By Michelle van Schouwen
Ah, summertime. Leisurely vacation days at the beach, or hiking, or visiting a new city… but wait… YOU own a small company.
For the typical small business owner, vacations either seldom occur, are interrupted regularly by minor crises, or are too brief – perhaps all of the above. The lack of a week or two of genuine unplugging and unwinding is unhealthy and frustrating. And after all, wasn’t part of your rationale for owning the company having more freedom, not less?
While it is hard for any business owner to completely detach, good advance planning makes it more likely that you can enjoy a real vacation. Depending on the nature of your company, you have a number of choices:
-The solopreneur may simply want to close the doors for a couple of weeks. As applicable, send notification in advance to regular clients, post an announcement on the door, and create auto responses to emails plus an “away” voicemail and text response. Then, barring any true emergencies, you are free to travel or simply take a staycation break.
-The same process may work for some staffed companies as well, if all employees are granted the same time off (always adhering to laws and your own stated policies regarding vacation time). Close the doors and let the vacation begin. This works best for companies for whom ongoing response to customers isn’t a “must-do.”
-For other staffed companies, the creation of documented protocols and plans for nearly every contingency is a first step toward freeing the owner for vacation time. (It’s also a good way to begin institutionalizing the company, an important step for growth or eventual sale.)
-But even the best written plans must be accompanied by someone with the wherewithal to carry them out. Mentor a valued staff member to the point where they can make 90 percent of the decisions that you typically face. Obviously, if a real crisis comes up, you may have to be advised and involved, but this delegation reduces the frequency of so-called “emergencies.”
And now, bon voyage!
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Michelle van Schouwen is principal of Q5 Analytics, providing advocacy and communications for climate change mitigation and adaptation. For 32 years, Michelle was president of van Schouwen Associates, LLC (vSA), a B2B marketing company. In 2017, she sold vSA. Michelle is available for speaking engagements on topics including her work on climate crisis mitigation and Florida environmental issues. She speaks to business and student groups about marketing launches and entrepreneurship and works with start-ups to support their development.
