Eps 28 –  How I took my first two week Vacation as a Tax Practice Owner Without My Business Falling Apart

Jamie Gruol: Welcome back to another episode of Diary of a Tax Practice Owner. I am your co-host, Jamie Groul, and I have with me the wonderful Jessica Smith. Hello,

Jessica Smith: hello!

Jamie Gruol: So we’re gonna talk about a juicy topic today, because I know that, you know, tax season’s either just on the, I’m not sure when this is gonna air, but they’re either just finishing tax season or in the midst of

Jessica Smith: Mm-hmm.

Jamie Gruol: there’s me, A lot of people are gonna relate to this. We wanna talk today about taking time off in your business and why it’s critical, how you can do it without losing your mind and panicking the whole time about what you’re gonna return to. I wanna start with kind of the mindset behind it. We talk about mindset a lot on this podcast because I think it is one of the most critical things as a business owner, practice owner, whatever you wanna call yourself. 

You need to have the mindset that it is safe for you to take time away from your business. that is a belief that you can borrow from me and Jessica if you need to, but this is something that we both work hard to do for ourselves, but not only for ourselves, but for our

Jessica Smith: Mm-hmm.

Jamie Gruol: because you don’t take time away. are, are missing out on opportunities to really uplevel who you are as a business owner when your brain gets to remove itself from the day-to-day

Jessica Smith: Mm-hmm.

Jamie Gruol: even when we’re having like light seasons where maybe instead of working, you know, 60, 80 hours like you do during tax season, you’re only working 40 hours in the summertime and you have your weekends off and you’re enjoying it. I, there’s still something about having a long stretch of time off where your brain

Jessica Smith: Mm-hmm.

Jamie Gruol: quiet. So can you talk to us, Jess, like when you first started your business and you were in those early hustle days and you were growing, growing, growing, where were you roughly when you started saying, okay, I need an extended time away. I mean, I know you’ve always been very focused on balancing your work hours because you have the young children in the

Jessica Smith: Mm-hmm.

Jamie Gruol: days, so it was, you had to do it, but you were also hustling in those days too. So can you just kind of talk with us about how that first extended period of time off came about and like what it felt like initially?

Jessica Smith: So, you know, my, my early, early days, you know, when my son was really young, the, the expectation was. You just, you just had to, to work through everything. And taking time off meant that I was going to lose something else. I mean, I, I think a lot of us who were, first time moms in a corporate environment understood that your PTO was not actually PTO.

Your PTO was for doctor’s appointments and for school days off and when your kids get sick. And so. It was really important for me that even though the expectation was, oh, I work for myself and I can just take those days off when I want it, it still had to be that I planned the business to be able, to function to some, some capacity on those days.

And a lot of those days happen during the regular tax season. So something like the kids getting sick, you know, they, they, they could be sick for an entire week smack dab in little tax season. And I had to be able to have flexibility in the business to accommodate those times. And of course, outside of like those life events, yeah, having time off was incredibly critical.

It’s somewhat common knowledge that accountants have a high level of burnout and you know, when we factor in the intense work hours that people still consider to be the norm, you know, 68 hour work weeks during the tax season. I mean, I have vivid memories of my time in corporate where I had colleagues literally screaming at each other because they had been working so much and they hadn’t had any time with their significant others in weeks.

Jamie Gruol: Yeah.

Jessica Smith: And, and, yeah. Well, and, and the business the tone from the higher ups was like, we don’t care. We need to get the work done. Right. Um, which, which I, I just don’t think is, is healthy and I didn’t want to emulate that in my own business. The taking the time off, especially after a very mentally intense and fatigue type experience.

I found that it was a lot easier for me to get back into the swing of things preparing for the extension season after I had some time off to just not make work my priority. And it didn’t always mean that I was taking some fancy vacations somewhere, which again, starting to do more of, but sometimes it just meant that I just didn’t do any.

Work for a week. And you know, maybe it was because my kids started playing baseball and now my evenings were, filled with practices and games and, you know, the shift away from like, oh, I have to get work done. 

