Startup Founders - 7 ways to enjoy your Holiday!

by Startacus Admin
Startup Founders - 7 ways to enjoy your Holiday!
Holiday season is almost upon us! Hooray!
That of course is great if you work for an established business and you have a process and chain of command in place to deal with your absence from work. However as a Startup Founder the reality is that your management structure may be rather flat - in fact so flat that you fear you will not be able to enjoy the holiday at all! However with this in mind (and the reality that even startup founders / employees must take breaks) we drafted up 7 things that you can do in order to hopefully make the process of taking a holiday as relaxing and stress free as possible...
Use Out of office Email
The most obvious thing that all of us and especially the Startup Founder can do is set up an out of office email. Out of office email is a function that all decent email providers should have and basically means that for every email you receive whilst on holiday the sender will receive an email back to say you are away on holiday. Most importantly you can also suggest (in your absence) other ways that the sender can deal with their email. Of course if you are involved in any customer or sales duties - this really is key to making sure that that week or two on holiday doesn't become a week long absence from business and cash flow too.
Agree set 'checking / work time'
The whole point of taking a holiday is to relax and enjoy oneself and time with friends and family. However, the moment that you start checking emails, phoning the office, texting your colleagues is the moment when that relaxation goes. If you are after peace of mind - then perhaps don't go looking for it in the first place! However if you really feel that you need to still hold some control over work matters or if you perhaps are a one person organisation - give yourself an agreed timetable of perhaps every 48 hours or so to look over emails - and reply to them too if need be. Don't just be checking emails and into the office every few hours. What type of holiday is that?!
Forewarn clients about your break
This all comes back to the idea of successful planning. If you forewarn your existing business clients that you are going on holiday, and you give those clients enough time to deal with it i.e. by not panicking or going to one of your competitors, then you might be surprised to find that most clients and contacts will respect your break and indeed welcome it, as they also understand the importance of taking a holiday.
Ask for support / delegate
If you're a Startup Founder of a growing business the chances are that you may have at least one or two other staff or freelancers who work for you. If the worst comes to the worst and you are half way through a project, proposal or piece of work and your holiday period arrives, try to work out how you can either keep the client happy in your absence or delegate to others to cover the work while you are away. Of course if you have a decent team they will want to rally around to help anyway.
Set expectations
Leading on from this - make sure to set expectations to the rest of the team (if you have one) in your absence. Setting expectations is actually a really good way of giving you peace of mind. It will help reassure you that while you are away office productivity will not wain. Also if these expectations are written down, they can be a really good way of measuring performance when you return.
Forward plan
Every good ship needs a good captain and every good startup Founder needs to make sure that they are always looking more than the next week ahead in terms of workload, cash flow, and projects. So if you've forward planned enough, you'll know what exactly is happening anyway. Of course, when ad hoc work comes in, or a client / issue arises while you are away, the above few options ie. Out of office email / delegation will certainly help.
What's the worst that can happen?
Consider what's the worst that can happen in your absence - is it all really that bad? Of course, the absolute worst case scenario is that the business folds or you lose a massive client while you away - but by imagining the worst case situation, you perhaps then realise that all the small concerns you have are too minor ( for a week or two) to perhaps worry about in the first place!
Of course the benefits of a holiday are too many to list here. However it's suffice to say that the holiday break that you take will more than likely help you take your business forward in the long run too.
Subscribe to our newsletter
If you would like to receive our startup themed newsletter, full of the latest startup opportunities, events, news, stories, tips and advice, then sign up here.
Planning to launch a fashion brand this year? Here are a few basic tips that will help you do just that and get your business off to the right start

Bippit is an online platform and app that helps companies to support the financial needs of their employees - not just via their salary

2021 may be a challenging time to start a business, but these tips should help you get it right...

Startacus and Hatch Enterprise celebrate International Women’s Day by partnering with NetMinds to bring together female founders for a virtual speed networking event

Keeping customers engaged is vital for any small business - these basic tips will help you do just that

Alchemy Technology Services, the Derry-based centre of excellence for insurance software implementation receives recognition for its commitment to diversity

For the first time ever, the Postcode Lotteries Green Challenge has both a British winner and runner up in the form of innovative startups SoluBlue and Jiva Materials

The innovative Italian company that has created Handshield, a hand protection wrap to protect users from bacteria and viruses

If you’re thinking about starting an ecommerce business, these tips will help you do just that...

The lowdown on Pentaform, the London-based startup that has created an easy-to-use and eco-friendly personal computer that is globally accessible
Published on: 3rd July 2015
If you would like to enable commenting via your Startacus account, please enable Disqus functionality in your Account Settings.







- Startacus and Hatch Enterprise offer speed networking IWD-inspired event 24th Feb 2021 Startacus and Hatch Enterprise celebrate International Women’s Day by partnering with NetMinds to bring together female founders for a virtual speed networking event
- Alchemy Technology Services receives Bronze Diversity Mark NI Award 23rd Feb 2021 Alchemy Technology Services, the Derry-based centre of excellence for insurance software implementation receives recognition for its commitment to diversity
- Groundbreaking British inventions win global sustainability prize 23rd Feb 2021 For the first time ever, the Postcode Lotteries Green Challenge has both a British winner and runner up in the form of innovative startups SoluBlue and Jiva Materials
- Wombat lands £2m investment as appetite for thematic, fractional trading grows 9th Feb 2021 The innovative investment platform Wombat secures major funding to help with further development and to expand the shares and investments on offer