How to handle vacations as a solo founder?
I'm the european guy from this meme:
I love going on vacations with backpack and tent and hike for 1-2 weeks at a time in the middle of nowhere. Since I am a solo founder, there's no one to handle my projects and customers while I'm away.
Now, because nothing I do has a lot of traction or a lot of customers right now it is mostly fine when anything pops up during my vacation if I reply only once I get back. However, the thing I only started to think about after my last vacation is no one is available to handle hosting issues during that time either which might become a problem. Again, I don't have that many customers right now but I'd like for the few I do have to make sure they can use the service while I'm away. I could probably switch to a managed service provider who would host my application for me, but I fear the costs in the stage I am with my projects right now.
How do you handle these kinds of situations?
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For me, the solution is automation and communication.
I set an auto responder once I'm away for vacation, and I invest a lot of time in documentation and self-service.
I spent three weeks on vacation last month, and I haven't had a single customer complaining about longer response times, any issues with one of my software products, or anything else.
I also installed a backup plan (two people doing a similar business and can help if I'm in the middle of nowhere) - having internal docs and processes in place helps keep the stress level low on vacation! :-)
Wow... Where did you go and what did you do, if you don't mind me asking?
Happy to share:
Due to Covid, we couldn't leave Germany last year, and we were already pretty exhausted (in a good way) from 2022.
I'm not a huge fan of staying in a hotel for a week or more, and I need to explore new areas and cities (which also helps prevent checking my emails too often).
We flew to Venice (Italy) and stayed here for a week. We explored the city, got a boat to drive around the other islands, visited the old graveyard, and much more.
We then took another flight to Vienna (Austria). We stayed here for another week, enjoyed some music (they have a lot of classical music bars), and visited a few museums. For the last two days, I rented a car and went for a hike - it's so good to get some physical exercise!
We took the train and headed to Prague (Czech Republic).
This was our last stop before heading back to Germany.
After the typical touristic exploration, we enjoyed a huge music festival (Sounds of Europe? I don't remember the name exactly).
Besides Prague is a lovely city, with lovely people and excellent food, we also wanted to explore the clubbing scene a bit and found some damn cool post-punk club: https://www.crossclub.cz/en/contact/?secured=1
Take a look at the website. It's a time travel in itself! :-D
That sounds like a good idea!
I just take my laptop on vacation and try my best to respond to customer support queries whenever I can.
You'll find that your customers are a lot more forgiving than you think.
I did a RV trip around Alaska last summer, and most times I only have 1 bar on my cell -- I've gone days without accessing my inbox.
I definitely created an auto-responder explaining that I'm on the road, and that I'll reach out as soon as I can.
Usually that should do the trick.
Unless your entire production is down, everything else isn't technically urgent.
That sounds like an important thing to notice - seems like I worry a bit too much.
You have to ask yourself if your service is mission-critical.
A lot of SaaS services are not.
Even if they're completely down, the customer will do fine.
But if your service is mission-critical (e.g. a payments service, a hosting service, etc.) -- anything that will make a customer lose money if not immediately fixed -- I think you need to take it a whole lot more seriously.
i have partnered with other soloprenuer to be oncall for him and he does the same for me. So far its working fine.
Wouldn't that require you to fully trust him?
He's going to need access to the database, right?
ofcourse i trust him and since i am oncall for him he trusts me too we worked in same team for years.
That sounds like a great idea! Having someone to rely on for help can be really helpful, especially when you're first starting out.
I saw it, Lemon. My whole life passing before my eyes. Neil Patterson pitching me the rotating microwave tray. Me personally coining the phrase “what's the upside.” Participating in hands across America. And all the time I've been on this earth I have only one regret: I should have worked more.
Jack Donaghy, 30 Rock.
In reality, it is hard if you are a small team to take time off...but you need to. It is good for you personally and good for the company. I think part of the solution is automation/self-service. Be motivated to build tools and automated processes so you can take time off. You'll probably not be able to be fully disengaged for a week, but going from 100 issues a day to 2 changes the whole vacation.
I agree that automation and self-service can be key in allowing people to take time off without feeling like they're abandoning their work. However, I think it's also important to set realistic expectations for how much work can realistically be accomplished while someone is away. Otherwise, people may feel like they need to work even when they're supposed to be relaxing, which defeats the purpose of taking a vacation in the first place.
I asked about this before and got a few responses, but the consensus wasn't very positive to be honest https://www.indiehackers.com/post/how-do-indie-hackers-deal-with-their-business-when-on-holiday-1e08e7dbf6
Can you work while on vacation? Or does that ruin your vacation?
It depends on what work I'd be doing. I don't mind being "on-call" and fix critical issues when they come up but the bigger problem is my vacation often happens in the middle of nowhere without internet.
I'm in the same situation. For now I've tried to limit hikes to a few days and bring a powerbank + install terminal client on my phone to be able to fix urgent issues. So whenever I have a signal, I'd check for downtime notifications.
Also don't do any huge depoys ~1-2 weeks before going. That gives me confidence everything runs smoothly.
Long term I'd hope to pay a freelancer to be on-call so I can go for longer hikes again.
Thanks! That's similar to what I'm doing right now, the "no huge deploys before going" is a good tip.
Random idea: solopreneurs that likes to hike / be offline should form an on-call group :)
Hahaha I like that idea :D
I'm glad that I have the option to work while travelling, and for me, it's not a problem at all. I also manage to explore the world, and I don't have to spend all the time in an office. I go on various tours from the following link, go sightseeing, and in general, I think distant work is the best option for many people.
There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, as the best way to handle vacations as a solo founder will vary depending on the individual circumstances and needs of each business. However, some tips on how to handle vacations as a solo founder include:
I have the Intercom app on my phone with notifications enabled. I can also access the database from my phone. While on vacation, I don't develop anything new, but I continue answering tickets as usual.
90% of the time, I can deal with requests without having to turn on my laptop. So even if I'm in the middle of a hike, no problem. Not that hard IMHO.
Vacation is tough, responding to customer inquiries/online chats on my phone all the time, wife is not happy.
Vacations are a big need. If not burnout will come next, but we all know how difficult is to delegate. I guess it will entirely depend on the business and the stage (as u mentioned). But (if possible) try to make it self-service. That's what we are doing so we could get some days off this August. We are making as much knowledge base as possible so our users could easily find help on their own. I hope this could help you out: https://www.uphint.com?utm_source=indiehack&utm_medium=comunidad&utm_campaign=2022-launch
Self-Service and documentation definitely is a good idea!
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