Karl Takes a Vacation -
- Lessons Learned, Episode 27
I was in business for about five years when I took my first real vacation. I'd taken plenty of time "off" before, but this was to be a disconnected vacation.
At the time, I had one part-time employee, Jim. He knew all my clients, and they knew him. He was not always sure about how to solve problems, and he relied on me a great deal. It was the perfect situation in which many business owners would simply say, "I can't take a vacation; the business can't run without me."
But I was willing to give it a try for three reasons:
1) We had a great system. We had rock-solid processes, which were documented. And, therefore, I had great confidence that I could be gone for fourteen days without a true emergency.
2) I had more confidence in Jim than he had in himself. He was talented. He was experienced. And even though he relied on me a great deal, some of that had to do with self-confidence rather than lack of troubleshooting skills.
3) Although I was mostly out of touch, I was also in a nearby national forest, so I could scamper down the hill and be at a client's office the same day. And I would be in phone range within an hour.
This was back when cell phones were quite reliable in cities, but were unusable in truly rural areas. (I actually wish were still the case, for the most part.)
And while I learned that our processes were as good as I suspected, and that Jim was as good as I suspected, I also learned another important lesson on that trip.
We were staying in a cabin on Lake Tahoe, inside a national park. The cabin had electricity and running water, but no stove or cooking facilities. There was no heat as these cabins are regularly buried in snow during the winter, so people only stay there in the non-frozen months.
Once a day, normally after dinner, I walked up to the public road from our camp and used a public phone to check my voicemail. I got a report from Jim every day. And almost message was upbeat and positive. But there were also several frustrated messages explaining a problem, describing what he'd tried, and asking for help. And the very next message said that he had tried one more thing, researched something, or just plain figured it out.
In other words, even when very frustrated, he learned that he could figure things out. I stored this little bit of knowledge to help me manage future technicians. Sometimes, people have to stop asking for help ALL the time and just take a deep breath, then go at it again.
I failed to mention one other piece of advice I had given Jim before I left:
You don't need to get help from me alone. Feel free to contact Microsoft, Intel, HP, and even one of our competitors in the local IT user group. You have lots of resources we've built over the years as relationships. Manufacturers and distributors have warranties and guarantees. We're a Microsoft partner. You're not alone.
You're never alone in this job.
In the end, I never had to drive down the mountain. We never cut our vacation short. And for the next three summers, we went back to that same camp. And I checked my voicemail less and less each time.
It's true that people who start IT consulting businesses tend to be the most technically knowledgeable, and they are more familiar with the clients' systems. But it's NOT true that your team can't get along without you.
You can - and you MUST - take vacations. You need to recharge your batteries. You also need to spend time with your family. Nothing happens by itself. That includes growing your technicians' independence and building a sustainable business that you can run for decades without having a hear attack.
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All comments welcome.
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Episode 27
This Episode is part of the ongoing Lessons Learned series. For all the information, and an index of Lessons Learned episodes, go to the Lessons Learned Page. https://blog.smallbizthoughts.com/p/lessons-learned-blog-series.html
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Vacations can be a long weekend, a seven-day stint elsewhere in the US, or the near overseas (Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, Panama, etc.), or the commitment of a multi-week jaunt to a more distant continent. If you have a team, even just one or two people, with good procedures and documentation, and have empowered them unambiguously to make decisions, you can be free for days or weeks at a time. If things go smoothly, check in occasionally, if not, check in daily, but while you want them to feel you're part of the team, don't usurp their authority. Let them hold the reins for a while, as it can be both empowering and humbling for them, which are both good things.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the note, Josh. It is often best work work your way up, taking one day off then two, etc. And gradually allowing the techs more power/freedom as they prove themselves to be capable and reliable.
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