How to Plan a Freelancer Vacation So You Can Refuel
Last week’s post on the life of freelancers and their runaway trains hit a nerve – many people could see themselves on that crash course to burnout already. One resounding question many people had was, “How do we take our hand off the throttle and start coasting towards a refueling station?”Alex Fayle brings the answer. Enjoy.
Recently James invited me to write about runaway trains and freelancers who want to kill themselves working too hard…Wait, I mean freelancers who want to die in a train wreck… Well, something like that, anyway.
It’s all well and good to acknowledge that your life is a runaway train and you need to slow down before you derail completely in a wreck or burn out with no fuel to keep going.
It’s another thing entirely, though, to know how to stop the insanity and take a holiday. It can seem impossible with all your obligations pushing you onwards from behind.
Think about this a moment. Didn’t you choose to work for yourself so you could have more control of your life? What happened? Why is the business suddenly in control, running you ragged?
There’s only one answer to that question. That answer provides the key to slowing down and taking a vacation for the first time in three, five or maybe even ten years.
The business runs you because you believe you’re irreplaceable.
I have something to tell you. You’re not irreplaceable. You’re not so important or crucial that the world will end if you take time off. You could enjoy a week, two weeks or even a whole month off if you want.
Doctors take time off all the time. Sometimes their clients and patients literally face life-or-death situations. And yet, off the doctor goes on vacation. How can they do this?
It’s easy. They have temporary substitutions, locums, and a support staff in place. Let’s look at the options for freelancers:
Get Yourself a Support Staff
Doctors normally have at least one assistant working for them. When a doctor takes a holiday, the assistant pays the bills, arranges appointments, takes messages and redirects emergency phone calls.
I’ve also known doctors who have other types of support “staff”. They don’t have assistants. They still take month-long vacations, sending their phone calls to voicemail and setting up auto-responders for email, both redirecting people to a substitute. As for administration, the doctors just forget about it for a while.
Let’s take your freelance business and apply the same philosophy. If you’re a busy freelancer, you shouldn’t be wasting your time on administrative duties anyway. Your energy is best applied towards your actual skills and the work you do, no matter how much you like doing bookkeeping or answering email.
Get help. Hire a virtual assistant. Learn to frickin’ delegate. Many freelancers start their own businesses because the reality is that they’re control freaks and feel that they’re the only ones capable of carrying out the work properly.
Get over yourself. Your administrative needs are the exact same administrative needs of every other freelancer out there, and these needs are no more important than the doctor’s administrative needs either. Save yourself a lot of time, stress and worry by giving that work to someone else.
Want an example of someone who did just that? Read about how Havi Brooks gave away her email – and read more about how she felt after a month.
There. That’s half the job done. Now when you go away for a break or focus on the work you do, you’ll have someone supporting you.
If you don’t have much administration or email to take care of, then you really shouldn’t worry about it. People are very understanding – they take holidays too, you know – and they’ll wait two weeks for you to come back to answer their questions.
Trust me. If they’ll wait weeks to see a doctor, they can certainly wait for a freelancer.
What to Do About the Work
Let’s move on to the creative part, your projects and your work. Self-confidence gives us a boost and draws clients to us, but too much self-confidence results in a god-complex. (Just like those doctors.)
And a god complex just isn’t healthy.
Take a deep breath and say these words out loud: “I am not the centre of the universe. The world will carry on just fine even if I’m not working ten hours a day.” If needed, repeat this mantra twenty times an hour until you start to believe it.
You know a million and one other freelancers, I’m sure. You must respect the work of at least one or two of them. Talk to these freelancers and arrange a mutual substitution. They probably would appreciate a break, too. Make it so that the arrangement allows both of you to take a holiday at different times of the year.
Here’s how:
- Pick dates for your break, even if they’re six months down the road.
- Find your substitute and confirm that the freelancer will be available to replace you during that time.
- If required, train the other person for any urgent tasks – but don’t go crazy. You’re not training a total replacement, just giving the critical information.
- Start telling current clients about your vacation and let them know that all projects will wrap up before you leave. Communicate that you have a substitute set up with background knowledge of their situation in case an emergency arises.
