Posted on Monday, 12th July 2010 by Vanessa Miller
Summer vacation? What’s that? Remember the days when taking a vacation meant saving up your two weeks off, asking your boss for the time, and then taking off worry-free for exotic destinations?
As a busy entrepreneur trying to grow your business, taking a vacation may sound like a luxury you can’t afford. In truth, if you don’t give your brain some much-needed R&R from time to time, you could be headed for an entrepreneurial crash and burn. Everyone needs time to refuel. Here’s how you can make it work without hurting your business.
- Prepare your staff and clients. You should always keep your employees in the loop on what’s going on in your business. If you’ve kept them informed, having them take over in your absence should be no big deal. Next, make sure important clients know you may be out of touch for a few days. Introduce them to the staff member that can help them while you’re away, either in person or by email. Then follow up afterwards to make sure all their needs were met.
- Set some boundaries—for yourself and your employees. Set up specific times to call the office to check in. Then try your hardest not to call at other times. If you’re traveling with family, they deserve the courtesy of spending time with you and not just seeing you hunched over your BlackBerry. Plus, the more you let your staff take over, the more they will feel trusted and respected.
- Stay connected in the cloud. If you need to access computer files and other information, use cloud computing to store your company’s data on the Internet so it can be accessed from anywhere. This will save you and your employees the time and hassle of sending files back and forth.
- Any time away is a good time. If you really can’t spare more than a few days away from the office, then take a short vacation. Take off one or two weekdays and make it a long weekend. Don’t stay home, where work is close and household duties are calling your name. Get out of Dodge! Look in your local paper’s travel section for quick weekend getaways. Even a couple of days away from home can be an exciting change of scenery. Vacations can clear your head of cobwebs and perhaps even spark new business ideas. And that, coupled with spending time with your family, makes a vacation all the more worthwhile.
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Tags: Vacation—even When, When
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