From the Desk of Janet Barclay

Anita Campbell of Small Business Trends recently blogged about a survey conducted by Staples on the work hours and habits of small business managers. It comes as no surprise to me that most of the people surveyed do not work a regular 40-hour work week. I start work most days by 7:00 AM, and when I check my email I have often received emails which clients sent during the evening or even during the wee small hours of the morning. One of the reasons many people have chosen to be their own boss and/or work from home is so they can work at times that are convenient for them, whether it be early morning, late at night, weekends, or whatever, and that’s great.

What concerns me is the number of people who work long hours and don’t take vacation, not out of a passion for what they do, but because they feel they have to. Today’s technology means that people can reach us whether we are in the office or not, but does that mean we have to be available? Being accessible to everyone all the time may sound like the ultimate in customer service, but are you really serving your clients well if you answer the phone when you are too tired or too involved with something else (be it work or personal) to be attentive to their needs? The reason we have technology such as voice mail and email is so that people can leave us a message at their convenience and we can respond at ours. If you feel it’s vital to your business to provide service 24-7 (and 52 weeks a year), you owe it to your clients and yourself to find someone else to handle your calls so you can focus on important work tasks and so you can get some downtime, not just for a few hours of sleep each night, but so you can enjoy some leisure time with friends and family, and even take a vacation - yes, a real vacation!

I confess - I have not taken a "real" vacation since I started my business, but I intend to change that this year. And now that I’ve posted this publicly, I’m one step closer to making it happen! But I will definitely NOT be available to receive phone calls or emails during my vacation! I need and deserve a break, and so do you!