1. First, even small and home business owners have employees sometimes. If that is the case with your small or home business, you're simply going to have to leave it in the hands of your employees. In this sense, you're no different than large business owners. He or she takes a vacation, and their subordinates make sure things run smoothly while they're gone. The boss continues to keep track of things, of course, but only in a very minimal way, so that he or she can get the maximal advantage of their time in the sun.

2. But what if you're a small or home business owner and you have no employees-you run the whole show yourself? What are your options then? Well, we're going to have to stick with our original idea, which was that everyone needs a vacation from time to time. So, even you need a vacation. But we've seen that as you go, so goes the business. What to do?

The fact is that a lot of small or home business owners without employees simply have to work a little harder than their compatriots with employees. What do we mean in this case by working harder? Well, these small business/home owners still have to find time for vacations; but they may have structure their vacations a little differently.

Now, it may be possible for these small home or business owners to simply shut down for a week or so. That is, they say to their customers: Hey, I'll be going on vacation for a week or so; please have a good time while I'm away, and I'll see to your needs as soon as I get back. Some small home or business owners feel confident enough in their customer base that they can do such a thing without negative repercussions.

Some small home or business owners, on the other hand, simply can't afford to drop their work in order to go on vacation. This means that they'll have to take their work with them. This is assuming, of course, that their business can be transacted on a computer; if, on the other hand, they walk dogs, for example, taking their business with them on vacation is obviously going to be impossible. I suspect, though, that businesspeople that specialize in things such as dog-walking can afford to take a vacation without everything falling in ruins around their ears. The businesses that might really require constant attention, on the other hand, are those that require daily work on the computer, whether it is to keep track of sells, send orders, etc.

All that this means is that the small home or business owner who can't afford to leave his or her business entirely will have to do a little of that business on an island somewhere rather than at home. In other words, they might have to work a few hours during the day as usual, but at night, rather than meeting with their local bridge club or whatever, they can dance and eat in a seaside club.

Small business owners, home business owners, often have to make a few sacrifices when it comes to things like vacationing. They still need to vacation, however; they still need to get away; and, thanks to the miracle of modern computers, they still can, and keep track of what's going on at home simultaneously.