One of the advantages of working for yourself is that you are your company, so you can set your own schedule and holiday when you want. Holidays are important, as they often allow you time to de-stress and decompress, so you can return to work feeling refreshed.
For small-business owners, however, the reality is that if you want to truly relax while you’re away – you need to do the necessary preparation to ensure that everything can run successfully in your absence. Having an online presence, particularly in the form of a store, makes that much more achievable.
So, if you’re considering taking a holiday but want to try and keep your online business running, or are thinking of turning your physical store into an online offering, here are four tips to help keep your online store fully functional so you can enjoy a well-deserved break.
Inform your suppliers
Informing your suppliers that you will be on holiday, and having anticipated inventory in place to ensure you fulfil orders, is critical to your business running smoothly during your time off. The last thing you want is to miss out on sales due to not having the necessary stock in place, so have those conversations with your suppliers ahead of time to mitigate those risks.
Update your online content
It is vital to try and keep your website and social-media content up to date while you aren’t constantly tending to it. Try scheduling fresh content for your website and social media accounts while you’re away, either through an automated program or passing the task to a trusted friend or colleague. Put together a detailed timeline of what content will be posted while you are away, highlighting anything that still needs to be produced or screened and the most appropriate time for each post.
Keep your online store protected
When you’re in a different time zone, it’s likely you want to know your website is protected when you’re asleep and every moment in between. Consider investing in website security that performs automatic backups and regular 24/7 scanning, so you can rest assured your online store and customers will be protected even while you’re away.
Be sure you can access everything you might need 24/7
Even though you’re on holiday, the reality of running a small business is that you’re likely going to have to take a bit of work away with you. Uploading important documents like stockist contact details, supplier information or purchase orders to a cloud server helps to ensure they are never far away if something needs to be addressed urgently while you’re on holidays.
Consider also your website host. What if something happens to your website while you’re away? Website hosts such as GoDaddy offer 24/7 customer service so you can be sure you have someone to contact to help you solve the issue quickly, no matter the timezone. Making sure that the provider hosting your website is easily accessible, and marking down their support phone numbers in advance, can help your peace of mind during your holiday.
Managing a small business can be all-consuming, but an online store can stay active 24/7, helping your venture thrive even when you’re away. So sit back, relax and enjoy your holiday.
Tara Commerford, Vice President and Managing Director Australia & New Zealand, GoDaddy
