After taking a break for a week down the coast I am back and revived and ready to take lots of action! I was away from my computer and had no Internet access, which felt great. I find that just taking a week off with no distractions of emails, client issues and other business related tasks allows me to just sit back and reflect on life. So you might be wondering what did I do for a week? Let me share with you some highlights of my week away.

A Relaxing Trip Down To The South Coast

My partner and I drove 2 hours south into a small town called Gerringong. It was a quaint little town that had a population of around 4,000 people and the neighboring town of Gerroa had about 500 people. (The reason why I knew this, was I could remember a sign that said “Welcome to Gerroa. Population: 500 people”)

I think we were also the only Asian couple in town, so we really stood out when we walked down the street to buy food. From experience I love coming to these quiet towns because the pace of life is much slower and it allows me to wind back. We made sure that we also visited different places and checked out the lovely scenery.

For the first day when we drove down the coast we stopped over at the following places: Fitzroy Falls, Kangaroo Valley and Berry. Overall the whole journey took around 4 hours before we arrived at Gerringong. We took some amazing photos and amongst the cold it was well worth the time to stop over.

The beautiful Fitzroy Falls

See how cold I am? It’s still an amazing view though!

Welcome To Gerringong.

On the second day we drove down to Jarvis Bay and went on a whale watch cruise that took us out into the ocean. It was surreal seeing these whales and along the way we also saw some penguins and dolphins, which were not included in the package but it couldn’t be helped that they were there as well. We were very fortunate to see 8 whales all in a pack that were swimming in the same direction as us. Here are some photos of two whales that came up at the same time.

You can just see the whales coming out of the water.

For the third day we decided to have brunch at Berry and tried their famous pies and pastries. If you get a chance to visit Berry, there is a big bakery on their main strip which has had Jackie O (from 2DayFM) and other famous celebrities visit and sign their bakery wall. In the afternoon we drove to the seven mile beach which spans over seven miles along that south coast. It was beautiful and very peaceful allowing us to sit by the water listening to the waves crash.

Time To Think And Let The Business Grow

The trip down the coast was fantastic and a great time to take a break from the business. It allowed me to spend time with my partner and also reflect on life seeing how lucky I am. What I have noticed in my life is whenever I take time out to go away things start to happen and the business grows (around 200% increase in sales last week). Interestingly the same thing happened when I took a holiday to Malaysia last year for 2 weeks and coming back I had more business coming in than I expected. It makes me wonder if I should be taking a break every week? These are some of the things that I attribute to the growth of the business:

Having Virtual Assistants (V.A) To Handle All Customer Support
I am so grateful that I have found reliable staff who handles all the customer support for me. Also having a team of core people such as virtual assistants, programmers and book keeper allows the business to continue to grow and run without my presence being there. The first thing I would recommend anyone do for their business is to outsource their customer support such as emails, phone calls, and day to day administration. It is not a core focus in my opinion for any business and should free your time. Read how to find a virtual assistant to help you manage your business.

A System To Continue The Flow Of Work
Technology should do wonders for you business from accepting payments automatically to managing your team via a project management system. In my own business I use the online tools available to me to have everything automated as much as possible. One tool that I frequently use is Google Apps, which is free and has email, document storage, calendar and even a chat system available. This should provide any business with the necessary tools to systemise your processes. One other tool I recommend is to use Paypal for accepting your payments as it can be automated and easily setup by any web developer for your business.

Business Planning And Strategy
The most important part of any successful business is being able to continually plan and strategise. It’s great that we can all take action and have our staff to do the work for us, but what able getting them to work smart for you? During my break I took sometime to sit by the window looking out to the beautiful ocean. I wrote down in my notepad the goals and plans for my business that will happen in the next 6, 12 and 18 months. I had no distractions, just the water view and me. It’s something I would do again and recommend others to do weekly. Remember to take time out, at least one day a week to review, plan and strategise for your business.

Lastly not to mention, I was able to enjoy the week away and stay in a comfortable hotel room at the Sebel.

Tyrone Shum
Looking Forward To The Next Break