As you get closer to your vacation time, remind your current clients and tell new clients that you’re leaving soon. Give them the following options:
- They can continue working (or start working) with you, take a break while you are away, and you’ll finish the project when you return
- They can work with your substitute (whom you highly recommend)
- They can wait until your return to begin the work
Talk to your substitute about which clients might be in contact from your current client list and what types of work these clients might request.
Let your virtual assistant, your voicemail or your auto-responder handle potential clients who get in touch while you’re away. Have a message that mentions they can contact your substitute or wait for your return. Stress that regardless, you’ll contact them personally when you’re back in the office.
Don’t worry about losing clients. When your substitute goes on holiday, you’ll be taking over their new clients, so it’s an even trade. Also, if you plan your annual budget properly, you won’t need the immediate income during your time away to survive.
As for keeping up with your blog, that’s an easy one. When took a three-week vacation, I wrote a dozen articles ahead of time. Thanks to the magic of post scheduling, I set them all up in advance to publish themselves while I was away. I also informed my readers that I was absent andI wouldn’t respond to comments.
Did I lose readers? No. My regular commentators stepped up to the plate and turned the comment section of my blog into a discussion with each post, taking over my job of responding for me.
You can also get yourself a guest blogger, giving your readers a different perspective on your blog’s theme for a little while. Readers will likely quite enjoy it.
Let’s put this vacation strategy to good use and use James’ desires as an example. He dreams of spending a month in the Gaspésie region this summer. Do I think he can do it? Hell yes! Here’s his nine-step how-to:
- Start telling yourself, “I’m not the centre of the universe.”
- Pick your departure date and the date you’ll return.
- Create very strict boundaries around the work you will do and won’t do while you are away. (I know you wouldn’t be able to fully relax and do nothing, James).
- Find a substitute you trust who would be willing to take on your clients during your holiday and who plans to take a holiday as well at some point in the current year.
- Decide whether the administrative stuff can take care of itself, can wait, or if it needs a virtual assistant. If the latter, start looking for that person. Hire them at least a month in advance to get them comfortable with the way you do things.
- Book the holiday and make bookings non-refundable so you can’t back out.
- Let your current clients know your plans.
- Set up various messages and auto-responders that you’ll be away.
- Give yourself permission to relax knowing that the world will not end while you’re away having a life (for once).
Now for the rest of you reading, what are your vacation plans for this year? After reading this post, you shouldn’t have any reason to say that you don’t have any, right?
This post was brought to you by Alex Fayle, who specializes in slowing down speeding trains, helping people read track maps and making sure they coast in for a refuel without derailing off the tracks.
Even better, he helps people lighten their freight and find new tracks heading to better places. Learn how to drive your train at Alex’s site, Someday Syndrome.
42 Responses to “How to Plan a Freelancer Vacation So You Can Refuel”
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I’m looking forward to hearing everyone’s vacation plans! I’ll kick it off. In August we’re going to the Canary Islands for a week to lie in the sun and do nothing.
BTW, vacations don’t have to cost money. We have plans for friends to visit here throughout the spring and summer where I take time off to spend with them. No travel, no cost, lots of fun.
Alex Fayle | Someday Syndrome´s last blog post…This isn’t what I want: Hunter Nutall Interview
We are taking a two week family road trip to Orlando at the end of April. Yes 28 hours of driving with the family to spend 10 glorious days with the 4 most important people in my world.
Speaking of cheap vacations, next summer I want to move to Spain for the month of July with the whole family. My husband thinks I am crazy, well actually I am and having the time of my life. Isn’t that why I am creating a virtual company…so I can work from anywhere. Now to the cheap part, I have a friend who loves in Spain….and perhaps he could do a small favour for a dear friend
by looking for a vacation home for the Fam for next summer….I am sure a year is enough time to make this happen. I am even open to house swapping. The East Coast is beautiful in July.
Isn’t dreaming and planning all part of the fun, thanks for inspiring me to dream bigger.
Besos
Elaine
I’m planning on taking a short week off in June to visit family in the Midwest.
