Small Business Owners: How to Find Time Off

August 2, 2010 — Steve Thompson

This week’s FocalPoint Business Coaching Challenge is “How can I drive results as a business coach for a manufacturing company?” Leading the challenge is Greg De Simone, a

“Perhaps the greatest single problem that people have today is ‘time poverty.’”

-Brian Tracy

We are smack dab in the middle of summer and you have managed to take three whole days off in a row – but man-oh-man you hate the thought of heading back to the office. If that’s where you’re at, and you’re a small business owner, then let me, with the help of Brian Tracy, give you some tips on how to find the you time you need.

If you are obsessed with your business and quite certain that the world will fall apart without you – chill – let’ remedy those worries right now.

By taking a vacation you are showing your customers and your staff that you have the confidence in your business let it run by itself.

By planning to take a vacation you will be forced to put systems in place that would ordinarily take a backseat in daily operations. If you set a vacation as a final goal then you can start working towards time management steps that will realize that goal.

First off, make a list of worst case scenarios – what can go wrong while you are off lazing at the lake?

Then take that list to task: for each scenario, come up with solutions, approaches and strategies that are ready to kick into place should they occur. Guess what? You should have this kind of plan in place in any case – take a look at the Disaster Plan blog from a few weeks ago.

Next decide on a specific time for your vacation. You probably don’t want to be gone during your busiest time of year, but if ‘busy’ is year ‘round in your business then you need to suck it up and do it anyway.

Write down everything that you would normally need to do during your week, prioritize them with the ABCDE method, and then get those A, B and C tasks taken care of. The Ds and Es probably don’t need to be attended to while you are away.

What can you do to take care of the A, B and C tasks? You tell me.

Can someone else take care of them?
Can you pre-do them, so that you are ahead of yourself for just one week?
Can you outsource some work for that period of time?
Is there portions of the business that can have a ‘shut-down’/maintenance period to slow the pace while you’re away?

It may take a little work on the planning and organizing stage for you to go on vacation, but once you’ve done it the first time, systems will already be in place for the next one to go even smoother than the first.

So go ahead and call your travel agent, and while you’re at it call at FocalPoint Business Coaching Professional – they can help you make that vacation goal a reality.

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Comments

As a FocalPoint Business

August 4, 2010 — Chris Allen (not verified)

As a FocalPoint Business Performance Coach, one of the fun things about what I do is seeing the impact I have on the business owners I work with! When a client is able to take the first real vacation in years or start spending more time with their family, AND when this is a big win for them, it's a big win for me too! Although key focus areas for us are driving value through growing sales, increasing profitability, improving cash flow, reducing costs, etc., many times, these aren't the only signals of success for our clients. If we stay in tune with that, we can really help our clients drastically improve the quality of their lives in ways that matter to them!

Getting the processes and systems in place is key to enabling not only vacations to occur, but also to allow the business owner to extract themselves from the day to day operations. Short-term, this usually allows the business owner to work on the things they really enjoy and also helps them be more strategic on their business - where do they want to be in 3 years, 5 years, etc. It frees them up to expand into multiple sites or pursue other passions along the way. Longer-term, it allows them to really concentrate on exit strategies for their business. As a result of settig up the business to run without the business owner, it is more attractive to a strategic buyer who would be willing to pay more than Fair Market Value. If the business is sold, the business owner usually is not required to spend much time during transition ... depending on who the new owner is, the business coach is generally a good resource to keep on in transition to help the new owner make it their own.

Chris Allen, Owner & Professional Business Coach, The Business Spotlight, Inc.

"Lighting the Way to Your Success!"

Cincinnati, Ohio

www.TheBusinessSpotlightInc.com

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http://www.linkedin.com/in/christophershawnallen