Learn to say no to the customers that stress you out and how to find the customers that don’t. My company was less than two years old and 70% of my revenue came from one company. I would answer the phone if he called me while I was using the bathroom, that’s how scared I was of him. Best thing that happened was when they failed, I swore I would never do that to myself again. 10 years later we are going strong and no one owns me.
One should be able to upvote with more than once. Toxic clients are the worst.
In 30 years in this business I just had a hand full of them, but once I learned that I don't *have* to work for them and can fire them (or up the prices until they leave), my life is much more enjoyable.
I had a feeling of doom whenever the phone rang and even woke up 3-5 times a night because I heard that damn phone (in my mind).
Never again!
Burnout sucks.
I'll give a supportive up vote for therapy my guy: it helps.
Some other tips that helped me out when I was there.
Give up booze for a while, doesn't have any positive effects.
Physical exercise, including both strength training and cardio, an hour every day. See a trainer a few times to get form down for body weight exercises and proper lifting techniques. I was surprised how much this helped my energy level and overall mood.
Take up journaling. Get the junk out of your head. Again, was surprised on the impact.
Last but not least - see if you can find a couple of activities that recharge you, sometimes it's creative stuff, sometimes reading, sometimes walks outdoors. Look for the 2-4 that really seem to work. Start doing those on a cadence to keep your tank full.
You'll never look back at life and think about work once you get to a certain age, it'll be reflection on relationships. Keep your head up
/ir [Fox & Crow](https://foxcrowgroup.com)
Yeah I golf with no phone. The sounds alone recharge me.
After a stressful day in the winter I just open up my game of the month and just veg. Red Dead and horse care are great for this.
Sleep, do not underestimate the power of it.
Quick test close your eyes…count to 20…if you feel like you are going to fall asleep you are sleep deprived.
Clearing your head tricks:
Antiqnxiety meds.
Listen to an audio book when going to sleep.
Regular workouts.
Mindfulness techniques.
I had a stroke in 2021. Put everything into context.
I work hard but I’m not put my life on the line for people who don’t take recommendations and responsibility for their own business. My wife and health come first. Unless your entire server cluster is down you can wait.
Yes I still work evenings and weekends when I have a deadline. But we are basically 8-5 at this point. I fired 2 clients that were 24/7 businesses and wouldn’t pay what I felt was needed.
HALT - Are you
Hungry - Eating (properly) helps keen our brains and body
Angry - It's a destructive emotion, usually born out of other emotions.
Lonely - Interacting with people is important (even if you consider yourself a loner/introvert). Make sure you are getting some socialisation.
Tired - Sleep is a huge thing. Don't underestimate it. It helps us process emotion.
Stress and Anxiety are based on not having 'enough'. It might be not enough time, not enough resources like information, knowledge. Not enough support, not enough Money.
Understanding you aren't alone, is HUGE. It's so under valued, especially in our industry, where you are expected to know everything about everything, all the time, always. I'd strongly urge you to make contact with some others in your industry.
I was in a pretty bad place 18 months ago, after running my MSP for 23 years, I'd run out of everything (except, thankfully, money) and was so burned out. I am in a much better place, but just like it took me a long time to get there, it took a little while to get better. It was a difficult decision to start getting some help, including some anti anxiety meds. I wish I'd done it earlier.
If you'd just like to have a chat with someone, feel free to DM me, we could set up a teams meeting and you can unload some of that baggage.
Great advice, and quite the offer. Unpacking some of the baggage we carry everyday can be the best medicine. I struggle with not sharing the load/burden as well.
I don't. I'm right there with you constantly thinking about work.
Went to Vegas a month ago, uninstalled and reinstalled Teams 7 times in 4 days because I couldn't stay away
Going to Jamaica in July, I promised myself I will not care during those 9 days.
I wish I had a better answer for you.
You should realistically have Geo fencing turned on. Other than on vacation, there should be no reason for anyone in most companies to be in Jamaica to be logged into company stuff. B Lock the whole country. That’ll keep you out
Yeah we have sase on our devices soo doesn't matter either way.
As a director one of your lead techs should just kick you out heh keep in mind disabling bounces emails which for techs is fine but yeah ops and stuff no go
I'm with you on that, running a shop of 15 techs, demanding clients, a desire to deliver. The majority of the time I feel anxious and overwhelmed. I am aware though that it isn't reality but my perception of it. Couldn't make a habit of meditation.
