Victoria Wilkinson from First Class Accounts<\/a>, about how to take leave and keep the bottom line healthy.<\/p>\nThe Pulse:\u00a0Before we jet off, could you tell us a bit about yourself<\/strong><\/p>\nVictoria:<\/strong>\u00a0I\u2019d worked in accounting roles in the finance sector for years and was sick of the 9-5 routine so decided to start my own bookkeeping business in 2004. I now have three part-time staff, a great core clientele, and around 60 other clients I work with in a consulting capacity when they need help on specific projects.<\/p>\nThe Pulse:\u00a0When was your last holiday and where did you go?<\/strong><\/p>\nVictoria:<\/strong>\u00a0In May, I went to Tanzania in Africa for six weeks. We did an epic safari in the Serengeti and visited Kilimanjaro\u2026 I\u2019ll be climbing it next time!<\/p>\nThe Pulse:\u00a0Did you feel anxious about leaving?<\/strong><\/p>\nVictoria:\u00a0<\/strong>Yes. I\u2019ve done lots of other shorter trips but this six-week holiday made me nervous because it meant I\u2019d be away during a BAS period \u2014 a notoriously busy time for the business.<\/p>\nThe Pulse:\u00a0What did you do to prepare?<\/strong><\/p>\nVictoria:<\/strong>\u00a0First up, I told clients about my holiday plans well in advance and set up systems to make sure they would be looked after during my absence. I helped set them up on free communications tools like What\u2019s App, Viber, and Skype so they could touch base for anything urgent. I organised my staff to cover at least four days per week, briefed them thoroughly about client accounts and set up a special inbox that all staff could access to respond to clients. I also used a cool program called\u00a0Icecream Screen Recorder\u00a0to make some training videos that showed staff and clients how to access things like cash flow, P&L, and Payroll reports in their cloud accounting software packages.<\/p>\nThe Pulse:\u00a0Did preparing so much mean you could switch off during your vacation?<\/strong><\/p>\nVictoria:\u00a0<\/strong>It made me feel comfortable that things would run smoothly when I was away. However, I did check in every two to three days when I was in away. Tanzania is seven hours behind, so I\u2019d get up at 6 am and be able to do a couple of hours work when my clients were online back home.<\/p>\nThe Pulse:\u00a0That doesn\u2019t really sound like a holiday. Why were you working?<\/strong><\/p>\nVictoria:<\/strong>\u00a0To be honest, I felt better about being away when I had the ability to login and check everything was okay. Knowing I could keep up-to-date took away the stress of thinking about the time I\u2019d have to spend catching up when I got home. \nI don\u2019t think I can ever fully switch off, but I can manage my time to make sure work doesn\u2019t ruin my holiday by setting strict rules. For example, I will only check in every two or three days and work for a limited number of hours. I will be very clear with clients about my schedule and what I can achieve for them within it.<\/p>\nThe Pulse:\u00a0Do you think it\u2019s damaging for business owners not being able to totally clock off?<\/strong><\/p>\nVictoria:<\/strong> I think it all comes down to your personality. For me, I would stress more if I wasn\u2019t checking in on my business on holiday. At the end of the day, business owners need to be realistic and find a solution that allows them to holiday in a way that\u2019s restorative to them \u2013 the key is planning.<\/p>\nThe Pulse:\u00a0Have your holidays had a good impact on your business?<\/strong><\/p>\nVictoria:\u00a0<\/strong>They\u2019ve given me the headspace to look at ways I can make my business more efficient. I realised that sometimes I enable my clients to contact me all the time and this wastes a lot of time. So, going on holidays has inspired me to help train and empower them to do many everyday bookkeeping tasks themselves. And finally, I always come back refreshed and happy, and that means I\u2019m at my best for my staff and clients.<\/p>\nThe Pulse:\u00a0Has anything ever gone pear-shaped while you were away?<\/strong><\/p>\nVictoria:<\/strong>\u00a0Luckily, no. The most urgent thing I had to do was prepare some financials quickly for a client who was applying for a business loan. It was a simple enough task and everything went through fine.<\/p>\nThis feature was originally published on MYOB’s blog here:\u00a0https:\/\/www.myob.com\/au\/blog\/stress-free-holidays\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Many people will take a break for Christmas and New Year \u2013 but not many of those will be…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":229,"featured_media":6159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Small business tips for stress free holidays - First Class Accounts<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n