How to balance travel & work
/One of the most amazing things about being your own boss, is having the ability to travel and make your own schedule. Majority of entrepreneurs start their own business with the intention of having more flexibility and time with their family. All too often, this does not end up being the case. Instead we spend days upon days feeling like we’re chained to our laptop. Which raises the question, is it truly possible to go on vacation when you are in the early stages of building your company?
For the last 3 years Aaron and I have had the opportunity to visit some amazing places. Before starting Let’s Get Social my vacation life looked pretty dull. Saving up majority of my vacation time for the holiday’s and a few long weekends here and there. We are so thankful that Aaron receives 6 weeks of vacation time a year. It’s truly allowed us to travel more then ever before!
I wish I could tell you that throughout this travel time, I have been completely disconnected from work and Let’s Get Social. That I’ve been enjoying every single second and soaking it all in. And that work has not creeped into my mind once. But I can not.
The harsh reality of owning your own business, especially in the start-up phase is that you are always thinking about work. And when you love what you do, it’s even harder to disconnect.
Over the last 3 years Let’s Get Social has gone from a one women show to a growing team. With this growth has come the ability to have some disconnected and offline vacation days. It’s also brought on a whole new set of problems.
Here are some ways we encourage our team to balance travel and work:
Self Sustaining Business: Heaven forbid, but if something happened to you tomorrow, is your business able to continue to thrive? Because we all handle very different aspects of the business, one of the first things we discovered was that we all needed visibility into what was taking place. OUR TIP - Create a Trello board that housing all of your important documents, client communication, client passwords and walks your team members through what you do on a weekly basis.
Out Of Office Notifications: Before heading out of town on vacation, I shoot all of our clients an email letting them know that I will be gone. I have all the faith in the world that our team can handle anything that comes up, and giving our client’s a heads up that I will be unreachable makes the transition smoother.
Turn off Notifications: How will you disconnect if your phone is constantly lighting up? The moment we are wheels up, the notifications go off. One of the biggest ways to avoid temptation is by simply removing the trigger all together.
Send Daily Recaps To Your OOO Members: When someone from our team is out of the office for longer than 3 days, we like to send end of day recaps. Not only does this allow the team member to know what happened while they were gone, it gives them an easy way to filter through all of the email noise when returning.
If you’re struggling to disconnect from work while on vacation, remind yourself that you do need time to recharge. You can only be your best self when you are putting in the time to rest and reset.
What are your tips for truly disconnecting when vacationing?