By Sarah, Strategy & Business Process Consultant
When we start a business, we believe that we will be able to work anywhere, anytime, and be free to do anything we want. But once we start, we realize that there aren’t enough hours in a day to accomplish all we want to do.
80% of business owners haven’t taken a holiday since they started their business!
Moreover, it is not even conceivable for them to take a holiday. But business owners tend to forget the importance and benefits of taking a holiday, such as:
Coming back refreshed and recharged
Having new ideas, new perspectives
Trusting and empowering your team
Relaxing and avoiding burnout
And, opportunities for scaling up
There is no point in not taking a holiday and not being able to continue as a business owner because of burnout.
Ideally, you should prepare your business before your holiday (3- 6 months before).
You could delegate work to your employees, inform your customers and suppliers that you are going on holiday, manage deadlines, complete work ahead of time, place orders, and pay your bills. You could also plan your holiday during a quiet period, for example, when your customers are also on holiday.
I am sorry to break it to you but replying to all your emails, answering the phone, and being continuously connected to your team is not a holiday!
It is not too late! You can still go on holiday and handle everything while you are away.
The best way would be to set boundaries, disconnect, and allocate time to manage urgent matters, for example, one hour per day to manage your business.
Here are 6 tips to allow you to take a break and still manage your business:
Inform your customers and suppliers that you are going on holiday and set an out of office auto reply
Set a time during the day to check, reply to important emails, as well as phone calls, and check in with your team. For example, you could work 45 minutes in the morning or at the end of the day.
Don’t post on social media! Instead, use an app to schedule your posts and reels. You could also rely on a virtual assistant.
The best way to manage emergencies is to include instructions in your automated message for people to know what to do. It could be asking them to resend their email mentioning in the subject line” Urgent”.
Don’t get involved just stay in the loop. Appoint a person in charge while you are away. The person in charge will manage the work and inform you about critical issues.
Learn to say no! Your customers and your team can live without you.
If you are a solo entrepreneur and can’t rely on a team to delegate your work, you can ask for help. You could temporarily hire a virtual assistant or a skilled freelancer. You might identify issues to be fixed during your holiday. You could automate or wind down parts of your business. To succeed, you need to create a network and a support group around you. Don't hesitate to ask for help! Don’t forget that you need to plan your holiday and also plan your work.
Your body and mind need a break! You need to spend some time with your loved ones, and you need to relax!
You can take a shorter holiday and switch off to embrace all the benefits. Or if you need to go away for a month, you can work for two weeks, but make sure you will completely unplug during a week.
Enjoy your holiday!