was beautiful and fun, but, and we decorated the inside a lot, but the outside, not so much.
00:34:57
Speaker
Yeah, this might be a hot take. I dropped so many hot takes during these shows. I sound like such a Scrooge. I swear I like things. I don't like blow up decorations.
00:35:14
Speaker
Okay, I guess it depends there's a few if it I don't like a ton of them If you've got like a blow-up saying and stuff that can be cute something about the ones where there's so many like at least 20 things that blow up It just seems like so much
00:35:29
Speaker
to me I yeah I really like the houses that are decked out lights I like the little deer statues that are lights and like yard activities I think I like those um something about an excess of blow up stuff it was like crazy to me I guess I'm happy for you if you like Christmas that much but I don't think I'll ever be that household that has an excess of like things that inflate it seems like you like the more classy kind of like
00:35:55
Speaker
timeless, I don't know. It seems like the blow up ones might feel cheap too. Like they just kind of went and grabbed it and blew them up and haphazardly, like whatever. It feels like you like the more intentional, huh? Intentional and like, yeah, almost. I'm not going to say like luxurious, but the, cause that's the wrong word, but there's a word somewhere in there that gets my point across. Just the put together.
00:36:17
Speaker
Yeah, okay. No shade to you if you like it flavor. Yeah, I know. Things never, never any shade. Okay. The next question was gingerbread or sugar cookies. Yeah. Love this.
00:36:30
Speaker
And the results were definitely in favor for sugar cookies over gingerbread. And I voted the same way too. I'm not a big gingerbread eater. So for baking and decorating sugar cookie all the way for me. But Beth, what did you say? Oh, I said sugar cookies too. I don't really like gingerbread, actually. I don't like the flavor. Yeah. I don't like molasses. And I think that isn't that like a big thing that gives them their flavor? Yeah, no, thank you.
00:36:55
Speaker
I like the shape of gingerbread. I like a little gingerbread man, that's so cool. And I get that gingerbread houses are literally made out of gingerbread, but I don't like the taste of it.
00:37:04
Speaker
Yeah, like I'll make a gingerbread house and I'm like, great, anybody else can eat this? Okay. I didn't know that about you. Yeah, we're about the same. I will say that I work part time at a coffee shop and we do a gingerbread latte and that was so good. So I like that one. I don't know, like certain, I don't know. I'm getting more open to it, but growing up, if I was giving gingerbread cookies, I was like, bleh.
00:37:25
Speaker
You know, same. Okay, so this one was, do you have any ornaments from your childhood, like any that your parents have given you anything that you pass down? Do you have them? The majority said yes, and only a small percentage said no. Ayla, what do you I wonder what you Yeah, I do. And I love that. I think my parents said when when we were all like babies, and they were kind of newly wise, it was like, you don't have a lot of money. So instead of like,
00:37:52
Speaker
Christmas presents to us, because we were babies, we didn't care anyway, we all got an ornament. And I think I've heard this from a few families. Chris's family was similar, like he and his sister each get an ornament. So when I moved out to my mom, like the first Christmas I had moved out, I went home and helped my mom decorate her tree.
00:38:10
Speaker
And she gave me any ornaments that were mine. So any that I made or any that were like my presence growing up. And if I wanted them for her tree, I was like, no, you keep this one. I'll take this one. So I do have a handful of ones that I either made or that were given to me. Yeah.
00:38:25
Speaker
That makes a lot of sense. I put no simply because I don't have them with me. I think that I, well, I definitely know growing up, we had our specific ornaments, ones that like you said, I either made as a kid in school or ones that were gifts from grandparents or from parents. But, um, so we definitely had our own, like, you know, my siblings had special ornaments. I had special ornaments, but my mom just hasn't gotten around to giving them to us yet. If she's planning on doing that at all, it's her right. I mean, she's the parent. She, if those are her keepsakes, she gets to have them.