Sleep is important, if you can't get a full night proper talk to a doctor.
At moments of complete loss I put on noise cancelling headphones and turn on an NSDR track, I am finding this magical lately.
Have friends to turn to, an occasional short talk and a reassuring voice is wonderful.
Exercise if possible, when you feel you can't is when you need it most.
Ultimately, it's about getting behind yourself to push yourself forward, if you can develop that skill even some of the time you will win.
When you can't, don't knock yourself down, tomorrow is another day.
Anxiety is a consequence of not having 'enough'. It doesn't need to be money. It can be other resources, like support, socialisation, sleep, time, knowledge, perspective. Often it can be a shortage of multiple of those or other things. Not all stress is bad, but it can often be bad. I am glad to hear you have found some things to help yourself when you are feeling it.
I find a ton of my anxiety is grounded in that desire to deliver. My baseline anxiety is mild but present, just given how much we have going on; but when a client is giving signs they are less than thrilled, my anxiety starts pouring out of my eye and ear sockets. Its not about them firing us or anything, I don't really care about that. I just hate the idea of 'failing' like that.
it might be a depleting resource on a day to day, not long term though. imo
Also, anxiety is a double edged sword, it's hell but it's your super power. Hate it but embrace it.
In life it’s best to feel quietly blessed about a good thing but never cocky thinking it won’t go away.
I have several friends who moved to big corporate. They get squeezed probably harder than typical MSP workers. Some make more money than you can make in the MSP world. What does that give them? An extra bedroom in a larger house with more maintenance. I know many big corporate people who are more stressed out and work longer hours than your typical MSP. Because what you don’t see is the long game. For some internal IT people it can be wonderful for a while. Sometimes a long time. Just like there are some dreamy well run MSPs. But things can always change. Far quicker in big corporate world.
Major acquisitions. Major layoffs. Everyone is on egg shells. Corporate politics is twisted and big. And then when you hit 50 and if you grow to a larger salary you are no the chopping block for a younger person or outsourced to India. Big corporations make cold heartless moves with zero empathy or humanity. MSPs are far more caring.
So getting into internal IT may be a nice ride for 5-10 years. Until your skills turn to mush and then you get swept up in a round of layoffs and then your one size to large house and adult life threaten to eat you.
Everyone over 50 I know in corporate jobs is in fear like a hamster. Everyone over 50 in the MSP world I know is a grey hair guru with decades of customer wisdom, skills and making 100k+ a year. They are wanted and have more job security the my corporate friends.
So if you have a good thing going on. Enjoy it. Don’t shit on people working in the entire MSP industry. Internal IT is not exactly what it’s cracked up to be always. They are good spots. But there are also good MSPs.
I know a guy who works for a global finance company that is basically on calls from 6am to 7pm and sometimes 8pm at night. He has to because his team is spread across like 8 time zones.
He is on a call with sometimes 40+ Indian developers at the same time and can barely understand what anyone said. Deadlines are vicious. The flurry of activity on teams would make your head pop.
I actually know several people in other industries running at the pace in a global company.
All they do is complain about their physical health and mental health. They climbed the ladder and now are trapped.
People like to shit on MSPs but the other side has plenty of its own faults.
Dang it … you just killed the only thing I was looking forward to. Haha just kidding that’s a good perspective to know - IT can suck anywhere you go because of the job itself and the stupid people above you who don’t understand or don’t care and just want it done right now.
It’s not just IT. It’s all job a I have friends in high finance. Law. Etc. There are soul sucking companies and good companies in every company type. The key is interviewing smart and finding the right company and then investing in the company. We have people in our MSP that earn 150k+ and they started as interns and they have infinite flexibility and job security.
A good team helps..
Our datacenter went down 100 servers.. Everyone freaking out I walk out of my office I scream everyone wait! And everyone stops and I said who wants pizza for lunch?
My team refers to that years later as a time when they knew management had their backs. Being a good person on a good team goes along way.
We joke and kid all the time now not in front of clients but teams and gifs flying all over especially when someone makes a mistake they get the Homer in the bushes gify.
I guess all I'm saying is this isn't life it's work. It's what we do to have a life.