Alex, I totally agree with “vacations” being short times just spent relaxing and having fun. One of the ideas behind my blog is just that, finding things to do in your own backyard, with my backyard being Los Angeles.
The continuing theme of trains sparked an interest in me, so I just looked it up. On Sunday, I’m heading for the local train museum……………….:)
Thanks for the idea.
LisaNewton´s last blog post…Independence Day, Paramount Studios, and a Contest
@ Lisa – There’s a museum near here (okay, so about 1.5 hours away) that houses six trains inside. They are huge. Just freaking huge. The room is a cavern, there are sound effects going on, and you walk in to see these massive monoliths…
Impressed the hell out of me as a kid, created my best memory of that museum and still impresses me today. Love, love those trains.
Hey, I want to go to Gaspésie! Right here, actually:
http://www.infogaspesie.com/villages/la_pointe/cap-d-espoir/chalet_de_la_mer.php?cat=heb&dev=00
The rate is good for a week if you go in the “off season”.
Brett Legree´s last blog post…what are you living for?
Not sure where we’re going yet but planning a family holiday in May. Hubby gets back from his deployment end of April, so he’s getting a week to get over the jet lag (and catch up with my honey-do list!) and then we’re off for a week or two. Probably travel part of the East Coast of Australia and time with the in-laws.
I’m likely to take my laptop with me though, there’s not much to do at the in-laws except watch tv and I can’t stand daytime tv! So I’ll be working at least some of the holiday!
I expect I’ll schedule blog posts for the whole time, and just check emails when I get around to it every few days or so.
And I’m sure you’re going to have something to say to me about that Alex! LOL!
Melinda´s last blog post…Clutter vs Motivation – Clutter Wins But Not for Long!
Reading this post reminded me that, when I was employed, I used to take two major vacations a year, each lasting 1-2 weeks. Now that I’m freelancing, I should be able to take at least as much time off, no?
Dh and I are planning to bring the kids to a safari vacation, and to explore Toronto some more this summer. No concrete plans yet but, thanks to this post, I’ll be firming up plans asap.
I will also work “mini vacations” into my day. Last summer I remember sitting in the park at 3 pm, looking up at the clouds and thinking, “My, how different my life is now compared to when I was working in an office!”
This post couldn’t have come at a better time. I’m taking a two week break next month and going to India and have been going insane trying to figure everything out, schedule my blogposts, work out details with my clients, and nag the Indian embassy for a Visa.
This will be my first ever break since I started freelancing last year so I’m clueless on how to properly delegate. Since I’ll be completely cut off from the internet for two weeks – it’s actually scary! And as Alex said, I’m having control issues.
Samar´s last blog post…The Predictable Case of a Hopeless Housekeeper
Alex,
Great post!
1. You are never going to get James to say he is not the centre f the universe. LOL.
2. Having family very far away has always made vacations happen easily. Want to see them? Have to leave. I’ll be in away for a week next month, and for at least four or five weeks in the summer. But… I do check in a bit, I can’t lie. I’m a fairly relaxed person, so I don’t let it interfere with family time, but if I were totally idle it wouldn’t be a good vacation. I don’t care for much “do nothing” time… it just doesn’t work for my personality.
I already work my work around my daughter, and I have a little rebel inside me who gets stubborn if I haven’t given myself “me” time during the week, so on a day-to-day basis I’m pretty good, but I do let things get out of hand sometimes.
Refueling is SO critical for those of us who are used to being in charge of everything! Thanks. Instantly bookmarked this for future reference.
Regards,
Kelly
Kelly´s last blog post…MCE Round Table: Tell Me a Story…
Alex, just in time for spring break!
Every so often, I schedule a “staycation” and take a vacation from information. Time off sets a good example for our clients too; we must practice what we preach. Who wants an organizer that can’t schedule her own personal time off? Or an unfit health care provider?
I have a few tips too: http://idek.net/4s0 »
When I take vacations to write, I end up taking a vacation from writing.
