As a business owner it’s easy to feel like your work is never done – because no matter how much you do, there is always more that could theoretically be done. Many business owners we’ve spoken with also feel that they have a responsibility to be available to their team and that if they step away they are putting an undue burden on their team. So, we wanted to hear from a broad range of business owners on whether they take vacations and we’ve shared some of their responses below.

Irena Dimova

Taking time off is essential to continue feeling motivated, inspired and have enough energy to handle the ups and downs. However, I am at this point of my life where I want to be in control and want to keep the hustle going as that is what truly inspires me and keeps me feeling alive. Read more>>

Brandon Edgar Allen

Throughout my career as a freelance commercial photographer, balancing vacations and weekends with clients’ expectations of my availability has been a challenge. Read more>>

Ian Loveall

I guess I’m lucky in that my calendar is pretty erratic, but also somewhat within my control. I’m stretched very thin during the initial phases of ideation and exploration, then I’m slammed through the modeling/drafting/finalizing stages, then the design goes off to a shop for fabrication and I check in on the progress periodically, Read more>>

Jamie and Steve Fowler

For us, we started The Zoo Review as a result of some fun vacation trips we took. This is basically our origin story! At the time, I was running a small business working six (often seven) days a week, tracking inventory, doing all the purchasing, and managing ten to twenty employees. Read more>>

Nicole Mason

I think one of the most important things to do as a business owner is to find the right team. I will never forget reading the book Good to Great and how it talks about getting the right people on the bus. Read more>>