Everyone needs a break from their daily routine once in a while. Taking a break from your usual work is proven to be an effective way to re-energize your senses and boost your productivity once you return. Business owners are no exception. However, it is not an easy decision to make especially when you are hands-on with your business and a huge part of its operation is dependent on you. In the same vein, YOU, as a personal brand, are responsible for managing your reputation. Sometimes taking a break poses more stress than relief, rendering your vacation useless. So how do you deal with such a situation?
Here are some tips:
Prepare yourself. Condition your mind that you are taking time off to help you get better once you return. Do not stress yourself with how you will respond to any emails or inquiries while you are away. Otherwise, instead of getting excited that you are taking a breather, you’re already stressed out. In this way, you might not completely recover from the stress brought about by your usual routine. Evaluate any critical points such as deadlines that may happen while you’re away. In case there are some things that you need to do even if you are already in your vacation, designate a schedule that will not interrupt your relaxation time.
Honor your relaxation time with the same respect that you do your working time. [tweet this]
Inform your clients in time. Let your clients know beforehand that you are going on a vacation. Letting them know that you will be gone for a while is the professional thing to do instead of leaving them clueless as to what might have happened to you, in case they have concerns and you aren’t able to respond right away. From their view, they will appreciate you took the initiative to inform them, and they’ll respect your time off.
Set deadlines and reminders. Consider your clients as partners whom you work with hand in hand. As such, give deadlines for any work to be done before your trip. This will give them the impetus to fulfill what needs to be done and you will not be faulted because of your absence.
Use auto responders. Set up an auto responder for your email address in order to let anyone who contacts you know that you are on vacation and will respond as soon as you return.
Set time to communicate with your point person. Your point person will be in charge of your brand/business during the days you are away. As such, designate a time to speak with them just to get updated on what’s happening back at the office. This will ease any anxiety you may have while on vacation.
Turn off your phone. It is quite a hard thing to do especially when almost all information and contacts are in your phone. However, be reminded that you are taking time off to relax and get in touch with your inner self. If you can’t leave your phone behind, the next best thing to do is to turn off its notification feature. This will prevent you from getting distracted with the tweets, emails, and updates that might be sent your way.
Taking time off is a great way to get over the stress brought about by the daily grind. Boost your creativity and productivity by taking a break. By going on vacation you show that your business is under your control, rather than the business controlling your life. All you need is to carefully plan out your strategy to take time off. With that, have a relaxing, stress, and worry free vacation!
Author:
Maria Elena Duron, is managing editor of the Personal Branding Blog, CEO (chief engagement officer) of buzz2bucks– a word of mouth marketing firm, and a professional speaker and trainer on developing social networks that work. She provides workshops, webinars, seminars and direct services that help create conversation, connection, credibility, community and commerce around your brand. Maria Duron is founder and moderator of #brandchat – a weekly Twitter chat focused on every aspect of branding that is recognized by Mashable as one the 15 Essential Twitter Chats for Social Media Marketers.
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