Jamie Gruol: Yeah.

Jessica Smith: that was kind of like the first step for me. And hopefully it’ll turn into more like actual vacations, but

Jamie Gruol: As the kids are getting

Jessica Smith: yeah.

Jamie Gruol: I, I know in my world it is. So can you tell us a little bit about what your after tax season, so tax season, your birthday falls in tax season. So let’s start with tax season. You try and take some time off around your birthday.

Jessica Smith: I do, I do. Um, I, I have a memory of when I first started my business and this irritates me still to this day. It shouldn’t, but it does. I remember I had a potential new client. This was like back in like 2011. This was a long time ago. This was not, I. This was not recent. I didn’t have any of the processes I have in place now, but I had met with the potential client, like he had stated that he was ready to, , sign on for service.

I had sent him the quote and the weird thing was I sent him the quote and he’s like, I don’t know why you got the impression that I was actually going to work with you. The guy that I, that I work with, this other guy, this other tax preparer. And of course, you know, he kind of went off on. You know, the other tax guy that I work with Chart does exactly what you’re gonna do for me, but for so much less money.

And I, I was, I was upset, but I was like, oh, okay, fine. So, so that was like my cue, like, okay, he doesn’t wanna work with me. So it was my, my practice was still really small, so I recall going on, uh, taking some time off around my birthday and, um, this guy. Went on a tangent with a bad review who wasn’t even a client with a bad review saying that he hired me to help him process his 10 90 nines.

My birthday’s the end of March. Those are due January. Like, what are you talking about? So he had said that he had hired me to help him with his 10 90 nines and that I just left the country and left him up shit creek without a paddle. And now he’s like scrambling to find someone to do this for him. And it was so irritating to me because I’m like, it’s my birthday.

I am allowed to do something fun for me and to celebrate with my friends and family. You know, this meant to occasion that happens to take place during tax season. Like I’m still a person and I’m still allowed to take time off regardless of what. Your vision is for when I should be available to serve someone who literally said, I don’t wanna work with you ’cause you’re too expensive.

Um, and that, that, you know, it stuck with me many years later and I don’t get like, as irritated when I think about it. But it is annoying because a lot of people do think like that. A lot of people believe, because I am a tax accountant on on under no circumstances should I take time off when they need me.

Jamie Gruol: Yeah.

Jessica Smith: nothing, there’s nothing that I should be able to do that interferes with their ability to have access to me to perform, you know, a job that they think they need. And I can tell from a lot of people who, a lot of accountants who somewhat believe that it’s okay to take time off. Like if you need the time off, the work will get done.

There’s other ways to plan ahead to take the time off and, and definitely, you know, start communicating that with your clients. Make it the same time period every tax season saying, okay, from April 10th to April 30th, we’re outta the office and communicate that multiple times. You know, while you guys are working together,

Jamie Gruol: Yes. Hold up. You just said April 10th, but the due date’s not until April 15th. What do you mean?

Jessica Smith: the, the idea that we are just workhorses up until midnight on April 15th is absolute insanity. Anybody who has not given me. Anything to have gotten the return completed in advance of the deadline. Because those of us who have been in this industry long enough understand what can go wrong will go wrong.

If you wait within that like five to three day window prior to a deadline, you don’t have the time in many cases to be hawken tax returns at that time. You should have all of your clients at the very minimum, either filed. Or on proper extension so that you can literally sign off and those people who are going to wait until the last minute can then just take their time.

’cause at that point they’re on extension, you know, hopefully they’ve been communicated on what possibility of a balance owed might be paid. You know, there’s, there’s just, there’s many ways to do this and I, I think that if we had a little bit more proactiveness in planning our own time off. We could see a benefit as as an industry versus thinking, oh, well, there’s just no way my clients will allow me to leave.

You know, April 10th.

Jamie Gruol: we had, and I think I wanna talk about how systems support this, but we had a client one time who, she came into our program and she got our automated pipeline set up and everything was so much more organized that she was like ahead of the game, you know, like in quotes. But she felt. Solid enough in her tax season for the first time to go and take a day to go to the beach with

Jessica Smith: Mm-hmm.

