3 ways to take time off as a business owner
Let’s face it: taking time off as a business owner is hard. We often feel tied to what we do thinking… I need to be available for my clients. I need the money. I need this time and don’t have extra time to spare. Truthfully, you also need time off to relax, recharge, and get ready for exciting projects you’ll have coming up!
Taking time off as an entrepreneur isn’t as easy as it sounds, but we’ve outlined some steps below to help get the right systems set up so you’ll be golden.
build a team and delegate
If you have a team that you can outsource some tasks to, this is golden! Even with an assistant, they’ll be able to monitor emails from clients, fix small issues, ensure that other team members have what they need, and more all while you’re gone.
And let us tell you, that will be a huge relief for you. Do you know how amazing it will feel to not be needed all the time or have to open your email? It’s a great feeling!
The people on your team are the reason why you can hop out of the office for the day with peace of mind because you know that things are getting done and you don’t need to be there to do them all.
If you don’t have someone like this or you aren’t yet in a position to hire someone yet try setting up automated responses on your email letting people know when they reach out that you will be slowly responding to emails. Give them a date they can expect to hear back. Out of office never looked so good! You can also set up an FAQs page on your website and prompt them to head there for immediate answers to questions. Or even get them on a response waitlist. That way when you’re ready to jump back in you can see where your attention is needed first.
get ahead on tasks
Are there any tasks that you can do before you take time off? This may very well mean that you’ll need to work super early mornings and really late nights, but if your work allows you to get things done in advance, opt for that. Not only will you ensure that everything is done on time, but it also means that you won’t necessarily come back to a massive amount of work that piled up while you were gone -- which we all dread.
Take a look at your schedule and identify the things that HAVE to get done so you can plan your workload accordingly.
tell your clients
Despite what you may worry about, your clients will actually be happy that you’re taking time off! Give them a few weeks’ notice, if possible, so that they know not to hit you with something urgent while you’re out and expect for a timely response.
Going along with this, if you’re in the process of signing a few new clients at this time, push their start date to be after you get back so that a) you’re not rushing to get them onboarded before you go and b) they aren’t expecting you to have work done while you’re out. These clients will appreciate the transparency, and it will help you to set boundaries!
Taking time off isn’t the easiest thing to get used to, but it’s necessary. Remember, the work will always be there… but your life and wellbeing take priority!