Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sarah Tetlow. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Sarah, thanks for joining us today. How do you think about vacations as a business owner? Do you take them and if so, how? If you don’t, why not?

As a business owner, it sometimes seems difficult to take a vacation and truly disconnect. Admittedly, sometimes, I also struggle with this. However, I also recognize its importance and certainly try and practice what I preach. This means that taking breaks, whether ten minutes during the day or for a week to get away, is essential for your productivity and well-being.

My advice for being able to take a vacation is summarized by:

Delegating:
Set your business up for success by delegating the stuff that you do not need to do. While you are away, an assistant should still be able to keep the business operating. Perhaps you have a team of qualified professionals who can do much of the work while you are gone.

Communicating:
Besides wanting to be in control, one of the most time-consuming ways that entrepreneurs and professionals continue to work while on vacation is through handling email. Typically, there are two reasons this is done. The first is that they do not want to return to the office for a flurry of emails to go through. The second reason is that they are anxious, and people are waiting to be responded to.

The solution to the first one is to have a sound system in place for managing your inbox. I created a system that I use and that I teach globally called the ARTT® Email Productivity System. ARTT® is a behavioral change that teaches how to achieve inbox zen. Using the ARTT® System, my inbox is often prioritized, organized, and triaged through decisions I have previously made and then automation to support it. This significantly reduces the feeling of overwhelm when I get to my inbox after being away for a while.

The solution to the second issue is to communicate with your collaborators. In other words, you can have an assistant help manage your inbox while you are away so that your collaborators feel heard. Set up your Out-of-Office to notify collaborators when they can expect to hear from you. Also, offering your collaborators another way to contact you if they do not want to wait until you return is very helpful. I do this by offering up my scheduling link. Many collaborators book a session with me after I return from my vacation.

Planning:
A vacation will never occur if you don’t put it on the calendar. If it isn’t on the calendar, it does not happen. I encourage you to schedule a vacation sometime in the next three to six months. Book it and then block off your calendar for that trip.

Another mistake I often see is that professionals will take a vacation and notify everyone of the exact day and hour they will return to work. This is a mistake. We are often anxious to give our time away to others. Instead, block off at least half a day to a full day after your vacation to get caught up. The longer you are away, the more time you need to block off to go through emails and review what is done and what is outstanding by your team. I promise that this habit pays dividends in building the muscle of truly enjoying the vacation and feeling comfortable in your decision to step away.

Executing:
Finally, when it is time to go, GO. Enjoy the vacation. If possible, do not take a computer. Your body, mind, spirit, and team at the office will all thank you.

Sarah, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Hi! I am Sarah Tetlow – wife, mom, and business-owner. I am the CEO and Founder of Firm Focus, which I created to help busy professionals increase efficiency, develop healthier work habits, and enhance their project management skills. Ultimately, my expertise and coaching help professionals create a workday with less stress and overwhelm.

Before starting Firm Focus, I spent my career working litigation in law firms. That experience helped craft my expertise, which is narrowly focused on helping those who work in a high-pressure environment and managing many projects simultaneously.

Firm Focus offers individual productivity coaching, customized programs and trainings led by me (an internationally acclaimed speaker), and consultations on email management via the ARTT® Email Productivity System. Our coaching has helped hundreds of clients with motivation, focus, prioritization, and decreased stress, distractions, and leaked time. ARTT® Email teaches behavioral change to achieve Inbox Zen by connecting the user’s habits and decisions with the technology.

My unwavering commitment to focused work and my distinctive and empathetic coaching approach foster a collaborative partnership with my clients that inspires profound learning and transformative behavioral changes. Additionally, my background working in law firms has positioned me to understand my client’s challenges and their solutions acutely.

Starting Firm Focus is something that I am extremely proud of. Firm Focus was born from a very low and desperate time in my life. I have an autoimmune disease that was impacting my quality of life. I was asking my body to push itself and would frequently question how much more it would take. Creating Firm Focus designed an environment that would not affect my autoimmune issues. The other major milestone that I am proud of is that I am authoring a book. The manuscript is done now, and I am in the early stages of editing it. The goal is to publish it in mid to late 2025.

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

Firm Focus was started in late 2018. At this time, I was still working nearly full-time (80%) for a law firm in San Francisco. I was also running a part-time business doing home organizing. At this point in my life, I was commuting two hours per day for 2-3 days per week, running a small business at night and on the weekends, and I had two very young sons. I also mentioned in my bio that I had an autoimmune disease that made the commute and working in client’s homes to be a very scary and unpredictable experience.

When the concept of Firm Focus was born, I knew I needed to start that business. I created an exit strategy to leave the law firm in six months. On the financial side, the strategy was to stash away 30% of my income. This would ensure our family could live off of a reduced income, and it was building the initial capital that I needed to start Firm Focus.

Six months later, I left the law firm. The income from the home organizing business and the initial capital I set aside helped me focus on starting and growing Firm Focus in 2019. That first year in business, Firm Focus did not make a significant amount of money, but that was okay. I planned for that, and it all worked out. Firm Focus just celebrated its’ 6th year in business and the most successful one yet in terms of company revenue and the growth of our team.

Any advice for managing a team?

Managing a team can be challenging. It can also be very rewarding. My team says that I am a great delegator and that they enjoy working with me. While imperfect, I want to share what helps my team prosper and grow.

First, knowing what your needs, preferences, and wants is important. Defining that for yourself, as the business owner, is crucial in communicating what you need and expect from your team.

Next, I value open communication and suggestions. I have led a team since the beginning of my business through using virtual assistants. This year is the first year that I hired an employee. We are learning how to work well together. I have openly told her that this is my first time having an employee, so I am also open to her suggestions. We both still recognize that I am the boss and have the ultimate say in things, but I welcome her opinions and suggestions.

We have developed systems and processes in our business that ensure I know what she is working on, and we can collaborate on those projects as needed. She has a lot of autonomy and can focus on her tasks with little supervision. When she needs more guidance, we have systems to achieve that.

I am also a huge advocate for investing in my team. For my employee, I have encouraged her to seek out training or education that will help her grow. I’ve encouraged her to be the expert on a CRM platform that the business uses and have opened up resources for her to lean into to continue building her confidence with the CRM.

Finally, one of my speaking programs is on effective delegation skills. I created a TORQUE acronym that defines what is needed to build and maintain an effective delegation relationship with your team. Remembering the TORQUE method helps remind me that investing time, energy, and training into a valuable team member will ultimately lead to my success, growth, and reduction in stress.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.firm-focus.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-tetlow/
• Other: www.sarahtetlow.com
  https://perfectlyproductiveday.com/

Image Credits

Steven Branstetter for headshots.