How To Successfully Take Time Off When You Own a Bookkeeping or Accounting Practice
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When was the last time you were able to take time off from your bookkeeping or accounting practice?
Whether you are a solopreneur or the head of a team, it can be difficult to take time off without stressing. Trust me, I have been that bookkeeper working 10 hour days, missing family events, and experiencing major burn out! I’ve also been that bookkeeper who goes on vacation during the last week of tax season. I’ve also been the CEO who took three consecutive weeks off in June of 2021, just to recharge and focus on personal growth.
The difference between the two? Burnt-out, overwhelmed Alyssa was working solo, with no systems in place. Vacation Alyssa had a team, efficient systems, and put the time into preparing for possible scenarios.
I’ll tell you right now, Vacation Alyssa is my favorite! I highly recommend following the steps I’ve outlined below in order to successfully take time off from your practice as needed.
If you don’t have a team yet, you can still gain SO much from implementing these steps so that when you are able to delegate your work, the process is super smooth!
Prepare Your Workflows
This should come as no surprise that I’m going to recommend you have workflows in place for everything that needs to be done when you take time off.
Go through your tasks. Is there a workflow for all of them? If not, it’s time to go into creation mode!
When I took over three weeks off in June 2021, I spent a little more than nine hours preparing my workflows and briefing my team. That time investment was more than worth it so that I didn’t have to think about work once I started my vacation!
Are you stuck on where to start when it comes to developing workflows for your practice? My program, Workflows in a Weekend for Bookkeepers & Accountants, is the PERFECT place to start if you want to take the DIY approach. If you prefer a more done-for-you style and want to snag my exact Asana workflow templates, check out Kickoff with Asana for Bookkeepers & Accountants!
Prepare Your Team
The next step when you want to take time off is to prepare your team for any possible scenario.
You’ll want to create a vacation structure that outlines exactly what you do every day, and who will be doing these tasks instead. I create a project in Asana any time I take time off, which is a super easy way to outline and delegate my tasks. This is also where time tracking comes in handy! If you haven’t started tracking time in your practice, I highly recommend you start.
Tracking Your Time
Here’s how my team and I track our time every single day:
Use the Clockify Chrome Extension
Start the timer at the beginning of each task we perform
End the timer at the end of each task we perform
Add details of what was accomplished in the description
Assign the task to a project in Clockify
At the end of the week, analyze where we can improve in efficiency
If you are not yet familiar with Clockify, check out my blog about it here!
Before you take time off, track your time for two weeks. This will give you a good idea of how much time you are truly spending on each of your tasks and where you can improve. My entire team does this every day and it has helped us decide when to hire someone and exactly which tasks they will take over after onboarding!
You may be wondering why you need to track time when you have all of your tasks in Asana. I’ll tell you from experience that Asana is great for managing your tasks, but it does NOT contain everything you as a practice owner actually need to perform in a day. There are nuances that Asana can’t capture, but tracking your time (and adding detail to each task) will absolutely bring those to light so you can ensure that nothing is missed.
Determine Who’s in Charge
Once you have an outline of which tasks need to be delegated to your team, it’s time to assign those tasks and pass on any necessary information.
This is a great opportunity to create SOPs (aka Standard Operating Procedures) using Loom or writing out detailed instructions for your team members (sometimes we do both!) so that there is no confusion while you are away. Here is another chance to childproof your workflows in order to ensure that your team will produce work that lives up to your expectations.
If your team has more than one member, make sure you name someone as your proxy. This person would be the one to make any decisions or answer questions that may come up when you take time off.
Set Boundaries
Now it’s time to prepare yourself to take time off! This part is essential if you want to maximize the benefits of taking time off from your practice. You would never be able to actually enjoy yourself if you were constantly thinking about work or getting Slack messages on your phone.
Here are some boundaries I recommend you set for yourself:
Delete all work-related apps from your phone
Turn off notifications (work-related)
Give your proxy one way to contact you
Do not check in on your practice during your time away
In Case of Emergency
One boundary you will have to establish (and hopefully not use) is what to do in case of emergency. When you choose who will be in charge while you are away, let that person know how they can reach you. I do recommend that you create a list of stipulations outlining exactly what is considered an emergency. Try to make it as black and white as possible if you truly want to unplug while you are away.
Enjoy Yourself
Ahhhh you finally made it to the best part! Now that you have efficient workflows in place, delegated to your team, and set boundaries, it’s time to relax. One of the greatest joys I’ve found in owning my own business is to have the freedom to step away at any given time.
I want to quickly note here that while you certainly deserve to take time off in order to relax, these methods are essential in the event that you need to take time off for emergency situations. When life happens, you will be SO glad to have these systems in place so that your practice does not suffer if you or one of your team members is unable to execute their work!
So, what do you do when you need to take time off? Pop into my FREE Facebook community, Conquering Workflows & Systems for Bookkeepers and Accountants, and let me know!
If you are ready to take time off... join Kickoff with Asana for Bookkeepers & Accountants! Snag my done-for-you templates and scale alongside my community of 600+ industry professionals who are committed to efficiency in their practice!
