Most business owners only dream of getting away for holiday long enough to feel truly relaxed and refreshed. For many, their much-needed leave is interrupted by constant email messages and phone calls from harried staff members and even from demanding clients.

Worse still, they face returning to work to find their businesses in a state of disarray with stressed-out staff, a backlog of uncompleted tasks and a revenue shortfall because productivity has fallen in their absence. It’s no wonder that so few ever take proper holidays and end up burnt out.

I’m grateful not to be one of those small business owners. I recently enjoyed the longest break ever from my business—five wonderful weeks of long service leave—during which I turned off my emails and really got to relax and enjoy time away with my family. I heard from my team exactly once, via Facebook. I am thrilled to say that while I was away, the Conveyancing Matters team took care of my business in a way that made me extremely proud of them and able to return to work to find things just as they should be.

Building an effective team

My team was able to run the business effectively in my absence arises from my having built a strong team from the outset, which involved:

• selecting staff members who are not only qualified to perform their roles, but who also have the people skills and attention to detail required to succeed in conveyancing work
• staff being mentored by me or other senior conveyancers to help increase their confidence, skills and knowledge of my particular business
• comprehensively documenting procedures for each task
• encouraging each member to specialise in a different area of conveyancing law to give the team as a whole a solid and thorough knowledge of every aspect of it
• training and mentoring supervisors to handle all facets of staff management and client interactions.

What happened while the boss was away

One of the reasons I was able to take extended leave is that a while ago I made the decision to work on my business instead of in my business. Rather than conveyancing, which I now leave to my capable staff, I concentrate on client liaison, marketing, networking, and managing the company’s accounting and books.

So, for the five weeks I was on leave, my team handled 264 conveyancing files—the same number they would have handled were I in the office. No lost productivity here! Fiona capably led the city office and Renee did the same in our Blackwood office, while Amanda handled my financial tasks of paying the accounts and reconciling the bank account and Cheryl handled the constant task of managing my emails.  I had left a detailed list of my usual accounting tasks, client contact meetings and other tasks and everything was handled fantastically.

My recipe for a happy, productive small business

To run the best business you can, you need a terrific team, great training and mentoring, well documented procedures and a boss who gets enough time off to return recharged to create new business opportunities. Once again, I am extremely grateful for the fantastic team that makes Conveyancing Matters one of the best conveyancing business’ in South Australia.