When in doubt, ask.

Hey there,

I've been struggling since the last newsletter.

Struggling to think what to write about.

To decide what would be most helpful for you to get from me next.

I ended up with the germ of an idea, but that hasn't really helped much.

Until this morning, when I realised what I need to do.

Ask.

I've been thinking about what should follow on from the last 11 newsletters, which I hope have helped you get to the point where you can take a week away from your business without worrying too much. (I'm turning that into an e-book, by the way. Let me know if you'd like a copy to review.)

It eventually struck me (with a lot of help from my friend Bev Costoya), that even if you've sorted much of the day-to-day stuff that keeps you tied to your business, what might still make it hard to actually take a break is the thought of what might go wrong while you're away.

I'm not talking here about the sort of thing that could be solved by breaking into your holiday, annoying as that would be, but the sort of thing that's very unlikely to happen, but would be potentially devastating if it did.

Like a lightning strike taking out your server. Or a volcanic eruption preventing a key team member from getting into work, or a ransomware attack, or a fire, or a flood. Or maybe 3 of your team being sick all at once. Or a very important customer complaining.

At some level, the solution in all of these scenarios is to enable your team to do what you would do if you were there.

Which means that you would need to document what you would do in this scenario, before you go, in the same way as you've already documented how you open up for business or close for business. And the process for doing that on is pretty much the same.

BUT

Rather than make up a scenario, I'd like to use a real one. One you hopefully have never experienced, but which would probably keep you awake at night while you're away. Something that has you in a cold sweat right now, just thinking about it.

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So, here's an offer:

Give me the disaster scenario that haunts your dreams.

Give me some of your time to go through what you would do if it were to happen.

Together we'll put together something that would enable one or more of your team to handle it successfully instead of you.

Then I'll anonymise it and write it up to share in this newsletter.

You get a process you can trust to run without you. I get a real-life example to share step-by step with other business owners like you.

What do you think?

A deal?

Let me know.

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And if that doesn't appeal, how about this:

Just send me a list of the top 3 things you would worry about happening while you are away for a month, and I'll write about them.

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Can't think of any?

When in doubt, ask. What gets your team in a cold sweat, when you talk about taking a break?

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Thanks!

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