My uncle who is very well off when people ask what he does he goes im a sail racing captain they are like wow that's crazy.. He goes i do brain surgery for work but I'm a sailboat racer. This is how we make it through
For me, its sleep, motorcycles, fishing, hiking, and my faith in God, spending my mornings in devotion. I admit there are still time my anxiety wakes me up at 3am in a panic about my business, but I do everything I can outside of work to de compress.
MSP is shit, constantly outdoing yourself and bending backwards for customers so you can get $30-40 an hour while your boss charges you out at $200+. Enough is never enough for management and the customers, not to mention the people you work with, I have worked at multiple MSPs.
I know its a bit trite but i put a good business type podcast on (which usually lets me realise other people are going through the same thing as me) then I go for a fairly long walk in the countryside (helps if you have a dog so do you dont look like some weirdo walking in the woods with your head phones on).
Go do Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. It's an wonderfully complex sport filled with generally wonderful people.
Needless to say, when you have some giant guy sitting on your chest, trying to choke you, everything else in life seems rather inconsequential.
Meditation's cool and all, but I get what you mean—it's like a temporary escape rather than a real fix. When I'm at my breaking point, I find that disconnecting completely helps.
I disconnect by playing guitar and recording TikTok’s that I’ll probably never publish. It’s cathartic talking out loud and exploring my thoughts. I also get to nerd out over audio and video equipment which is one hell of a rabbit hole. It’s just hard for me to get to those mental places sometimes and that is where meditation is a useful tool. I have bad days where I want to bow out and make a Reddit post about it, the there are other days where I kill it. Sometimes there are long stretches of bad days. Usually don’t spill my guts on Reddit though 😅
Stay healthy and in shape, run 45 minutes in the morning. Pump iron at night. Every morning is supercharged. Eat healthy. It's a choice, not everyone will do it. But it definitely helps.
You work the tickets you have at the speed you can do them. You're a human, and you can only do so much.
If there are more tickets than can be reasonably managed, you need more people to help address those tickets.
You can only do as much as you can do. Don't push yourself harder than you need to.
No matter how late you stay up working - always read for 15-20 min in bed before going to sleep. Calms your brain down, tells your body time to go to sleep - helps a LOT
Man reading in bed is lights out for me too. I started doing that hemi sync where music goes left right I can actually feel my brain relaxing very weird
Recommend against playing computer games or staring at a screen. It's an escape, I've used it a lot myself, but it's a temporary fix, and often makes things worse.
No, the stakes are not high. You're not defusing a bomb with 10 seconds left. It's a job. There are 40.000 MSPs in US alone. Stop stressing yourself and stop taking your job personally. They are not giving you free money.
When is the last time you took a vacation? You probably need to take 5 business days off. I takes me 4~5 to disconnect complety and that gives me a real good week-end. I come back refreshed. When I am tired during my vacation I don't drink a cofee, I don't drink an energy drink I just take a nap. It helps a whole lot.
Learn how to not give a fuck while giving fucks , eat sleep , take care of your body. If your not done today, theres always tommorow, fuck em but still give fucks. Xoxo
It was too much for me. Worked an MSP for 2 years and was constantly stressed and always worried about something happening or coming up. Started to affect my marriage and personal life. Got out and now working a government job making the same amount and doing 20% of what i used to do. Personal life is better and now allowing me to focus on other stuff.
i leave my shop from working on computers, to go home and sometimes i am allowed 1-3 hrs to play my computer at home. its a vicious cycle. So i got a part time job and have even less time on top of the rest
Vacation. Two consecutive weeks of travel.
Can't do that? Have to stay connected or the business ceases to exist? There's your real problem.
If you can't book two weeks off within the next quarter fix it fast, or quit lying to yourself and get a job.
Learn to say no to the customers that stress you out and how to find the customers that don’t. My company was less than two years old and 70% of my revenue came from one company. I would answer the phone if he called me while I was using the bathroom, that’s how scared I was of him. Best thing that happened was when they failed, I swore I would never do that to myself again. 10 years later we are going strong and no one owns me.
One should be able to upvote with more than once. Toxic clients are the worst. In 30 years in this business I just had a hand full of them, but once I learned that I don't *have* to work for them and can fire them (or up the prices until they leave), my life is much more enjoyable. I had a feeling of doom whenever the phone rang and even woke up 3-5 times a night because I heard that damn phone (in my mind). Never again!
