How to Prepare for Two Weeks Away
We leave for Europe in 6 days which seems so crazy because we have been talking about this trip for at least a year and a half, and it is now happening! I am so excited to be able to take this 16 day trip, but that also means I will be away from Ivy + Linen Design Co. for 16 days. So, lots of planning went into making sure my business can run without me and that I am still "showing up" while we are driving the coastline of Ireland, hiking the mountains of Switzerland, and enjoying all of the food and wine Italy has to offer. Since I know planning to be away is a big undertaking for entrepreneurs, I'm sharing about everything I have done to try to make my two weeks away as smooth as possible and how you can do the same!
1 | Marketing
First things first, Instagram is fully scheduled out for the 16 days I'll be gone! I may drop in a few spontaneous pictures here and there and all my stories will be real time, but the feed posts are set and ready to go. I typically plan out Instagram for a week at a time, but I did not want to have to spend time on our trip thinking about what pictures to post and planning out how it all will look. Instagram is one of my major marketing tools and thankfully can be planned ahead of time so I can still keep showing up while we are away with just a few clicks every day.
One of my other major marketing tools is Pinterest, and it is scheduled out through mid July! And even better about this one is that I don't have to actually do anything to make the posts show up - they are fully automatic. You may remember several weeks ago that I talked about spending all day creating graphics and posts for Pinterest, and that is so I don't have to do any of that while we are gone, and better yet, for months at a time. So worth it to batch that work!
2 | Blog Posts
I post on my blog every other week so that means that a post will go up while I'm gone, which also means it needs to be written before we leave or otherwise I'm finding a coffee shop along the way to sit down and write to all of you lovely people! As delightful as that sounds, I'd rather have the post and email ready to go so that it all happens without me doing anything. Automation really is amazing and I'm thankful for all of the tools that make it possible!
3 | Client Work and The Shop
I also had to plan my client work around our trip - all current clients know when I will be gone and I informed all new and potential clients of the days when I will be unavailable. The last thing you want to do on your vacation is scramble around to find time to work on client projects because you weren't up front about your timeline. The best part about being an entrepreneur is that I make the rules, so I am able to control when I do the work that comes in!
As for the shop, the shop will remain open, but I am placing a headline on my website that all orders will ship when I return. To make up for the delay and to serve my customers well, I am offering a discount code for any shop orders placed while I am gone. It's the little things that can make a difference!
4 | Resources
All of this would be made a lot more difficult if it wasn't for all of the programs I use to schedule and automate my processes. To make it easy I've listed out some of my essential programs I use to see if they can work for you! And of course if you have any questions you can reach out!
Dubsado - my client relationship management tool I use on a daily basis! It helps me stay organized and craft a wonderful client experience. Use this link to get 20% off your first month or year!
Flodesk - I use Flodesk for all of my email marketing! It is super user friendly and has lots of great templates and tools to stay top of mind with your audience. Get 50% off your subscription with this link!
Plann - My amazing Instagram planning tool that keeps my grid looking great and allows me to not have to think about my posts every single day! Get a credit towards your subscription with this link!
I'm so excited about our 16 days exploring other countries and am so thankful for the opportunity to do this! It took lots of planning to be ready to leave Ivy + Linen Design Co. behind for a couple of weeks, but it was so worth it!
*note this post contains affiliate links that may generate a small amount of income for Ivy + Linen Design Co., but at no extra cost to you of course!
