With normal employees getting 28 days of annual leave a year which you pay for, how are you (a self-employed business owner) meant to take a holiday if you take an active role in running and managing your business?

It’s not always easy but it is possible. In this article, the Burton Beavan team will explain how you can take time off when you’re self-employed.

Take a holiday – inform your clients

Your clients should be the first people you tell about your time off. By letting your clients know well in advance, you give yourself the best chance of returning to the same volume of work as you left as clients time their work around your holidays.

If work that a customer is going to place will straddle your holiday, make sure that you keep them up to date with any revisions to estimated completion times – give them the certainty they’re used to from dealing with you.

Another point to mention is that you should explicitly say that you are going on holiday or that you are taking some time off. You don’t want your clients to get the wrong impression – without clarity, some may assume that your business isn’t succeeding leading them to look for other contractors while you are gone.

Take a holiday – delegate to a member of staff

To ensure business continuity when you’re away, you might want to delegate most or all of your responsibilities to a trusted member of staff.

If done well in advance, their experience doesn’t matter because you’ll have enough time to train them on their temporary additional responsibilities so they can get to grips with the way the business is run.

Paying extra money to your staff member will be worth it in this scenario because they will provide you with the peace of mind that your business is in safe hands while you’re away. And if it goes really well, you might find that you don’t worry as much in the future about taking holidays.

Take a holiday – avoid taking on large contracts

Before you go away, don’t attempt to increase the workload of your business, no matter how many high paying opportunities arise. If you pressure yourself into rushing through a client’s work because the deadline of the holiday is looming, then you will most likely deliver a service that isn’t up to your usual standard.

Take a holiday – outsource some of your processes

Not outsourcing some of your less essential business functions, especially when on holiday, is like wearing trousers but deciding to carry your phone, your wallet, your keys, and your change in your hands all day. There are people out there who are better equipped at dealing with certain aspects of your business than you are. Why not utilise their skills to benefit your business?

You might want to look at hiring a telephone answering service to take your calls and leave messages for you when you’re away – a lot cheaper than having a full-time secretary. You can outsource your payroll to your accountant, your copy writing and design to a freelancer, and so on. Outsourcing is a useful time- and money-saving tactic not only when you’re on holiday but when you’re at your business too.

Take a holiday – budget in advance

Every minute that you aren’t spending finding new customers and taking new orders is a minute that you aren’t making money. So, budget well in advance so that you know you’ll have enough to get by on while you aren’t at work – pay particular attention to getting as many bills paid as possible before you go away.

Take a holiday – do all of your work early

If you have spare capacity in your business, use that time to work on jobs that aren’t due right now. You may not complete them but it means that there will be less for you and your staff to do on your return.

Take a holiday – we can help

If you are self-employed and you’d like to talk about how to go on holiday with minimal or no financial disruption to your business, please get in touch with our team. Call us on 01606 333 900 or email hello@burtonbeavan.co.uk.