When starting out you envisioned lots of freedom to spend time with family, enjoy life, and maybe do some traveling here and there. The reality is you can’t even take two weeks off without your business starting to crumble.

Taking two weeks off is the simplest test to find out if you are a true business owner or just really “own” a glorified job.This is part three of a six part series The Top 5 Disappointments of Owning Your Own Marketing Agency.

One of the great disappointments of running you own agency comes when you realize the corporate plan with paid holidays and vacation is really a great thing. Did you experience any of these loathing thoughts as you went out on your own?

• The corporate world has me chained down.
• Forget annual leave and sick days.
• Forget early mornings and late nights.
• I’m going to have time off when I want and how I want.
• I’m going to have freedom to be with my family and loved ones.
• I’m going to travel and work remotely for a period of time.

But by now you’ve run into the reality of agency ownership I challenge you to see if you can take two weeks off outside of holiday season. Ask yourself these questions:

• Are deals made while you are gone?
• Do projects and their deliverables carry on without you?
• Are clients happy and informed?
• Is your team prepared to handle emergencies while your out?

There’s a good chance you don’t have anyone dealing with the clients other than yourself. So even if you take 3 days off, things come to a girding halt.

My guess would be after two weeks you have a handful of frustrated of customers, you’ve missed the window on a few sales, and your inbox and voicemail is being lit up by an urgent emergency or two or three or four.

That’s because you don’t run your agency.
It runs you.
And it cannot live and breathe without you.

Maybe it could make it two weeks without you.
But one month, never!

You don’t have an asset that works for you. You have a glorified job.