Recently, insurance provider Simply Business completed a survey of 500 small and medium businesses that found that 1 in 10 SME business owners haven’t had a holiday in up to five years. That is potentially almost half a million small and medium sized businesses across the country. We all know the importance of taking a day off here and there, and ideally, a two-week break at some point, to rest and rejuvenate, but it isn’t always that easy when you have your own business.
In the Simply Business report, it was stated that a number of factors led business owners to avoid time off. The most popular reasons were as follows:
- Loss of earnings whilst on holiday – for a one-person business, no work means no money coming in, hence the tendency to avoid taking time off.
- Lack of trust in employees to manage without the owner’s supervision – whilst you may have reliable employees under the watchful eye of the boss, this may not always be the case when they go on holiday
- Fear of missing business opportunities while on holiday – who knows if that big contract will pass a business by if they are not on the job 365 days a year.
It was also reported that even when business owners take that plunge and go on holiday, they can’t completely switch off, when they are still likely to receive business calls and emails that, in order to retain business, they cannot ignore.
Given the revenue generated for the UK economy by SME’s in the UK, it is no surprise that Simply Business raise this issue as a concern, when a large proportion of our entrepreneurial population are unable to make time to take care of their mental and physical well-being by taking time off from time to time, risking widespread burnout and potential loss of revenue, not just for the business owner, but for the country.
Simply Business offer some good ideas as to how to ensure that business owners are making pro-active steps so they can take a break in peace:
- if you’re worrying about losing out on profits, adjusting your pricing to take into account time off is worth considering
- depending on the type of business you run, letting your customers or clients know well in advance when you’ll be off – both on your premises and via your website or social media – will help them plan ahead
Another way that business owners can help themselves to switch off is to hire the services of a virtual assistant, such as Adamson Virtual Assistant Solutions Ltd. A Virtual Assistant could provide an answering /messaging service for any business queries you may receive while you are away, and they can provide you with book-keeping and administration services throughout the year, so that your business is in the best shape to withstand a period where no work is completed by your business. They can also provide you with social media management services to ensure that any social media communications are clear to your clients/customers.
In short, you may feel alone in bearing the responsibility of your business demands all year round, but it doesn’t have to be that way. The beauty of hiring a virtual assistant is that you can request whatever back-office business service you require for however long you require it, and be sure of a professional and reliable service.
If you’d like to find out more about hiring a virtual assistant for any or all of the services mentioned, contact us today.