⏱ 3 min reading
When you have your own business, you will probably not think about vacation as much as the regular person. And in the first few years, maybe you wouldn’t even have had any vacation. But we feel that everyone likes to have a vacation from time to time. A little break from work and some time off to relax. While this year our vacations may look a little bit different because there may be some travel restrictions, this doesn’t mean you cannot take that well-earned vacation. Taking a vacation when you own a business is not exactly the same as when you’re working for somebody else. You may wonder if it’s even feasible for you to take a vacation this year. The last thing you want while taking your vacation is to worry about money. There’s a couple of things you can do throughout the year to make sure you can take your vacation worry-free.
Set up a vacation fund and start saving on time
The most obvious way you can guarantee a worry-free vacation is by setting up a separate vacation fund. This should be its own account and its sole purpose is that you can put in money for your vacations and not for anything else. When you work for yourself, paid time off or sick leave is not really present. Try to determine for your upcoming year how many days of vacation you will take and (even though this is impossible to get correct), try to predict how many days of sick leave you will need. That way you can determine for yourself how much those days off will cost you and thus how much you will need to save. In case you will take a total of 4 weeks off during the entire year, you will need to accumulate that amount to ensure you can take those paid days off. When you have a business that has inconsistent income, it can be more difficult to determine how much it will cost you when you take 4 weeks off. If this is the case, you should think about all your personal monthly expenses such as your rent and health care, and make an estimation of other expenses within 4 weeks. That way you at least know what you need to have covered for sure in order to take paid days off.
Let your clients know you’re away
Communication is key. Always. Maybe you’re wondering why you could benefit from letting your clients know that you’re on vacation. But think about it this way: when you let them know you will be away for a little while, it can actually be a reminder for them to make sure they still get what they need from you before you’re away. This may mean more sales just before taking your break. A little side note here: you don’t only have to do this just before you will take a vacation. If you’re having a month throughout the year that is suddenly doing really well, you could store any extras in the vacation fund.
Side hustling
We know this may not seem like the most tempting option. But what if you’re having a bad year and worked really hard? Should you just not take a vacation at all? If it’s difficult to up your sales throughout the year, just starting a little something next to your business may be a good way to earn some extra money which you can store towards your vacation fund. Alternatively, you could also try a creative brainstorm session for your business first and see if you can come up with new ways to earn more money before deciding to take on a side hustle.
Hopefully, these 3 ways have helped you gain some more insights into how you could take a worry-free vacation because let’s be honest: you absolutely deserve it.
