July 3, 2025 • 10 mins
Think real vacations are impossible when you’re running a VA business? Between client demands and your availability, it can feel like stepping away is a luxury you can’t afford.
But what if you could take a real break - without guilt, stress, or constant check-ins?
In this episode, Laura Nicole shares the exact steps that made her guilt-free vacation possible, and how you can build a business that supports your life, not the other way around.
If you’re craving freedom without dropping the ball, this one’s for you!
What you’ll hear in this episode:
- Personal experience taking real time off as a VA
- A three-step system to prepare your clients and workload before a vacation
- Key things to consider when planning time away
If you're curious about becoming a virtual assistant but aren't sure what skills you already have that would be valuable, grab her Career Switch Cheat Sheet. This resource helps you identify transferable skills you're already using daily that would make you successful as a VA!
What can you expect from this podcast and future episodes?
- Bite-sized episodes that give you quick, actionable insights into the Virtual Assistant industry
- Learn how to build skills, boost your confidence, and create a profitable VA business
Get the show notes and transcription here: https://www.laurajtraining.com/podcast-ep09-guilt-free-guide-to-taking-vacationa-as-a-va
Find Laura on social media:
Instagram: @hey.lauranicole
TikTok: @hey.lauranicole
Facebook: Superstar Assistant Academy
Interested in earning sustainable income on YOUR terms, working as a Virtual Assistant? Register for FREE and Click Here to Get Started
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Laura Nicole (00:02):
Welcome to your Virtual Assistant Coach, the
podcast for moms who want tomake money from home on their
own terms.
I'm your host, Laura Nicole, asuccessful six-figure earning VA
and coach, who replaced mycollege professor salary in just
five months back in 2020, aftermy daughter was born, and I
have never looked back.
I'm here to help you build aprofitable, flexible VA business
(00:24):
that fits into your family'slives, so you no longer feel
like you're living just to work.
Let's dive in.
I currently work as a virtualassistant as well as coaching
women on how to become virtualassistants, so I'm still
actively supporting clients, andI just took an eight day family
vacation to celebrate my and myhusband's 10-year wedding
(00:46):
anniversary, and on that trip, Iworked maybe a total of 60
minutes across the eight days.
In this episode, I'm going toshare with you the three things
that you need to do in order toprep to take vacation as a
virtual assistant, because itabsolutely is possible to do, as
indicated by my experience thispast week and many, many times
(01:09):
before in the previous fiveyears.
So, when you're working as avirtual assistant supporting
clients and you know that youare going to travel or take a
trip or you have people comingto visit you and you want to be
able to take time off.
You really have two choices youcan choose to work like a
reduced workload or you can becompletely out of office and
(01:30):
truly fully take the time off.
I have done a mix of both overthe past five years.
There's a lot of times that Itravel, especially if we're
going to see family, which we dooften because my husband and I
especially now, we live indifferent states from both sides
of our family, and so, since mywork is so flexible, right, I
will travel.
I'll be able to take mydaughter with us and we go spend
(01:52):
one to two weeks at a timevisiting family in different
states, and so in thosescenarios I take my work with me
.
But there are also trips thatwe have gone on with family
where I will want to work areduced workload.
I still take my phone and mycomputer because you still have
downtime, even on trips, right,you still have those little
pockets of day, either on thetravel days where you can knock
(02:14):
out a ton of work or, after youknow you get your kiddo to bed
for the night, or when peopleare just having downtime or nap
time throughout the day.
Just because you're on vacationdoesn't mean that you're busy
24-7.
And then I've also taken tripswhere I want to be completely
out of office.
I want to turn my work brainoff 100%.
So you have that choice.
(02:34):
It just depends on what kind oftrip you're going on and where
you want to be able to like haveyour brain while you're on the
trip.
Right, so it can go either way.
Regardless of which approachyou're taking whether you're
happy to be doing some workwhile traveling or you want to
be completely out the very firstthing to do when you are
planning travel or you knowyou're going to be out for a set
(02:58):
period of time is tocommunicate with your clients.
I cannot stress this enough,but that needs to be the very,
very first thing that you do.
Number one it's just theprofessional, courteous thing to
do to give them as much headsup as you possibly can.
And number two, the more headsup they have right, the more
that y'all can work together tomake sure that everything is
(03:19):
taken care of and planned outand worked on ahead of time so
that things don't fall betweenthe cracks just because you're
out.
And while I do not want youscheduling your life around your
client and their business.
It is important to be mindful ofyour client's business and
their schedule.
So an example of this is thispast Christmas.
We traveled to Colorado tospend Christmas at my mom's
(03:42):
house, and then my daughter andI stayed a little bit into
January to get some extra time.
But one of my main clients, whoI've worked with for years,
does what her biggest launch ofthe year mid January, and so I
know that right, I know that hermost massive launch of the
entire year is going to happenmid January, and so I made sure
that I was home and back andfully operational and in my
(04:05):
routine before that launchkicked off.
