Inside Small Business | Small Business & Home Business Marketing

10 Things to Do Before You Leave for the Holidays

Small Business Success

If you plan to take more than just Christmas and New Year’s off this year, make sure you’re prepared. Here are 10 things you should do before you close for the Holidays.1. Plan ahead - Taking some time for yourself can be a far less stressful proposition if you’re realistic about the best time to go. Consider previous summers and choose a time when you expect the business to be quiet. Taking off at the beginning or at a crucial point in a project can end up causing you more stress than not.

2. Delegate - Select a trusted member of staff or a colleague to take the reins while you’re away and empower them to make decisions in certain areas during your absence.

3. Clear your desk before you go - Try not to leave things hanging while you’re away. Sorting out last minute details and making sure you have a clear desk to come back to can take a weight off your shoulders. Perhaps appoint someone to open your mail and see to important emails while you’re away. If your papers are in order, your staff or trusted colleague will also easily be able to find what they need to answer queries in your absence.

4. Set up your Outlook - You can use Outlook’s Out of Office Assistant to let people know that you’re away and tell them who they can speak to in your absence, or else provide contact details if they need to get hold of you.

5. Change your voicemail - If you don’t have anyone to hold the fort, make sure that you change your office voicemail so that clients know how to get hold of you in an emergency. But take care of how you phrase your message - you don’t want to end up inviting unwelcome guests to come and visit!

6. Turn on your International Roaming - Make sure you are able to receive calls while you’re away. If this isn’t an automatic feature on your mobile contract, call your network provider a few days before you go and have them set it up.

7. Set up your mobile voicemail - Have you ever been abroad and found you’re unable to pick up your voicemail? It’s a good idea to call your network provider before you leave to arrange to pick up your voicemail while away. You may for example need to set a new security code to pick up your messages.

8. Planning to take your laptop with you? - If you have an important job on the go and don’t want to be cut off from the office, take your laptop along with you. Solutions like Windows XP’s Remote Desktop lets you connect to your office computer while away, giving you access to those important documents. However, do make sure that theft of your laptop is covered by your insurance.

9. Otherwise check your mail at an Internet café - If you’ve decided to walk on the wild side and leave your laptop at home, most popular holiday destinations have Internet cafes where you can respond to mail if need be. You’ll need to set up a Web-based email account if you don’t already have one and have your messages forwarded to that account.

10. Give yourself a break - Above all, once you manage to get away from it all, remember that you’re on holiday. This is an invaluable time to clear your head, get away from the day-to-day grind, and strategize for the future.

Article courtesy of SmallBusinessSuccess

           

Posted on Thursday, November 15th, 2007 at 11:38 am and is filed under Leadership, Small Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.