Jamie Gruol: And it was the first time she had ever been able to do that in a tax

Jessica Smith: And without her computer.

Jamie Gruol: without her

Jessica Smith: So it was a real day off. A real day off. Yeah.

Jamie Gruol: Yeah. First time ever. And I remember reading that and honestly I wanted to cry for her. ’cause her son, I think was, think he’s about the same age as Ty and, and, kiddos and he was like five or six. And to have your child in the springtime have never had mom able to go to the beach during tax season, um, and have a fun day away for reasons other than like being ill or,

Jessica Smith: Yeah.

Jamie Gruol: with something that’s not a happy, joyful memory. Like that was heartbreaking to me.

And so if you’re listening to this and you’re like, I’ve never taken a vacation during tax season, or I, I don’t feel like I can leave during tax season, can you share to the person that like that right now, what it feels like for you to leave for a couple of days during tax season? Like, what are the systems allow you to do that , has you going and not being like, chewing on your nails and like feeling antsy and anxious the whole time you’re gone.

Jessica Smith: So a big part of what I do is before I do any kind of kickoff for the tax season, I go through my calendar and I look on the dates that the kids are out of school and, I basically document everything for where like, I literally have be outta the office. So there’s, there’s no access to book with me.

Prior to any of that stuff, so planning ahead to make sure those dates are properly out of office, I guess the right way to do it. Um, helps tremendously. ’cause everything that I do with the delivery of information, it’s all scheduled. So by making myself unavailable those days, the clients work around it.

Right.

Jamie Gruol: Yeah.

Jessica Smith: Because they don’t see me as available. They’re not questioning why I am not available. They’re just seeing that the next appointment time is gonna be on this date. and they work within that. And I think that is completely acceptable to have a system in place where you are pre-planning the days that you’re going to be out.

And you don’t have to like announce everything to your clients. Like you don’t have to announce every single day that you’re out if you’re going to be out for. Let’s say longer than what your typical like return time is for like correspondence. Then yeah, send an email, put up an announcement. If you have that like you have available in TaxDome turn your out of office on, you know, I find that really the clients just want to have an acknowledgement of like, Hey, I have something that I need from you.

Like, when can I get this? Or like, , what about whatever. Being proactive in the communication. Like, Hey, I’m sorry I’m not available to get to this. We’ll be able to handle this on, you know, whatever other date. And then you can at least satisfy like maybe a booking of a time to connect on that your clients are gonna be, they’re gonna be understanding.

I, I, I truly like, I was so fearful of my clients just. Being upset that I was gonna be gone from, you know, those couple experiences of, the clients who just think it’s unbelievable that you would take any time off during the tax season. And realizing that my, it’s not that my clients don’t care, but I’ve worked with them enough to let them know like, I have a temporary absence from being available to you and upon my return it’s business as usual.

, and I think that’s really. A really, really important, thing to be mindful of is that you, you can’t just leave and not at least effectively communicate that you’re not unavailable, but don’t be afraid to tell people you’re unavailable. I think that more people have the fear of like, oh, if I’m, if they believe that I’m not here to answer their beck and call, they’re gonna go find somebody who will do it.

That’s not true. They, if, if you,

Jamie Gruol: you more than

Jessica Smith: they value, they value you a lot more than that. And you have to understand that, that if you can work to just, again, keep the lines of communication open so that they at least can plan around, like your days off, they’ll do it. They’ll do it. I never, I, my out of office never says to my client, oh, I’m home because my kids are out of school.

I’m just not available that day. And they find the next day.

Jamie Gruol: Absolutely 100%. I want to like say to the person who’s like, but how do I communicate like this? Like this is where systems practice, management

Jessica Smith: Mm-hmm.

Jamie Gruol: TaxDome, which we all know we love, and we will toot that horn for as long as we can.

And it’s been an amazing tool to open up communication for people, not just organization of the work they need to do, but the communication

Jessica Smith: Mm-hmm.

