Business Owners Don't Get Vacation: They Have to Create Them
Just a quick reminder to my business owning friends:
Take some time off for yourself and relax a bit for the holidays.
For those looking to build your own business and be your own boss, remember:
You don't get vacation any more.
After building my business for almost 10 years, it's an amazing feeling to know we have a great team serving our customers.
The irony of this video is that right after I recorded it, my phone starting blowing up with Pingdom alert text messages because of an AWS hardware failure which took down our system for a few minutes. I couldn't have planned a more appropriate accent to this video. We had to scramble, but we got things back under control.
Take time off, but be ready to jump in because you're the boss, and it's your responsibility. There is no one else to blame.
I hope you're having a wonderful holiday season with the people you care about most.
The only one time I felt 'free' was when I went to Brasil with my girlfriend to visit her family and I couldn't do anything even if an emergency occurred. It just felt like it was out of my hands. (and it was great).
If I stay in Europe or just take a couple of days of at home then in the back of my mind I'm always working, always thinking about work. I can't relax. I have ask around my other business friends and they all suffer from this.
I wrote this quickly but now have to go. Got an important meeting coming up in a hour.
I was just chatting with my wife about possibly going on a cruise as celebration for paying off the house (once we do that). Then I thought about being disconnected for a week and if that would really work. The key for me is having a fantastic business partner and a great team. With that in place, it is.
Ideally we're building a business, not a job. Businesses shouldn't need us day to day for them to function.
Being disconnected is great. When I went to Brasil it was the first time I left my business behind for real (I did arrange some back-up in the form of a friend). But with the time difference and distance, there was nothing I could do. I thinking finding a partner would be key indeed to feel more at ease.
Congrats on almost paying off your house! that's an amazing feat in itself and well worth celebrating.
I've found for non emergency work break your clients in a month ahead of time with a heads up, and it goes really smoothly (as long as it's just one 5 day period with of course weekends included).
That's an excellent approach. The downside to providing a platform as a service is there are no clients where arrangements like that could be made. Instead there are thousands of websites relying on our service 24/7.
The upside is... having no clients. :) Also, the recurring revenue is great in that we don't have to bring in new clients every month to stay profitable. Since we're a bunch of developers, sales isn't exactly our thing.
I see. So downtime is your primary enemy, 24/7. Nice not having clients though! :-)
Funny because even though we could take some time off this holiday season we have decided to double down. I love being free to make the choice.
The freedom to make that choice is key! I can't remember the last time I set an alarm clock. With my three kids ages 3, 5, and 7, these are times I will spend decades of my life wanting to get back to. Sleeping in, having them come snuggle in the mornings... it's priceless. Working later that night as an option... so worth the effort in order to have that freedom. Good luck to you and your efforts.
ain't that the truth
My sentiments exactly. Take that down time man!
Thank you! It's been a fun day (other than server issues). Kind of makes me want to do it again tomorrow. Maybe I'll work a half day. :)
I'm consoled by your grasp of reality and encouraged to remain cognizant of my own. I enjoyed seeing the real you, up close, nose hairs and all. It was very real.
Hahah. Those things are out of control. I can't believe I forgot to trim them the other day. I keep seeing them and thinking, "Dang, how did that happen? Need to trim those." ;)
I jest of course. :-)
It was all just shadow. Next time I want to see the UltraHD version, so I can count the individual hairs!
Because you asked. :)
Before:
After:
Problem solved!
Hahah
LOL! You cleaned up well! Good job. :-D
I must be in an odd mood today. If a post ever counts as TMI, that probably counted. Hahaha.