Christmas can feel like something of a mixed blessing when you’re running your own business. On the one hand, it presents the opportunity for a well-earned break. But, of course, whenever that opportunity presents itself, there’s always a nagging feeling that it’s one you shouldn’t take. After all, what if your little holiday means you miss out on some new business? Or an urgent client request gets missed?

In reality, it should be possible to enjoy a Christmas break without any problems at all. This guide covers the tips you’ll need to get the balance right between time off and keeping things ticking over.

Take a break

For a lot of businesses, Christmas tends to be a quieter time. Almost everyone takes at least some time off during the festive period. That means there are fewer emails to handle, fewer phone calls to field and generally less to be done.

Take advantage of that quieter period to schedule some time off. You don’t have to cut yourself off completely from your working life but taking a holiday when you can, helps you stay productive in the long term.

If you’ve got employees, you may also want to encourage them to take time off. In fact, some agencies, aware that there’s little work to do over the holiday period, actually shut down between Christmas and New Year.

Don’t feel you have to keep things going full-time just because there’s a chance that a new customer might come your way, or an existing client might have a problem. There are ways to handle those issues even if you’re getting some winter sun on a beach somewhere.

And remember – if a good work/life balance was a big factor for you when you decided to become your own boss, then working full time over Christmas is selling yourself short on one of the things that matters most to you.

Plan as much as possible

Once you’ve committed to taking a break, you need to draw up a plan so you can respond to anything that happens during your absence in a timely manner.

The exact nature of your plan will depend on the nature of your business and the kind of break you’ll be taking. But here are a few things that you’ll need to consider.

Will I need a stand in?

If you’re going to be almost completely out of contact with your business, you may need someone to keep an eye on things for you just in case. Essentially that means having someone you trust available to field phone calls and check emails when you can’t. If you’ve got staff or a business partner, the identity of that stand in will be obvious and you’ll probably have to arrange some sort of reciprocal agreement whereby you cover their break.

If you’re a one-man band, you’re probably going to have to show someone the ropes before you take your break. They won’t need to know how to do your job, but they will need to know how to pass on queries to the right people to make sure things get sorted.

They should also know how to contact you if something that needs your immediate personal attention comes up.

How will I get online if I need to?

If you’re staying at home this won’t be an issue. But if you’re going away, you need to know where your nearest reliable internet connection is. That way, if an issue does arise you won’t have to waste valuable time scrambling around trying to get online so you can address it.

The same goes for your mobile phone – if you think you’re going to need it, make sure you’ll have reception. If you don’t, make sure there’s another way to contact you.

What urgent issues are likely to arise and when?

This one depends on the nature of your clients and the businesses they run. The chances are that any truly urgent requests that come through are going to be from businesses in the retail sector.

After all, Christmas and the sales that follow it are the busiest time of year for that kind of company.

Obviously, you won’t be able to predict what issues will occur, but you should be able to identify clients who may need your attention and put in place a system to better manage things. For major clients you might even want to ensure that they can reach you personally no matter where you are.

You won’t be able to plan for every possibility, but try and address any obvious issues that may arise.

Communicate

Whether you’re closing things down completely for two weeks, or stepping back for a few days over Christmas and the New Year, you need to ensure people understand that you might not respond to them as quickly as usual. Here are the areas you should cover.

Out of office replies

An obvious one, but make sure that any email address that a client or potential client may contact is set up with an appropriate automatic reply. These replies should give the recipient as much useful information as possible.

Include details of the business’s hours of operation over the Christmas period, when things will be back to normal and when they can expect their query to be dealt with.

Update your website

It’s also worth adding a message to your website just to let people know that although they’re welcome to contact you, they might not get a reply until the New Year. You can make it part of a more general festive message if you want to.

Phone lines

If the only phone number related to your business is your mobile, then clearly this won’t be an issue. But if you use more than one phone line, then you’ll probably want to put a plan in place. Especially if one of those numbers relates to a landline in an office that’s going to be empty over Christmas.

Exactly how you handle things depends on the way your business works. For example, if clients are used to contacting employees directly on a work mobile, you may want to have them record a set answer phone message similar to the out of office email replies you’ve set up.

As for unattended landlines, the last thing you want is for them to ring and ring. It is possible to arrange for calls to a landline to be forwarded to a mobile, but it can be expensive. So rather than going for anything fancy, a simple answerphone message might be your best bet here.

Contact high value clients in person

If you’ve got any particularly high value clients you might want to reach out to them in person just to let them know your plans for the Christmas period. You may even want to make sure that they can get in touch with you directly, no matter where you are. They probably won’t need to contact you, but if they do need to, knowing that you’ve taken extra steps to make yourself available to them will help cement that relationship.

Be prepared to pick up the slack

As well as a plan for your break, you also need a plan for how you’re going to handle things once you’re back to work. Although Christmas is traditionally a quieter period, you’re probably still going to receive some client requests and enquiries and anything that you didn’t deal with over Christmas will need to be dealt with as things get back to normal.

As with most things, this will be a question of prioritising the most important issues and dealing with them first. You may also find its best to start picking off tasks before your official return to work – especially if you’ve received more client requests than you were expecting. If possible, try and keep an eye on things during the course of your break so you don’t return to a surprisingly large workload. Just checking your email a couple of times a day can help.

What about you?

What are your experiences of keeping an agency running over the festive period? Do you go for the full shut down or do you keep working as per normal as much as you can? Share your advice in a comment below.