Have you ever fantasized about going on a week-long vacation and not receiving a single call, text, or email that required your immediate attention? How about a month? What about three months?
For most business owners this is just not an option. There are too many things only they can do, be it payroll, sales, or delivery of a service. Maybe you’re in a similar situation.
Now, a vacation is just a want, but imagine if you didn’t have a choice. Maternity/paternity leave. A medical situation. If you knew it was coming up, how would you plan for it?
One of the best ways to be able to take an extended leave of absence is to document what you do and how to do it. You create a Standard Operating Procedure. Do this for every one of your major tasks.
Test these procedures with your employees so you know they work well. Next time you must take off a day for an emergency, your employees can go in and make sure your work gets done.
Going through this documentation process is not just good for your ability to take a vacation. When a potential acquirer looks at purchasing your business, they want to know whether they need to keep you on or not. Having these processes in place can increase the value of your business quite a bit!
Homework: Leave of Absence
- Create a list of the most critical work items you have
- Document one of them
- Test it with one of your employees
Need some help getting started writing your Standard Operating Procedure? Get started here: https://northgabusinesscoach.com/create-a-process/