Some parts of the world are about to enjoy an extended weekend to celebrate Easter. Time off is important for founders to recharge, and having a solid PTO plan in place is key to truly logging off and coming back invigorated and inspired. Do you have any tips for fellow founders on how to prepare for time off? Share your thoughts in the comments! --- This post was migrated from connect.com and was originally published at an earlier date.
That is a great question, Victor Becerra ! Preparing for time off is super important, as you said, to actually feeling like you are off during your PTO! How you prepare really depends on how large your team is. If you are a solo-preneur then you have fewer people to gain alignment with, in terms of team members, but more responsibility to clients while you are away. The first thing I always do is add a line in bold red text to my signature that states when I am going to be OOO. This encourages any client who has any concerns to voice them to me ahead of time. Next, I look at any projects I am collaborating with my team on and ensure that I have handed everything off to them and synced with them to ensure that they can cover me while I am OOO. After that, I check my meeting schedule and either get my meetings covered or reschedule them with my clients. It is important when doing this to communicate how things will be covered when you are OOO and to provide alternate contacts if your clients won’t be able to get in touch with you. Up next, I look at my sales cycles. I recommend doing this a month before you go OOO so that you can do your best to influence the timing of those cycles. Additionally, I remind myself that it is ok to push a timeline back to accommodate my OOO time. My last vacation I just had ended up very poorly aligned with two massive deals we are working. I ended up having to compromise and work on a proposal while OOO (I was OOO for 8 business days so I felt it necessary to not punt this to when I returned to office but would have it I was only out of office for one work week - boundaries are key) but for the other deal, which as been a long time in the making, I pushed a deliverable out by a couple of weeks so that I can truly turn off. Last, ensure that you have a clear and concise OOO message. Give people alternate contact methods and communicate what to expect. Most people are reasonable if they feel that they are informed and have answers to their pressing questions. Think of your OOO comms like a prompt engineer - what are all of the variables that need to be addressed to get the response you want from your client when you are OOO. Also, turn off mobile notifications for email, Slack, LI, etc. Even HubSpot 
--- This post was migrated from connect.com and was originally published at an earlier date.