By Clark Gapen

It’s the summertime. You’re a hardworking small-business owner. You deserve some time off to take a vacation. But before you make a mad dash out of the office or your storefront, it’s important to make sure you, your business, and most importantly, your clients are prepared for the time you’ll be taking off.
In order for you as a small business owner to enjoy your vacation as much as possible, a few things must be done on the home front to insure everything runs as smoothly as it would if you were there (or at least as close as possible). This, in turn, will bring you peace of mind and allow you to have a relaxing get-away and recharge your batteries so you can return to work feeling confident and energized.

Here’s what absolutely MUST be done in preparation before taking off work on vacation:

Let your clients know you’ll be leaving ahead of time.
The satisfaction of your clients is vital to the well-being of your business. They like to know when you won’t be at work because otherwise they expect you will be. That’s why informing your clients that you’re going on vacation clients a few weeks in advance is key. Let them know not only the duration of time you’ll be out of town but also how or if they can contact you if they need to. By doing this, you avoid an awkward situation in which a client is left in the dark and tries to reach you only to finds that you’re M.I.A., probably enjoying a pina colada on a sandy beach.



Prep your staff to handle your business with the expertise that you do.
Trust your staff to take care of your small business while you’re away. To do this, make sure they’re up to speed on what’s going on at your business and what you’re working on for your clients. If you can delegate many of your own responsibilities to a hardworking and trustworthy staff, you can be confident that the fort is being held down at home.

Let your clients know who’s in charge while you’re away.
Informing your customers and clients of who will be running your small business in your absence is also a must. Your clients want to be familiar and comfortable speaking with whoever is answering the phones and picking up some of your workplace duties in your place. Again, communication is huge when it comes to getting everything in order before going on vacation.

Schedule your vacation strategically.
This is a fairly obvious one but nonetheless still very important. Take your vacation at a period during the summer when business is typically slow. If you can get out of town when it’s not too busy, you can be more relaxed knowing you’re not missing too much important work.

Allow yourself to enjoy your vacation.
Let go. Put the phone away and simply relax. Designate certain times during the day that you can devote to a small amount of business if needed and then commit the rest of your time to making your vacation…a vacation. Happy travels!