Is a Family Holiday in your Business Plan?

29 June

Here are some of the things I have been hearing business owners say (me included).

I can’t believe where the year has gone!
I feel burnt out after the last two and a half years!

To me this screams out that you need a holiday, and that you need to take your family with you. I know that is what I need to be doing. If we as business owners don’t start planning for this holiday then guess what you will be saying in 12 months time? Bingo! (I hope you realised Bingo meant I was referring to the two statements above, not that I was playing bingo as well as writing this!!)

The Pinnacle Observation Shelter and Boardwalk on Mount Wellington, Hobart Tasmania, Australia.

The one great thing about the end of the financial year is that it gives us all a fresh starting point. For a lot of small business owners that starting point involves a business plan of what it is they are wanting to achieve over the next 12 months. The one thing that should be on the top of that list is to take a holiday with the family. Some of us have been taking regular breaks, some of us haven’t had a real break in nearly two years.

I was given a book for my birthday – Australia’s Ultimate Bucket List -The top 100 places you should see in your lifetime. It is a great book to look through to decide your next holiday destination. We have looked through the book and have chosen on Cradle Mountain in Tasmania as well as other areas of Tasmania. We love the wilderness so this is a perfect for us. Here is the link for the book mentioned above.

This goes right to the top of my Business Plan. Part of owning your own business is to be able to do the things you want to do. The best way to make these things happen, as I have mentioned before, is to add personal goals to your business plan. I have done this and I am now building the rest of the plan around this major goal of a family holiday.

One of the major reasons I went into business for myself was to spend more time with my wife and kids. My youngest son is finishing Year 12 this year. We are fast approaching the point where the kids (3 for us) will not be living with us for much longer. Fifteen years ago when I started my business I thought I had plenty of time to do things with my family. I have, but time is running out. Pretty soon they will have their own families and will be doing there own things. Every one will tell you the same thing – blink and they go from nappies to driving their car out the drive way to live their own lives.

That is why the family holiday is at the top of my business plan. It is the most important reason this year for my business to be successful.