Essential Summer Planning Tips For SMEs

Hello, hello. How are things with you guys?

Another month, another newsletter with advice to make life a bit easier.

Something I didn’t know until recently: summertime in the UK has a specific start date. It coincides with the Summer Solstice — Thursday 20 June this year (2024), the longest day. Given Blighty’s weather, it’s a useful landmark. You can wake up on the 20th, draw back the blinds, stare at the rain, and still say: “Yay, it’s summer.”

As I mentioned in a recent newsletter, Summer 2024 looks busy for plenty of firms. Early summer planning before the 20th helps you feel prepared, in control, and ready to take opportunities when they show up. Here’s a practical checklist for the warmer (!?) months ahead — written for founders, freelancers, creatives and small teams, not corporate HR manuals.

Handle the holidays

Get a grip on who’s away before diaries explode.

Do

• Set a clear deadline for holiday requests (end of May works well for a summer plan).
• Map cover for client-facing work, payroll runs, invoice chasing and month-end.
• Tell clients early if response times will slow in peak holiday weeks.
• Check holiday pay and payroll cut-offs so nobody is surprised on payday.

Don’t

• Assume “it’ll sort itself out” in July.
• Leave one person as the only one who can raise invoices, approve bills or talk to the bank.
• Forget freelancers and contractors in your capacity plan — if your delivery depends on them, their time off is your bottleneck too.

I care about my team taking proper time off. Burnout is expensive. Paid leave used well is good for people and good for the business.

Seasonal staffing (only if demand actually rises)

Home and garden, hospitality, events and outdoor services often get busier in summer. Many tech, B2B and creative firms get quieter. Be honest about which camp you’re in.

If you need extra hands:

1. Decide the role and the weeks you actually need cover.
2. Cost it properly (pay, NI, kit, management time) before you hire.
3. Agree who owns onboarding so quality doesn’t fall off a cliff in week one.

If summer is quieter for you, staffing is the wrong lever. Cash and pipeline are the right ones.

Creative cash flow

Healthy cash flow matters all year. In summer it matters more, because receipts and costs rarely move in neat parallel lines.

Build a simple 13-week view: opening bank balance, expected receipts by week, known bills, payroll, VAT/PAYE set-asides, and a buffer. Then stress it: “what if two invoices pay 30 days late?”

Do

• Chase aged debt before people disappear on leave.
• Invoice promptly — don’t wait until August to raise June work.
• Put tax money aside when cash comes in, not when the bill arrives.
• Agree payment terms in writing before busy season starts.

Don’t

• Confuse a full bank account after a good May with a sustainable runway.
• Take on cheap finance in a panic because you never modelled August.
• Ignore supplier terms while chasing your own debtors.

If your books live in Xero, keep bank feeds reconciled weekly so the forecast is based on reality, not hope. Contactors: plan for gaps between contracts the same way seasonal shops plan for weather. Same problem, different calendar.

Shine up workspace and processes

Use any quieter days to remove friction.

• Review outstanding invoices and stuck proposals.
• Kill zombie subscriptions and duplicate tools.
• Automate expense capture and bill reminders where you can.
• Check service agreements and renewals that land in summer.
• Declutter the workspace if it helps you think — but process beats tidy shelves.

Outsourcing bookkeeping, payroll or a bit of FD-style oversight can free you to sell and deliver. That’s the point of summer admin: protect the core work.

Continuity planning (boring, useful)

Few people enjoy this. Do it anyway.

• Are critical files and systems backed up somewhere you can actually restore from?
• Can someone raise invoices and pay suppliers if you’re offline?
• Do key people know how to work remotely if weather, travel or illness intervenes?
• Who has access to banking, Xero, HMRC and the domain/email admin?

A short written plan beats a heroic scramble in a storm.

Naturally, if you need the Enso team to don their sunglasses and help with cash flow, Xero, payroll or summer planning, get in touch on the usual channels.

Quick May aside

May gives us two bank holidays — and, for the sci-fi fans, Star Wars Day on the 4th and Towel Day on the 25th. Fun is allowed. Just don’t let the Force distract you from the holiday spreadsheet.

I hope you hit your deadlines in May. And whatever happens: don’t panic.

Which of the five areas above is the weakest link in your summer plan — holidays, staffing, cash, processes or continuity?

Adam