The Pumpkin Plan - Mike Michalowicz
Burnout sucks. I'll give a supportive up vote for therapy my guy: it helps. Some other tips that helped me out when I was there. Give up booze for a while, doesn't have any positive effects. Physical exercise, including both strength training and cardio, an hour every day. See a trainer a few times to get form down for body weight exercises and proper lifting techniques. I was surprised how much this helped my energy level and overall mood. Take up journaling. Get the junk out of your head. Again, was surprised on the impact. Last but not least - see if you can find a couple of activities that recharge you, sometimes it's creative stuff, sometimes reading, sometimes walks outdoors. Look for the 2-4 that really seem to work. Start doing those on a cadence to keep your tank full. You'll never look back at life and think about work once you get to a certain age, it'll be reflection on relationships. Keep your head up /ir [Fox & Crow](https://foxcrowgroup.com)
Great Post.
Amen
Yeah I golf with no phone. The sounds alone recharge me. After a stressful day in the winter I just open up my game of the month and just veg. Red Dead and horse care are great for this.
As an IT muscle-head, I agree.
Sleep, do not underestimate the power of it. Quick test close your eyes…count to 20…if you feel like you are going to fall asleep you are sleep deprived. Clearing your head tricks: Antiqnxiety meds. Listen to an audio book when going to sleep. Regular workouts. Mindfulness techniques.
As an insomniac, I have no idea what that is
I had a stroke in 2021. Put everything into context. I work hard but I’m not put my life on the line for people who don’t take recommendations and responsibility for their own business. My wife and health come first. Unless your entire server cluster is down you can wait. Yes I still work evenings and weekends when I have a deadline. But we are basically 8-5 at this point. I fired 2 clients that were 24/7 businesses and wouldn’t pay what I felt was needed.
HALT - Are you Hungry - Eating (properly) helps keen our brains and body Angry - It's a destructive emotion, usually born out of other emotions. Lonely - Interacting with people is important (even if you consider yourself a loner/introvert). Make sure you are getting some socialisation. Tired - Sleep is a huge thing. Don't underestimate it. It helps us process emotion. Stress and Anxiety are based on not having 'enough'. It might be not enough time, not enough resources like information, knowledge. Not enough support, not enough Money. Understanding you aren't alone, is HUGE. It's so under valued, especially in our industry, where you are expected to know everything about everything, all the time, always. I'd strongly urge you to make contact with some others in your industry. I was in a pretty bad place 18 months ago, after running my MSP for 23 years, I'd run out of everything (except, thankfully, money) and was so burned out. I am in a much better place, but just like it took me a long time to get there, it took a little while to get better. It was a difficult decision to start getting some help, including some anti anxiety meds. I wish I'd done it earlier. If you'd just like to have a chat with someone, feel free to DM me, we could set up a teams meeting and you can unload some of that baggage.
Great advice, and quite the offer. Unpacking some of the baggage we carry everyday can be the best medicine. I struggle with not sharing the load/burden as well.
If you'd like to have a chat, DM me.
I don't. I'm right there with you constantly thinking about work. Went to Vegas a month ago, uninstalled and reinstalled Teams 7 times in 4 days because I couldn't stay away Going to Jamaica in July, I promised myself I will not care during those 9 days. I wish I had a better answer for you.
When my techs go on vacation I kick them out of the chats.. If I see them in I disable their account..
I'm not a tech, I'm dir level. that's the problem.
But that's a great idea - I may do that.
You should realistically have Geo fencing turned on. Other than on vacation, there should be no reason for anyone in most companies to be in Jamaica to be logged into company stuff. B Lock the whole country. That’ll keep you out
That would mean that I didn't go in and change conditional access for myself and Jamaica. Maybe this year is the year I don't do that.
Yeah we have sase on our devices soo doesn't matter either way. As a director one of your lead techs should just kick you out heh keep in mind disabling bounces emails which for techs is fine but yeah ops and stuff no go
I'm with you on that, running a shop of 15 techs, demanding clients, a desire to deliver. The majority of the time I feel anxious and overwhelmed. I am aware though that it isn't reality but my perception of it. Couldn't make a habit of meditation. Sleep is important, if you can't get a full night proper talk to a doctor. At moments of complete loss I put on noise cancelling headphones and turn on an NSDR track, I am finding this magical lately. Have friends to turn to, an occasional short talk and a reassuring voice is wonderful. Exercise if possible, when you feel you can't is when you need it most. Ultimately, it's about getting behind yourself to push yourself forward, if you can develop that skill even some of the time you will win. When you can't, don't knock yourself down, tomorrow is another day.