00:38:53
Speaker
because we also made the ornaments we made we made for them so I mean yeah but I think eventually she is gonna give them to us but Chad actually very similar to you Chad's mom it was so cool what they did mom and dad they got a new ornament every year for the boys they would go and pick out an ornament that I had to do with something they like loved that
00:39:14
Speaker
or just had to do with them and so it's just so cool to see and then she did gift a couple years ago a whole box of all Chad's ornaments like his 18 ornaments or whatever was 20 ornaments to us so and it was really cool because it did start our like ornament collection but yeah it's fun to see like the little ones that he picked out when he was like two versus the ones we had when he was 10 it's so fun so I love that but yeah there we go that was that one
00:39:35
Speaker
I love that and also yeah definitely guys if you hear this episode and it sparks something in you that you want to share with us definitely let us know on our Instagram because we just we love this kind of stuff. Okay the next one was do you go on vacation for Christmas or stay home for Christmas and the majority of you said you'd rather be home for Christmas which I kind of expected but a couple people did say they'd rather be on vacation so Beth what's what's yours?
00:40:04
Speaker
i actually said i'd rather be home and i know i'm a travel bug and i love going places but i'm i'm the same way yeah yeah okay okay that's so funny yeah i just like being home it feels right i think i feel like you run out into the world the rest of the year and the holidays is when i want to be home with family and friends absolutely no i'm the same
00:40:27
Speaker
think like for Christmas that I want to go to like skiing destinations and like I definitely think that'd be fun like if one year Chris and I decided to do that it would be fun but I'm the same way I feel like I'm just all over the place in the rest of life and actually building up to when I moved to Canada I was home every Christmas despite my travels and stuff I always got to be home for Christmas like my first year up here where like this is my home now but the first year you know it didn't always feel that way it was a little weird for me and I think in an ideal world
00:40:57
Speaker
Chris and I would always like, I don't know. Our initial plan when we first got to Canada was to go to my parents for Christmas. And we actually learned we like being in California for the summer. So now it's like, oh, we'll go there for summer. But we always go to his parents for Christmas, which is also home to me at that point. So we drive a couple hours to go to his parents. I suppose we travel, but that feels like home.
00:41:20
Speaker
It's like a family. I would call that home. When I put that poll question up for vacation or travel, I thought, like you said, vacation is like we went to a ski resort. We went out to Norway. We went to go do like an activity, like a literal vacation. You're not in children's home. Yes, you're like, or yeah, so we go vacation to Hawaii for Christmas. Exactly. Like you were literally not home or in anyone's home, you're on a vacation. So yeah, that makes sense. Like family. And I love that. I don't think I could imagine anything else. Yeah. Oh, that's so fun. I love that.
00:41:50
Speaker
Okay, so the next one was, if you get a real tree for Christmas, do you get it from the tree farm or do you cut it down yourself? The majority of people said they cut it down themselves, which is so cool. That surprised me. I was so surprised. So for me, I said that we don't get a real tree, so I didn't answer this one. And then Ayla, what did you say?
00:42:13
Speaker
We always went to a tree farm. Now, there were some tree farms where they let you cut it down, but I still count that as tree farm because like the trees are grown to look a certain way. Not to look a certain way, that's still a tree farm and that's always what we did. There's only been I think one year where we've gone and like cut it down with the proper like permits and stuff. But yeah, my family always did a tree farm and I think that's what I would keep doing. It was also hard where Beth and I grew up, you needed a permit.
00:42:42
Speaker
to let go cut it down a tree or else it was so illegal, so. Yeah, I will say if I were to answer that question, it was cut it down ourselves because that's what we did growing up. And then the only time Chad and I have gotten, well, Chad and I have gotten a real tree, I think twice, once we cut it down and once we bought it from a tree farm. So, I don't know. Either way. Yeah. Next up was, I loved this question, by the way, Beth. Congratulate Beth on the polls, you guys. Go inspect it.
