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Thread: CEOs on Vacation
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04-19-2005, 03:58 AM #26Web Hosting Master
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I took regular vacations, but I was never too far away from the action. I'd take the laptop and get connected at whatever accomadation I was staying at. Sometimes I'd just tell the mrs that I need a few days down on the coast, alone, so I pack the laptop and jump in the car, and off I go. I'd then drive around the Coast looking for a new beachfront building to stay in. I love waking up to the sound of the waves crashing, and the view of the ocean is so soothing.
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04-19-2005, 04:04 AM #27Web Hosting Master
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I take what people are saying but on the flip side after 18 months I needed a holiday. If you get to that point where you just need to take a break then you must just find it in yourself to trust someone and go recharge your own batteries
RusRuss Foster - Industry Curmudgeon
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04-19-2005, 04:48 AM #28Web Hosting Guru
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Re: CEOs on Vacation
Originally posted by UniServe Hosting
If so, who watches over your business. If you have a partner I guess that's a different story. However, I was wondering how some people out there who have a business are able to just take a beak for themselves and leave work alone while your overseas say in greece, cyprus etc.
For instance, a 3 day weekend away for me cost $200 extra.
But hey, that's the cost of business and the wine tasting sure was relaxing.
Stuart
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04-19-2005, 05:22 AM #29WHT Addict
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I got a suprise valentine holiday to Paris for 2 weeks last February.
Luckily I have a great business Partner, but like everybody else has said it is danm near impossible to let go!
Although I have every faith in my business partner, and he could run the business perfectly while I was on a holiday its almost impossible to let go and if you take your phone impossible. I found that I was taking it just in case anything happened but then ended up checking my e-mails every four or five hours.
Then we had to take regular stops to check the website, support desk and e-mails again . . . I must have spent about 20 euros in cyber cafes, I should just have taken a laptop!
Suffice it to say you never really leave your business, you get so use to checking and running everything its really hard to just turn over your tasks to someone else for a few days. Especially if you put the time into it and take pride in it.Andrew Thomas
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04-19-2005, 10:55 AM #30Disabled
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Hello Everyone,
I have read through all the posts and took everything you have all said into consideration. To me, I believe this thread became rather interesting and useful as it's good to know what routes others take when they want a break. However, for sure I would not want to go to greece with my gf and fire up the laptop and start working. That would defeat the entire purpose of the vacation along with the alone time with the two of us.
I can trust my partner to take care of everything, nevertheless, I suppose to hire some staff, train them well, create some monkey documents which specifies what to do step by step would also be a wise decision. I'll look into hiring two staff members with time as things progress. Thanks again for all the wonderful information and input along with some interesting stories .
Regards,
Matthew
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04-19-2005, 09:12 PM #31Junior Guru
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I run my business myself day to day but when it comes to holiday time you need to be able to cut yourself off and relax. If I'm staying in the country I'll always make sure there's a computer nearby or take my laptop but that's usually as far as it goes.
I went to Magaluff last summer for a week and left a good friend in charge of the billing and another in charge of technical support. Obviously I paid them for their time, and kept in touch by phone but I generally left them to it. Most billing enquiries could be postphoned until I returned, some of them I could direct answers over the phone.
One of them has his own hosting business as well, so is quite capable of the technical questions.
It's all about trust really. I'm lucky enough to have some talented friends and I trust them.
This year I'm hoping to get an outsourced company in to take the bulk of the work load away, but that's only down to my business having grown considerably since last year and its getting to the point where I need to outsource some of the workload anyway!
Key points:
Don't just leave everything and hope for the best
Find somone you trust
Get them to text you if there's any problems but leave your phone in the hotel room whenever possible
RELAX
HTH
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04-21-2005, 09:31 AM #32Web Hosting Guru
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Interesting post as I am currently away right now, here is what I do:
I bring my cellphone and I bring my laptop and make sure I dont
go somewhere where I cant atleast have cellphone reception.
Our company is me, which basically does most 2nd level tech stuff and hardware things. One sales/marketing droid and a fulltime tech support guy. Works out quite nicely.
I set aside about two hours each day to come online and do some work.
Basically one has to accept the fact that in this business you cannot take too much time off. You can go places if you bring your phone and have a laptop ready and can be online with an hour or two warnings.
But, once you accept that and plan around that it's not bad at all.
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05-02-2005, 11:26 AM #33WHT Addict
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Did I miss something? I would really not want to host my sites and my clients sites with a one-man shop. People need vacations. And a company needs employees to take care of the company
I understand that businesses need to start somewhere but if they never really get started, I would think they are doomed from the very beginning.
Yes my hosting company is small but the owners are able to take a week offJohn
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05-02-2005, 12:48 PM #34Disabled
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Did I miss something? I would really not want to host my sites and my clients sites with a one-man shop.
And a company needs employees to take care of the company
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05-02-2005, 01:02 PM #35Web Hosting Master
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You should set yourself up so that breaks and holidays arent a problem - thats why your a CEO
After a year or two your hosting business should be in a position to run itself, with staff in place to manage most situation. Your job is then to stear and improve the product.
I managed to take a 3 month holiday recently and there were no problems while I was goneMatt Wallis
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05-02-2005, 01:21 PM #36Temporarily Suspended
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Holidays ?? I would be quite happy if I got the ticket queue under 100 tickets right now...
