How the vacationing business owners cope with unreachable

New technology helps

NEW YORK, June 28, (AP): While hiking in the Himalayas for three weeks, Mike Scanlin had no cellphone service much of the time and no way to charge his phone. Running his business — a oneman operation — became a very sporadic proposition.

It was a calculated risk. “I felt I was going to lose customers, lose some business if they couldn’t get a response for three days,” says Scanlin, owner of Born to Sell, a business software company based in Las Vegas.

“But it’s worth maybe losing a bit of business to accomplish the items on your bucket list.”

Changes in technology have made it possible for vacationing small business owners to never be out of touch — unless they decide to go to a part of the world without enough cellphone towers, bandwidth or electricity. Sometimes they find out by surprise. But many understand that they’re losing their tether to their companies. Some leave the business in the hands of trusted employees, or have projects and pressing matters dealt with so being out of contact won’t be a problem.

Scanlin was able to check emails when the hiking group made it to the top of inclines during his 2012 trip. But in valleys where they camped, there was no service. And even when Scanlin could get a connection, he couldn’t download documents or photos, and the nine hour-plus time difference with the US meant a lag between emails and replies. He couldn’t go online to fix any problems that might come up with his website, and there was no one back home who could do it.

It did make Scanlin, whose company was a year-and-a-halfold when he made the trek, a little uneasy. Born to Sell survived, however, and he has since visited places like Peru and Easter Island, located nearly 2,200 miles off the coast of Chile, where cellphone and internet service were often unavailable.

Checking in is the norm for most owners. With tablets or smartphones in hand, many set aside time on a trip to at least read important emails or touch base with employees and important clients. In a recent survey of 700 small business owners and managers released by American Express, the vast majority said they check in by phone or email while on vacation. More than half of those do so at least once a day. But nearly a quarter don’t check in.

Aaron Hockel knew before he left on his two-week honeymoon to Peru last summer he would have minimal access to a cellphone network or the internet. So he decided to just be offline and leave the digital marketing company, AltaVista Strategic Partners, in the care of his three business partners and 15 staffers. They would deal with customers and issues that were his domain.

“It was a scary proposition at first because two weeks is a long time to disconnect,” says Hockel, whose company is based in Glen Burnie, Maryland.

At places like Machu Picchu, the historic Incan mountain fortress, there wasn’t any connectivity. But even at a hotel with Wi-Fi, Hockel ignored his email inbox.

“I knew, if I open this, I’m opening a Pandora’s box,” Hockel says. When he returned home, he found he’d made the right choice: “Our staff did an incredible job communicating and tackling issues.”