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Running Your Home Business While Traveling

Written by: Chris Simpson

Article Overview: One of the most commonly overlooked essential needs of someone with their own business is vacation time. Most entrepreneurs, knowing exactly how much their business makes when they're paying attention, see a vacation as a double hit - there's the cost of the vacation package itself, and then there's the cost of not running your business directly on top of it.

Running Your Home Business While Traveling

One of the most commonly overlooked essential needs of someone with their own business is vacation time. Most entrepreneurs, knowing exactly how much their business makes when they're paying attention, see a vacation as a double hit - there's the cost of the vacation package itself, and then there's the cost of not running your business directly on top of it.

People who run their own business are self starters by definition; they may not be the classic "Type A" aggressive personality, but they're the kinds of people who have trouble delegating things. And this costs them in productivity, because they won't take time away from their business to relax.

Relaxation is important - not just to your own overall physical and emotional and mental health, but to your business as well. A surprising amount of innovation happens when people are having fun and having a vacation - sitting by the pool drinking Mai Tai's can be the start of your next great business plan, and serial entrepreneurs (people who start and sell businesses, then move on to other things) usually start their new business after an extended break.

If you've got a business that's large enough to have employees, one of the perks of having employees is that you can designate some of them to run things when you're gone. Set aside a specific time each day to check back with the office for any updates, and expect the week after the vacation to be one where you're catching up with things (and make notes on what types of things weren't done while you were out - that's a direct recipe for where you can improve training in the future.)

Now, if your business is home based, there's probably no-one to hand things off to, in house. Out of house, you probably have people who work in the same field you do; offer a vacation swap - you'll cover their clients when they go on vacation, if they'll cover yours when you go. If this isn't possible, do your clients the courtesy of letting them know two weeks in advance of when your vacation is going to be. They'll understand the need for a vacation; they just need to be able to plan their business needs around it.

While on your vacation, bring the laptop and bring the cell phone - and then very carefully leave them in the hotel room until early evening. Don't start your vacation days with email and phone calls; they'll only make you stress out about the business, rather than enjoy yourself. Do schedule a set "work time" where you skim your emails, reply to the most urgent ones possible, and otherwise tell yourself it can wait.

This time management is also important at trade shows; a lot of trade show attendees make the mistake of trying to run their exhibitor's booth (or walk the aisles if they aren't exhibitors) while also maintaining contact with the business back home. This inevitably makes a bad impression and ensures that you'll miss something important. So, yes, it's important to keep up with the details on the home front. It's also important to pay attention to why you're there in the first place.

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Article Tags: aggressive personality, business plan, having fun, innovation, mai tai, mental health, nbsp, new business, own business, paying attention, pool, productivity, relaxation, self starters, vacation package, vacation swap, vacation time



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Re: How do you budget your life? - Here is my financial management categories for today: 15% Long Term Savings; 10% Home Expenses; 45% Business and Marketing charges; 10% Friends (Meeting); 20$ Scientific and Law Books. But this will change when it is August or September. Orxan
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Re: What Do you Prefer More - Time or Money - [quote="TannyL":l9yb1lqm][quote="Alan Mater":l9yb1lqm] Hi Tanny, In my opinion time is more valuable than money. Can you have one without the other?[/quote:l9yb1lqm] Alan, I thought about it, and I came to the conclusion there are people who have money, but don't have time. They are workaholics, they love working, they love making tons of money, they may have time, but they are using it for more work and money making. If you ask them, they will say, they don't have time. They don't have time for family, they don't have time for friends, and parties (unless it is work related), they don't take time for themselves. I have a good friend she is working only to have a good time. She is usually finding a job, working 6 months, going on a trip, coming back, working 6 months and traveling again, etc. But as good as it sounds, she is 34 years old, and still living with her parents, she doesn't own a car, and the only thing she need her money for is her mobile phone. Traveling every 6 months looks good, but I rather pay my mortgage.[/quote:l9yb1lqm] I wouldn't want to be either of those scenarios. As much as we need money and depend on it, I could never work so much that I never have time for anything else, especially family. That's just sad if you ask me. Of course, the other scenario is sad as well. Traveling 6 months out of the year sounds quite enjoyable but not when you're still living at home with no car. In that case I'd rather work all year long and have a month's vacation time to spend for traveling.
Re: Trade Shows - Are They Worth It? - HI, I have used trade shows (not participated) to collect potential clients. For example, the Home & Garden Industry is extremely behind the time in regards to their websites. I attended an Home & Garden Expo in Denver and collected all the companies contact information. I plan on cold calling & mailing information to each business. It also gave me time to research the industry more, talk directly to the owners in many cases, and learn more about what they need. Jeff
Re: 15 Hot Internet Businesses - Running a travel planning agency out of my home would be amusing... it'd give me an excuse to travel all around Virginia, put together info packets on the various historical and military sites, and then sell 'em as travel guides...


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