Do You Dare To Close Your Business (for vacation)?

May I paint a picture for you? A beautiful, wonderful picture where the mental, emotional and physical well-being comes first? Where joy and enjoyment of life come first? I hope I peaked your interest with that intro.

You see, I was born and raised in Europe - in The Netherlands to be exact - a small country nestled between Belgium to the south and Germany to the east. In Europe we live life differently than we do here in the USA.  Try going to a store in Italy anywhere between the hours of 12pm and 2pm and you're likely to find a closed door and a sign "Closed for Lunch". The Italians don't just stuff a sandwich in their mouth while doing inventory, take a quick 10 minute breather and call it lunch. They actually stop what they're doing, close their businesses, many for up to 2 hours (!), and relax, eat, enjoy family time and life!

The same counts for vacations. My siblings and friends back in The Netherlands close their thriving businesses for at least 2 consecutive weeks in the summer, but more often than not it's actually 3 consecutive weeks and sometimes even 4, to go on vacation somewhere! Read that again: they actually close their businesses. No manager that takes over and forcing the owner to stay “on call” and “problem solve” during their vacation; no worries about whether or not their clients will like them being on vacation or not or whether they will lose clients over it; no worries about whether or not their vacation and time closed will affect their yearly earnings. They plan for it carefully and they just go and enjoy!

I understand that most of my newsletter subscribers live and work in the USA and life is not nearly as I described it above. And guess what? That is ok. However, the question remains: “Do you dare to close your business for a vacation?” With careful planning it is possible and your life will be so much richer and more enjoyable for it.

Here’s how you can achieve that:

1. Plan for it financially - put some money aside specifically for vacation and to cover your expenses and “loss of income” (I intentionally put those last words between parenthesis because even though you might consider it a loss of income when you’re not working, your actual gain of life’s enjoyment is so much bigger!)

2. Plan for it in your schedule - if you plan ahead and blank out your schedule, even if it’s just for a week, you can let your clients know way ahead of time as well. Spoiler alert: your clients take vacations too and they truly don’t mind if you take yours! Take that from a pet groomer that takes one and two week vacations at least twice a year and long weekends away at least three to four times a year. Every time I go on vacation the grand majority wishes me a wonderful vacation! Not once did a client leave me for it.

3. Prep your employees, groomers, new hires - tell them for when you have vacations or long weekends planned and encourage them to take time off during those times as well if you want to completely close shop during your vacation.

4. Prep your voicemail, respond with text (to phone call), and text message shortcuts with a professionally formulated and kind “gone on vacation” message. If you have an iPhone you can set up “respond with text” in settings with a vacation message. This way each time a call comes in, you can select the text message on your incoming call screen without having to answer the phone. Also in settings you can create “shortcuts” (general - keyboards - text replacement). Type in one word or a selection of letters (for example: vc) and a message. Now every time a client texts you, whether new or recurring, you only have to type in those letters and the whole message rolls out. This way you can be present during your vacation time and truly relax.

Can’t close the shop during your vacation? Appoint a manager and train him/her the day-to-day operations and responsibilities to run the whole shop, front end and back end. Then resist the urge to check in every hour. Email is a great way to do rapport. You can let your manager know what questions you want answered after each work day so you’re up to speed to everything happening.

Questions like:

1. How many dogs were groomed today (per groomer)

2. How much money came in today?

3. What products were sold today (if you have any) and how many?

4. Any problems or confrontations with clients I need to know about?

5. Any problems (grooming technical or personality ) with any of the groomers I need to know about?

6. Any inventory or product that need to be ordered right away?

7. All tools and equipment A-ok?

The beauty about emails is that YOU decide when to read them so it won’t interrupt your dinner plans by the water or happy hour. They are much less invasive than a phone call. For the manager, these emails can be quick, short and to the point. Tell your manager to only call or text you if it’s absolutely necessary or in case of an emergency.

Now go plan that vacation!

With respect, admiration, and a firm belief in your worth,

Your Fellow Business Thinker & Pet Groomer:

Marilou Lekanne

Marilou’s Method & Successful Grooming

https://www.successfulgrooming.com

Text COACH to 310-922-0282 for your FREE 20 min introductory coaching session

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