How I Ran My Business OOO for 3 Months

How I Ran my Small Business Out of Office for 3 Months

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My wise mother-in-law has always said that the 5 P’s is essential to running any business. Wonder what she is referring to? Prior planning prevents poor performance. Upholding to the 5 P’s has been critical to running my small business and has prevented lots of stress and anxiety.

For those that are new around here, my husband and I work at a summer camp each summer for 12 weeks (and very rarely am I on my phone or computer during this time). So many people ask me how in the world I do this while running my art business, and today, I’m spilling the tea on how I manage it all!

With these three steps, you’ll be able to sit back and relax while your business runs on autopilot.

1.) Plan ahead:

• Content: I have all of my social media and blog posts are written out well in advance, along with caption ideas in the event I want to post to social media while on vacay. You can schedule your posts out in advance with apps like Tailwind.

  • If you do post to social media, don’t ‘post and ghost.’ You’ll need to be accessible at least 10-30 minutes after posting to show your audience that you are still accessible.

• Hire, if necessary: for me, I’m a one-woman show, so hiring someone to handle my shipping needs may be something I do down the road. Virtual assistants are also very helpful and can help with client communication, etc.

• Plan for emergencies: life happens, and so do issues while you’re on vacation. If you have someone stepping in for you, be sure to train them on your day-to-day tasks. If an emergency occurs, have a plan B in place.

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2.) Be Transparent:

• If you have ongoing projects or communication with clients, let them know about your vacation (and remind them right beforehand) and how much time you will be taking off. I faced this lesson the hard way with outstanding orders that were significantly delayed. I could have prevented clients from becoming upset had I been upfront with them in the first place (and not dealt with this while OOO).

• Notifying your clients and vendors in advance will cause them to be more respectful of your vacation and time off, so don’t leave this step out!

3.) Define your Boundaries:

• If you plan on having technology on hand, have a routine in place defining the times of when you will allow yourself to check your emails and social media.

• I wanted to be able to check these things periodically to ensure there were no fires to put out, but I only allowed myself to do so after lunch and dinner.

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I hope that some of these tips and tricks help you with running your business while out of pocket! Please reach out if you have any questions or feedback in the comment section below, as I love to hear from you.

Want to know what I’m up to on the every day? Follow along on Instagram at @cocozentner_art or on my Pinterest page. I love to post what inspires me, behind the scenes of my painting process, and my pup, Maudie!

Until next time,

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To see more about what inspires CoCo, check-out her Instagram page at @cocozentner_art!

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