Prepare Your Business for Your Vacation
As a solopreneur or small business owner, you’re likely still a major component in the day to day tasks of your business. You may be wondering what are some key items to prepare your business for your vacation, your time away. You want to be fully present during the time out of the office and not thinking about tasks or potential problems that can arise. Check out these five key steps to take to prepare your business for your vacation.
1) Point people to a resource with an out of office message.
Use your vacation message to point people who email you to a resource list. Let them know that you are out of the office and will not be checking email, but that they can check out this list of resources. If you’re out of office because you’re focused on a big project for your tribe, then give them a hint such as I’m working on an awesome [name the resource such as a big, video, training etc.] so I’m out of the office for a little while. I’ll be sharing more details when I get back.
2) Schedule all emails to go out to your list.
You’ve planned out your marketing strategy and campaigns to deliver great content and produce sales. Make sure everything is set to run smoothly. Pre-schedule the emails to go out to your list, your newsletter, news about upcoming events and projects etc.
3) Schedule articles, videos, or other public messages to be posted.
You likely already use a social media scheduler or have outsourced most posting. Make sure all the posts are properly scheduled in an application such as Hootsuite or Buffer. Decide how available you will be to respond to replies on your posts. Remember social media is about engaging and not just posting. You may decide to decrease the scheduled posts if you do not plan to be as available to engage as you usually are.
4) Block all time on your calendar.
Do clients consistently make appointments to meet with you? If you have a system where, they can schedule their own appointments, then make sure there aren’t available times for appointments showing in your online scheduling system. The last thing you want is to forget and have someone schedule to meet with you when in actuality you are unavailable. This also applies to colleagues and partners.
5) Give your VA tasks and leave emergency contact information.
Make sure your staff has everything they need to stay busy without you. Whether they are virtual or local, they should know what they have autonomy to decide and what needs to wait until you get back. Yes, some things they already know, but really think through a day, a week, a project. What type of questions come up? Prepare answers ahead of time and a protocol for if there is a question that they really need your input. Determine who receives your emergency contact information and explain in detail what you consider to be an emergency.
