Everyone needs a vacation at some point. But what do you do as an e-commerce business owner? You’re the only employee. A vacation probably feels downright impossible. Well, it’s not. It’ll take some strategic planning, but it can be done. Here’s how.

How to take a vacation as an e-commerce business owner

Hire temporary help

Whether you’ve hired help before or not, there are a few things you can do to simplify this process.

• Outline and document your process. Write out each step as you go through these tasks yourself so that whoever you hire has a fool-proof guideline to work from. This would include customer service tasks, social media, and your shipping process.
• Be sure you save time for training. A time-saving shortcut for training is to follow the see one, do one, teach one method!
• Knock out the major tasks ahead of time. With proper preparation, you can ensure that you’re not leaving some of the heavier tasks for your temporary employee.

Establish systems & processes to create time off

If hiring help isn’t something you can manage; there is still hope. Systems and processes can help you introduce some down time into your day. 

• Automate what you can. You can automate more than you think. And these automations won’t just help you take time off–they’ll help your workload feel more manageable. You can find some tips on how to do this here.
• Update your customer-facing informaiton. Remember, your customers are human-beings. And sometimes simply reminding them that you, too, are human can make a huge difference. Be upfront and tell them what to expect. Update the information to reflect the following:
  • How long you’ll be out
  • How it’ll affect their orders and interactions with the business
  • What they should do now. 

A vacation is possible.

Remember, it is possible to keep orders coming in even if they don’t ship out for a week or two. As long as you keep the information front and center about what your customers can expect, you can step away for a vacation.

Want to take your e-commerce experience to the next level? We’re Arya Creative, and we are e-commerce creators who happen to be Shopify Experts. Get in touch to rock your e-commerce business.