Vacations can be good for your business
As we’ve previously detailed, the most valuable businesses are the ones can run like a well-oiled machine without the owner. Business buyers will generally pay a premium for a company that runs on autopilot, and they’ll levy a discount to a company that is completely dependent on its owner.
Vacation time is actually the perfect time to increase the value of your business!
So, why not test out your company’s self-sufficiency this summer by taking an extended vacation and seeing how things run when you’re not in the building? We know, it’s a scary thought and undoubtedly something will probably go wrong somewhere. But learning from these mistakes will be a prime opportunity to grow and make your business more capable of operating without your daily sweat equity. This will make your company more valuable and self-sustaining in the long run.
Without further ado, here are a few ways to profit from a nice vacation this summer.
Schedule your vacation plus one day
Whatever day you plan to start working again after your holiday, tell your staff you’ll be back one day later. That way, you’ll have a full day of uninterrupted time to dedicate to understanding what went wrong in your absence.
Bucket the mistakes
When you return, make a summary of the things that went wrong and categorize them into one of three buckets:
Mistakes: errors where there is a right and wrong answer;
Bottlenecks: projects that had difficulties because you weren’t there to provide your feedback;
Stalled projects: initiatives that went nowhere while you were gone because you’re the person leading them.
Correct the mistakes
The first and easiest place to start is to simply correct the mistakes that were made. Usually mistakes are due to a lack of training rather than outright negligence. The right answer may be crystal clear in your head but not immediately obvious to your staff. Write up some instructions for next time the employees face the same situation. Make sure your instructions are clear, and share them with your team so everyone has them (a file sharing service like Google Drive or DropBox can be a helpful repository for your instructions).
Give every employee a blank check
At Ritz Carlton Hotels, they give every employee discretion to spend – without approval from their general manager – up to $2,000 on a guest. The $2,000 figure is a large enough number to make the message clear: front line employees should act first, make the customer happy, and ask questions later. Many employees know how to make a customer happy but lack the confidence to act. Giving employees some spending authority will speed up the resolution of customer issues and empower your team to do the right thing when you’re not there.
The sunshine is beckoning, so go ahead and take a vacation – if you follow the six steps here, you may end up with a tan and a more valuable company.
Maximize Your Freedom
The whole goal of your business is to create freedom for you and your family. However all business owners struggle with attaining this (even though its primarily why you started your own business).
If you can create a business with its own processes that can run when you are not there, then not only will you have truly created freedom for you and your family to get your life back and experience more, but you will have also created a business that will have a MUCH higher valuation when it comes time to sell.