You Need a Vacation for Small Business Owners

When you own your own business, it’s a 24-hour-a-day job. Small business owners have to wear many hats — managers, salesmen, customer service representatives, bookkeepers, marketers and more. You name it, and business owners have to take care of it. So what about a vacation for small business owners? How is it even possible, given the never-ending responsibilities?

Vacations, or any kind of downtime, are vital. All that pressure to succeed, with the entire company depending on your focused attention, puts a tremendous strain on your mind and your body if you’re a small business owner. You need time to recharge. You need a change of scenery to rejuvenate. You need the space to reset your brain so you can more easily overcome future obstacles.

The Burnout Dangers Are Real

According to Small Business Trends, 77 percent of small business owners suffer from some form of burnout. As many as 80 percent of small businesses fail within 10 years. Stress contributes to that figure.

Burnout does more than reduce your effectiveness on the job. It interferes with your passion and changes your priorities. Burnout can lead to failure, according to a 2016 Medium.com report. Small business owners, along with many office workers in the country, often work more than 60 hours in a typical week, which adds to the stress.

Taking a Vacation for Small Business Owners

Since 98 percent say a vacation for small business owners relieves stress, you need to find a way to make vacations happen for you. If you’ve learned to schedule uninterrupted work time, you can schedule a vacation. If you’re a solopreneur, you may have some additional hoops to jump through, but arguably, a solopreneur needs the time away even more than other business owners.

To encourage you to take a vacation for yourself, the co-founders of Ray Access have created this blog post to explore some tips for getting away — and making the most of the time away that you have. Not all the tips below may apply to you, but it’s our hope that you’ll learn something new and gain the wisdom to apply it.

Tips to Maximize Your Vacation

• Put it on your schedule. Don’t pencil it in; chisel it into stone. A vacation for small business owners can only come about if you take it as seriously as a meeting with a new client. Once it’s on the calendar, schedule around it.
• Take the time you can. If you can only get away for a weekend — or better, a long weekend — take it. Go away someplace, even if it’s the next state or the next county. The change in scenery matters, as does the change in routine. These changes break established patterns, allowing you to regroup even in a short amount of time.
• Do something different. You don’t have to cram your vacation full of activity to force you to forget your day-to-day duties, but change up your environment. If you work daily on a computer, go camping or take a hike into nature. If you live in the plains, get to the mountains or the beach for a different kind of fun.
• Leave someone you trust in charge. If you have a business partner, let them carry the ball while you’re away. If you have a trusted employee, leave her in charge. For solopreneurs, this isn’t always possible — and you may have to rely on your auto-reply for a couple days.
• Use technology … lightly. If you must, put aside time every day you’re away — but no more than 30 to 60 minutes — for work-related activities, such as writing emails, making phone calls or reading status reports.
• Alert your clients. Schedule your vacation for small business owners when you don’t have a pressing deadline or project milestone. Tell all your clients that you’ll be away. Let them know when you’ll be back. They’ll understand and appreciate your honesty.

You’ll be amazed what some downtime can do for you. You’ll regain your edge and refresh your passion. You may even think of new ways to do things or new products or services to offer. Time away from your daily chores frees your mind and relaxes your body. Don’t wait until burnout strikes; take a vacation for small business owners to save and revitalize your business!

Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.