Owners cope with being unreachable
NEW YORK — 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 one-man 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 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 U.S. 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 half old 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.
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, Md.
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.”
Corey Kupfer, an attorney for 30 years who also has a speaking and consulting business, called his office several times a day from vacations in the early years of his practice. By about 15 years ago, he was calling just once a day, and Kupfer realized the problems his staff talked to him about were things they could handle on their own. He told them he wouldn’t call in on his next vacation.
“People figure things out when they don’t have you as a crutch. It empowers them and helps your team to grow,” says Kupfer, who’s based in New York.
Kupfer has traveled in recent years to Ecuador, the Utah desert and the West Bank, had no cellphone service and no worries because his staff and partners can handle the business without him. His mantra: “I’m not that important.”
Still, for some owners, being out of touch isn’t part of the plan.
“There was a bit of a gulp,” Chris Brantner recalls about his Rocky Mountain backpacking trip this spring when he had virtually no cellphone service. His brothers, who work with him at his Houston-based company, CutCableToday.com, were doing their jobs, but “I’m the guy who gets the call at 8 p.m. if the website’s down. That was probably the most worrisome part, if things stopped functioning.”
Brantner, whose website provides information about cable TV alternatives, was able to give one brother a heads-up that he wouldn’t be able to access the website if needed. After that, with nothing more he could do, he went back to hiking.
“It was nice to get away for a few days and turn off my brain,” Brantner says. When he reconnected, he found the website hadn’t crashed and no harm was done.