As haunt season creeps closer, there’s a lot on your plate. As the busiest time of the year for haunt owners, trying to find a balance between spending time with family, friends, work, other commitments, and health, all makes it seem like there’s only a limited time for haunting. Think about it this way: the most successful haunts and their owners have just as much time in a day that you do. It’s all about how you use that time to your advantage to make your haunt a one-of-a-kind experience. When you know how to manage your time right, it ultimately saves you both money and resources, along with preventing a major headache when October rolls around. Let’s go through some of the best tips to help haunt owners stay on top of their game when it comes to time management for the upcoming haunt season.
Plan it all out
While the off season should be used for a bit of relaxation, it’s vital that you also use some of this time to start planning how you can improve your haunt for the upcoming season. The sooner you start planning, the sooner you can start putting your ideas into action. Identify a timeline that works best for you when considering your personality, work style, and lifestyle. Intentionally dedicating chunks of time per day to a certain task can be a helpful strategy so you can put your focus into one project at a time. This allows you to put your very best effort into that project instead of scrambling and only putting minimal effort into multiple projects.
Create a master to-do list
Now that you’ve got a timeline set up, it’s time to break that down into actionable tasks. You can use a classic pen and paper to write everything down, or there are many options for how to digitize your list. However you do it, keeping everything in one place is essential. This is especially helpful if you are running more than one haunt or location. Writing SMART goals puts you on a path for success. Check in on your progress regularly to make sure you are on track with your timeline that you set at the beginning. Naturally your goals may shift as you start working on your haunt, but make sure to then update your timeline and to-dos to still fit with your new objectives. The benefits of checklists don’t stop when haunt season begins: this is a great habit to carry even throughout the season to stay on top of what needs to be done.
Delegate tasks outside your skillset
Most haunt owners wear many, many hats to run their attractions. The more your checklist grows, the more draining it can feel to have to keep track of so many things at once. If your budget allows for it, remember that you don’t have to do everything alone. Confused about managing your social media accounts? Hire that teenager from down the street who loves taking photos and keeps up with all the latest trends. Do you have a fantastic set idea but you’re not sure how to collect all the materials and make it a reality? Hire a local contractor that can help put in the work to build the haunt of your dreams. Not sure how to get started with online ticketing? Get HauntPay on board and we can take care of everything from ticketing through product sales, virtual queues, and more. Spend your money on what you think would be the most valuable. Working on what you’re good at and enjoy doing can preserve your energy.
Don’t wait until the last minute– schedule a demo with our team to learn more about how your haunt can benefit from online ticketing.
Get more work done!
Overall, putting clear time management practices into place will make you feel more successful and productive through on and off season for your haunt. You may be surprised by how small actions can make the biggest impact! Need more help planning your haunting experience? Check out HauntPay’s haunt season checklist that you can use to make this year’s season the best one yet.