Thanks for the post, I especially needed to hear the part about the God complex! I recently came to that conclusion, but it’s nice to see it on the screen as well. I have plans to head to Hawaii in the next couple months and it will take a lot of prep time and scheduling. Luckily if something comes up while I AM on the road, I can access my webtop from anywhere (even my mobile phone) to edit a quick post or a document and get it off to a client. I don’t plan on being tied to my phone, but its nice to know I have the files available if I need them.
GoEverywhere Team´s last blog post…Files across the cloud, a need for storage aggregation
@ Brett – Dude. Do you have any idea how cold it gets in ‘off season’? I used to go to Tadoussac for my holidays, and the last two weeks of July had us hunting down sweatshirts and long pants. BRR!
@ GoEverywhere – Yeah, that god complex is a freelancer’s killer, I think. When Alex mentioned that doctors with life and death situations go on vacation, I thought, “Wow. Am I really more important than a doctor?”
I’d like to think yes, but the truth is no.
@ J – That’s a bad thing?
@ Geralin – My guitar lesson every week lasts only an hour, but it is a definite mini-vacation that leaves me coming home TONS happier and whistling – and ready to work hard!
@ Kelly – Well, you see, it comes down to my sense of honor, really. It’s not honorable to be dishonest… and then there’s listening to your heart, being truthful with yourself, believing in you… I have to maintain these things, you know.
@ Samar – I bet you that when you arrive, have your vacation and come back home, you’ll realize that all those crazy details really weren’t as important or pressing as you believed them to be!
@ Lexi – I hear you on that. My corporate job gave me six weeks vacation and 7 floater days a year. Even first-year employees received two weeks and the floaters. Freelancers deserve less than what corporations give? No way!
@ Melinda – I honestly wouldn’t mind having a working vacation either. Just to be somewhere different, see different things, fall out of the pattern, go out for supper or for a walk to explore… I think that’s necessary. Even if the laptop comes with.
@ Elaine – I so want to do a road trip. I love them. Drive a few hours, set up tents and stay a day to explore. Move on. Love it.
@ Alex – Thanks for the fantastic post. Seriously.
James,
It’s okay – “on season” for this place is June 27th to August 29th – I know there wouldn’t be snow there in early June or early September – as long as there’s no snow, I don’t care – I can build a fire
Brett Legree´s last blog post…what are you living for?
It looks awesome though, eh? I want to go to Carleton or thereabouts. Beautiful, beautiful. Peace.
Wow, Carleton looks really nice too (south side) – peace, that sums it up in a word. Sit and watch the ocean, with a glass of wine.
Brett Legree´s last blog post…what are you living for?
This is awesome advice. Someday, when I’m busy enough to need a vacation, I plan to take it!
Catherine Cantieri, Sorted´s last blog post…Get your paper managed with the Sorted Seven
Women tell me all the time, “Hey, I’m up here.”
“Yeah,” I say, “but my email is down here.”
The first step to healing is admitting you have a problem, right? Here goes… My name is Henry and I’m addicted to my iPhone.
It’s hard to relax when my ears perk up every time I hear a beep. I’ve trained people to expect to hear right back from me… bad habit (I think James once wrote about not doing that).
My ideal vacation is somewhere in the woods with a backpack and no access to a cellular network. It’s like detox so I can look people in the face again.
Any client that isn’t willing to give you a week (or two) off isn’t worth keeping around anyway. But I agree that you need to be willing to give yourself the time off as well.
Henry Bingaman´s last blog post…How To Imitate Success
My perfect vacation would be unlimited time with the husband first, followed by time with the kids, followed by time with the mooses, followed by being able to enjoy the Internet without thinking about business.
Spring break is coming – yay! We’ll see how good I get.
Barbara Ling, Virtual Coach´s last blog post…Twitter Affiliate Marketing
@ Henry – My name is James, and I’m addicted to email…
One of the best changes I ever made for lightening fast customer service was to move my desk from a room corner to the central area of the house. I can see my monitor from almost every location. An email comes in…
And yeah. I’m there. I could be doing anything at any time in my own home, and I immediately know the email is there. Curiosity being what it is with me, I have to answer.
The problem is that I’ve realized that I can’t get away. I’m currently working to create an office in a room I have so that the monitor is out of sight, so that I can close the door, and so that I can disconnect when the day is over.
