Breaking away

It's the back half of August.  Have you taken your summer vacation?

According to Wikipedia, vacation is a fairly modern invention, and has evolved over the past 200 years.  This makes sense, as it coincides with the rise of a modern industrialized economy.

"In the Puritan culture of early America, taking a break from work for reasons other than weekly observance of the Sabbath, was frowned upon. However, the modern concept of vacation was led by a later religious movement encouraging spiritual retreat and recreation. The notion of breaking from work periodically took root among the middle and working class."

The origins of the word date back to late 14th century France, meaning "freedom from obligations, leisure, release," and is derived from the Latin vacationem "leisure, a being free from duty," and vacare "be empty, free, or at leisure."

The operative word in the history of vacation is being "free."  Did you feel free during your interregnum?  Or were you worried about palace coups or other more mundane business concerns?  I know business owners who rarely take more than a long weekend, and I know others who take weeks off regularly, in addition to other time away from the business, and run successful, growing businesses.




If you are out of the start-up phase and employ a handful or more, your business shouldn't shut down simply because you aren't there.  If it does, that's not a business; it's still a job.

One of the truest facts (as my teenager would say) of small business ownership is that the more an owner works in the business, the less valuable it is.

It's hard to let go.  But it's also hard -- more on others, admittedly -- to be carried out feet first.

How do you build a future that doesn't need your 24/7 attention?  I''ll let someone else do the work: click here.

I'm late for my plane...