Taking break from daily grind may help your business grow

By Joyce M. Rosenberg
Associated Press

NEW YORK — You're home from vacation and ready to get back to business. But before you become completely immersed in your company's day-to-day routine, stop and think.

Did you learn anything from your vacation that can help you run the business better? For example, that it's possible to take more time for yourself and let other people, such as employees or business associates, lighten your load a bit? Or, could you incorporate some of the relaxing aspects of your vacation into your everyday life?

Perhaps the most important thing you can find out from a vacation is that your business survived your absence — and that maybe this means you don't have to work quite as hard as you thought.

When you get back to your company, "make an assessment of how well things did go without you being there," said Sarah Edwards, who with her husband Paul writes and speaks frequently on running small- and home-based businesses. "Look at 'How can I keep that running with a little less investment on my part?' "

That will mean delegating, something many small-business owners find hard to do. Paul Edwards suggests handing off responsibilities by increments; that will make the process of letting go easier.

Look at it this way: If your employees managed well without you, they'll probably be thrilled to be recognized for their good work, and to be rewarded with greater responsibilities. That's a way to build loyalty and a stronger team — as well as making your life easier.

Even if you don't have employees, you can make running the company easier by relying more on outside contractors and suppliers, or what's known as outsourcing, notes Ralph Warner, co-founder of Nolo, a Berkeley, Calif.-based publisher of self-help legal books.

But what if you came back from vacation, looked at the company and felt that you never should have left? If so, the problem isn't the time you took off. "'I can't take a vacation' is a yellow light about your business, either about your profitability or your employees' management ability or savvy," Warner said.

Increasing the number of hours you work puts you at risk for burnout — and if you're burned out, you can't think creatively, you can lose focus and worse, you won't enjoy your work.

So time off isn't a luxury. It's something you need for your business to thrive. The Edwardses suggest finding ways to bring peace and relaxation — vacation feelings — into everyday work life. "... It can be as simple as putting more potted plants into your home office, or have the windows open," Sarah Edwards said.

You might also try to give yourself some mini vacations — take a walk, go for a one-hour hike, get a massage. The point is to get yourself out of the grind. Perhaps the most important thing to do is not to let yourself get overwhelmed.