The *funny* thing is that I’ve written several times about how freelancers should have offices with doors on them…
I am confused. Devastated even! What do you mean James is not the centre of the universe?! Next you’ll be telling me the earth does not revolve around the sun!
The Urbane Lion used to own a catering business. He decided right up front he would not work weekends AND he would take a month off in the Summer. Hello? Catering! Weddings, funerals, proms, are generally all on weekends. And guess what? He ended up the top caterer in the capital city of Canada. Because he picked up all the politicians! Who, by the way, do not work weekends or during the Summer.
So, while the other caterers were burning themselves out, the Lion was always able to stay calm and sane.
Urban Panther´s last blog post…The Lair has a new look
Two thumbs up for this article, James. A life without small break/vacation would be a boring and dull life indeed…
@ Wilson – We writers already have to fight the starving eccentric label. Add boring to it and we’d just be so screwed
@ Urban – This is very true. We used to work full out all weekends… until we noticed that most business people we work with aren’t around on weekends. Kind of liberating, that!
I can’t picture Lion getting stressed, come to think of it.
James Chartrand – Men with Pens´s last blog post…How to Plan a Freelancer Vacation So You Can Refuel
Wow, you’ve all been busy in the last 24 hours. Time to catch up!
Elaine
Apartment in San Sebastian, close to the beach and to the trainstation – okie dokie. I’ll start looking.
Lisa
I love trains. I moved to Europe to take more trains. It’s my preferred travel method, especially the new high speed trains which mean Barcelona, Paris and Madrid are all only 5-6 hours away from me.
Brett
I spent 3 months in Cap Chat when I was 15 from February to April. VERY off season and VERY cold. The only way to keep warm on weekends was to buy lots of beer and drink it while wandering the streets…
Melinda
I can’t say anything as I too check emails when I’m on holiday. I love the Internet too much not to. (love/addition = same thing, no?)
Lexi
Great plans! And there is so much in Toronto to explore. I grew up there and still discovered new thing every year. I especially loved Toronto Island and cursed myself whenever I didn’t spend a lot of the summer there.
Samar
Ooh, complete lack of contact. You are going to come back so free of your Internet addiction, you’ll be the envy of freelancers everywhere!
Kelly
I can try – he might not say it out loud but in his head he might…
I’m in the same boat. The 3 week holiday last year was to visit family and show Canada off to Raul (and show Raul off to Canada). Having a partner with holidays also forces me to take time off because when he’s not working, he doesn’t want me to work either. It’s a great system for me!
Geralin
Exactly! Practicing what we preach is key for an organizer (and a Someday Mentor!). Thanks for the tips – I will definitely check them out.
J. Smith Adams
I’m the same way, so I fit my writing into my workday. Actually since being a published fiction writer is my dream, I try to make it a priority above work.
GoEverywhere Team
It is handy having that connectivity, but be careful only to use it when you’re recuperating from whatever fun thing you’ve done during the day. That’s how I did it when I took my three week vacation – as recharge time, not as a primetime activity.
Catherine
I’d suggest starting the habits of vacations now. It might seem strange when you’re not busy, but if you don’t start now you’ll find it hard to take a vacation later because you’ll be so used to being busy all the time.
Henry
The latest version of Pavlov’s dog. I don’t have an iPhone or any similar device and likely won’t get one. I hardly even use my cell phone…
Barbara
Sounds like a great vacation, especially the purely surfing-for-fun part…
James
Whenever I’m not actually working, I close the laptop, putting it to sleep. That way I don’t hear it and am not interrupted. I’ll even do that if I walk away for 10 minutes. Just to disconnect a little.
UP
I’m sorry. I hope the news didn’t hurt you very much… And Yay! to the Lion figuring his perfect niche by setting limits and boundaries. I’m doing the same as I set up my business – for example, no phone coaching other than group-based teleclasses. I like the written word and so do my ideal clients.
Wilson
Even if it’s just going for a walk on the beach.
Boring is my enemy, so I am always out having fun!
