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Monday, February 29 is leap day, a quirky extra day that is squeezed into February every four years in order to keep our calendar operating smoothly. It may seem like a useless day, but without a leap day, the calendar would be off by 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 45 seconds each year. And after 100 years, the seasons would all be off by 25 days! So Leap Day serves an important purpose. In 2016, Leap Day falls on a Monday, so for many it will be business as usual. If you run your own small business, why not use this extra day as an opportunity to do some things you usually don’t have time to do?

Here are some ideas to consider for what you could do for your small business with one extra day::

1. Examine Your Long-Term Business Goals

Have you thought about what you want for your small business? Like, REALLY thought about what you want? It’s important to think about what you want for the long term, and how you intend to achieve those goals. Whether you’re setting goals for one year, five years, or even 20 years from now, it’s essential to take the time to map out your strategy for achieving them. Because it's easier to head down a winning path when you've actually thought about where you want your dreams to lead.

2. Set Your Short-Term Business Goals

Once you’ve decided where you want to end up, it’s time to figure out how to get there. With one month left in Q1, it’s time to start evaluating and planning for Q2. Maybe what you thought would work for next quarter has changed a little bit. Maybe things have changed A LOT. Take those changes into consideration and use this extra day to build out a detailed plan for the next few months.

3. Offer a Special Leap Day Promotion

Okay, so maybe you don’t want to spend your entire extra day just planning what to do – you want to actually DO something. Everybody loves a deal, so why not offer a special Leap Day promotion? Maybe offer a special free seminar for prospective clients with a special deal for sign-ups. Or integrate Leap Day into a discount. One day free of service when you sign up on Leap Day or 29% off the regular price – the options are endless with this fun day!

4. Learn Something New

As a small business owner, you may not have a lot of time to update your tech knowledge. Consider using your extra day to learn about a software program or find a new mobile app that can help you do business more efficiently (such as the new FreedomVoice mobile app: iOS and Android). You could also hold a company-wide training so that all of your employees could learn something new, perhaps better customer service techniques or short cuts for doing their jobs more efficiently.

5. Do some (Pre-) Spring Cleaning

You might not have budget for a cleaning staff, and it definitely takes extra time to get all the little nooks and crannies. Take an hour or two at the beginning of this extra day to really get down and dirty. As in scrubbing your dusty baseboards, throwing away/recycling all the extra paper that has piled up, cleaning your windows (the tops too!), etc. Even if you don’t have customers that come in regularly, your employees will notice a difference, and it will improve morale all around. Who knows? Maybe you’ll inspire others to do some cleaning of their work spaces as well!

6. Play Catch Up

Speaking of piles of paperwork… February 29 is the perfect day to get around to all those little things you haven’t managed to get done lately. Or call someone to help you with all the outstanding items such as filing papers, data entry, fixing equipment, updating computers, etc. As I’ve said in other blog posts, if you can pay someone to do it for less than you pay yourself, you’re saving money by outsourcing! Tackle that to-do list, and then enjoy the rest of your Leap Day knowing you have accomplished a lot.