Yes. Yes. Yes! If you’ve got a supportive management team and great pet sitters and walkers on staff you can take time off to see the world.
And that’s just what I am going to be doing in January 2010.
When my business was 3-5 years old I traveled each year for 2 months. I would do lots of pet sitting for 10 months and then have my manager oversee everything for the two months that I’d be gone from the business and out of the country.
I went on a lot of great trips. I traveled for two months in Europe. Two months in Bali. Two months in Thailand. (Thai villagers dressed me up in Thai gown and crown and I led a parade of villagers down the street but that’s for another blog post!)
I have been desiring to travel again. What has held me back is that my business is now MUCH larger than it was 10-12 years ago! We have 35 staff members. Our huge client list continues to grow with the new calls we get daily.
I have been mulling over traveling for an extended period of time for awhile now and was noticing that fear was holding me back. I try to live my life in such a way that I normally don’t let fear run my life. I’ve coached many of you business owners on how to make peace with your fears and really live in a way that is fulfilling and meaningful both in business and in life. And yet here I was finding myself wanting to travel and letting the thoughts of fear stop me from committing to something that I really want to do.
My fear thoughts went something like this: Will everything be okay while I’m gone? What if something happens while I’m away? What if……? (fill in the blank.)
Well, last week I decided to look the fear straight in the eye and smile at it and say, “I’m going.”
So I took the first step and asked my main business manager if she could manage the business while I was away. She said that she would love to.
And now I’m compiling an ultra long list of many tasks that need to be completed before I depart in 5 months. I’m also exploring: where do I want to go? I’m still mulling it over. Bali is definitely calling to me. I might start there and end up some place totally different.
I’ll keep you posted!
In the meantime I’d love to hear about you: what are some unrealized dreams that you have that you are afraid of fulfilling? Is there a way your business could support you in making those visions a reality? Email me privately or post your comment below if you like.
Kristin, good for you! I can relate to this so much. I have been wanting a vacation (during Christmas). I know what your thinking…is she crazy? Without a manager and needing to hire 2-3 petsitters I went ahead and booked a 2 week trip to a nice warm island. Taking that bold step pushes me to expand and I can’t wait.
So enjoy your 2 months off. You deserve it.
Thanks for your response to my post, Tamara. It’s great that you went ahead and booked your trip! When it comes to taking time off from our businesses sometimes the right move is to commit to a trip and then take the actions to make it happen. (Which we are both doing! Yay!)
I have been putting off this long trip for a couple of years–due to fear as I wrote about and also because I have a great work schedule already (I work 3-4 days a week) so it’s not like I NEED a 2-month vacation but more like I just really want one. And I finally decided that it was okay to satisfy that “want.”