“Taking a break is good for business? How?”
A fair question, because when you work for yourself, every drop of spare time is vital to finding new clients to keep your head above water.
Why taking a break is good for business.
The fact is, we all need time off. I recently met up with a copywriter for a coffee and we chatted about taking a break.
Here’s what he said to me:
“Matt, I make sure I take one day off every six weeks. I work solidly, then I take a day for myself.”
Working hard and making money is what we all love, it pays for the food we eat, the roof over our heads and the beach holidays we all look forward to.
However, working yourself into the ground leads to burnout.
Suddenly your brain is stuck, your creativity dries up and you’re struggling to find the enthusiasm to sit at your computer every day.
So, I make sure I have the odd day here and there, just like my writer friend I mentioned earlier.
I don’t do it every week, that would be insane, but giving my brain and body a rest means I work much better as a result.
Why you should take time off.
Taking a day or two off isn’t going to make your business fail. If you’re doing all the right things, a day will not make a difference.
Some people will argue it will, it won’t.
I let my clients know in advance of days off I have coming up and a great client will be more than understanding.
You can set up your social media posts in advance on apps such as:
- Buffer, and
- Hootsuite
So you’re still being seen.
If my business fails due to me taking a day off, I’ll run through Coventry naked, but I won’t need to because it won’t.
It’ll fail because I don’t care enough or because I don’t work hard enough, and I work plenty hard, but one day off does not a failure make.
Don’t feel guilty about taking time off.
So, if you’re ever feeling guilty or you worry about taking a small amount of time off, just tell yourself a day now and again doesn’t matter. As long as you’re doing all the ring things between working on your fab business, a rest day won’t make a difference
And if anybody tells you differently, ignore them, they’re wrong.
They’re probably the kind you see on LinkedIn telling you if you’re not working fifteen hours a day, seven days a week you’re not working hard enough.
In reality, they’re probably absolutely knackered because they’re run themselves into the ground. Before long they’ll fall ill and won’t be able to get out of the bed as their immune system has taken a hammering – thus meaning they can’t work for a week.
Unlike you, who have taken time off to rest and relax.
Nobody likes a martyr who brags about working seven days a week. That way lies overwhelm and shitty work – and most people will probably think you’re a bit of a dick for bragging about your 15-hour days.
Go on, have a day off because remember, taking a break is good for business.
Until next time,
Matthew
PS. Once you’re rested, make sure you use that freshness to work on making your business even better. To find out how, check out my article, How to optimise your blog posts for SEO.
