Emailing from Space Mountain

"Can a soloist ever really get away from work?" That's the question Deb Howard Greenleaf recently asked, as she recounted her family vacation experience standing in line at Disney's Space Mountain, jugging emails and phone calls with clients. A virtual accountant who works with soloists throughout the country, Deb wonders, "How can you truly escape when you don't have a staff back home to deal with things?"

It may be challenging, but it is possible to leave your solo business behind (or at least temporarily parked) for a few days. It's all about boundaries -- with your clients, and with yourself.

Establish client boundaries.
As a soloist, it's up to you to manage your business -- and your clients. Like puppies, many clients will continue to push and push (with the verbal equivalent of the big, pleading puppy dog eyes) until you say "No." If you let them rule your life, you're left with the mess to clean up. Instead, give clients a heads-up on your limited availability (it's up to you to decide whether to reveal it's a vacation or not), and set parameters of how and when they can reach you. The more you establish this as a regular practice -- and they learn to adapt to your way of working -- the easier it will become. Of course, you must stick to it to avoid reinforcing bad client behavior.

Set specific call-back periods.
Can't resist answering "just one more" phone call or email? Then block specific time periods and consider those as "business hours while on vacation." That limits the creep of business into personal time, and can partially assuage the guilt, if that's an issue. Often, just knowing that you have set aside a specific time to respond to clients will empower you to keep that iPhone or BlackBerry stashed away deep in a purse or pocket. Similarly, once clients know that you will respond within a three-hour window -- for example, once around noon for calls/emails received between 9 and 12, and once or twice in the afternoon -- they can relax. Carving out two or three 15-minute daily check-in periods is preferable to being constantly tethered to your office.

It's really about personal boundaries.
The larger issue is about the boundaries inside one's head. Unless one is a medical professional, I can think of only very rare occasions where an immediate response is a matter of life-or-death. I know some soloists crave the "feeling wanted" or "appreciated for my expertise" experience with clients, but in the end, I think this type of co-dependency is not healthy. The role of a solo consultant is to provide a service to individuals or to help business owners grow their companies. You're there to provide the bicycle training wheels for support -- not to do the peddling.

What if your clients are particularly clingy and want that much hand-holding? Then your task is to train them to be more independent, leave them behind for better clients, or put up with it. Whichever you choose, make it a conscious decision. As a soloist, the quality of your business is the quality of your life. Craft it wisely.

-- Terri Lonier
Founder, WorkingSolo.com