As a business owner, vacations and time off are often things we keep putting off until “later”. You have dedicated so much of yourself to your business that you end up not taking any time for yourself. And that is not healthy!
Everyone needs to be able to relax, rest and take time for self-care, and you are not an exception! Being overtired and stressed makes your work less effective, it lowers your creativity and makes your job more of a burden, when it should be something you love.
Taking time off, going on vacations and being with your family are things of utmost importance. You need to have all of your needs met in order to give, and if you never replenish yourself you will end up running out of steam.
So how can a business owner take time off?
Start Planning now
Have your processes and SOPs in order. Your business needs to be ready for your absence. Things need to be working properly without requiring your attention and time. Processes, SOPs and automations guarantee your team and company can function effectively. Then you can rest while you are away from your business, knowing that no disasters will happen while you are away.
Hire the right team members. Having a team that you can trust and who know their jobs well is essential. The last thing you want during your time off is to have calls from your team because they can’t function by themselves. Having great team members who are well trained and interdependent keeps your phone quiet and your mind at ease.
The first time you take time away from your business, pick a time when it is less likely to be busy. Analyze your business patterns, maybe there is a particular time when it is less likely to be busy. Choose a time when there are no big projects and things will likely be fairly calm. For everything, there is a learning curve, so it’s better to start easy and adventure more as you go.
Start small
Begin by taking a few hours a week or a day here and there. You need to get used to letting go. It can be hard on the beginning, but you can use those couple hours or days away as tests. You will be able to see how well it works out and fix anything that isn’t working. That way when you decide to stay away for longer you will already know how to prepare.
Carve out some time each week where you are not accessible to your team so that you can see where their strengths and weaknesses are. They will get used to not having you and start figuring some things out for themselves. On the other hand, you will be able to come up with solutions and provide them with the resources they need to function on their own. There are things that only come up when you put it in practice, so there is nothing better than doing a practice round!
Talking about practice, you don’t have to leave town, you can have a stay-cation :) Well, at least for the first time. You can take time off, test it out, but if any huge emergency comes up and you MUST be there, you won’t be far away.
Delegate, Delegate, Delegate!
Start handing off responsibility to others on your team and allowing them to work on their own. Your business is like a little child that you’ve been dedicating your time and effort to, and handing it over to other people can be really scary. However, as it grows you can start handing off some of the work to your team and let’s be honest EVERYONE needs time off sometimes.
Learning to delegate, trust and give your team members the ability to be accountable for their responsibilities is of extreme importance. Not only for taking time off but for allowing your business to grow and flourish.
Provide access to the processes and SOPs to all the employees so that they can be more efficient and ask you fewer questions. When you have good team members and provide them with quality training and resources they tend to ask fewer questions, be more efficient and interdependent.
Implement some automations that will help you and your team. Automations are great for freeing up time. They can guarantee that some of the basic tasks your business needs to function are always running. Taking some tasks off the to-do list helps everyone and makes it easier for you to be sure that everything is running effectively.
Encourage your team to be interdependent
Foster an environment where your team can lean on each other, rather than only leaning on you. Older members of your team can help the ones that came in more recently. Provided with the right resources (SOPs, processes) they should be able to function on their own and ask each other for help.
Make sure that you provide cross-training or job sharing so that more than one person knows a specific job. That way if for any reason someone isn’t available one day, their tasks are still covered and you’re business has the minimum to keep working.
Have one person on the team who can be the point person for the entire team while you are away (and offer to compensate them for that accordingly). Choose someone you trust and who knows your business well and all the work involved in running it. That will make your team more cohesive and capable of making decisions in your absence.
Hire an OBM
An OBM’s primary focus is to manage your team and to plan for situations like this. Their specialty is to manage your business daily activities and they are capable of running your business and keeping things on track while you are away.
As your right-hand, your OBM will be able to handle most situations for your team and your customers while you are away. They will be that person who knows your business well and understands what is needed to keep things working.
Having an OBM will provide you and your team with the support that will not only help during a vacation but will also free up your time on a regular basis so that you will have more time to focus on providing more products and services to your clients so that you can grow your income.
What makes Angela Mondor – The Geeky Girl different than other OBM’s?
- I believe in creating a strong team that is a part of the overall goals and projects of the business. This creates a team that becomes invested in the outcomes and wants to provide the best service and value to grow the business.
- I am invested in the success of my clients. I only work with business owners that I believe in, and who believe in me. I become a trusted member of your team and your right-hand woman.
- I go above and beyond for my clients, and I apply all of my knowledge and expertise to grow your business.
- I am always in “learning” mode, and on the lookout for ways to help you succeed.
Looking for an OBM? Let’s chat!
