The Framers Forum

For those of you that are a one man band and do not work from home what do you do about taking planned time off from work for a break/holidat etc?

I just have to close the shop making sure that customers know their work will take a little longer to turn around. Never yet had a customer refuse to leave their framing because I will be taking a week off.

That is a very simplistic view; managing customer's expectations is not always easy.

One long holiday here at chez prospero.

Seriously though, just shut up the shop and beggar off.

The problem is that some people expect you to be available every day awaiting their convenience.

If I am contemplating time away I endeavour to let regular customers know so we can work things out
to our mutual benefit. These are usually professional people who are au fait with the self-employed vibe.

Some people are just not on the wavelength. Not their fault. Many is the time I have thought it's quiet at the mo
and slipped out round the corner to the shop for ten mins. That's when folks will strike and whinge to you later
about never being open.

One thing I would never advise is posting a notice on your door saying you are going to be away on such'n'such dates.
Burglars can read notices just as well as customers.

There is always the problem of jobs waiting to be collected. Most folks would be content to wait until you get back
but there are always the awkward ones. If possible try and rope in someone to have your keys and be prepared to
open up the shop for collections.

We take time off every year, we usually try to make it the same sort of time each year so that people get used to it. Our normal for the past 5 or 6 years has been 2 weeks at Christmas/New Year and 2 weeks in August as we are still tied to school holidays. Having said that, we are going to do something totally different this year and next year!

To make sure as many people as possible know we make sure to advertise it on our website months in advance, we tell our regular customers and we have postcards printed up with the information on to hand out to every customer (and usually to advertise something else as well or a bit of a special offer so it doesn't just get tossed straight away), we also put it on Facebook and Twitter. You will still get people who forget but we always get a good number of people in during our first week or so back telling us they'd come by when we were shut and then just come back when we reopened. If we lose a few customers, well that is just life and worth it for the break it gives us. 99% of our customers are pleased for us we are having a break and work around it.

The most important thing is to make sure people stay informed - remind people about it as much as possible, make sure if there are jobs not picked up that you ring people at least a week in advance to remind them you are going away in case they were going to collect it during your holiday time, that sort of thing. Then just put a notice on the door, a message on your answerphone and set the alarm (to deter Prospero's burglars ) lock up and enjoy your holiday. (Oh and don't forget to remind people on your website and social media when you are back again!)

We go away in August because of kids holidays but it ties in well with my work as there isn't much commercial work then. Never have Christmas and new year off.

I always take Christmas Day off, other than that am here for at least a part of each day, 7 days a week. But then we live in sight of the beach so can grab a holiday for an hour or 2 when ever we can make the time, and sit on the balcony of the local restaurant and have a beer watching the sun go down.