Anxiety is a consequence of not having 'enough'. It doesn't need to be money. It can be other resources, like support, socialisation, sleep, time, knowledge, perspective. Often it can be a shortage of multiple of those or other things. Not all stress is bad, but it can often be bad. I am glad to hear you have found some things to help yourself when you are feeling it.
I find a ton of my anxiety is grounded in that desire to deliver. My baseline anxiety is mild but present, just given how much we have going on; but when a client is giving signs they are less than thrilled, my anxiety starts pouring out of my eye and ear sockets. Its not about them firing us or anything, I don't really care about that. I just hate the idea of 'failing' like that.
Embrace the idea that you succeed not because of what you know, but because of how you figure things out.
I get that. I’m a problem solver. I feel like I’ve only got so much creativity in the tanks though and I hate that my job sucks it out of me.
it might be a depleting resource on a day to day, not long term though. imo Also, anxiety is a double edged sword, it's hell but it's your super power. Hate it but embrace it.
Posts like this reinforce one of my best career decisions of my life was to leave the MSP sector. Fucking yuck... But thanks for the experience!
In life it’s best to feel quietly blessed about a good thing but never cocky thinking it won’t go away. I have several friends who moved to big corporate. They get squeezed probably harder than typical MSP workers. Some make more money than you can make in the MSP world. What does that give them? An extra bedroom in a larger house with more maintenance. I know many big corporate people who are more stressed out and work longer hours than your typical MSP. Because what you don’t see is the long game. For some internal IT people it can be wonderful for a while. Sometimes a long time. Just like there are some dreamy well run MSPs. But things can always change. Far quicker in big corporate world. Major acquisitions. Major layoffs. Everyone is on egg shells. Corporate politics is twisted and big. And then when you hit 50 and if you grow to a larger salary you are no the chopping block for a younger person or outsourced to India. Big corporations make cold heartless moves with zero empathy or humanity. MSPs are far more caring. So getting into internal IT may be a nice ride for 5-10 years. Until your skills turn to mush and then you get swept up in a round of layoffs and then your one size to large house and adult life threaten to eat you. Everyone over 50 I know in corporate jobs is in fear like a hamster. Everyone over 50 in the MSP world I know is a grey hair guru with decades of customer wisdom, skills and making 100k+ a year. They are wanted and have more job security the my corporate friends. So if you have a good thing going on. Enjoy it. Don’t shit on people working in the entire MSP industry. Internal IT is not exactly what it’s cracked up to be always. They are good spots. But there are also good MSPs.
This. I know that people love to shit on MSP's but my last job was corporate Oracle DBA. Way more stressful and more hours than MSP.
I know a guy who works for a global finance company that is basically on calls from 6am to 7pm and sometimes 8pm at night. He has to because his team is spread across like 8 time zones. He is on a call with sometimes 40+ Indian developers at the same time and can barely understand what anyone said. Deadlines are vicious. The flurry of activity on teams would make your head pop. I actually know several people in other industries running at the pace in a global company. All they do is complain about their physical health and mental health. They climbed the ladder and now are trapped. People like to shit on MSPs but the other side has plenty of its own faults.
Dang it … you just killed the only thing I was looking forward to. Haha just kidding that’s a good perspective to know - IT can suck anywhere you go because of the job itself and the stupid people above you who don’t understand or don’t care and just want it done right now.
It’s not just IT. It’s all job a I have friends in high finance. Law. Etc. There are soul sucking companies and good companies in every company type. The key is interviewing smart and finding the right company and then investing in the company. We have people in our MSP that earn 150k+ and they started as interns and they have infinite flexibility and job security.
Reddit. I always feel better after i read the things on here. <3 this sub is the best.