Right, because I play a prettyintegral part in that launch and
so I needed to be a hundredpercent for that.
So again, I'm not saying thatyour life has to be run by your
client schedule, but especiallyif you've been working with a
client and you know that theyhave certain times of year, that
client and you know that theyhave certain times of year that
(04:25):
are incredibly busy, or theyhave certain times of year that
they always launch, and it'sthis whole big thing.
Be conscious of that right, beaware of that.
Talk with them about dates sothat, as long as you have the
ability to, you can make it workright.
I will say that I have never infive years had a client say,
nope, sorry, no vacation for you, you can't take time off, I
(04:49):
need you here, like that's notgoing to work, it's not going to
happen right.
But we do just need tocommunicate efficiently,
effectively and early.
As soon as you possibly can,communicate with them the dates
Also, letting them know like,hey, this is a trip, that I
really want to be fully out ofoffice.
Or hey, I'm taking this trip,but I am taking my computer,
(05:10):
I'll be plugging in for 30minutes every night, you know,
for things that need to get done.
Just giving them a heads up ofwhat your expectation is and how
you're wanting your workload tolook while you're traveling.
Okay, so that was step numberone of three is to communicate.
Step number two of three is tothen work ahead and get as many
things done, as many of yourresponsibilities complete,
(05:32):
before you travel, so that,regardless of if you're working
at all while you go or not, asmuch of it is done as possible
prior to being out.
A lot of times there are thingsthat you can do ahead for your
clients, like scheduling outemails or if you're scheduling
their content on social.
If they have it ready for you,you can get it scheduled ahead
of time.
You can do things like writingtheir newsletters or creating
(05:54):
Canva graphics that they needthat stuff that you can get done
ahead of time.
But again, you're only reallyable to get it done ahead of
time if you communicated in atimely fashion so that they can
get what you need to you earlierin order to get it done before
you're out.
What I like to do typically onceI know I have certain dates
that I'm going to be out is Iwill go through my normal work
(06:17):
for the client, plus anythingthat will be coming up in that
time frame, and do like a braindump of all of the things that
are my responsibility in thattime frame and then go through
and highlight all of the thingsthat are my responsibility in
that time frame and then gothrough and highlight all of the
things that I can do prior toleaving and then, if I am taking
my work with me, if this is atrip where I'm going to find
those pockets of time whiletraveling, to keep working even
(06:39):
though I'm not at home.
Now, by working ahead, I haveminimized and reduced my active
workload for the time that I'mout by a lot, and so I'm
actually able to optimize thetime that I'm out and traveling
and get to focus on that andthen just fit my work into the
pockets.
And then step number three tobeing able to take time out, go
(07:00):
travel, take vacation as a VA isthat if there are things that
cannot be scheduled out ahead,right, some things need to be
done in real time.
Some things like running weeklyreports for your client on the
numbers of their business.
You can't do that ahead becausethe data doesn't exist yet,
right?
So for those kinds of tasksthat have to be done in real
time, have a chat with yourclient about delegating those
(07:22):
specific tasks to someone else.
This is obviously moreimportant if you plan on being
fully and completely out ofoffice, because those things
still need to be done.
They just will get done bysomeone else for that time frame
.
I have had experiences in thepast where it's literally just
me and my client, like there'snot a team, there's no one else,
(07:43):
and so in that instance myclient has just taken over those
tasks for the time that I'm outor in a couple of occasions
they've just said like, hey,it's fine, you can just do it
when you get back, like it's notthat urgent that it has to be
done while you're out, you canjust do it once you get back
into office.
And I've also had times where Iwork with clients who we do
have a team and there are otherpeople and so we're just able to
(08:04):
hand that task off to one oftheir other VAs or their OBM and
someone else on the team canjust take it over for that bit
of time that I'm out.
It truly is that simple.
It's not this big complex thing.
You don't have to put in PTO,you don't have to get time off
approved.
You really just need to beclear and communicative with
your client and then beproactive, work ahead, get as
(08:28):
much done as you possibly canbefore you go and then go.
Enjoy the hell out of your timeoff.
I know I did.
This trip that we just went onwas like the best freaking
family time.
So many core memories were made.
It is a trip that I, my husbandand our daughter will remember
honestly, I think, for the restof our lives, and I was able to
(08:49):
do it with zero guilt, any worryabout what was happening at
work, because I was proactiveand I handled my shit ahead of
time and was truly able to checkout.
Hopefully this is helpful toyou.
I know we are early in thesummer right now and that tends
to be a time where a lot offamily vacations are taken and
whatnot.
So if you are actively workingas a VA right now and you have
(09:10):
trips coming up, make sure youimplement these three steps.
And, on the flip side of that,if you are not a VA, if you are
someone who has been reallycurious and learning more about
virtual assistants but you stillfeel a little uncertain as to
what skills you have that wouldbe really valuable as a virtual
assistant, then I want you totake a second and pop down into
the show notes and grab mycareer switch cheat sheet.
