How to take a month off from work as founder
Read Time: 2 min
How I took my first vacation after three years as a CEO.
Why should you also take a month off, and how can you maintain your business while on vacation?
How do you know that you succeeded as an entrepreneur?
How do you measure your success?
I followed the wrong metrics for a long time myself.
I thought it would be money in my bank account.
Or was it bigger numbers in my business?
Everything I read was about growing one or the other number.
How big have these numbers to get for me to know I made it?
When is it enough?
And can I sprint this marathon until I reach that amount?
These were my thoughts three years ago.
I didn't take a single day off for three years by then.
And I just came out of another crunch week to make the latest milestone.
I learned back then that building a business is not a sprint.
It is a marathon.
And no matter how young and energetic I am, it will catch up with me at some point.
I was a minimalist for years already.
I had reduced everything: my clothes, my furniture, my friends.
My work was the only thing I didn't apply minimalism to yet.
I did everything myself and was too scared to hand anything off to someone else.
We had a team, but I was the only one able to do these tasks.
Of course, I was so wrong.
I know exactly how to measure my success today.
It is not about maximizing numbers.
It is about minimizing them.
I minimized my working hours.
I learned how to say no and how to delegate.
But my biggest challenge was to shut off my brain.
I couldn't take a week off or stop thinking about my company for one weekend (not that I took weekends…).
Still, even after passing on responsibilities and letting others shine, I clung to my company like it was my baby.
This is when I took a challenge that sounds easy to some but was ridiculously difficult for me.
This was my final test to see if I succeeded as an entrepreneur.
I had to take one month off.
Taking one month off was one of the best things I ever did for my business.
Before I could take a month off, we had to fix some things first.
I was still the bottleneck for a lot of processes in the company.
I had to become obsolete.
I was so scared on my last work day before my one-month leave.
But everything was ready.
We had automated most of the processes I still had done manually until a week ago.
All my tasks were delegated to others.
And the team knew how to reach me in case shit hit the fan. They never called me.
So, scared shitless, I turned my laptop off and went on an adventure.
A three-week intensive acrobatics camp in Prague.
Every day, eight hours of partner acrobatics.
Followed by sauna, ice baths, and great food.
It was heaven for me.
I even completely forgot my business for a few days.
I could turn off my brain for the first time in years.
It was a reincarnating experience, even though it was straining for my body.
When I came back to my company four weeks later, my company was still there.
The team had continued without me and crushed milestone after milestone.
And all without needing me to watch over their shoulders every day.
When did you take your last vacation?
Was it six months ago, or has it already been two years?
I challenge you to put your entrepreneurship skills to the test and take one month off.
No checking emails.
No meetings.
No spreadsheets or project boards.
If you do it right, you will come back to a business that is stronger than before.
But how do you know you're ready and that your company won't burn down while you're gone?
If you're doubting, let's talk.
I am sure we can evaluate your situation.
And if we find out you're not ready, we will find a way to get you ready.
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Thanks for reading to the end!
You rock!
Cheers,
Marcel