A good team helps.. Our datacenter went down 100 servers.. Everyone freaking out I walk out of my office I scream everyone wait! And everyone stops and I said who wants pizza for lunch? My team refers to that years later as a time when they knew management had their backs. Being a good person on a good team goes along way. We joke and kid all the time now not in front of clients but teams and gifs flying all over especially when someone makes a mistake they get the Homer in the bushes gify. I guess all I'm saying is this isn't life it's work. It's what we do to have a life. My uncle who is very well off when people ask what he does he goes im a sail racing captain they are like wow that's crazy.. He goes i do brain surgery for work but I'm a sailboat racer. This is how we make it through
For me, its sleep, motorcycles, fishing, hiking, and my faith in God, spending my mornings in devotion. I admit there are still time my anxiety wakes me up at 3am in a panic about my business, but I do everything I can outside of work to de compress.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=pVQeP5vRP5E
MSP is shit, constantly outdoing yourself and bending backwards for customers so you can get $30-40 an hour while your boss charges you out at $200+. Enough is never enough for management and the customers, not to mention the people you work with, I have worked at multiple MSPs.
I know its a bit trite but i put a good business type podcast on (which usually lets me realise other people are going through the same thing as me) then I go for a fairly long walk in the countryside (helps if you have a dog so do you dont look like some weirdo walking in the woods with your head phones on).
Reading the comments on this thread... all I can say is so glad I'm not the only one :) wow!
Go do Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. It's an wonderfully complex sport filled with generally wonderful people. Needless to say, when you have some giant guy sitting on your chest, trying to choke you, everything else in life seems rather inconsequential.
Meditation's cool and all, but I get what you mean—it's like a temporary escape rather than a real fix. When I'm at my breaking point, I find that disconnecting completely helps.
I disconnect by playing guitar and recording TikTok’s that I’ll probably never publish. It’s cathartic talking out loud and exploring my thoughts. I also get to nerd out over audio and video equipment which is one hell of a rabbit hole. It’s just hard for me to get to those mental places sometimes and that is where meditation is a useful tool. I have bad days where I want to bow out and make a Reddit post about it, the there are other days where I kill it. Sometimes there are long stretches of bad days. Usually don’t spill my guts on Reddit though 😅
Stay healthy and in shape, run 45 minutes in the morning. Pump iron at night. Every morning is supercharged. Eat healthy. It's a choice, not everyone will do it. But it definitely helps.
Whiskey
Once you get good at these tasks, there will be far more stress. Stuff that stressed me out years ago are nothing today.
You work the tickets you have at the speed you can do them. You're a human, and you can only do so much. If there are more tickets than can be reasonably managed, you need more people to help address those tickets. You can only do as much as you can do. Don't push yourself harder than you need to.
No matter how late you stay up working - always read for 15-20 min in bed before going to sleep. Calms your brain down, tells your body time to go to sleep - helps a LOT
Man reading in bed is lights out for me too. I started doing that hemi sync where music goes left right I can actually feel my brain relaxing very weird
Disconnect. Smoke a cigar. Read. Play a video game. Anything to take your mind away from it.
Recommend against playing computer games or staring at a screen. It's an escape, I've used it a lot myself, but it's a temporary fix, and often makes things worse.
No, the stakes are not high. You're not defusing a bomb with 10 seconds left. It's a job. There are 40.000 MSPs in US alone. Stop stressing yourself and stop taking your job personally. They are not giving you free money.
Something similar happened to me, but I think that going for a run in the park after work helps me to relax and free my mind from all my work worries.
When is the last time you took a vacation? You probably need to take 5 business days off. I takes me 4~5 to disconnect complety and that gives me a real good week-end. I come back refreshed. When I am tired during my vacation I don't drink a cofee, I don't drink an energy drink I just take a nap. It helps a whole lot.
Learn how to not give a fuck while giving fucks , eat sleep , take care of your body. If your not done today, theres always tommorow, fuck em but still give fucks. Xoxo
It was too much for me. Worked an MSP for 2 years and was constantly stressed and always worried about something happening or coming up. Started to affect my marriage and personal life. Got out and now working a government job making the same amount and doing 20% of what i used to do. Personal life is better and now allowing me to focus on other stuff.
Riding side by sides in the mud, fishing, fixing go karts.
i leave my shop from working on computers, to go home and sometimes i am allowed 1-3 hrs to play my computer at home. its a vicious cycle. So i got a part time job and have even less time on top of the rest
I spent my time with my kids and it is really a stressbuster for me...
Vacation. Two consecutive weeks of travel. Can't do that? Have to stay connected or the business ceases to exist? There's your real problem. If you can't book two weeks off within the next quarter fix it fast, or quit lying to yourself and get a job.