How to Successfully Vacation From Your Business, Part 3

 If you remember, we started this 3-part episode with a question: “What would you do differently if you could step away from your business for one month?”

In the first part of this episode, we talked about Business Automation – the kind where you delegate to a 2nd tier of management to Automate the tasks you need while you are away.

In the second part, we talked about Scaling and how the preparation you do at that point makes everything work.

Today, we’re going to put these and a few other ideas together to make sure you can successfully leave your business for a period of time. At first, it may only be a day; then two days; then a week; and then a month. But regardless of how long, ultimately, our time away is our WHY as we approach this process.

BEFORE WE DO THIS

I’m going to let you in on a little secret: The first time I did what we are about to discuss, I was nervous as all get-out. As Murphy, the Optimist, would have happen …

·      I had no backup for what I normally do

·      Some of my systems were not complete

·      One of my key people was out 

It was simply lovely, yet I went forward with everything, and it worked out much better than I expected.

REALITY

Now what I’m going to recommend is going to take some money – no doubt about it. Even if you make no other changes in your business, getting people to run things for you for even a day or two is going to involve some “cheddar”. That’s okay if you plan for it. A one-time fill-in can work, but you’re going to invest in people and that means training. Depending on the skill level and the number of tasks, that can involve quite a bit of that “cheddar.”

And it’s going to take some time as well! If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing well, making the investment as it is required.

Ideally, you should try to take these vacations regularly so that you integrate these activities into your regular expenses. That way, the expenses are not a surprise and they don’t turn into an excuse to ‘stick around the business.’

In doing this, there are some target areas you want to make sure are solid before this program goes live. They are:

·      Sales Management

·      Technology Management

·      Finance Management

·      Customer Service Management

·      HR Management

These are all areas you likely have a vested interest even if you don’t run them.

Again, these are “Tier 2 Management”. You need everyone to understand BEFORE you leave that these management positions are oversight … the caretakers. But also make it clear that letting even one person or group get out of hand can create a serious roadblock to success, (sad voice) which can easily force you to return prematurely.

FOCUS AREAS

If your Sales system is automated, so much the better – same for Marketing. It’s easy to find a Virtual CIO for Technology Management – just don’t let them make decisions for you. Speaking of Tech, don’t forget to invest in a camera system to document the goings-on in critical areas of your Operations.

Finance is easily managed remotely with the exception of things like the daily deposit. It’s pretty easy to give one person access to the safe, a different person (maybe family or a trusted friend) to take the deposit to the bank and your CFO to verify the deposit after it has been made. And be sure to have a camera on the safe.

HR problems can come up in many different areas. Some people suddenly deign that they “run things here.” I have recently experienced that syndrome from a lowly assistant who told me to leave and never come back just because I was unhappy with the level of service I received.

In many cases, an offensive employee can verbally be put on administrative leave, and temporarily without pay, pending a timely review by the Virtual HR Management. They should quickly investigate the circumstances, document everything and then make a fast recommendation to you for whether to let the person in question go or not. When I had to deal with this in the past, I reviewed the documentation for completeness and then made a fast decision of return to service or termination.

This same kind of situation applies when it comes to money and to customer service situations. Be consistent, but timely. Consistency is key to correct issues regardless of whether the boss is away or not.

And when it comes to other employees, believe me when I say it takes only one “correction” to make the point!

 

CYB

When it comes to business information, you want to have some sort of portal available to you to review what is happening in your business. You’re simply leaving it for a while, but you still have an obligation to the powers that be (aka, government entities) to run your business regardless of where you go.

I have a business automation system that I use, and everything my company does goes into that system. Tasks are automated, projects are integrated, costs are calculated, reports are generated and I can see it all. Finance and Billing is in a different system, and I can see that as well.

I look for Tier 2 Management groups that have some sort of portal where I can see, or they put their notes into my system. Either way, I get a permanent record of what happened while I was OOTO.

Now if you don’t have the resources for all of this, you can probably use some of your responsible team members. Again, you want to emphasize they are oversight – more like caretakers as eyes and ears within the business. They DO NOT run things.

THE WRAP

By doing it this way, you’ve created an environment that makes it possible for you to leave, yet to also see what is happening. This same type of environment can be available to you as needed even when you are just home for the evening. 

And when people know you can see what’s happening, well … let’s just say that paranoia can go a long way in keeping the business running smoothly.

So I hope this 3-part episode has been of value to you – maybe sparked some ideas that you considered but never implemented – and hopefully brings a new sense of relaxation to you that allows you to break out of the endless grind in “running” your own business.

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