{"id":2337,"date":"2021-01-11T22:38:20","date_gmt":"2021-01-11T22:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.oconnorcpafirm.com\/blog\/?p=2337"},"modified":"2021-01-14T01:49:05","modified_gmt":"2021-01-14T01:49:05","slug":"how-to-unplug-from-your-business-for-a-month-without-destroying-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oconnorcpafirm.com\/blog\/2021\/01\/how-to-unplug-from-your-business-for-a-month-without-destroying-it\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Unplug From Your Business For A Month\u2014Without Destroying It"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a preface to this article, years ago, I decided I wanted my daughter to have travelled and I wanted to be abroad for extended periods of time.\u00a0 Because I went through this process as well as a couple of others, from the time my daughter was 3 until she graduated from high school, we have lived abroad for a month at a time 7 different times and countries.\u00a0 This is possible!\u00a0 We practice this type of work-life balance with our advisory clients.\u00a0 Powerful stuff!<\/p>\n

This article was written by Stephanie Burns, Contributor at Forbes<\/p>\n

Whether you\u2019re trying to beat burnout, want a real maternity leave or just came down with COVID-19, every entrepreneur needs to be able to step away from their business for an extended period of time without worrying that there will be repercussions. That\u2019s not just because controlling your time is one of the reasons you became an entrepreneur. It\u2019s also because it just makes good business sense. When you\u2019re too much of an essential employee, you actually slow the growth of your business by creating a bottleneck in the way of success.<\/p>\n

\n

Adrienne Dorison, co-founder of Run Like Clockwork\u2122<\/a>, alongside her business partner, Mike Michalowicz, helps entrepreneurs step away from their laptops and out of the way of their own success. She enables CEOs and entrepreneurs to design businesses and teams that are ultra-efficient and don\u2019t require so much oversight that they can’t be away from their email for a second. Using her years of experience in the field of operational efficiency, she has empowered hundreds of clients to reach their four-week vacation goal\u2014and can help you do the same. Here\u2019s her four-step strategy for doing just that.<\/p>\n

How To Unplug From Your Business For A Month\u2014Without Destroying It | Stephanie Burns<\/p>\n

Kristina Houser Photography<\/small><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

1. Perform A Detailed Time Analysis<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMany entrepreneurs feel like they\u2019re constantly busy\u2014yet they never seem to have time to get the deep, visionary work done. This is often because their attention is constantly being diverted for any number of reasons: questions from members of their team, calls from family, social media alerts. The first step to saving time is seeing where your time is actually going,\u201d advises Dorison.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you do a detailed time analysis, write down every time you switch tasks, every time you\u2019re interrupted, every time you have to answer a question for a member of your team. You may be shocked at how often you switch gears, and how little focused work you accomplish. Try this for a week to get a good picture of how your work days are spent.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you have your detailed list of tasks from the week, go back through and ask yourself:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Can I trash this? Is this a task I can get rid of altogether?<\/li>\n
  • Can I trim this? Can I spend less time on this particular task? Shortening meetings, for example.<\/li>\n
  • Can I transfer this? Is there someone else on your team who can do this task?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    What\u2019s left are the tasks you will \u2018treasure\u2019 and keep on your list as CEO. This one exercise can help stressed business owners reclaim anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours a week.\u201d<\/p>\n

    2. Transfer Tasks Using How-To Videos<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u201cOne of the time-drains you may have discovered doing your time analysis is answering questions from your team about tasks you thought you delegated. When this happens, it means that they don\u2019t have the information they need to do the task, they don\u2019t have the permission they need to make their own decisions, or they don\u2019t have the confidence to make those decisions,\u201d says Dorison.<\/p>\n

    \u201cThe fastest and easiest way to transfer a task\u2014and provide the information, permission, and confidence to accomplish it\u2014is to create a how-to video. The benefit of video is that you\u2019ll never forget a step, because you\u2019re actually doing the task as you record it. Your team can see exactly how to do the task in real time. You\u2019ll never have to explain how to execute a task again.<\/p>\n

    \u201cOn your computer, screen-recording services like Loom and Vimeo can record every step of a process for a digital task.\u00a0 If you have a \u2018real world\u2019 task to share, just record a video on your phone. Keep these videos organized in folders in a central location the entire team can access. Then, whomever needs to can find and use the videos on their own.\u201d<\/p>\n

    3. Adjust Your Plan Seasonally<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u201cWhat worked last year when your kids were in school may not work this year when they\u2019re learning remotely, so you need to adjust your plan seasonally and based on what\u2019s happening in your life,\u201d notes Dorison. \u201cIf you have kids at home, you may find that \u201cbatching\u201d all your calls back to back in one day no longer works for you, so you may need to switch to taking one to two calls every day instead.<\/p>\n

    \u201cYou also may need to trash, trim, or transfer more tasks than you did when you had the house to yourself. Likewise, if your business has a busy season\u2014like a tax accountant, or a product-based business that ships a lot of product during the holidays\u2014your plan may need to change. Perhaps you trash your weekly hour-long team meeting and instead do a 5-minute daily stand-up. You may find you need to repeat the time-tracking exercise in different seasons of your business, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

    4. Try Taking A \u201cTest\u201d Vacation<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u201cBefore you step away for an extended period of time, give a mini-vacay a go. Some business owners start by leaving the office one day per week or for an extended weekend. If something goes wrong, treat it as an opportunity to refine your systems. Continue to trim, trash, and transfer\u2014training your team until you have all the vital business tasks covered for every season,\u201d suggests Dorison.<\/p>\n

    Work your way up to being able to take a month off without a hiccup in your business by employing these four tactics.<\/p>\n

    My closing comments are; Hire the right CPA who knows more about your business and you as an individual because they do so much more than balance your bank accounts.\u00a0 Leverage the experience and expertise of a CPA that is a true Business Advisor who just happens to have Accounting and Tax expertise….We can make big things happen!<\/p>\n

    \n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Stuff we read this week that we think is worth sharing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[187,261],"yoast_head":"\nHow To Unplug From Your Business For A Month\u2014Without Destroying It - O'Connor CPA Firm<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.oconnorcpafirm.com\/blog\/2021\/01\/how-to-unplug-from-your-business-for-a-month-without-destroying-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How To Unplug From Your Business For A Month\u2014Without Destroying It - O'Connor CPA Firm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Stuff we read this week that we think is worth sharing.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.oconnorcpafirm.com\/blog\/2021\/01\/how-to-unplug-from-your-business-for-a-month-without-destroying-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"O'Connor CPA Firm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-01-11T22:38:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-01-14T01:49:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tricia O'Connor CPA MBA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tricia O'Connor CPA MBA\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oconnorcpafirm.com\/blog\/2021\/01\/how-to-unplug-from-your-business-for-a-month-without-destroying-it\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.oconnorcpafirm.com\/blog\/2021\/01\/how-to-unplug-from-your-business-for-a-month-without-destroying-it\/\",\"name\":\"How To Unplug From Your Business For A Month\u2014Without Destroying It - 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