8 Ways to Enjoy The Holidays While Still Running Your Business

by / ⠀Startup Advice / December 14, 2012

Generally, the holidays are a time for extended shopping hours, vacations, and family. In the small business and startup world “days off” are few and far between, and many business owners hardly take time to eat, let alone take days off. With the holidays quickly approaching, it’s important to find time away from the business to spend time with family, recharge the batteries, and get a fresh perspective heading into the new year.

I asked eight entrepreneurs how they manage to find a balance between taking time off for the holidays and making sure their business are running at all cylinders:

Plan Ahead

Schedule time off in advance. It’s so important to schedule it in your calendar before anything else, otherwise, the time gets filled up and all you do is end up working anyways.

Diane Conklin – President at Complete Marketing Systems, LLC

Allow your leaders to lead

Have employees who understand all aspects of your business and can handle a plethora of situations whether or not you are physically present in the office.

Erica Tevis – Owner at Little Things Favors

Work on side projects

Pursue the fun little ideas that you have been pushing off instead of worrying about making more sales calls. Work on things you wouldn’t normally work on.

Todd Medema – Founder at AutoRef

Delegate and Follow Up

Delegate but require daily updates so that you can keep in the loop of what’s happening while
you’re unavailable. After the holiday you should try to figure how to
keep this going permanently to free you up to focus on other critical areas
of the business.

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Rohan Hall – Founder/CEO at Cool Mojito

Delete, Delete, Delete

Spend time deleting unnecessary emails and to-dos. This will allow you to be focused and uncluttered when you return from a few days off during the holidays.

Erica Duran – CEO & President at Erica Duran International

Work Ahead

Get work done in advance to ensure you will have free time during the holidays. You will be less stressed if you know that you accomplished what you needed to before the holidays.

Andrew Schrage – Founder at MoneyCrashers.com

Expand your network

Spend the holidays reaching out to friends and family about your business and what services you can offer them and their networks.

Zach Kasperski- Owner at Noggin Digital Marketing

Shut off the Smart Phone

Never receive emails on your smartphone. Instead, set up systems so that you are only contacted if there is a serious problem or need.

Matt Inglot – President at Tilted Pixel Inc.

There are no excuses for over-working this holiday season with these great tips. How do you manage your time and holidays as entrepreneurs and business owners? Let us know in the comments section below. Happy Holidays!

Ryan O’Connell is the Vice President of Business Development for Digital Talent Agents, a company that helps experts build their businesses through thought-leadership and content marketing by producing high-quality content for reputable publications.  You can reach out to Ryan on Twitter @Oconnellryan.

Image Credit: Shutterstock.com 

About The Author

Matt Wilson

Matt Wilson is Co-Founder of Under30Experiences, a travel company for young people ages 21-35. He is the original Co-founder of Under30CEO (Acquired 2016). Matt is the Host of the Live Different Podcast and has 50+ Five Star iTunes Ratings on Health, Fitness, Business and Travel. He brings a unique, uncensored approach to his interviews and writing. His work is published on Under30CEO.com, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, Huffington Post, Reuters, and many others. Matt hosts yoga and fitness retreats in his free time and buys all his food from an organic farm in the jungle of Costa Rica where he lives. He is a shareholder of the Green Bay Packers.

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