How we Take Vacation at Poe Group Advisors – Video Blog

Guess who’s going on vacation, ME!

I’m getting ready to head out of town this week for a five-day vacation. It’s amazing how much work gets done before the vacation, during it while I’m away, and when I get back.

Vacation is not a luxury, it’s a necessary ingredient for success. The longer we’ve been selling accounting practices, the clearer it becomes that the people who take significant time off actually have better practices.

Why is that? It’s because you need to be refreshed! When you go on vacation, you’re unplugged from work and you come back with new ideas and a fresh look at your business. Your staff also step up in your absence.

Years ago I had a client that was heading to Egypt for four weeks and he told me he wasn’t going to be unavailable while he was gone. I asked him how he was able to do that and he said, “you just do it.” He said the first time he ever did it, he was sitting on the airplane about to take off and was wondering if he was going to have a business when he got back! What happened was that he planned for it ahead of time. He told his clients a month in advance that he would be gone, so any urgent or important projects were moved up and he was busy leading up to when he left. When he left, his staff stepped up.

You really don’t know how good your staff are until you leave. They have more responsibility, they take calls they normally wouldn’t take and their work load increases.

We have a rule here, not only for my vacation time, but also my staff’s vacation time: No one is to take cell phones, no checking email and no client work. You’re on vacation, you’re with your family, and you’re unplugged. That way, when you come back, you’re refreshed and happy to come back to work!

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