Jamie Gruol: their clients. If you are like, but I don’t know how to communicate with my clients and send emails to all these people, I don’t have enough time in the day. It’s because you’re not using the right

Jessica Smith: Mm-hmm.

Jamie Gruol: So number one, having the right systems gives you the confidence and empowers you to take this time off so that you need to like take that belief, that systems give me freedom, that gives me time off. That is something you need to start adopting and then invest in the

Jessica Smith: Mm-hmm.

Jamie Gruol: I’m telling you it. And the other thing I wanted to talk about, Jess, is the, the power of time away from the office. So we talked a little bit about the extended times, um, away and you know, like preparing our clients for that. Um, after tax season, obviously we’re not gonna do that in the middle of tax season, but I do see tax, uh,

Jessica Smith: Mm-hmm.

Jamie Gruol: we’re using taxo, taking spring break

Jessica Smith: Yeah.

Jamie Gruol: I like, I wanna celebrate those people because I think that’s so critical to not miss those

Jessica Smith: Mm-hmm.

Jamie Gruol: with our kids. Um, but you take some time right after tax season. Can you talk to us a little bit about what the importance of that extended period of time off is? Not just Fridays during the summer, but literally like two weeks away after you’ve gotten through your tax season. What has that done for you as a business owner?

Jessica Smith: I am, I’m seeing a lot of this now too with my husband now that he’s taken on this new role at his job as well. But when, when you are putting in like 120% of yourself into your business, that’s what a lot of people do in their businesses, right? Like they, it’s, it’s, at the end of the day, it’s what’s going to support their lifestyle.

And , when that starts to be your primary focus, it actually is harder to think of a vacation as like relaxing. ’cause you wanna bring your computer, you want to, you know, have access to information while you’re out there. There’s something to be said about your brain not having to be actively engaged in that high level of thought all the time.

Like nothing sounds more enjoyable to me sometimes than sitting on a beach. Five, my ties in probably ugly, drunk. But happy because I’m only thinking about like the seagull that pooped on some kid’s head. Like,

Jamie Gruol: And what am I gonna have for snack?

Jessica Smith: like, and, and, and I and, and while I’m not a brain surgeon, right? But I do understand that like different types of stimulus can impact different parts of your brain.

That’s why you have like your type A and your type B, right? You’re very rigid. Oh, here’s this type A person versus like your type B who are more like creative. Those are different parts of your brain. And. As accountants, if you’re only massaging that like one part of your brain, you’re gonna be so awesome at like the technical stuff, but you’re gonna sound like a freaking robot every time you communicate with your clients, and you’re going to have a hard time having your clients view you as a human being who deserves rest and deserves to not always be deemed as like, oh.

You’re just this mechanical robotic person who anytime I need something from you, you’re just gonna fulfill that. You’re able to open up a different side of your brain, which again, balance, right? Like

Jamie Gruol: Right.

Jessica Smith: I, I kind of joke that while I might not be the greatest artist that I, I make beautiful artwork out of numbers.

Right. It’s d different, a profit and loss is my, is my, you know, uh, van Gogh painting. Right. So you have to allow your brain to get out of that one cycle. ’cause it just, it doesn’t really improve the, the, the whole use , of your brain and then of course your mental health as well, of having the acceptance of rest and everything.

Jamie Gruol: 100%. And I find too, when I get away and I’m trying to be better about giving myself more free time during my regular weeks as well, like walks in the woods

Jessica Smith: Mm-hmm.

Jamie Gruol: timed when I’m not like constantly consuming, if you will. Consuming or output. Right. And. One of my mentors, he talks about this a lot and that, you know, our businesses can’t evolve if we aren’t giving ourselves the downtime

Jessica Smith: Mm-hmm.

Jamie Gruol: that creative side, as you were talking about, to engage.

And that only comes through quiet.

Jessica Smith: Yes.

Jamie Gruol: I. New environments. It only comes through you allowing your brain to disengage in the regular everyday cycle that it’s stuck in. And when you do that, new ideas come to you, new inspiration comes

Jessica Smith: Mm-hmm.