Alex Fayle | Someday Syndrome´s last blog post…Getting the most out of life when it sucks
Hi Alex, great article. Everyone knows you need to invest in your business to make it survive. What they sometimes forget is their biggest investment in their business is probably themselves.
So you need to invest in yourself. Your business needs it.
As for my vacation plans – headed to Disneyland in a couple weeks. Can’t wait to get away.
John Hoff – WpBlogHost´s last blog post…How To Install Google Analytics On A WordPress Blog Without Using A Plugin
*scribbles note to self* Follow Alex’s system… Find partner with holidays.
*scratches first note out* Find partner.
Kelly´s last blog post…MCE Round Table: Tell Me a Story…
Wow! So cool to read where everybody’s going!
I’m leaving in about five weeks to go to Mexico for five days. It’s not entirely a vacation (I’m handing out wheelchairs with Rotary), but hopefully we’ll get to spend at least one day hanging out on the beach.
Also difficult? Taking the day off. Every time my friends/co-workers and I decide we’re going to take the day off, we end up working that day anyway. It’s like there’s some block in our brains that keeps us from just shutting the work away.
Anybody else have that problem? Not so much the vacation, but the just “taking 24 hours to recharge”?
@ Michelle – In the last two years, the only time I can think of that I’ve actually taken days off totally has been over Christmas when we were at my mother’s and couldn’t get internet there. And there were too many people and too much noise to do any writing.
Even when I think I’ll take the day off, I still check emails for my personal stuff and end up checking all the work emails as well.
This is starting to intrude on our personal lives, and I’m currently looking at ways I can totally separate my personal and work life on the computer.
Melinda´s last blog post…Clutter vs Motivation – Clutter Wins But Not for Long!
Really nice post – I can’t count the number of times I’ve scheduled a trip, and having made damn sure that every ticket and booking was refundable I end up not going.
Kinda stupid.
For me it’s a question of cashflow right now – my high spending ways in my 20′s have left me with something of an expensive legacy that I need to funnel money into. The though that that same money could be funding a bunch of fun trips….silly Steve…silly Steve…
Steve Errey – The Confidence Guy´s last blog post…Life Purpose is Nothing Without Confidence
@ Steve – I remember I was going to fly to Kansas. On a whim. Because. I was going. Had my plane ticket and everything. $500. Just like that.
Never went.
That’s like walking down the street to stop someone and say, “Excuse me. I have all this cash and I really need it, but I’m going to give it to you. Here you go.” Or worse, lighting a pile of bills on fire. Ouch.
Now that’s stupid.
@ Melinda – Mmm… I think the solution is called, “Commute to work for someone else,” but I could be wrong
@ Michelle – *raises hand* I prevent myself from taking a day, honestly. Thre’s nothing that can’t wait 24 hours, so there’s no reason for anyone to not enjoy one day off a week.
LOL! I was thinking more along the lines of having a different log in for work!
Melinda´s last blog post…Do You Have Blogger’s Block? Coming up With New Content Continuously
My husband and I are currently looking at setting up a small IT consulting business. He is off to UK in April to talk to vendors about being a regional partner here in the Middle East.
I’m an IT project manage by profession and like the idea of working with him on this project, but your article has clarified for me that I really do need to make sure that I am not so heavily involved in the project that I can not take breaks.
Children have enormous amounts of holidays here and an idle summer on the Arabian Peninsula I think would be a beastly thing to inflict on small boys. So I guess I need to factor into our business plans that the boys and I will still spend substantial chunks of the year away.
Many people go into freelancing because they want to be “independent.”
Here is one path to independence:
WARNING Few people choose this path.
. Get a job
. Save HALF of your income (this usually means live in a crummy but inexpensive place)
. Do this for ten years
. You now have five years of salary in the bank
. You are now independent and free to do whatever for at least five years
That’s good advice Dwayne. I think for many it would give more independence than freelancing. I guess 10years is along time though – maybe the real answer is that the business model behind freelancing is just not healthy, and those who make a success and get real independence are probably very clever in the way they run their businesses.
Wish I had the answers, but don’t we all!
Tom at Hotels Fairy´s last blog ..Alcester Hotels and Destination Guide