A couple of times a year, I used time away to see how well the practice could operate without me. A couple of times a year, my wife (who also worked in the practice) and I would leave and go completely MIA. We would use this as an opportunity to stress-test the business. I never really thought of it as a "business system" until I started talking about it with clients. But as we dug into it, I realized this is one of the most enjoyable AND high-leverage ways you can improve your operations!
So, practice owner, let me ask you: "Could you take a two-week vacation without stepping back into your business even once?" No admin work. No inbox triage. No firefighting. You could only step in if something exceeds pre-defined criteria, like a serious safety risk or a major financial impact. The Vacation Test isn’t really about taking time off.
(Though it is a great excuse for some "me time") It’s a stress test for your systems, people, and leadership. What would happen to your practice if you walked away for 14 days?
Would billing stall?
Would patients feel the gap?
Would your team freeze, improvise, or rise?
Would you come back to a mess you have to clean up?
The fear of something breaking might have stopped you from stepping away before. But what if you could treat anything that goes wrong as "life tuition"?
An opportunity to learn more about your business so you can proactively shore up its weaknesses. You'll learn where your business still depends on you to survive so you can start to design something more resilient. So what do you think - where are you going to book your time away for "The Vacation Test"?
