Stretching Your Dollar: Why Business Owners Should Consider Taking Vacations

<div class="block">A realization for many business owners is that they tend to be on-call for 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Often, they can get so engulfed in their business that the don&#39;t carve out time for leisure vacations. Austin Netzley, author of &#39;The 2-Week Vacation Test,&#39; said it is possible to step away from the business to enjoy life and &quot;by taking committed time of, you reclaim your time but also, you&#39;re able to improve your team in operations, more easily let go off tasks and with a better team in operations and more time, now you&#39;re able to work on the things that actually matter and grow your business.&quot;</div>

Stretching Your Dollar

As we mentioned, it is a National Relaxation Day. But as a business owner, relaxing can feel like a luxury. Perhaps that many might be afraid to take does not have to be the case though, Austin Netley, the author of the two week vacation test joins me now to explain why vacations are more important than you think. Austin. Thank you for joining. Thank you so much for having me. Why are vacations so important? So as a small business owner, we get consumed by our business, we get overworked and overwhelmed and by actually taking committed time off, you reclaim your time, but also you're able to improve your team in operations more easily, let go of tasks and with a better team in operations and more time. Now you're able to work on the things that actually matter to grow your business. So taking vacations is actually the surprising path to more success in business as well as time freedom. I like that. And I said the author of the two week vacation test. So do you think two weeks is sort of the sweet spot there? Absolutely. Especially for small businesses. Because if your business can run grow and thrive without you for two weeks. That means you've got a very healthy operations, you got your team running the show and it's a really good milestone for people to reach, but you don't start there. You want to build up towards that so that you're really confident to take that time off, I think, understandably. So some business owners might be worried that stepping away from the business could put the business in jeopardy. What would you tell them? I would say exactly that, build up, build up slowly towards it. Start with taking a week off where you're actually not working, then take a couple days off and then take a little bit more off until you ultimately are confident in your team and operations. And one of the biggest things is to leverage systems systems, help teach other people how to do things and you have the confidence that they're able to execute without you. So build up towards it, leverage systems and you have a lot of confidence, taking time off. What are some tangible examples of how taking time off can actually improve the business? Well, your team gets a lot more confidence because we think that so many things need us and we think things are and faster if we just do them ourselves. But by actually getting out of our team's way, they're able to work through things themselves. They start to build more talent, they have more confidence. So you can actually see they're able to do the work that you pay them to do. Ok. So here's the next question. You're actually on vacation, what's the best way to have a real vacation? And actually unplug, well, the best thing is again, if you build up towards it, you build confidence. So you're actually building the muscle of being able to turn things off because a lot of people can't turn things, they can't even go one night without checking their email and social media and thinking about all the things that they have to do. So again, if you build up towards it and the vacation test guide you on seven steps to do that. So we mentally detach from the business because that's the biggest thing because our team and operations with a little bit of work will be just fine. It's really the mental piece that we've got to have. So I think what you're telling me is you actually have a plan, right to help people unplug taking the vacation isn't just, you know, going to the beach and scrolling on social media every Yeah, absolutely. It's the best thing that you can do for your business, like it gives you more energy and improves your team in operations. And again, if you do it right, you'll be confident to be able to step away. Ok. What are the seven steps? How long does it take to get to that point to step away? Well, you can get through a few of the first steps in the next week. So it starts by taking a night off 100% where you don't work. You don't check email, you don't do anything that's usually pretty easy for people to do. But what you do is you start to realize where you're attached to your business where you're addicted to checking things. So then it goes into a weekend off, then it goes into taking a full committed day off where your team can run and thrive without you, then doing deep work in your business, then taking four days off, then a week off and then ultimately, two weeks. So within a period of a couple of months by doing those, you're making big milestone with your team in operations and again, your mindset so that you're confident to take two weeks off. So it actually sounds like really almost a detachment style approach. It really is. It's so much about the mental game. And again, we get consumed and we think that everything has to be done by us. In fact, it doesn't, and it's much better. If it doesn't, then you can actually grow to the next level. So when you are actually relaxing, it's National Relaxation Day for business owners who can step away and take that two week vacation, let's say what good things, what magical things can happen when you are actually unplugged from work where you get a lot more creative. You see really where your focus should be and you achieve so much of why you started in business to begin with, which is to make memories with your family or to, you know, live an amazing lifestyle. So there's so much positive that come from it personally, but also for everybody else on your team. And this isn't just for business owners, this is for everybody on the team to be able to turn off and be able when you're working, work and be focused and when you're not working, take time off and don't work. And that's the healthiest thing that you can do. It leads to a lot more productivity as well. How did your journey get you to this point where you are advocating, right? That people, yes, actually unplug Well, I actually started on the opposite end. I was working so much and so overwhelmed that I was stressed out and I had anxiety attacks. I couldn't breathe or sleep that I had to call nine one, not once but twice. And then finally, I was on the path to burn out a third time. And I was like, you know what I'm taking the summer off. And I realized that that was the best thing I could do to let go of tasks to reclaim my time and energy to improve my team in operation. So it was actually the path to a better business and obviously a better lifestyle as Well, so I went from burnout calling 911 to now having a bunch of time freedom traveling every month and doing some cool business things along the way. I like it. Good way to relax on National Relaxation Day. Let's go, Austin Nets. Joining me here on set. Austin. Thank you.