When we think of summer, we imagine a blazing sun, cocktails and the typical image of a group of people gathered together on a beautiful white, sandy beach at sunset around a fire, drinking and laughing for absolutely no reason whatsoever so for once I think I have to agree with Rihanna and say that for the majority, summers are really work, work, work, work, work, work!
Depending on the industry you work in, summer may be the ideal time to take a break, recharge batteries and spend time with the family or it may represent the precious few months of the year when your business makes the bulk of its money so taking time off is not an option. In my admin based business, the month of August was considered a dead month as most of the public administration offices run with a skeleton staff and almost all procedures are postponed until September but over the past few years, I have observed this is no longer the case and the summer months tend to be pretty intense and busy. This meant I had to implement changes to the running of my business and schedule my time off at another time of the year.
Have you evaluated how your industry has evolved? Are you evolving with it? It can be so easy to just stick to our normal routine without realizing that times may have changed and you may be unknowingly harming your business by not being aware of when the busy time of the year is and preparing yourself for it. This may mean advising your clients ahead of time when you plan to be away so any issues can be dealt with beforehand or arranging a substitute who will take care of your business while you are away.
Don’t let this be you. Everybody needs to disconnect from their job
With all the technology we have, we can still keep tabs on things (in moderation, it is supposed to be holiday time after all and nobody likes a workaholic!) but one thing is certain, as business owners, it is ABSOLUTELY VITAL to schedule in much needed holiday time. Sometimes it is enough to simply take a break from the regular routine if it is not possible to travel. The freedom of not having to get up at a specific time or not being tied to your phone or the responsibility of dealing with clients, suppliers etc can only be described as amazing no matter how much you love your job. Even though it can be an extremely difficult task especially if you are a sole-trader, it must be done. You won’t be much good to your clients if your brain is so frazzled you find it hard to concentrate and risk making mistakes or lowering the level of your services so happy holiday planning if you have not already had yours this year, set your “Out of Office” automated message on your email account and enjoy 🙂
