Vacation Planning For A Small Biz Owner

This week something unusual is happening – I am going on vacation. Not a vacation where I do some work, as I’ve done in the past, but a real unplug-and-take-time-for-me vacation! Needless to say I’m quite excited, and ready to get away for a few days. However, as a small business owner with no employees, I have several things I have to work out before I leave. Otherwise, I will find myself making a few phone calls and checking email off and on just to make sure I haven’t missed anything. And that defeats the point of a break.

So here’s a list of what I’ve done to prepare. Anything I have missed? I’ll do a follow-up post when I’m back, but I’d love to have other suggestions before I go.

• I’ve taken care of things around my home – put a hold on my mail, found someone to feed my cat, eating out of my refrigerator and pantry to use up what I have. While this doesn’t specifically apply to preparing my business, it is good to know that these things are taken care of.

• I’ve also made sure all bills due, both personal and business, are paid before I leave. All client invoices will be sent out. Money received will either be in my Paypal account or held with my mail. Fortunately, my business bank account is in good shape, so I’m not desperate to get the money before I return.

• I notified my clients a couple of weeks ago of when I would be unavailable, and suggested they get any work to me before I left, or have it ready for me when I get back. Even though I work virtually, and have previously worked when I was out of town, this is meant to be a real break from my business. By letting them know ahead of time, they can plan their needs, and not wonder why I’m not returning calls and emails.
  

• Additionally, I’ve reminded clients I maintain social media accounts for that they will need to check in every day or so to make sure there aren’t comments they need to reply to. As my business grows and clients accounts require more maintenance, I will likely hire someone to take care of this when I am away, but for now I believe this will work.

• I’m setting up an autoresponder for my email and changing the message on my phone voice mail. This will let people know I’m not ignoring their messages, and when to expect to hear back from me.

• I always set up my tweets ahead of time, and I’m doing the same for my vacation time. I am wondering though, if anyone retweets me I won’t know it for several days, and would hate for them to think I’ve ignored them. I’m going to try it this time and see what happens… (and if anyone has had a similar experience, please share what worked for you.)

Each business is different and will have unique issues to consider when taking off on vacation. Anything you think I’ve missed doing business-wise? Anyone taken a vacation from their business? Please share your experiences both good and bad.

And I’ll see you when I get back!