I hear it all the time: “I can’t take time off from my business because I’ll lose money and it will suffer.” And while I can’t make any promises to you about finances or everything being perfect, I can tell you that not taking time off to be with your family, friends, and giving yourself a mental break is going to hurt you in the long run more than anything else. We, as humans, need time to reset and recharge our brains. We need time connecting to loved ones. We need time to breathe and be something other than our business. I know it can be scary to think about taking off time for the holidays or for a vacation, so I wanted to offer a few quick tips to make it a little bit easier for you!

If your social media presence is important to you and a vital part of your business, spend some time before you take time off scheduling posts. There’s great programs like Planoly, Later and Tailwind that will allow you to schedule posts months in advance. Set some evergreen content to go live while you’re gone. Share some of your favorite sessions, inspirational quotes, and little family stories from the year so far (or whatever matches your brand). While you’re on vacation, you can check in if you want to – but if not, enjoy the little social media detox! The same can also be done for blogs or other newsletter content. Schedule things out and they’ll still go live while you’re gone!

I am a firm believer in setting boundaries with clients and those inquiring for your services. Set an automatic email reminder to go out letting your clients (or whoever’s emailing you) know that you are gone, without emails, and when you’ll be back and answering emails. Nothing we do is life or death, let’s be honest. So allow yourself some grace and deal with the emails when you get home. You can also use this email to send out a screening questionnaire or anything else of that nature that fits your workflow, too!

I try to let my clients know my scheduled out of office dates for the month on the 1st of each month. This allows all of us to plan ahead and there’s no major surprise, especially for longer stints off work (like the holidays). My clients all know they can reach me if there’s an emergency but since I started being more clear about when I’m in and out of office, I’ve found less contact occurs on my “off” times (thanks everyone!!). Setting expectations upfront is SUPER helpful for everyone involved and you will feel less guilt when it’s time to sign off…. because everyone already knew about it!

When it comes down to it, taking time off is really just an exercise of boundaries. Notify those who need to know and schedule your content to continue to publish as you’re out. Your business can keep moving without you having to be glued to your phone on the beach. If you need more help while you’re gone or want some of these tasks managed while you finish other tasks before going out of office, send me a note! Being able to help you find more time for you is why I work as a virtual assistant! We all deserve some time off, so find what works for you as you plan to take a little break!

Need help organizing your workload or looking to outsource some of your tasks? Kristina is a virtual assistant located in northern Virginia who works with business owners nationwide to help them find more time to do what they love. She focuses on blogging, social media scheduling, and content creation so that her clients are able to find more freedom.