It must be that time of year as on August 15, 2011 I was quoted in Portfolio.com in an article about taking vacations and on August 22, 2011 an article in the Wall Street Journal appeared titled, “Relax. Have Fun. Get Inspired.”
Many articles on vacations question whether or not hard-driving people should even take them. The WSJ article connected taking a vacation with getting insights. The Portfolio.com article discussed recharging ones batteries to be more productive upon returning to work.
My comments offered a different twist. I stated that a business is worth more if the owner can take a long vacation without performance suffering. I also commented that when an owner is absent it’s a good opportunity to see if the team can maintain the company’s systems. If not, it’s time to tweak the systems so the employees can maintain the business.
I went on to say that when the time comes to sell the business that buyers will be interested to know if the owner can take a vacation. Believe me when I say that when an owner tells me they want to sell because they are sick of working 70-80 hour weeks with no vacations it is not a comment that gets buyers excited. Buyers want a business that is not dependent on the owner. They want a business with proven systems that can be run by the management team so they (the buyer) can take the business to the next level.
