When You Need to Cancel

CancelledThere was a freezing rain weather advisory for our area today; and freezing rain is one of my least favorite things. Rather than risk going to work and wishing I hadn’t, I decided to cancel. I don’t do that often.

Reliability is an important trait to your customers~ it literally means that they can rely on you. It doesn’t take many cancellations to mess that up.

Following are a few pointers for when you are the one who needs to cancel…

Acknowledge that it’s a big deal: Customers count on you to re-set everything; they get quite used to you coming and making all things fresh, which is the ultimate secret to job security! When a customer needs to go another 2 or 4 weeks before you come back and do your cleaning magic, it’s a drag for them.

Give your customers a ‘heads-up’: Last night when I saw the weather advisory and realized it might affect my work day, I texted my customer to let her know I’d be assessing the conditions in the morning. I suggested changing time of arrival if needed, and that was fine with her. But this morning the local schools were closed and the weather advisory in place, so I texted to let her know I wasn’t going to risk it. (Again: I hate icy roads, or threat thereof!)

Cancelling at the last minute is the worst. I almost never do that. But, sometimes, life happens.

Obviously, when you know in advance that you will be taking a day off for vacation etc., let your customer know in advance as well.

Try to re-schedule: Sometimes you can re-schedule things in a way that suits you both. If you don’t have a day that makes sense to move them to, you can offer to let them know if anyone cancels.

This afternoon I emailed my customer to explain why I made the judgement call I did (because it never did rain~ freezing or otherwise! o-:)  and offered to swing by next week for an hour or two on a day that I’ll be working in her area. I probably won’t need to, but it felt right to make the sincere gesture.

(She just nicely emailed back, explaining she’s been cleaning all day because they are expecting company tomorrow. Oops/oh well/whatcha gonna do?)

Cancel when sick: You are doing no one any favors if you trudge out of the house with some nasty bug that might be contagious. Be especially cautious about working-while-sick if your customer is elderly or weakened in any way, or there is a wee baby in the house.

Budget for some missed visits: Generally, when you are in business for yourself, you don’t get paid if you don’t work. Keeping in mind that you or your customers will need to cancel every now and then, it’s smart to keep a little money aside as a buffer.

One trick: if you have a schedule that repeats every 4 weeks, consider that amount (after expenses) your ‘monthly income’, and set aside the ‘extra’ 2 or 3 work days in a 30 or 31-day month as a wee bit of padding.

Mostly, try to avoid running a budget that is so close to the bone that an unexpected day off now and then is a huge stress-event.

Enjoy the unexpected day off! Life is busy and it’s not too often you find yourself with unexpected free hours. Whether you decide to work on a project or declare a movie-marathon day, make the most of it!

 

 

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