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I don’t know about you guys, but I know that when friends are chatting around a barbeque the one subject that always seems to come up is holidays… whether they’ve taken a holiday recently or which trips they would like to plan.
Now as business owners, we can feel reluctant to take regular holidays… especially in the beginning when you often believe you’re too busy to take a break or your cash flow situation just won’t allow for ‘treats’.
But have you ever considered that the holiday you perceive as a luxury indulgence could actually be one of the best investments you could ever make in your Veterinary business?
You see, when you are very busy working in your business, you can become so bogged down with details and concerns about making sure you deliver everything your clients are expecting of you, that your own well-being and business goals actually become… well, a little bit lost!
But, in order to grow your business, you need to invest ‘thinking time’… as well as ‘doing time’.
You must make regular time to take a large step back… clear your mind of the day-to-day details and figure out whether you are still on the right path towards your ultimate lifestyle business… and inspire growth.
Often you’ll find that the further you step away, the more creative you can become in your vision… all sorts of wonderful ideas and plans suddenly pop into your head from nowhere!
This is the amazing universe at play again… if you’re too busy ‘doing’ then you’re not likely to be receptive to the opportunities the universe presents… but once you clear your mind, you free up space to allow yourself to receive these gifts.
Jen and I regularly take time away where we can brainstorm ideas with no outside interruptions… we schedule small chunks of time every week and plan regular, longer periods where we can reconnect with our business goals.
No phones ringing… no email… just us focusing on our lifestyle plan… it’s great!
Today I invite you to look at your schedule for the rest of this year and block out regular time that you will spend entirely on planning and thinking.
An hour per day for 3 or 4 days of the week… don’t forget your lifestyle dates too… time, when you go off alone and do something you enjoy that, will help you get clarity.
An overnight stay or weekend trip with your partner once per month… quality time spent together where you forget about the day-to-day business for a couple of days and enjoy each other’s company.
A week or fortnight break with the family… if you can take a week or fortnight out of the business, this is when you will see the biggest opportunities as you will be granting them space to flow into your mind.
It can often take several days to completely unwind and forget about work distractions. Sometimes holidays are so short that by the time you’ve unwound, you’re already back at work, so try to include at least one longer break for you to truly feel distanced
On graduation I purchased a Veterinary clinic in Maitland, NSW and sold it in July 2009. At the time of purchase, it was a run down one person clinic with about a 90% mixed and 10% small animal component. The business grew well, so that at one stage there were 4 branches and 8 Veterinarians. At the time of sale there were 5 Veterinarians, 16 support staff functioning out of a purpose built ‘A’ class Hospital with one branch. In 2004 the practice won the Pfizer/AVA Practice of Excellence Award as well as coming 3rd in the Fujitsu Customer Service Awards. At this stage (and even slightly before), I started co-presenting at trainings and workshops and in 2007 I started developing and hosting my own workshops. In July 2009 I sold my practice so as to be able to concentrate fully on my coaching, training, speaking and workshop business – and to be able to move to Exeter (NSW) to be with my partner. I missed clinical practice, so in May 2018 I purchased a veterinary practice with the aim of building it up by providing a highly customer service friendly veterinary practice alternative to the local community. In 12m...
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