This is Day 2 of the 20 Days to a Better Business series. In this series we look at tips and strategies to take your business to the next level. This week we are going to focus on why you need to take some time out from your business and book a holiday.

You can catch up here with the other posts in this 20 Days To a Better Business series .

This is Day 2: Book a holiday

This post is not about the importance of recharging the batteries and take time out with your family and friends. That’s not to say that’s not important, it’s just not what the subject of this post is about.

Instead it’s about getting you out of your business. Why? Becuase as a business owner it’s easy to add too much value. Chipping in and developing employees ideas for them, constantly tweaking your sales material or website.  If you’re a blogger or internet marketeer, how much time do you spend tinkering with fonts and headings, installing plugins or tweaking content?

Chances are that this is distracting you from moving your goals forward.

Your need to develop the processes and systems so that your business works on autopilot and generates money without you. As Ryan Allis from iContact says:

“If your business isn’t making money whilst you sleep, you haven’t got a business, you’ve got a job”

So, if you are employing people to do the things that you are spending time doing yourself or you’re heavily involved with, then what exactly are you paying these people to do?

Make sure that your involvement is actually adding value to the process. Chances are, you aren’t nearly as important as you think you are and that’s why you should schedule a week out of the business and let the people you employ to do the work get on with what they are paid to do.

Instead tell your employees exactly what you expect from them (tell them the What, not the how)  parameters of the decison making you’re empowering them to have.

You will find this has 4 benefits:

1. stops you increasing costs by asking for changes which aren’t really necessary.
2. empowers the people you employ to do the work to get on with it.
3. Plus from a family and friends perspective, as a busy entrepreneur giving your time to them is one of the most valuable things you can do and will be pay immendse dividends.
4. Finally having a date in the diary gives you something to focus on and plan your time to be out of the business.

So, what are you waiting for? Schedule a week out of the business in the next 2 months and tell everyone you’re going away.