Are you one of those business owners that just passes up the chance for a "real" vacation. You work hard with your home business but it's years have passed and you guessed, you have never gotten around to taking a good Vacation.
It's not easy leaving your customers high and dry while you are out having a great time with your family at the beach. Here are a few great tips to actually feel like you are on vacation.
Tell People When You're Going Away.
Make sure everyone who has ties to your business has everything they need to manage without you while you're away. Taking a vacation during slower months of course is the best time to get away.
Change Your Answering Machine Message.
A quick and simple way to let people know that you've gone away is to change your answering machine message. This allows you to still hear what people have to say when you get back, and stops them from wondering why you never seem to answer your phone.
A good format for the message is as follows: 'Hi, this is [your name] at [company name]. I'm sorry I'm not in the office right now, but I will be back on [give a date]. If you leave a message, I will be sure to get back to you'.
Set Up an Email Autoresponder.
Similar to an answering machine message, but less commonly used for this purpose, is the email autoresponder. Again, you don't want people to wonder why their emails are going unanswered, so your best bet is to set up your email program to automatically reply to any email you get with a message saying that you've gone away.
Example: 'Hello, and thank you for your email. This is an autoresponder, as I'm away on vacation until [date]. I have received your email, however, and will respond to it upon my return. I apologize for any inconvenience to you, and I am willing to make an offer of 10% off your next order to make it up to you.' The special offer for people who get the autoresponder is a nice touch -- it makes them feel lucky that they emailed you while you were away, instead of frustrated.
Don't Stay Away Too Long.
Of course, when you go on vacation, you're relying on people being willing to wait for you. That means you can't really take the kids to Disneyworld for two weeks, or spend a month staying with a friend abroad -- it's just too long to be away from your business for.
You should regard a weekend away as ideal (it avoids the whole problem for the most part), and a week as the maximum you can allow yourself. Don't let people make you feel bad about only taking one-week vacations: after all, you could always have more than one each year.
Alternatively: Get Someone to Look After the Business.
If you really want to get away for longer, or it's essential that your customers don't have any break in service, then you could consider getting someone to look after your business. This could be an existing member of staff that you make your 'deputy', to be in charge while you're away, or it could be someone who's related to you and has some experience running a business. You could even hand the business over to a competitor that you're friendly with and share the profits with them, if you think they're trustworthy and they could handle it.
Enjoy your vacation!
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Jennifer Schilling publishes a home business tips newsletter. Come get your free subscription at thinkingfaster@getresponse.com
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