5 Tips To Keep Your Business Financially Stable While On Vacay
As a small business owner, it’s long-lived the days of multiple weeks of paid vacation time with zero worries. It’s very important to manage vacation time off with what it may mean financially for your business. No matter if you’re providing a service or product, if you’re a small business owner, managing the financial impact of time off should be an area that you give some careful thought to.
While I was visioning myself poolside with a fruity drink garnished with an umbrella, thoughts of the feasibility of that much time off from my business started popping in. I then quickly reminded myself of all of the systems, processes, and other operational aspects that I’ve established over the years in my business and went right back to my poolside thoughts.
The absolute last thing you want to come between you and much-needed summer vacation is worrying about if your business can take the financial hit!
I want you to enjoy your poolside, fruity umbrella drink visions too, so here are my 5 tips to keep your business financially stable while you’re enjoying your summer vacay!
1. Plan Ahead!
Your quarterly business financial plan should account for times where you won’t be working. This financial plan should structure your revenue in such a way that ensures you have enough cash flow coming in to cover times where you aren’t working.
Planning ahead also allows you to potentially adjust your workload as needed so you can indulge just a bit more while on vacation without stress.
2. Create a vacation spending plan
Having a spending plan inherently forces you to consider exactly what you can afford to put aside for vacation. It gives you some guardrails so you can mitigate your anxiety knowing that as long as you don’t spend more than x, you’re in great shape.
3. Automate Invoice sending & reoccurring payments
Being on vacation shouldn’t prevent you from collecting invoice payments. Your goal is to keep the cash flowing while you’re away. I 100% recommend setting up automated invoice sending and reoccurring payments where possible. I personally use and like QuickBooks for two main reasons. 1. Your cash gets deposited to you quickly, within 1 business day, vs. stripe which can take up to 4 business days. 2. You can set up both reoccurring invoices and reoccurring payments. That way invoices send to your clients automatically and you can charge customers automatically on a reoccurring schedule.
4. Set up business auto bill pay
Setting up auto bill pay ensures all of your invoices get paid on time. As much as you want to get paid on time from your customers, being on vacation isn’t a reason to not pay others on time. Plus, late payments can sometimes come with a hefty fee.
5. Have a business credit card.
Not for the reason you’re likely thinking! I’m not recommending having a business credit card so that you can use it on your personal vacation expenses. I’m recommending you have a business credit card so that you can start accruing points that you can use on your vacation! Think of it as using your accumulated points as your special summer bonus to splurge on yourself with different treats like dinner, clothes, airline upgrades, excursions, gift cards, or whatever your heart desires. The perks of business credit cards are one of my favorite parts.
Those are my tips! Now go enjoy a fruity umbrella drink by the pool without worrying about the financial state of your business! And in the meantime,
