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#1. Schedule Your Social Media
I do this whether I’m on vacation or not. Use a social media dashboard like HootSuite to set up tweets and social updates to go live regularly during your period of absence. Find blog posts to share, respond to others’ updates, and share others’ content. Then schedule them at a regular cadence. You’ll continue to have your social presence, even if you’re not responding in real time. No one will notice, I promise.
#2. Write Your Blog Posts
Don’t just abandon your blog while you’re out! Write enough posts to be published while you’re out and schedule them. Then forget about them and start packing. People tend to be drawn to blogs that have a steady rhythm of content being published, so your vacation time shouldn’t send up a red flag with an absence of content.
#3. Tell Your Clients
You do, of course, want to make sure your clients know you’ll be out so you can take care of their needs in advance. I like to tell mine a couple of weeks beforehand, then get all the work they need done before I leave. They’re happy, and have no need of me. I go on vacation feeling like I’ve wrapped everything up.
#4. Set Up Your Autoresponder
Admittedly, this is a clue that you’re out of the office, since you’ll need to set your responder up to say how long you’ll be out, but because people expect a prompt response to email, they’ll at least know when to expect you to get back to them.
#5. Get Help
If there are things you just don’t feel like you can automate in your absence (maybe you use Twitter for customer service and need someone to monitor it), hire a freelancer or temp employee to help you in your absence. Just find the person several weeks out and give enough time to train them and make sure they know what needs doing while you’re out.
There’s no reason to feel guilty about taking a vacation. I think because we don’t give ourselves real vacation time, we feel we’re not entitled. But taking a break from your business may be one of the best things you can do, both for it and yourself. Just plan ahead and leave things operating in your absence.
Images: ”Beach chair and umbrella on sand beach. Concept for rest, relaxation, holidays, spa, resort./ Shutterstock.com“
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