How a Vacation Helped me in Launching a Successful Company

Introduction

Being in the business world for more than 15 years now, I've worked my way up from being a junior associate at one of the biggest investment banks in the world to being an entrepreneur and CEO of a successful startup.

In that time, I've learned that it's important to take time off on occasion, even if it means taking a few weeks off or even just an afternoon off every so often!

In this article, I'll explain why taking breaks is so beneficial and how you can use them to launch your next big project.

Working 12-hour days.

I was working 12 Hour days in my earlier days. It wasn't that I didn't have a life, I just thought it was the best way to get things done.

I thought that if I worked more hours than everyone else, then maybe they'd respect me more. Maybe they'd see me as more valuable or competent than the other employees.

I also believed that if I went home on time like most people did, then my boss would think less of me and not give me enough projects or opportunities for advancement.

Being Smart and Efficient with my time.

I have a confession to make: I am not perfect, and neither are you. But that's okay! We can learn from our mistakes, and in this case it was simply that my work-life balance was out of whack.

I thought I was being smart and efficient with my time when I took on more than one project at a time. I wanted to be able to respond quickly when an opportunity presented itself so that I could take advantage of it instead of losing the chance entirely and I also wanted to be able to work on multiple projects at once because they were all interesting in their own right!

But here's the thing: none of these things are good reasons for working too much.

In reality, working too much takes its toll on your health, your relationships, and your creativity. It might help you achieve short-term goals like getting something done faster than usual or finishing ahead of schedule, but ultimately these achievements won't matter if your health suffers because you're overworked or if you end up burning out altogether because there's no time left for other things that matter just as much if not more, like spending quality time with loved ones or even just doing something fun for yourself off work hours!

But I wasn't being smart or efficient.

Being creative and being efficient are fundamentally at odds. You can’t be both at the same time.

In order to come up with new ideas, you have to be in a state of mind where you’re open and accepting of all kinds of possibilities, even if they seem crazy or illogical at first glance. If your brain is too focused on how things should be done, it will shut down its ability to think creatively by defaulting back to established patterns. This is why most people aren't very good at coming up with new ideas because they're too focused on being efficient!

But once an idea has been developed, there's no reason not to want it executed efficiently! When implementation becomes part of the process, then efficiency becomes paramount because there's no sense wasting time or energy working on something that isn't going anywhere fast enough for your liking.

My Work started taking over my life.

I’m sure you have heard this before: “You need a work-life balance.” As the owner of a business, I understand the importance of this statement and try to practice it daily. In fact, I was in great shape when it came to my personal life and retaining control over my schedule until recently.

But then something happened that threw me out of whack: I took on too much work. More specifically, one project became two projects and then three projects which eventually turned into four projects when I decided that taking on more would be beneficial for my business. My days were packed with meetings and calls with clients, sometimes even up until midnight, that left little time for exercise or anything else besides eating dinner at 7pm before falling asleep on the couch with my laptop open next to me like an electronic security blanket  with no day off. The result was that my work-life balance got so out of sync that work started taking over my entire life.

A Break Will Minimize Your Mistakes!

You need to take time off to recharge. You need time away from the daily grind so that when it's time to get back in the game, your brain is clearer and more creative than ever before. If not done properly, this can result in burnout or even worse: being stuck at home every day for months during which nothing gets done except maybe eating some ice cream.

Taking a break for 3 weeks and unplugging from work.

During that time, I traveled the country with my husband and dabbled in some new hobbies. We drank wine in San Francisco, ate ice cream in Boston, went hiking in Colorado Springs, and explored New York City all while being present with my spouse. It was an amazing experience that allowed me to reconnect with some of my long-lost passions during our travels: photography and writing.

I’ve always been passionate about photography and writing, but I hadn’t had the time to pursue these hobbies. When I got back from my break, I started making small changes that allowed me to work on my passions every day.

Changing days in - Paris, London, Madrid, Barcelona, Amsterdam etc.

And I had an absolutely amazing trip to Europe with my husband, where we went to different cities every day--Paris, London, Madrid, Barcelona, Amsterdam.

We saw the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower; we strolled through Hyde Park and Piccadilly Circus; we ate at wonderful restaurants and drank delicious wine; we visited museums and art galleries; we hired artists for our kids' birthday parties (the kids loved it).

Our friends joined us in Paris, they were there for a conference so they treated us to dinner one night! And then our family came too--we took them out for dinner at a fancy French restaurant overlooking Notre Dame cathedral.

Getting the Idea To Start A Business on London Streets

I realized that there were two ways to run a business. Either you could do what so many people did, and work all the time without taking a break, or you could take time off and build up your creative well so that when you got back to work, you could really make things happen.

I also realized that this isn’t just some kind of philosophical distinction—it had real implications for productivity and efficiency. If your creative well is full, then it doesn’t matter how many hours a day you work on something: Your productivity will be high because of all that extra energy in reserve.

Launching the business in 3 months.

We launched the business just three months later. It was called iPaytotal, and it was a payments aggregator that worked with global merchants. I partnered with a few developers from my old company and some of my friends who were engineers to build the platform while also doing all of our marketing, sales, and customer support ourselves. We had no office space; we worked out of an apartment in Delhi.

With zero funding and no sponsorship deals or investment offers, we built an MVP (minimum viable product) on time and raised money through venture debt funds just one month after launching our website. Now we have offices in London, New York City, Singapore and India with over 75 employees across multiple verticals: mobile app development (including iOS apps), enterprise cloud solutions such as CRM systems for small businesses ; data analytics for sectors like manufacturing & retail (where we analyzed millions worth of transactions every day).

Our team is made up of some of the best minds in their respective fields. We have a diverse range of expertise that enables us to cater to our clients’ needs.

Breaks more you productive

You will be more productive.

Taking a break from your work can allow you to come back with a fresh perspective and renewed energy, which is essential for making the most of your time at the office. When we're working all day long and every single day, it's easy to get caught up in the daily grind. Even if you love what you do, that doesn't mean that you should never take a vacation or disconnect from it for any reason at all, you might surprise yourself by how much more productive, inspired and focused on reaching your goals when you return!

Conclusion

I used to think that the only way to be productive was by working all the time. I thought that this would make me more successful and happy in life. But after I took a vacation, I realized that there is another way- You can take time off, unplug from work and then come back with fresh ideas and a clear head. This has been great for my career because it allows me to launch new businesses with ease. You should try it too!

Share your thoughts in the comments, NOW.