For many SME business owners, and especially sole traders who are the business and sell their time, taking time out of a small business and having a holiday can be more stressful than not having a holiday at all. Even the thought of it can cause a business owner to break out in a cold sweat and set the pulse racing - I know, I've been there!

Here are some top tips to help get you to that well-earned break - which was, after all, one of the main reasons you started your business up in the first place! Rarely will everything be ideal, but there are some things you can do to make it happen and make it happen more smoothly than it might otherwise.

1. Bite the bullet and go for it! The world will NOT end!
Decide you ARE going to take a holiday and just get started! Sometimes it's as simple as that. If you wait until your business is perfectly systemised to run without you, you'll likely be retired before that happens - so be realistic and be kind to yourself!

The world will NOT end if you aren't there - really, it won't! I've taken holidays when I was the only person in my business and thought my business would collapse, and have known many sole traders to take holidays thinking the same, but our worlds and businesses are still turning! In many cases (mine included), the businesses are actually turning better.

2. Be realistic - but set boundaries.
If you are a sole trader and sell your time, or you are the business, then you are unlikely to be able to take a complete break where you don't have to check emails or voicemail and make the odd phone call. That's often just the way it is. Accept it. That alone can make you relax a bit.

But make sure you set some boundaries around it - accept you will check your email/voicemail ONCE per day - and ONLY once! Then stick to that. What about my clients, I hear? (in a slightly panicking tone?!?) See Setting Expectations below...

3. PLAN IT!
Without planning, it will likely be a disaster - this rule applies to most things, not just taking a holiday. Remember the 7-Ps: Prior Preparation and Planning Prevents Poor Performance and Panic. Some key things to consider:

a. Plan the time you take your break to fit in with your least busiest time
Understand there will rarely be the perfect time, so bite the bullet and work out the best option - otherwise you'll never get time off! For example, if you are a bookkeeper, the month before the end of the financial year may not be the best option! Identify a time in your client/business cycle that involves the least involvement from you.

b. Plan what you can delegate. Plan what you can systemise. This is why businesses often end up working better after the owner goes away, as if forces you to look at and work ON the business to make it work better.

The make sure you DO delegate it or systemise it! Talk won't work. Ask your staff what they can do, how they can help. Ask for their help. You'd be surprised how powerful that can be...amazed, in fact! But that's another article...

c. This may not be an option for all, due to logistics and/or cost, but think seriously before you dismiss it. Can you find a partner/s who can work on things while you are away? Can you do a deal to look after someone else's clients while they are away so someone will look after yours while you are away? Obviously this involves a great deal of trust and isn't an option for everyone - but you'd be surprised how often it IS an option when you think about it. Or can you get a contractor in temporarily?

d. Plan way ahead of the game - think about the clients you take on. Will that client allow you to take 3 weeks off in the future? If not, do you even want to take them on as a client in the first place?

4. Set expectations
The world will NOT end! Trust me, it won't! I have been scared, and you may be scared your clients can't manage without you - and they may tell you that... But they will manage! Mine managed while I was away, so will yours.

The important thing is to tell them you are going to be away, for how long, and that you will be there for emergencies... BUT, set the expectation of when and how often you'll get back to them, remind them it is only for emergencies.

How many times have people left voicemails and when they've been called back the next day, they say "ah, it's ok now; I've sorted it out, thanks".
Setting expectations is the key. The number of times I put my out-of-office on for a day or two when I'm away training or coaching, and all those normally urgent emails I feel compelled to answer so quickly suddenly can wait for 2 days - purely because I've set that expectation.

5. Educate your clients
Think about how you can teach them to fish. I do that when coaching clients as a matter of course, and it is very powerful.

Using the bookkeeper example again - if you have a client with a weekly payroll, can you teach them how to do just enough to get through it while you are away? Make it clear that you will fix things up when you get back if they make mistakes, and not to worry too much!

6. Butt out!
Back off! Let go! Butt out! Resist the temptation to stick your fingers in!

If you say you are only going to check emails/voicemails at certain times or a certain number of times a day/week, do it! If you start emailing and calling clients/staff regularly, they will expect you to be available all the time and you end up not having a break at all.

And if you have delegated to a staff member/trusted person, let them do what was agreed. Don't be like a builder friend of mine who delegated responsibility to a trusted person, then wakes up at 1am the day after his hip operation to email a client direct! If you need to communicate to the client, and you have set the expectation they will be dealing with a trusted person, go through that trusted person! If you have to talk to the client direct, do it at the agreed time, not showing them you're available 24/7 - they will expect you to be available then. Stick to the boundaries.

7. Enjoy your holiday!
Don't forget to enjoy yourself! Make a conscious effort to enjoy your time. It is hard to let go, but if you keep hanging on, you just get tired arms!

Then you will likely drop off the perch when the safety net is away being serviced, as opposed to letting go when you choose to... and the landing - although it may still be hard - will be a lot softer than it might be otherwise!

Simon Smith founded & runs Southern Cross Coaching & Development Pty Ltd ( http://www.southerncrosscoaching.com.au ).

Simon is a sought after business coach, personally coaching & consulting to businesses from start-ups to $1/3billion turnover.

Southern Cross Coaching & Development has a team of 20+ qualified coaches & trainers and is one of the very few organizations that offers a 100% money-back guarantee^ around their coaching & training. And we have never had to refund any money since we started in business in 2006.

Southern Cross Coaching & Development ( http://www.southerncrosscoaching.com.au ) can look after most of your Executive Coaching & Training, Emotional Intelligence Coaching & Training, Business Coaching & Sales Training and Career Coaching & Training needs.

We have a unique, proven Coaching Matching Matrix to match coaches to coachees - and we have never got a coach match wrong since we started business in 2006.

Southern Cross Coaching & Development has been coaching in Public & Private Sector organisations and SMEs since 2006, so has in-depth experience of organisational coaching (Career Coaching, Executive/Leadership Coaching, Emotional Intelligence Coaching, Resilience Coaching, Business Coaching, etc). And prior to that, the Founder, Simon Smith, was Business Development Manager for a national coaching organisation.

^ The only conditions are: providing participants attend voluntarily, our invoice is paid on time, & in-depth feedback is given if the guarantee is invoked as to what we could do better next time.