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05-02-2005, 01:34 PM #37Disabled
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Hello UH-Matt,
I totally agree with what you had to say. Where did you end up going for those three months? Also, I must admit, your site is pretty visually appealing.
I've already hired a full-time web designer. The reason for this is, I want to offer web design with my hosting packages or even just web design alone. If there isn't much web design work to be done then he will be doing some tech support since he has a technical background.
Luckily, I have a steady income and it's been like this for awhile **knock on wood** so I'm willing to dispense my money around for expansion when need be.
I don't only want to have people working for my business so I may be away on vacation for 3, 4 or 5 months. What I want is to know that I am providing an income for ten, twenty or thirty familys and that i'm giving back to society.
After a year or two your hosting business should be in a position to run itself, with staff in place to manage most situation. Your job is then to stear and improve the product.
Thanks for your input.
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05-02-2005, 01:42 PM #38Web Hosting Master
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We have 4 permenant staff and some extra freelance basis help.
I actually backpacked around South America for 3 months, occasionally checking on things in rare internet cafe'sMatt Wallis
United Communications Limited
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05-02-2005, 02:16 PM #39Retired Moderator
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A 3 months holiday... That sounds excellent Matt!
After a year or two your hosting business should be in a position to run itself, with staff in place to manage most situation. Your job is then to stear and improve the product.
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05-02-2005, 02:18 PM #40Web Hosting Master
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Our management team and the rest of our staff are more than capable of running the company when I am not around. In fact, they generally manage most of the day-to-day aspects of the business whether I am around or not.
I think you also need to look at this from another angle. It is all well and good asking if the company will continue to function properly if you are away on holiday. However, what happens if you were to end up in hospital without any notice to your staff etc. Do you have procedures in place to handle that? Hopefully it will never happen, but when your livelihood depends on your business and you have hundreds if not thousands of other people depending on your service, then it is important to think about things like this.
Being backed by an excellent team will be one of your strongest points in growing and managing your business. Remember, as the business grows you simply wont be able to micro-manage every support ticket that the company receives. Having scalable procedures and good staff in place to handle growth is key.
Most importantly, when you are on holiday; enjoy yourself and get away from the company, so that when you come back to work, you feel regenerated and ready to get on with business.
Good luck!
- Chris
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05-03-2005, 01:25 AM #41Web Hosting Master
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In my experience, you're going to need some time each day, even if its only an hour, to keep things alive.
I went to Hawaii for 2 weeks and basically left the company up to two support guys. Every morning I would wake up about 6 (8am where my guys were) and I'd go down to the little cafe with internet access, and make sure I was up to date on anything happening. I went back to my uncle's condo and slept for a few hours, and the rest of the day was mine. It seemed to work out - but make sure you have some good people backing you up.
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05-03-2005, 01:35 AM #42Web Hosting Master
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Originally posted by thomas.smith
Holidays ?? I would be quite happy if I got the ticket queue under 100 tickets right now...
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05-03-2005, 06:04 AM #43Web Hosting Master
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In my experience, you're going to need some time each day, even if its only an hour, to keep things alive.
I went to Hawaii for 2 weeks and basically left the company up to two support guys.
The problem you had is that you left things down to "two support guys". Just having tickets answered wont be enough. While your away you need to make sure some structure is in place so that somebody is covering what you usually do each day.Matt Wallis
United Communications Limited
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05-03-2005, 08:15 AM #44Temporarily Suspended
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>The problem you had is that you left things down to "two
>support guys". Just having tickets answered wont be enough.
>While your away you need to make sure some structure is in
>place so that somebody is covering what you usually do each
>day.
Of the companies in this board how many do you think can afford to hire some sort of manager in addition to his support guys ?? I think most of the people here can`t. Don`t forget that 90% of all hosting companies have less than 500 customers.
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05-03-2005, 08:21 AM #45Web Hosting Master
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Originally posted by thomas.smith
. . . Don`t forget that 90% of all hosting companies have less than 500 customers. WLVPN.com NetProtect owned White Label VPN provider
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05-03-2005, 08:25 AM #46Web Hosting Master
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Originally posted by UH-Matt
I managed to take a 3 month holiday recently and there were no problems while I was gone WLVPN.com NetProtect owned White Label VPN provider
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05-03-2005, 08:27 AM #47Temporarily Suspended
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Originally posted by Aussie Bob
Where did you get that data from?
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05-03-2005, 08:29 AM #48Web Hosting Master
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There is a difference in leaving the team to a few support techs and leaving it to a well defined and qualified management.
I'd be quite paranoid if I was on vacation and I left everything to 2 support techs. But I guess that is a pain start-up firms have to deal with.
I am just one person in a well-defined management structure that we have setup for ourselves. I do overlook all major technical operations, but my role is easily compensated by our two (windows & linux) operation managers when I am not around. We thankfully also have a very experienced leader as our CEO who ensures operations are designed to run smoothly in all eventuallity.init.me - Build, Share & Embed
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05-03-2005, 08:30 AM #49Web Hosting Master
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Originally posted by thomas.smith
. . . I'd say it is even much more than 90% of all hosting companies that have less than 500 customers but I am quite sure that it must be at least 90% WLVPN.com NetProtect owned White Label VPN provider
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