It’s hard for business owners to take a true BREAK, right? We’re constantly going-going-going and it’s hard to relax even when we NEED to!!!

I’m currently enjoying a week long vacation with my family in the Outer Banks of NC! We have been counting down for MONTHS (since my mom booked this house in Sept!)!! So HOW was it possible for me to go? With both DSE and C@H vying for my time, it can seem near impossible to take a break!!

I shared 5 tips in the Creative at Heart Newsletter last week (sign up here to get the bi-weekly issue!), and I thought they were too good to only share once!! I’m sharing those along with 5 MORE today! We could ALL use a vacation, right?! Here are 10 tips to help you REST even in the mist of chaos…

1. Be strategic when PLANNING your vacation. In the fall, when my mom asked about going to the beach for a week, I knew July would be the best month. Weddings are in full swing April-June, and pick back up again September-November. July would be the perfect time to get away & take a break, without leaving me feeling stressed about all the work piling up! I blocked off this week 10 months ago, and planned accordingly. Be strategic with the vacation dates you decide on & therefore you’ll feel more at ease about TAKING a vacation!!:)

2. Be prepared. Now that you’ve been strategic about planning the trip, you have to be prepared leading up TO the trip!! You can’t wake up the day before vacation and expect to get EVERYTHING done that you wanted! It doesn’t work that way! Look at your schedule the week or two leading up to vacation, and plan to work a bit more leading up to your time off. I tend to hustle the most anyway when blue skies and sandy beaches are on the horizon:)

3. Set up an email auto-responder.  I have one on my email at all times, but when I go on vacation I reword the first few sentences to let people know I’m gone! I don’t want someone to expect a response when I’m enjoying time with family & friends!! Being open about your time away will allow for grace in your response time!

4. Email your clients. Before my St Thomas wedding in June, I emailed all of my clients to let them know that I was going to be gone for a few days with limited access to email. My clients deserve the VERY best of me, so I want to make them aware when my response time will be slower!! Make sure you let them know if you will have LIMITED access or NO access to email! They will appreciate your attentiveness and dedication.

5. Pre-blog & schedule posts. If you want your blog to stay active while you are gone, pre-blog ahead of time. Last week, I blogged ALL of my posts for this week & scheduled them on the appropriate days. I didn’t want to worry with it when I was on vacation & I wanted to my blog to stay active!

6. Schedule Facebook Posts. If you’re going to blog, you need to SHARE you blog posts, right?! Instead of worrying about jumping on your Facebook page every morning of vaca to share the post, you should schedule them ahead of time!! You can schedule photos & posts!:)

7. Prepare your staff. If you have a team of people who assist you (day of assistants, second shooters, editors you outsource to, office assistants, etc.) then make sure you have discussed your plans with them. Let them know what your expectations are for them while you’re away, and also tell them what they can expect from you! Open communication will allow for a much smoother time away!

8. Turn off your phone notifications. This is VACATION, people! I time to be PRESENT and spend time with a good book and your favorite drink! You do not want your phone buzzing every time an email comes in that you don’t plan to respond to, or every time someone tags you on Facebook. ENJOY your time off!! I encourage you to turn off your notifications, and only click apps when you need to. (I actually have all of my social media & emails notifications turned off permanently & it’s been a game changer, friends!)

9. Take a book, not your laptop. If you’re not planning to do ANY work at all, then don’t take it with you!!! I did bring my laptop because I planned to have dedicated work time every few days; not every day, but every few days I planned to access my email and make sure there wasn’t something urgent. BUT if you’re truly planning 7 days of NO WORK, then don’t bring the temptation with you!!

 10. RELAX. You’re on vacation!!! At the end of the day, this IS your vacation. Owning a small business is hard work, and you deserve to take a vacation just like everyone else!! Don’t let yourself get caught up with work, or stressed out thinking about work, while you’re there. Take time to feel rejuvenated, refreshed and ready to come back after vacation with a new fire inside!!

 

xo!! kat