Question: can you take a vacation or hiatus when you’re in that first year of growing and building your business?

Well, lately I’ve been hearing a lot about the joy of taking a summer hiatus.

Time off to be with the kids, the family, etc. to recharge, renew, etc. Drink Mai Tai’s at 11:50 AM.

Sounds divine.

I even got sucked into thinking I might actually be able to take one myself.

For about ½ a day I was entertaining the idea of hanging up the we’ll be back soon sign and disappearing from the internet.

Not to say I don’t NEED some uninterrupted time OFF.

And I’m sure you do too, right?

Now, knowing that many of you are just starting your businesses, I bet you feel like you can’t take that time off either. Did you know that there is a way to get that lighter load?  You know, just a little extra space here and there to give you that rested, recharged feeling you get from take a real vacation? Believe it.

So you can’t take a break now but still need some downtime ?

If you are ready to get the benefits of a hiatus without risking the growth of your business, read on.

Before you close up shop, you need a solid plan so you won’t lose the traction or momentum you’ve been building in your business over the past few months… And you definitely don’t want to come back to a plate of overwhelm that has you trying to play catch up.

Here’s the 1-2-3 Take A Break plan to make it happen:

Disclaimer:  This is my plan really – so if your business differs at all – then you need to find your bare minimum to keep your business running, still get that feeling you have a break, and not lose the eyes of your new audience. I did it in December before a family vacation – and I’m doing it again right now to prep for month ahead.

Ok … here it is. Brace yourself. It’s THAT simple.

1. Write all blog posts, newsletter, and any other broadcasts in advance.
2. Reschedule any webinars/interviews/clients until August.
3. Write & Schedule 2 social media posts per day – but plan to post on SM as you go along.

Ok – so that seems pretty easy right? Content takes the longest for me – even though I love creating – and knowing that it’s roughed out or finished will be amazing and lighten my load big time!

Here’s how these easy steps give you that summer vacation feeling:

• You won’t be stressed out about your regularly scheduled blog posts – You may still end up revising it after you write the post, but at least the bones of the posts will be done.

• Focus on the other responsibilities you CAN’T do in advance.  If you have a day job, it may even feel easy during July – simply because you aren’t trying to fit in your own business’ work too.

• Take days off throughout the month – as needed – go on day trips, take impromptu vacations, enjoy this scaled back mode.  This is a must, so make sure you plan some long weekends, early days out of the office, or even random days playing hookie!

• You won’t lose connection with your audience. When you’re just starting a business, it’s important to be consistent in your communication. So – disappearing isn’t very practical. Since I’m planning to re-launch a program in August, I need to stay present and engaged. Instead of all day long social media grazing, I’ll spend a little time at the beginning and end of every day checking social media…or do one better and only check in once a day.

So here’s what I want you to do right now:

Open up your calendar and review your work/business/life schedule for the next 2 months.

List out all the posts/emails you were planning to write, any clients you have scheduled, any projects happening at work (if you have a day job).

Now – take your blog posts/emails list – and write the topics you need to write for each one.  Add a day or 2 day period where you can rough out or write everything. Add another day and time where you’ll go back review/revise the posts.

Make sure all your written work is chunked into a few days to complete and give yourself the time to come back for revisions.  Then, schedule it in wordpress, aweber, mailchimp, hootsuite…whatever you use.  Step back and breathe a sigh of relief.

Next – see if you can reschedule your clients.  If this is your only gig – maybe you need the money.  I would still consider rescheduling them for the very beginning or very end of the month or chunking them together.

Finally – take a look at 2 months in the future.  If you’ve got nothing launching the next month – you may actually be able to scale back more than I did!

Keep in mind – this is an extremely simplified plan to get some vacation during summer when you’re just starting your biz, but I did that on purpose so you can tailor it to your needs.

As always – I am all about sharing the simple business tips I use myself and with my top performing clients – but it’s not free.  I’m running a business here and need your support!  Please share this article – or any other one you like on the site with 5 friends who will benefit from what we’ve got going on here AND so I can continue offering consistent FREE weekly training to you.

Leave a comment below and let me know how you’re going to make room for “vacation” this summer! 

image credit:  krossbow