Running your own business, a week off can feel like a week of catching up waiting on the other side. It doesn’t have to. Most of what makes a break hard to take can be settled in the two weeks before you go.
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Choosing dates and saving for the trip are covered in Plan Time Off Before Work Fills the Calendar. This guide covers the business side.
Two weeks before: tell clients
Let active clients know your dates, what will be finished before you leave and when you’ll be back. Ask now whether anything they need falls in that week. A question two weeks out is a scheduling conversation. The same question the day before is a problem.
Decide on response expectations
Choose one of three options and state it clearly: you won’t check messages at all; you’ll check once at a set time for urgent issues only; or someone else is covering. Then define urgent. For a digital-product business, that might be “a buyer can’t access a purchase.” For a service business, it might be a deadline a client set before you announced the dates.
Schedule what goes out while you’re gone
Schedule posts, pins and your newsletter in advance, or decide to pause them. Pausing is a reasonable choice. If you pause, tell your readers before you go rather than going quiet without notice.
Check that delivery works without you
If you sell digital downloads, confirm that checkout, delivery emails and download links work using your platform’s test or preview flow. Check that your support email address appears in the delivery message. Test your digital download before someone buys it has the full checklist.
Arrange essential coverage
Note anything that renews, bills or expires during the week, and handle it before you leave. If someone is covering, give them a short brief: what they handle, what they don’t, and when to contact you. Grant access through each platform’s own permission settings rather than sharing passwords.
Set an out-of-office message
Keep it short and specific. Here’s a template to adapt:
Thank you for your message. I’m away from [start date] to [end date] and not checking email regularly. I’ll reply by [response date]. If you’ve purchased a download and can’t access it, reply with “Access” in the subject line and I’ll respond within [response time]. For anything else urgent, contact [name and email, if someone is covering].
Only promise a response time you can keep while away. If you won’t check at all, leave out the urgent line.
Write your return-to-work list
On your last workday, write down where each project stands and the first three things to do when you’re back. Block your first morning for catching up, and avoid booking calls on it. That small list is often what lets you stop thinking about work once you leave.
Your time-away checklist
- Clients told, two weeks ahead
- Response expectation and definition of urgent decided
- Content scheduled or a pause announced
- Checkout and delivery tested
- Renewals and coverage handled
- Out-of-office message set
- Return list written and first morning blocked
Heading out? The Leaving-Home Checklist covers the house.
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