I recently wrote about the Death of the Away Message. Communications are so pervasive, so ubiquitous, so tethering, that we never really can disconnect – if that’s what we seek. Someone replied with a gentle suggestion regarding my vacation: “Unplug a little if you can.”

A kind enough nudge from someone seemingly concerned about my enjoying a little R&R during my vacation.

But to many home officers, micropreneurs and small business owners, a simple, paradoxical equation prevails when presented the prospect of a vacation:

Time Away From the Office = Reductions in Billable Work = Lost Income Potential / Revenues

Multiply that equation by three weeks on the road, and the result can be downright devastating to the bottom line. To paraphrase my friend Jim Blasingame at the Small Business Advocate, “As a small business owner, if you don’t kill, you don’t eat.”

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Jeff & Stella relax on Ft. Myers Beach.

After two weeks in an RV, I’m ready for a staycation closer to the home office.

Yet if the soft market has let slip any hopes of exotic travel this summer, don’t cave to “vacation envy.” Get creative and plan a “stay-cation” of your own.

Urban dictionary defines stay-cation as “A vacation that is spent at one’s home enjoying all that home and one’s home environs have to offer.” Don’t blow your stay-cation catching up on chores, straightening up the garage, fixing the roof or painting the house.  Make sure that you limit the time you spend on email.

The well-planned stay-cation, or stay-at-home vacation, can help de-stress and re-energize the soul, notes FAT Bastard Wines.  Here’re nine tips for planning a killer stay-cation… Read More »

Cindy Krischer Goodman, blogger over at the Miami Herald’s WorkLife Balancing Act, cited a study from Take Back Your Time that discovered that some 28% of Americans took no vacation time at all last year. Five in 10 took a week or less. Another study from Steelcase in 2006 says 49% didn’t take what they had coming to them.

No home officer workers here, apparently.

An interesting turn: some 69% of us here in the States support a paid vacation law; a bunch of those want three weeks or more each year. The obvious question: What the heck would we do with that vacation, since many of us aren’t using the vaca time The Man gave you in the first place.

This isn’t about The Haves whining about not using what they’ve got. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says one in four get no paid vacation. Not surprisingly, around half of men and women said they take work on vacation.

No home officer workers here, apparently. Read More »

We made a promise before we left on Home Office Highway: No Cracker Barrel, and no Hampton Inn.

Nothing against these two fine brands. When we’re traveling in the family minivan, they’re each an oasis on the Interstate. But with our home along for the ride, hotels were unnecessary, and meals were in the fridge.

Besides, what we cook on board is healthier than the high-fat fare typically had on the road.

Our final tally: Nine meals were purchased from restaurants along the way, including one final bite at a Panera Bread in Orlando as I presented at the Disney Entrepreneur Center. Read More »