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Starting your own business requires dedication and perseverance. However, without a break in the hectic race to succeed, your duties can become stale and too routine. In the excitement of achieving your dream, you may find that months turn into years, and a numbness in your life, begins to set in. Before you reach the point of no return, schedule a vacation in your busy schedule.
How to Find the Time
If you are like thousands of other entrepreneurs, you quickly realize that schedules have become a new way of life. Scheduling a vacation, in your busy routine, should be considered just another duty that has to be performed. Time off can be bypassed for the first couple of years, while establishing goals and working toward a break-even point, but never wait until the time is right. It will never come. When you first delve into the world of entrepreneurship, create realistic goals. Once you have achieved a certain mark, plan a two-week vacation.
Funds for Fun
The first 2-3 years of entrepreneurship may be rough for setting up any type of savings plan, but fit it in as soon as possible. Just like an employer offers sick time, holiday pay and vacation time, for employees, you need to offer these same benefits to yourself. Figure this into your regular expenses and question if it is really needed. Or instead, set aside an amount from your regular payroll check for a savings and vacation fund, to avoid paying additional taxes on company expenses. However you choose to work it in, never cut out the essential money that is needed to enjoy yourself.
Trusting your Business to Others
You probably feel as if no one could possibly operate your business as professionally as you do. However, just like a mother that learns to let a child grow, this has to be part of your plan. At some point in time, you could be called away for a family emergency. Don't wait for the inevitable to happen, before realizing how critical it is to have a responsible manager, or aid, that understands your company. Begin training an individual early on, and use your vacation as a testing ground for all you have taught them. Never become discouraged if you have to train more than one or two potential employees. It is better to find that perfect fit, than to settle for something less.
Types of Vacations Especially for the Entrepreneur
Your vacation should consist of rest and relaxation. Spending time on your laptop and communication devices should not be part of your trip. You will find yourself working and worrying about your business, only off-site. Force yourself to book a trip that has little use for modern day amenities and really rest your body and mind. It will take a few days to wash away the static that has built up in your brain, but you will find yourself worrying less and less about what is taking place at home. Here are some examples of places that are perfect for recharging:
- Cruises on ships or sailboats
- Horse ranches in the mountains
- Caribbean resorts along the beach
- Mountain climbing, hiking or camping
- Fishing or hunting expeditions
- Visiting foreign countries
When you are able to separate yourself from the world, as you have come to know it, a new perspective will form on what is really important in life.
What you Will Achieve through R & R
It is hard to explain to the entrepreneur workaholic, that a vacation offers much needed room for the betterment of their company. Compare it to aging. No one will admit that their body is beginning to wear out, skin is losing elasticity, and that they no longer resemble that aspiring teen from just a few years ago. But one day, it suddenly hits you, like a ton of bricks. You have aged, and do not know how it happened so quickly. Pushing yourself to your own internal limits, with starting a business, will soon turn into months, then years, of continued stress. One day, you will wake up and find that you have lost your reasoning for wanting to succeed. In some cases, depression sets in, while others just walk away, tired of the repetition that being an entrepreneur has turned into.
Make yourself plan vacations, even if you do not feel they are deserved, or that you need them. The first trip may take longer to unwind, but it will come. When you do return to your business, there will be catching up to do, but you will be empowered with fresh ideas, new stamina and a great outlook for the future. Regardless of whether you plan a family vacation, a trip with good friends, or go solo, and meet exciting people along the way, never become selfish, with your company, to the point of living and dying in your dream. After awhile, you will look forward to trips and coming home with more zest than you could ever realize.