00:43:11
Speaker
It was homemade Christmas cards or store bought and the majority of you said store bought for Christmas cards But it was really close. It was like 57 to 43 ish percent. So this one was close. But the close majority of you guys did say store bought
00:43:29
Speaker
and I actually always homemade Christmas cards. I'm pretty sure. Some years as a kid, I might have bought them with my mom. It kind of depended on what my mom did, but most of my memories are making Christmas cards, especially in college and as an adult. I love that. Yeah, I usually made them. I think because my sister always made them, and she is actually way craftier and more talented with that than I am. I'll do little paintings and make them into a card, but yeah, it's just like,
00:43:57
Speaker
a small thing that I like to do to make it personable. If I ever bought for my class or something going to school, I bought Christmas cards because it's too much work. At a certain point, yeah. Yeah, what about you? I actually put store bought. I think the majority of the time I do store buy cards. I actually enjoy the process of going out and picking out a card and it's nice because I tend to agonize over gifts.
00:44:20
Speaker
So by the time I've picked out a gift for somebody, it's like I just want to get a card and I don't have to make it. That's a little bit lazy on my part. I will say I do make Christmas cards. Oh, thank you. I do make Christmas cards probably most years for at least somebody because I know that like parents and grandparents prefer like sometimes prefer handmade ones, but I don't always get around to it. I tried for a couple of years to just fully do handmade cards like water painting card or is it water? I don't even know how to say it. Watercolor cards. Thank you.
00:44:49
Speaker
Water painting just throw some water on there But watercolor cards, but yeah, so it's just a mix but I'd say majority I store buy cards for like every occasion I will say in the last couple years I have gotten into buying store-bought but from like local businesses that store that source
00:45:07
Speaker
card companies like you know what I'm saying you know like there is like the dollar store cards and no shade on those whatsoever but like I only know this because my sister back home owns a flower shop and they source cards from like makers and they're just like a little more stylized a little more unique beautiful stuff and sometimes it is hand-painted stuff from other artists and I think it might be a little bit more expensive yeah like it might be a five dollar card instead of a 50 cent card but I love those like to wait a second first of all where are you finding 50 cent cards I'm sorry
00:45:36
Speaker
I don't know. I don't know. I need something else. But yeah, it's probably at least $1.50 now. Sorry. Not in this economy. Keep going. I really interrupt you. That's so weird. I apologize. Oh my gosh. No, you're fine. You're fine. No, that was fine. But yeah, like little boutiques, little florists, little, um, I mean here in our city, we're so lucky to have so many like local vendors and stuff. So at this point, if I do buy a card, I like trying to find those because it supports them. And it's just like,
00:46:01
Speaker
if it's my aesthetic might fit the person's aesthetic so yeah that's just a fun little fun little tidbit especially if you don't if you've got like for some reason so many holiday cards to send out i can understand going with more affordable for sure but for me if i'm only getting them for four or five people especially if okay sorry this is such a long answer for this question but like
00:46:23
Speaker
if it's for more extended family that i don't feel the need to get a super extravagant gift for because i don't see them very much if it's like a gift card then i'll get a nice card to put it in so it looks like more effort no that makes sense yeah if that makes sense anyway that makes a lot of sense no i actually totally agree with that i totally get that
00:46:41
Speaker
I'm sorry, I'm still hung up on the 50 cent cards. My cards literally cost like five to $8. So tell me where you're shopping for cards. We're going to have a chat about where you shop for cards. I'm just kidding. No, I, I, I, well, that's the thing. I don't think I buy them from the dollar store that much. So like I guessed, but so, okay. So there you go. If you already have to spend five to $7 on a card, then you can just do a nicer small business one. Cause I think those ones are still at least below $10. Yeah. I feel like that. Well, I will say I've seen some like $15 cards.
00:47:11
Speaker
And they're just like, it's because they're so artsy and I'm like, that's beautiful, but also I literally don't have that. And Beth, you're good at that stuff. You could make it. You could probably make it look just like that if you wanted to. That's hilariously funny. Okay, well thank you. I appreciate that, but my goodness. All right, moving on. My goodness, we spent so much time on cards. Sorry about that, you guys. That was an important one for some reason. Hopefully. Thanks for sticking around. Yeah. Oh my gosh.
