How Entrepreneurs Can Have Stress-free Vacation Without Losing Momentum or Sales If you plan ahead for your holiday travel, it can help you enjoy your trip without getting worried about losing the momentum or sales

The journey of an entrepreneur is not a bed of roses. It is filled with abundant responsibilities. And to ensure a startup's long-term success, an entrepreneur needs to spend a huge amount of time and put lots of effort. That is why it has been found that entrepreneurs often have troubles disconnecting with daily work schedule and taking time off to enjoy vacations. But doing so can help them feel fresh, energized and eventually more productive after finishing the trip.

Tony Gauda, founder and CEO of ThinAir, said, "Many CEOs and high performing individuals think there's no reason to take time off, but the way I think about work and life is a marathon. No matter how fast or elite you are — you're not going to be able to run 26.2 miles back-to-back without taking a break. The way I convince myself to take a break, and how I'd advise others to do the same, is reminding yourself that rest is a performance enhancement, not an inhibitor,"

Taking a break from work and responsibilities and planning a holiday is highly important for entrepreneurs. But they put their everything on the line for their businesses – their personal finances, blood, sweat, tears, to make the potential outcome to be large. Thus, they often ignore the importance of taking time off and go for a vacation. They fear about losing sales or business momentum. If you are also an entrepreneur, you must have already started relating yourself with this. But if you plan ahead for your holiday travel, it can help you enjoy your trip without getting worried about losing the momentum or sales.

Here are seven ways to plan ahead for a vacation:

1. Decide The Vacation Structure & Duration

Depending on your work status and responsibilities, you need to plan ahead for your vacation structure and duration. A proper planning will help you decide which way you can save time to make your trip shorter and avoid unnecessary hassles at the last moment.

Rightly put by Eric Gnock Fah, COO & Co-Founder at Klook, "In order to plan a vacation, it's best to start by taking baby steps and travel to destinations that are shorter in distance or require shorter flight time. Whether, you take a holiday for a weekend or want to fully unplug for a week or two, through planning, you can stay connected with work or go offline with ease. It gives an opportunity for your staff to get used to having you away for a short period of time.

2. Get Major Tasks Done Ahead Of Time

If you are planning to hire somebody new while you will be away, one thing you should aim for is to complete every major thing ahead of time by yourself. Also, do not plan on announcing something big, launching a new campaign or conducting any event just before you leave.

Eric Gnock Fah suggested, "To get ahead at work, ensure to train your backup employees with a handover procedure and delegation, which are both essential and beneficial for the company's well-being. Also, catching up with your backup employees in order to clear outstanding issues is important before you take that vacation. This can set a great example for the other staff members too."

3. Go For Short-Term Help

As you have already sorted major things associated with your business before your trip, to handle the day-to-day responsibilities in your absence, go for short-term help.

Eric Gnock Fah supports the idea of hiring somebody new when an entrepreneur is planning to go for a vacation. "When you are planning to take time off, it's a good idea to keep a backup of employees, who are willing and capable to handle the extra workload", Eric suggested.

4. Jot Down Your Work Process

Depending on what you want your new hire to handle, you need to jot down the process of handing over the work. Make sure the entire process gets documented ahead of time. Be it customer assistance, social media management or shipping policies awareness, whatever the job is you need to jot down the work process before training your new hire. This will streamline your work and help you take time off. Also, you will be able to help your trainee understand the whole process precisely and in an organized way. Thus the possibility of handling the work without creating any hassle gets increased while you will be away.

5. Save Some Time To Train Your New Hire

When you hire somebody new to handle your work in your absence, nothing beats one-on-one time going through each task with the expert. And obviously, that expert is you.

Save some time to train your new hire before you fly away to your vacation destination. Instead of giving a crash course to the new hire, opt for a quick yet effective teaching technique. Show your trainee how to do a task, then have that person do the task by his or her own and lastly ask him or her teach it back to you to explain the process. This will help your trainee be actively involved with your work process and understand everything easily. Practical training will help the new hire be prepared to handle the job in your absence more efficiently.

6. Notify Everybody About Your Vacation

You should notify your clients and customers about your vacation with advance notice and clear communication. Your communication should include:

• How long you will be away

• How it can leave an impact on them

• What they should know now

Set a vacation responder on your email, put information in your website and share a post across your social accounts to let people know about you taking time off.

7. Let Yourself Be Available Only For Emergencies During Vacation

When you plan ahead for a vacation and follow all the above-mentioned tips before taking your time off, you can enjoy a worry-free travel experience. But if you keep thinking about your business and try to manage work while being in a majestic holiday destination, you just cannot experience a stress-free time and all your effort to get the benefits of having a vacation will go in vain. Thus opt for automation that can take care of routine jobs for you for a set amount of time while you will be away. Make sure that you will be involved with your business during the vacation only when an emergency occurs.

Above all, whether you are planning for taking a few days over the holidays or gearing up for a week-long travel extravaganza, your business will still be there when you return. In spite of that, you truly deserve a vacation. And with proper planning, you will have a stress-free vacation while losing your business momentum. And the best thing is you will come back with a much better frame of mind that can help you take your business to the next level.