The 5 Reasons You Should Book a Holiday Today By Lisa Conway

All through the pandemic, I never missed a beat, reinventing my business and like most of us pivoting on a dime. Like you I have not had a break in fact I’d say I have worked harder than I have in years.

Covid did a number on us all, some with physical health and others with mental health.

Yes, we closed our salon doors for a period but you and I both know that being forced to shut the door didn’t mean we switched off.

Sitting here in Bali I realise just how different it feels this time. I feel super grateful more so than I ever have. Appreciating all the little things like home-made almond milk, people on motorbikes without helmets and dogs that are free to roam the streets. Freedom to make your own decision is what I love the most about Bali.

I have been gathering intel on salon owning for years now and there is a strong correlation between those who are killing it in business, and they are the holiday takers. Eight weeks is ideal and ten is optimum if you want to avoid burning about as a salon owner. Salon owners who are successful take more time out. It’s not the secret, it’s a fact. The most successful ones know how to holiday.

They learn quickly that sharing the load is a winning strategy. Someone else can and will take the reins, handing over responsibility can be a challenge for most, and we will help you with this what I call Meerkat syndrome. It’s when you stretch your neck to look at what’s going on in every corner of the salon, like a Meerkat does. It sends the wrong message to your team and for most salon owners it can be the real challenge.

Most salon owners are unintentionally casting a shadow over their team. Very difficult for the sun to shine on the team member if you are locking the view. The best place for you the salon owner is to be on a holiday and here are 5 reasons why.

The hustle to get away means you get shit done no fluffing about with the “I’ll do that one day “you just do it. The date itself means you will get busy before you leave and finish all the things you want done before you go. Most of us complete a ridiculous number of tasks before we board a plane, so a deadline is a great motivator.

Your need space to fail, it’s how we learn. If you are there swooping in catching the ball at the wicket stumps you are actually stunting their growth not to mention killing any initiative, they are fostering. Stop doing that and getting out of the way completely is as good a way as any. We learn from our mistakes, so welcome mistakes.

If you are the entrepreneur, you say you are then you are the creative one, ideas person, the visionary. Most entrepreneurs don’t allow enough space to nurture their creative self. Owning a business and supporting a team often means that your creative side dries up. You want to be very careful that your creative juices don’t dry up. Getting caught in the day-to-day weeds of running a business can suck the life out of the creative you. Getting away to refresh yourself to reboot is what is needed. Get up high enough to see a 50,000-foot view of what your business needs is important. Over thinking kills passion. You need an unemotional view and that is impossible if you are too close to the problem. Distancing yourself emotionally, requires you to not hear every little she said, he said.

See what breaks in your absence and see who fixes it. Take your hands off the steering wheel. You can’t do that unless your get completely out of the picture. The team are more than capable to solve the “what breaks”. Maybe nothing breaks! It is what makes them resilient and helps them to grow.

You need to trust the team. It is a foundation piece in your success. I have always said “if you can’t give everyone on your team a key to the front door of the business or you don’t want them to come to your home for a meal with your loved ones, then they are not the right fit, for you”. Do the work, find the right fit, don’t be near enough is good enough because it’s not. End of story. The right people want you to have BOJ (business owner joy) . They champion for you, and they will support you to have a shit load of time out.

For more salon wisdom, email me at lisa@zingcoach.com. au, visit my website, find my video tips on YouTube or read my books, all available in paperback , eBook, and Audio www. thezingproject.com.au