How To Go On Vacation When You Have A Farm Business

We have vacations in the summer and the Christmas season is not far down the road from that. So how can you get ready for taking time off when you have a rabbitry you are trying to run and manage?

With a little preparation, you can have a much more relaxing time.

Let me tell you a quick story.

My poor husband will probably get sick of me saying this bbbbuuuuttttt……….

In the summer of 2019, my husband decided after a lot of flipping back and forth that he wanted to go on vacation with his family. Which was fine.

But do you know how many days notice I had???

Ten!

ONLY 10 days notice to be ready to go on vacation. not to mention I had 3 FIRST time momma rabbits due just a few days after we left. Yep… I was just a touch cranky about that but I did my best to get the rabbitry ready for my sister to come and handlings as best as I could.

Lets just say I won’t be leaving on such short notice again.

Your rabbitry is a business and then you have a business that needs your attention. You can’t just pack up and go. There are also other aspects to your rabbitry that you have to prepare.

Make A List

The biggest reason we can’t settle our minds is because we don’t have physical evidence that we got everything done. So take the time to make a list of everything that needs to be done for your home, in the rabbitry, and business side.

Write it all down so you can see the list and cross everything off. This simple action will help your mind know that you got what you need to complete.

Here is my favorite planner for planning out a project like getting ready to leave for vacation. There are two project panning page for each month as well as note pages at the end of each month which is great. Not to mention the annual planner layout and hourly sections marked for each day so you can time block your day.

You Need To Have A Rabbitry Business That Can Run Without You.

Whether you are a blogger, Etsy shop owner, or YouTuber (or all of them) your business can run without you for a time. That’s a hard pill to swallow when something like that is your baby but trust me it can.

You need to be able to take time off to refuel and come back ready to go. No one can run on an empty cup.

You might be thinking why am I talking about this now? That’s because you will have to plan ahead with your animals to make sure you don’t have babies being born while you are away.

But if you publish regular social media posts or on a blog, you have to work ahead to get your content scheduled out.

Ok lets get to it.

Pre-schedule As Much As Possible

Whether it is your rabbitry Facebook page, youtube channel, or email autoresponders. Use whatever tools you can to have your social media or pillar content go out on its own.

Have ways for your readers and rabbit buyers to know why you are not responding right away. All it takes is a little blurb on your sales pages or in your emails.

I am not going to get into all the reasons why because I would be going down another rabbit hole. But even if you don’t want a tool to automatically publish for you to a platform you can still have all the content ready to go.

This will take the most time but you will be shocked at how much free time you will have if you schedule ahead and just let your social accounts, email list, and blog run on their own.

You might like it so much you start taking more time off:)

Here Are The Tools I Use Or Recommend

Website – If you run a blog, no matter the platform it should have its own option to schedule when you want a blog post or site page to go live.

YouTube – Again has its own scheduler.

Facebook & Twitter – Post Planner I used them in the past and LOVED them. They are super affordable and easy to use. (Both Facebook and Twitter have their own schedulers)

Pinterest – Tailwind – They are the preferred and recognized pin scheduler for Pinterest. You can also use them for Instagram but there are others designed for Instagram and I think better suited.

Instagram – Plann Is what I am currently using for Instagram. Its one of those tools I can’t explain why I like it but I just do. I always think you should use the tool you enjoy being in. Planoly is also comparable.

Take Time Off And Batch Work

Your mind struggles to make the switch between topics when you go back and forth between tasks whether you realize it or not. I used to write social media, blog posts, emails and so on for each week as I went. Let me tell you I did not get nearly as far as I do now. It was all I could do to keep a week or two ahead if I was lucky. Now I can work a month or even more ahead.

I now batch my days and have a full day each week dedicated to the task that I am doing. I now get weeks ahead and work ahead so I can take at least a week off at Thanksgiving and two weeks over Christmas and New Year.

Find Someone Who Puts Your Mind At Ease

You can’t go on vacation and have a restful time if the person you have in charge does not put you at ease. Maybe they don’t know all that much about animals or they aren’t super good at closing the gate.

What ever the case find someone you can trust and if your nerves get the better of you while you are away just remind yourself why you chose that person.

Also, make them a super clear detailed list of everything you need them to do. Then here is the hard part.

Trust them!

Turn Of Those Notifications To Have A Restful Time

This is one that will help you with the mind game of feeling guilty that you’re not responding to email, DMs, and social media comments. Just don’t do it. You will feel better if you don’t even know they are there.

You might have to turn off the notification in the settings or completely delete the app of your phone during that time to keep yourself from checking 10 times a day. 

As an army of one, you have to protect your time when you don’t have others to do it for you. Even when you have people to help you in business the temptation will always be there. Develop the habit while your audience is small so you can train your audience to know what to do when you take time off. 

Be Ok With What Got Done!

This one is a tough one but probably the most important.

Be ok with how much you got done and don’t beat yourself up over it. Your rabbitry will not fall apart and your followers will not leave you for taking time away or not posting for a few days.

You are responsible for the mood and mindset for your vacation and time off. So take control of your day and make it one you want to live. Start planning early and shoot for the moon but be happy with the stars.