The best way of running a business while on vacation is to have someone else manage the business while you're away. These worry-free vacation tips will help ensure that you actually get a vacation when you go, rather than endlessly calling or texting to see how things are going.
Running a Business While on Vacation
Pick the Right Person
If you have employees, choose the most capable and reliable person and designate him or her your second-in-command. (You should do this even if you're not planning a vacation as you never know when you'll be unable to work in your business for some reason.)
If you don’t have any employees, one ideal solution is to swap "vacation time" with another business person in the same or a similar area.
For instance, a financial adviser might cover another financial adviser's business for a week or two in exchange for having her business looked after when she goes on vacation. You might also ask a retired business person to fill in, or one of the members of your advisory board.
Training Them to Manage Your Small Business
1) First, if you are not a one-person business operator, and you're not already doing it, you need to start practicing delegation. Admittedly, this is more about training you then about training them, but you have to be able to let go before someone else can do it.
2) Make a list of important procedures and information. What does your replacement/second in command need to know to keep your business operating while you're gone?
3) Decide what an emergency is. Under what circumstances do you want your replacement to contact you while you're on vacation? If a certain client calls? Only if there's a fire or an earthquake? Be clear about your expectations.
4) Meet with the person who's going to be running your business while you're on vacation, share the information and see what other concerns she or he has.
5) Have some trial runs. Before you go on vacation for a week, practice turning over the reins and taking a break from your business. Take a real mini-vacation or pretend you are and do something different such as taking the weekend off.
Having someone else be in control of things for brief periods, even if it's just a day, will give you both the chance to see how things go and work out the details of your "away" plan - and give you personally a chance to get used to the idea of not working on your business.
Running a business while on vacation will take a bit of work in advance on your part, but it's the best way to actually get a worry-free vacation when you do actually take one. And, once your vacation plan is in place and you have someone prepared to back you up, getting to take a vacation in the future will be a whole lot easier.
