Every month when I send out my client billing, I let them know which days I will be out of the office in the coming month.<\/p>\n
It’s an easy habit to get into – I can book off whatever days I want, and they get enough notice so we can make plans to get their work done on their deadlines.<\/p>\n
I have done it for quite a while now and my clients now just have to take my email and update their own calendar. It’s quick and easy!<\/p>\n
How do you take time off?<\/em><\/p>\n Do you take time off? <\/em>Maybe that’s the first question to ask!<\/p>\n I used to never take time off. I was usually the only support staff that my clients had and I felt like I was not really able to be away from their work.<\/p>\n Being out of the office for any reason used to kind of stress me out. I had this sense that they couldn’t be without me- that it would create SO much extra work to try to take a few days off, that it just was not worth it.<\/p>\n Boy, was I wrong!<\/strong><\/p>\n How did I figure this amazing lesson out?<\/p>\n First things first, one of my business coaches taught me that I am responsible TO my client’s business – not FOR it.<\/strong><\/p>\n That was an amazing, eye-opening, BAM<\/strong> moment for me.<\/p>\n It’s true! It’s their business!<\/strong> THEY are responsible for it!<\/p>\n It is my responsibility to help support them with the tasks that I do. But it’s certainly not my responsibility to make sure that their business never fails, or stops running.<\/p>\n That was a huge lesson for me.<\/p>\n As soon as I started acting like a business owner, my clients treated me more like one.<\/p>\n They<\/strong> took time off. They<\/strong> left the office during the day to go to appointments and events. They<\/strong> rejigged their schedule when they were travelling somewhere.<\/p>\n So, now I do too.<\/strong><\/p>\n It’s a funny shift to make when you realize that you can do whatever you want – if you haven’t done it yet I highly recommend it!<\/p>\n A few hours, a day, a long weekend, or a couple of days is typically easier to manage than, say, a couple of weeks off.<\/p>\n It’s easy to shift your own work around a short term out of office notice.<\/p>\n So how do you take holidays?<\/p>\n