00:47:37
Speaker
okay the next one was white christmas or tropical christmas really simple here most people not surprised said white christmas but we did get quite a few votes for tropical christmas which was cool ayla what did you say i'm guessing i know what you said but what did you say
00:47:51
Speaker
a bit white Christmas all the way for sure. I don't think I could imagine Christmas on the beach. Beth, I'm sure you're fine with it where you are. It's your home now. But for me, I don't know. I feel like it has to be, has to be cold. Um, I'd have to really get used to Christmas being when it's warm. So anyway, even if I were to travel for Christmas, it would have to be for like a ski or snowboard vacation. I feel like I just need to be in the winter when it's happening. But yeah, yeah.
00:48:17
Speaker
That makes sense. No, I'm not done not surprised by that answer. I actually put tropical Christmas I'm pretty split like I could do either but I I love it I've fallen in love with with the vibe here during Christmas a lot people think oh what you're just having Christmas when it's like hot But it's so much more than that. It's I mean the decorations are fun. It's a little bit different It's fun to see tropical Santa. I'm not gonna lie and just oh my gosh, I bet
00:48:40
Speaker
yeah you know like the activities you do when we go out surfing we see someone in like santa hats we see people like yeah we see like santa it's just it's so yeah and everyone is you know i this is more specific to where we are but everyone's in vacation mode around this time of year so everyone's so happy they're so um i mean already people during the holidays are happy and extra nice but it is like another level when you live somewhere warm where like you know it's kind of drawing vacationers
00:49:07
Speaker
there during the holidays so i love it i love a good tropical christmas plus um it's nice for seasonal depression i don't really get that anymore around the holidays which is valid honestly a lifesaver for me okay i could imagine because i do have to like take steps during the winter especially canada to not go through that but i honestly and like while i am a winter bug and i love the cloudy cold months i can imagine if i live where you live i would just be happy like 20% all the time like the the sunshine so
00:49:34
Speaker
Yeah, it is a little bit of a mental block. Not having like a white Christmas is a little weird, but I just like look at the pictures online and I'm like, Oh, cool. Yeah. Happy. You're right. I grew up in the snow. I know what it does. Yeah, exactly. And they're done that totally. Don't miss frostbite. It's fine. No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. No. Yeah. No. All right. You go ahead. Next one. Next one was classic or rainbow candy canes. And the majority vote was definitely for classic candy canes, which is correct. I never liked the taste of the rainbow ones of peppermint all the way.
00:50:03
Speaker
How dare you? Are you a rainbow candy? I'm a rainbow candy gamer. I actually hate the normal ones. I despise peppermint. Oh, I can imagine if you didn't like peppermint. I don't even remember what rainbow ones taste like. Are they fruity? Oh my gosh, friend. Okay, so some of them are chocolate. Some of them are like vanilla-y. Some of them are fruity. Some of them are just like sweet. They're all different.
00:50:27
Speaker
I always remember the fruity tasting ones, and I don't think I like those, but if there's others I have tried, I mean I'm open. I like peppermint. Okay, you gotta try the chocolate one. I almost always put peppermint like in my coffee, or like a hot chocolate, and that's the main way I'll enjoy them. I don't think I just like eat candy. Smart, really? Well, it's probably one time I do have to sharpen it into like a shank.
00:50:47
Speaker
With my mouth? You gotta do that. I don't think that's niche. I think everyone knows what I mean. I think everyone knows, yeah. All right, let's see. Next one. How do you top your tree with a star or an angel? Ayla, what did you say? Oh, sorry, the majority of people said star. And now Ayla, what did you say? Yes, the majority is 60-40, star to angel.
00:51:12
Speaker
most people were star so I actually messaged the podcast with my answer because my family alternated every year we had a star and an angel and we alternated and it was very important for us to remember what we had done the previous year or else like the Lord forbid that we did an angel like two years in a row so I'd like I would like to remember I'd be like last year
00:51:35
Speaker
So yeah, we alternated and and then I think our angel our angel was so old It was so old. So I think eventually we only had the star but yeah, we alternated every year. That's awesome Yeah, we we do a star but growing up we didn't angel
00:51:49
Speaker
Okay, next, for your tradition, your dress tradition of choice, does your family do matching PJs or ugly Christmas sweaters majority? Oh, this was actually, again, split 50-50 between matching PJs and ugly Christmas sweaters, which I just loved that. That was split 50-50. My family never did the matching PJs. I usually had Christmas PJs that I would wear on like Christmas Eve. I either got them new,
00:52:15
Speaker
like on Christmas Eve to wear Christmas morning, but they were just like regular Christmas PJs. Not matching with your family? No, just like my own. Like we each got some, but they didn't have to be like matching or anything. But I think I have more memories of like sweaters.