Jamie Gruol: Benefit to your clients comes to you, and maybe, you know, like you were talking about, like working on spreadsheets, on how you can better serve

Jessica Smith: Mm-hmm.

Jamie Gruol: through the advisory work that you’re doing with them.

That doesn’t come from grinding it out every day, all day and not giving your brain an opportunity to quiet. That comes from the quiet moments where you’re reading a book or

Jessica Smith: Mm-hmm.

Jamie Gruol: something that you enjoy that is not the everyday grind. And so. The, that’s why I wanted to ask specifically about the value to a, as a business owner, because that’s where that CEO brain can really start operating and optimizing your business for growth and scaling and, and new opportunity if that is something you are

Jessica Smith: Yep.

Jamie Gruol: if you don’t wanna seek growth and scaling, you still will find that you’re able to better serve your clients in a more enjoyable way because your brain did get a chance to quiet itself for a

Jessica Smith: Exactly. Exactly. It’s hugely important.

Jamie Gruol: Yeah. So, I wanna just check in with you when you come back from your time away, and we will wrap up with this last bit here.

When you come back from your time away, what is the feeling you have? Are you excited to reengage? Like, where are you at when you come back? Because you take, I don’t think you said specifically, but you take as you mentioned, like April

Jessica Smith: Mm-hmm.

Jamie Gruol: April 30th. Like you guys are, are mostly outta the office.

Like you’ll check in a little bit, but you’re, you’re mostly with the fam, right?

Jessica Smith: I, I definitely feel, there is a sense of renewal that comes from, taking the time off and, and resetting. ’cause some, it’s, it’s kind of like I described earlier, it’s like you’re trying to reconcile a bank account and you’re off by, you know, a penny. I. I, you’re not gonna find that damn penny unless you go go out for a couple of hours and come back and look at it again.

And it’s the same thing that I look at, like the vacation. So I, I do feel like a rush to the deadline and then a relief when I get down to the, when I get down to the time off

Jamie Gruol: Yeah. And when you come back, how are you feeling?

Jessica Smith: overall, overall revived, because my motivation resets, right? Because you kind of get into this lull where it’s like, go, go, go, go, go. And then. At least get back to like I can start the climb again to where it feels like I’m not trying to like race against myself.

Jamie Gruol: Sure. And are you anxious about the return back with like workload or anything? Or

Jessica Smith: No.

Jamie Gruol: your systems support you in staying organized and knowing where to pick back up when you come back?

Jessica Smith: Yeah. The important thing with the systems is that it does give us a very accurate accounting of like where we left off. So there isn’t a question of like, oh, did I miss this? Or did I miss that? That has been a really big benefit for us. , but yeah, I, I usually come back ready, ready to tackle, you know, what, what’s been left over.

Jamie Gruol: Yeah. Awesome. Well, Jess, I want to thank you for sharing that, and I hope that if you’re listening to this and you’re like, I haven’t taken a vacation, or I don’t have one on my calendar. I’m

Jessica Smith: Mm-hmm.

Jamie Gruol: you today to go and schedule a week off this summer. Just something that you can step away, let your brain unwind a bit, go and do something that you enjoy doing. Leave the computer at the office. Leave the computer at home, whatever that looks like for you. And tell your clients, communicate with them. Say, I’m gonna go outta office so I can come

Jessica Smith: Mm-hmm.

Jamie Gruol: better version of me. For you, and they will understand wholly and celebrate you for doing that, and hopefully they’ll do a little bit of that in their lives too. But you’re a business owner. You have the right to make these choices. Go ask your boss, tell her you need some time off and put it on the calendar.

Jessica Smith: Absolutely.

Jamie Gruol: Awesome. Well, if you do that, reach out to us on Facebook. Send Jess I a dm. Let us know you signed up for your vacation and you are going to make that happen this year.

We’re excited to celebrate that for you and with you, and look forward to hearing how you feel on the other side of that time off. Bye till our next episode, Jess, thanks for being here and we’ll see you guys in our next podcast. ​