Whether you work for yourself or run a business, you know that taking time off can be, well, difficult at best. Especially as the holidays and end-of-year deadlines approach. Maybe you’re still recovering from Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Or you’re prepping for another holiday wave. Or you have a lot of client projects that need wrapping up.
Okay, okay. We’ll stop there. It’s overwhelming, right?!
Despite the madness and never-ending to-do list, you also need a break. It’s so important that you get to actually enjoy the holidays with friends or family — or just give yourself some much-needed (and much-deserved) R&R.
That’s why we’re showing you how to prep your business for your upcoming break, including some tools to help you along the way. The result? A stress-free, quiet time away from your business. And yes, we promise everything will be okay.
We’ll be the first to say that scheduling tools are your best friend when it comes to running your business and stepping away from it. If you use HoneyBook, it has a built-in scheduling tool, or you can tap into others like Calendly and Acuity.
Whichever calendar you use, make sure you close your calendar bookings (these are any links that people can use to schedule time with you) and block off the days you plan to be out. That way, no one can schedule a call with you until you’re back. If you’re worried about missing potential leads or upsetting current clients, add a short out-of-office note and your scheduling link to your email footer, letting people know they can get on your calendar when you’re back.
Before you go on break, you want to make sure that anyone who emails you during that time still gets a response. No matter which email platform you use, be sure to turn on automated responses that explain when you’ll be back online. If you expect a lot of new or potential business to come through during that time, you can even add a short note of what they can expect from you should you work together.
End-of-year projects and new client kickoffs are some of the most demanding tasks to manage this time of year — especially as you try to take time off. Thankfully, you can lean on HoneyBook and ClickUp to help you out.
In HoneyBook, you can set up automated triggers that send onboarding info to new clients, like contracts, invoices, forms, workflows, and more! Basically, you can make it look as if you’re not offline because you’re still able to send clients everything they need to get started on the project. All while you’re kicking your feet up and relaxing!
As for ClickUp, you can also set up automations that keep your team and clients on track while you’re out. It tells them exactly what needs to be done and by when, so projects can still move along. And, if something needs to be reviewed or completed when you come back, ClickUp will have everything waiting for you, so nothing gets missed!
Social Media Schedulers make it so easy for us to unplug from our business without ghosting completely. I use my ClickUp Content Calendar to map out all of my content within just a couple of hours, then schedule it out in FB Business Suite for free! Map out the content you want running while you're gone, then set it and forget it.
If your taking a vacation but your team is still running the business behind the scenes, make sure you take the time to set them up for success.
Set clear expectations of them and make a point to set boundaries. Let them know what the line is between what they can handle, what you can take care of when you're back, and what the absolute line is to contact you.
You'll find a lot can get done that you thought you would have to handle but actually don't!
Finally, before you step away for your well-deserved break, don’t forget some of these final tips and to-dos:
Yes, seriously! Doing this will give you a few days to get back in the swing of things, catch up on emails, and knock out some to-dos before you have to answer to anyone else!
Be sure to communicate your out-of-office boundaries to your team and, if necessary, your clients. When — if at all — can they contact you? How should they reach you in an emergency? What qualifies as an ‘emergency?’
If you have the resources, having a virtual assistant manage your inbox can save you so much time coming back. They can create a spreadsheet of everyone you need to respond to. That way, you can send copied and pasted emails instead of individual responses. A virtual assistant can also keep an ongoing log of anything that happens or needs your attention when you get back, so nothing slips through the cracks!