00:52:32
Speaker
Okay. Awesome. We, uh, growing up always did matching PJs. Like there's pictures of us in front of our Christmas tree as children, where we all have the exact same PJs and our parents would get the same ones too. So it was matching PJs for us all the way. But then as we got older, I don't think we really did that, of course. But now as an adult, I love ugly Christmas sweaters. So this year I actually wanted to get me and Chad like the craziest ugly Christmas sweaters. We haven't done it yet. We thought something like tropical and wild and just insane would be really fun.
00:53:02
Speaker
Yeah, so I like ugly Christmas sweaters more, I think. Okay, and the last part of the polls was a little bit different. It was just which movies are your favorite and we would put an option of two different Christmas movies. So we'll read through those real fast. The first selection was Elf or Home Alone. I was super curious about this one. Most people chose Elf. Ayla, if you just want to share which one you did, which you prefer.
00:53:25
Speaker
Wolf Watcher, I love both, but that was my heart. Sweet, I did Home Alone. The next one is the Grinch or Klaus. This one I thought was gonna be, well, either way. This one, most people chose the Grinch, but a lot of people actually chose Klaus. I was glad people knew what that was. Ayla, which one did you choose? I did the Grinch just because I still haven't watched Klaus, but after you hyped it up last week, I know I need to, so Grinch until otherwise.
00:53:51
Speaker
proven. Yes. All right. Well, I chose Klaus. I chose Klaus. All right. So the next one was Barbie and the Nutcracker or the princess switch. Most people chose the princess switch. I know the Barbie is probably a very niche one. I chose, I chose Barbie and the Nutcracker. It's one of my favorites when I was
00:54:08
Speaker
Me too. I was a Barbie kid, 100% growing up. My parents still have so many of the Barbie movies. So yes, I like Barbie and Nutcracker. Oh, so glad. Okay. Um, the next one was the movie Deck the Halls, the Christmas movie. And the next one was while you were sleeping with Sandra Bullock. Um, most people chose while you were sleeping with Sandra Bullock. Ayla, what did you choose?
00:54:28
Speaker
I think I did Deck the Halls, because I've never seen the other one. So I was like, I'll do the one I've seen. Perfect. That's exactly great. I did While You Were Sleeping. It's actually one of my favorite movies of all time. OK. Oh, nice. Yeah, and that's it. So if you guys haven't checked those out, we might do one more poll just for fun. But I don't know if we'll get a chance to actually read them on the air. So yeah, hope you enjoyed that.
00:54:51
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, and thank you guys so much for participating. It's a lot of fun for us to put them together and to read them. And yeah, even if we don't have any more on the show because we have other special episodes coming out, definitely keep an eye out on the Gram for those ones. Absolutely. Okay, thank you all for joining us here again for listening and participating in everything we have planned so far this holiday season. It's so fun for all of us to come together and just get excited about holidays and to show up here every week for you guys.
00:55:21
Speaker
If you like what we do, a great way to support the podcast that's completely free to you is to give us a follow on Spotify if you haven't already, or if you're an Apple listener to hit subscribe to our show over there. And actually fun fact, even if you're not an Apple listener, you can still go onto Apple podcasts and hit subscribe and vice versa for Spotify just tells the podcast world that we're out there and that people are listening.
00:55:43
Speaker
And also wherever you listen, if there's the option to leave us a five star rating or a review, definitely go do that if you haven't done that already. And we so appreciate those who have already. Yes. We share tons of resources each week on our Instagram. So if you're not yet, you'll want to make sure you're following us over there at Art of Intention podcast. We, like we said, have an extra special episode coming to you next week. We have more to round out our December series. So we will see you all over there. Bye. Bye.
00:56:27
Speaker
you