Hello Okay, last summer I had one main client -- and I simply told them about three weeks ahead of time that I was going to take a week off and everything was cool. I got the work done ahead of time so I got paid for the work and didn't miss a check. This year however I have like a dozen clients. I'm trying to figure out how to navigate taking a vacation -- and the impending pile-up of work that some of them (not all of them) could wind up handing me because I want to be unavailable for the week. Don't get me wrong...I really like being needed! lol Any thoughts and advice on how to take a summer vacation? How much notice should I give clients? Should I give the "regulars" more notice than others -- to try to prepare for their work? Do those that occasionally give me work get less of a lead time? I welcome any thoughts -- I really want to handle this well...and I REALLY want to take a week off this summer! lol Abby
Maybe it's just me, but giving clients notice sounds too employee-ish. Plus, it's just a week. Unless you have short turnaround times, your clients might not even miss you. When clients start placing orders, schedule your deadlines so they fall before or after your vacation. Deadlines that fall after the vacation, let those clients know the reason you're taking longer than usual. Deadlines that are before the vacation, let those clients know you'll be on vacation and will take their next order when you return. As a courtesy, I might send an email to other clients a day or two before my vacation started letting them know I'd take their orders when I returned. Finally, make sure you set your out of office response to let people know you're on vacation and will respond to their message when you return.
I've been thinking about the same issue recently. I'll be taking my first "real" vacation in years this Fall or Winter (meaning not even checking in on email for work - nothing if I can help it), b/c I'll be going to England for a week or two. Yay! My plan, as of now (given that it's a pretty mild time of the year for me compared to the Summer) is to give them 3-4 weeks notice if possible, and simply work my ass off for those few weeks. I figure that gives them time to know if they'll need extra content while I'm away and get the assignments to me to have them done early. For most of my work, that'll be fine. I think it depends on the type of writing though. For example, people I do press releases for won't always know weeks in advance that they'll need one, so they'll be out of luck when I'm gone (if they're not on a regular schedule with me, they won't get notice), or I'll have a referral set up to someone I trust in my auto-responder - not sure yet. But for basic content writing, a few weeks should be perfectly adequate I'd think. Worst case is what? They can't tell you you can't take off. But I wouldn't spring it suddenly if you have a standing regular deadline.
Hi Jenn, Oh you make a lot of sense! Let me look at my deadlines and figure this out.....I won't get into all of it here...but I do have one that gives me work every week. Some are regular monthly deadlines -- but the date moves around all the time. I think I'll put it all out on paper and see if I can figure this out. You are very wise about all of this. England sounds really cool. We have friends that went last year and just LOVED it. I think your plan for vacation and covering the work makes a lot of sense. I want to take the last week of June off -- the one that matches up nicely with the fourth of July. Just be with family and stuff, nothing too fancy. But a week off sounds pretty darned good about now! Abby
lol Nah, have a friend in England that relocated from here a few years back, and a good friend / colleague I've dealt with only virtually that I'll be heading to London to meet finally (so two built-in tour guides - can't beat that). If I go one week, I'll just do England. If I go for two, I may stay there (week in London and week seeing the countryside), or might do a week there and a week in France. Nothing's set in stone yet... just decided I've earned a real vacation finally, looking into the best times, and trying to figure out things on the client front early before I make actual arrangements. Out of curiosity, why Ireland?
Because there are two great lands outside of the US to visit in all the world. One is Ireland, the other Italy. Everything else is 2nd best. I'm just messing with ya though. There's no way I could go to Europe for one week. That's way too much traveling.
lol Yeah well, it's on my short list of places to consider moving to in about a year to a year and a half, so I want to take at least a few trips out there... and figure I'd better get started. lol I wish I could spend more time than that at once, but then it would end up as a long working trip. What time I do get there, I want devoted entirely to the traveling. I've toyed with the idea of traveling for a year or so and "working from the road" (would be a nice perk of choosing to work virtually), but I don't know if I could handle having my attention torn between work and exploring the places I'd like to see for a long period of time.
Traveling for a year while writing from the road can work, but like you said, ripping your attention from the experience would be hard. I'd end up not working at all unless the writing was based on my experiences.