When you're a small business owner, you need time to disconnect from work just like anyone else, but it can be more challenging. Whether you're planning a family vacation to Branson, you'd like to take an international trip, or perhaps you just want a staycation, when you're the owner of a business, there are a lot of considerations that you have to keep in mind before you can take time off.
The following are things you should know as a small business owner.
Why You Should Take Time off a Business Owner
When you work for yourself, or at least when you first go into it, you probably think that there will be quite a bit of freedom and flexibility in your life compared to working for someone else. You quickly find out that's not the reality.
Yes, you do have flexibility, but the demands on small business owners are so great that you often may find that you take much less time off than you did when you were a traditional employee.
You have to plan to take time off, and you may feel like you aren't able to. Making time for vacation or unwinding is essential to be a good business owner, though.
According to a Gallup poll, around 39% of business owners say they work more than 60 hours a week, much more than the average 40-hour workweek.
You may feel that you don't have much of a work-life balance as a business owner. You might be able to set your own hours, but there's intense pressure on you. You may be in the early stages of building your business as well, so you might have a small team. You could find that many of the responsibilities of the day-to-day operations fall onto your shoulders.
In some ways, you might feel like you don't even want to take time off because you love what you do. While it's great to feel that way, that doesn't mean you don't need to take the time away.
While there's no minimum amount of time off, you need a business owner, you need to make sure that you're creating a balance. Otherwise, you run the risk of losing motivation and feeling burned out. You want to be the most productive and present business owner you can be, and that does rely on having appropriate amounts of time off to enjoy leisure activities.
Research shows that people who take time off find more meaning in their work. When you take leisure time, research shows it can increase your performance by 25%.
Below, we delve into ways that you can be strategic about time off while still getting the benefits of being away from your business.
Plan Around Your Slow Periods
One of the best things to do when you initially start to consider taking time off from your business, whether for a few days or a week or more, is to plan your vacations around your slow times. You should know the times of the year when you're slower than others.
Granted, these times might not align with the peak season where you'd like to travel, but still, that's best if you can line them up.
If you absolutely can't plan your vacation around the slow periods of your business for some reason, like your kids' school schedule, that's okay, but you'll have to ensure the work is getting done while you're away, which is certainly possible with planning.
When you're thinking about time off, you have to ensure that you're prioritizing it. Treat your time off like you do that of your employees.
You want to make plans, schedule the request, and give yourself permission actually to be off and enjoy the time.
You have to view yourself as your own employee and take care of yourself like you do people who work for you.
Another option, aside from planning time off based on your slow time, is to consider the holidays. This is a time when many people take time off or slow down, so it's more expected that you might do the same. You could take time off around the winter holidays or wait until the 4th of July.
Create Your Own PTO
You may feel like you can't afford to have unpaid days off work when you own the business or that your business won't bring money when you're gone.
You can deal with these issues by including your own PTO in your budget. You can save up for your vacation time in advance and pay yourself while you're away.
Consider how much on average you earn on a typical workday and put that money aside. You'll have a financial cushion and feel more comfortable when you take time off.
Check Your Calendar
As you start considering days to take off, check your calendar for any big events you might be forgetting about, as well as standing commitments and appointments. You want to ensure you have everything lined up and, if necessary, rescheduled.
If you plan your vacation far enough out, you may not have any commitments to move around, which can be ideal.
When you plan far enough ahead for your vacation time, you can give yourself some time before your trip where you'll plan exclusively for being gone and some days when you return to get back into the swing of things.
If You Have Employees, Prepare Them
When you have a small business with employees, a lot of your success is going to come down to your ability to delegate and let them take over some tasks when you're away. Learning how to do these things will ultimately make you a better leader, so why not start as you prepare to take time off?
Let your employees know about your plans well in advance and start getting them ready for what to do when you're gone.
You should appoint someone who can be "in charge," so to speak, while you're away. Think about some of the challenges that often arise in the workplace and be proactive about getting your employees ready for those.
You can start months in advance by creating a list of some of the problems you encounter along the way.
For example, who should your employees get in touch with if they have a technical issue?
Set Vacation Guidelines for Yourself
If you own a small business and you're taking time off, you should have guidelines in place for yourself. For example, you should decide whether or not you're going to have any contact with your employees while you're away and, if so, how much.
You might want to set a time of day and also a time limit where people can get in touch with you while you're gone if they need to.
You should set boundaries that your employees are aware of as far as when they can contact you and why they should. You should let them know situations where it's not appropriate to contact you as well.
You can formalize a communication plan for your vacation that will ultimately be used in the future as well.
Be Proactive In Letting Your Clients and Customers Know
Don't try to hide the fact that you'll be away from clients and customers. Let them know ahead of time so they can plan accordingly as well. You'll feel more comfortable when everyone knows you're going to be away, so you can actually enjoy your time.
You should let key clients and customers know how long you'll be gone, who the point person will be, and what situations they should get in touch with you if needed.
You might want to give clients and customers as much as two months' notice that you'll be gone so that they have time to get everything wrapped up with you beforehand. You might have a heavier workload in those two months, but you'll also have peace of mind while you're gone.
You'll probably need to remind everyone you'll be out of the office, too, which you might do on your emails, for example.
Automate Where You Can
If you can automate some aspects of your business, it will make it easier for you to be away. It will also give you easily repeatable processes and make your business operate more efficiently and productively, which is advantageous for future growth and scalability even outside of your vacation planning.
While it's intimidating to take a vacation when you own a business, it's certainly possible. Think of yourself as an employee. Schedule and plan your time off ahead of time, but once the vacation arrives, you should disconnect as much as you possibly can. It's something you need and deserve as a business owner, and it'll strengthen your business at the end of the day.
You'll be able to put in place the processes and guidelines that will help you step away in the future as well.
* This is a contributed article and this content does not necessarily represent the views of sciencetimes.com
