I’M GLAD I TOOK A BREAK - BUT NOT A FULL ONE

I love what I do. As I have mentioned before, I thoroughly enjoy delivering copywriting services to clients in Kingston, New Malden, London and beyond.

But I’m only human; and every so often I have to take a break.

How much of a break is a matter of opinion, and of stringent internal debate before I take so much as a long weekend off.

So when it came to this summer, and the prospect of a really special two-week family holiday to the Greek island of Rhodes, I thought long and hard about how completely I should unplug from LeBoo Media.

Should I take my mobile phone with me? Should I pack a laptop? Should I set aside an hour every day for keeping work ticking over?

In the end, I weighed up the likely stress level I would feel if I did take the phone against the degree of angst incurred by leaving it at home.

The latter would be greater than the former, so the phone joined me for an extremely relaxing fortnight in a luxurious sun-soaked resort the best part of 2,000 miles from south-west London.

Less lucky was the laptop, which stayed firmly put in New Malden.

Ultimately, the presence of the phone at poolside was hardly a distraction. And I checked for emails only a couple of times a day. Honestly.

Indeed, the only call I actually answered was from an old friend who recently ascended to an exciting new position. They were ringing to explore the possibility of us working together, an opportunity that has moved on promisingly since I returned to the UK.

Would I still have received that offer if I had been phoneless and blissfully unaware they were trying to get hold of me? Possibly. But even the slim chance that my friend might have turned elsewhere confirms I did the write thing inviting Mr Mobile on holiday with us.

There were also a couple of intriguing emails while I was away that might lead to further work.

A detailed discussion of the subject on LinkedIn upon my return threw up a simple answer to the question about taking your phone on holiday.

If you have staff to whom you can delegate the task of keeping things ticking over while you soak up the sun, you can unplug completely. If you do not – and I do not – then it makes sense to keep in touch with your market place.

That rule of thumb works for me – and it certainly worked for me in the case of this particular summer holiday.

I always reckon you can tell how good a time you had by the degree of difficulty you experience in re-connecting with your working routine upon your return.

The fact that it took me an awful long time to build up to normal speed after getting back into harness suggests we had a very, very good time indeed.

The good news going forward for potential clients is that it is unlikely I will ever be out of touch as LeBoo Media continues to grow.

So if you want to talk about any copywriting requirements you have, give me a call. It’s a pretty good bet that I’ll answer.