(09:33):
It's a downloadable resourcethat will help you identify the
things that you're already doingevery single day at work and
yes, that includes stay atidentify the things that you're
already doing every single dayat work and, yes, that includes
stay-at-home moms, because thatis a job and it will show you
directly how those skillstransfer into virtual assistant
services.
Just to kind of get that ballrolling in your head and help
you see those connections ofwhat you already do and how
(09:54):
those would be incrediblyvaluable and make you successful
as a virtual assistant.
Just click the link in yourshow notes, pop in your name and
email address and you will getthat cheat sheet sent directly
to your email inbox.
Thanks for hanging out with metoday on your Virtual Assistant
Coach.
If you loved this episode, besure to share it with your best
friend, your sister or even yourfavorite coworker who you know
(10:17):
wants to start making a flexibleincome.
I'll see you all next time.
Welcome to your Virtual Assistant Coach, the
podcast for moms who want tomake money from home on their
own terms.
I'm your host, Laura Nicole, asuccessful six-figure earning VA
and coach, who replaced mycollege professor salary in just
five months back in 2020, aftermy daughter was born, and I
have never looked back.
I'm here to help you build aprofitable, flexible VA business
(00:24):
that fits into your family'slives, so you no longer feel
like you're living just to work.
Let's dive in.
I currently work as a virtualassistant as well as coaching
women on how to become virtualassistants, so I'm still
actively supporting clients, andI just took an eight day family
vacation to celebrate my and myhusband's 10-year wedding
(00:46):
anniversary, and on that trip, Iworked maybe a total of 60
minutes across the eight days.
In this episode, I'm going toshare with you the three things
that you need to do in order toprep to take vacation as a
virtual assistant, because itabsolutely is possible to do, as
indicated by my experience thispast week and many, many times
(01:09):
before in the previous fiveyears.
So, when you're working as avirtual assistant supporting
clients and you know that youare going to travel or take a
trip or you have people comingto visit you and you want to be
able to take time off.
You really have two choices youcan choose to work like a
reduced workload or you can becompletely out of office and
(01:30):
truly fully take the time off.
I have done a mix of both overthe past five years.
There's a lot of times that Itravel, especially if we're
going to see family, which we dooften because my husband and I
especially now, we live indifferent states from both sides
of our family, and so, since mywork is so flexible, right, I
will travel.
I'll be able to take mydaughter with us and we go spend
(01:52):
one to two weeks at a timevisiting family in different
states, and so in thosescenarios I take my work with me
.
But there are also trips thatwe have gone on with family
where I will want to work areduced workload.
I still take my phone and mycomputer because you still have
downtime, even on trips, right,you still have those little
pockets of day, either on thetravel days where you can knock
(02:14):
out a ton of work or, after youknow you get your kiddo to bed
for the night, or when peopleare just having downtime or nap
time throughout the day.
Just because you're on vacationdoesn't mean that you're busy
24-7.
And then I've also taken tripswhere I want to be completely
out of office.
I want to turn my work brainoff 100%.
So you have that choice.
(02:34):
It just depends on what kind oftrip you're going on and where
you want to be able to like haveyour brain while you're on the
trip.
Right, so it can go either way.
Regardless of which approachyou're taking whether you're
happy to be doing some workwhile traveling or you want to
be completely out the very firstthing to do when you are
planning travel or you knowyou're going to be out for a set
(02:58):
period of time is tocommunicate with your clients.
I cannot stress this enough,but that needs to be the very,
very first thing that you do.
Number one it's just theprofessional, courteous thing to
do to give them as much headsup as you possibly can.
And number two, the more headsup they have right, the more
that y'all can work together tomake sure that everything is
(03:19):
taken care of and planned outand worked on ahead of time so
that things don't fall betweenthe cracks just because you're
out.
And while I do not want youscheduling your life around your
client and their business.
It is important to be mindful ofyour client's business and
their schedule.
So an example of this is thispast Christmas.
We traveled to Colorado tospend Christmas at my mom's
(03:42):
house, and then my daughter andI stayed a little bit into
January to get some extra time.
But one of my main clients, whoI've worked with for years,
does what her biggest launch ofthe year mid January, and so I
know that right, I know that hermost massive launch of the
entire year is going to happenmid January, and so I made sure
that I was home and back andfully operational and in my
(04:05):
routine before that launchkicked off.
Right, because I play a prettyintegral part in that launch and
so I needed to be a hundredpercent for that.
So again, I'm not saying thatyour life has to be run by your
client schedule, but especiallyif you've been working with a
client and you know that theyhave certain times of year, that
client and you know that theyhave certain times of year that
(04:25):
are incredibly busy, or theyhave certain times of year that
they always launch, and it'sthis whole big thing.
Be conscious of that right, beaware of that.
Talk with them about dates sothat, as long as you have the
ability to, you can make it workright.
I will say that I have never infive years had a client say,
nope, sorry, no vacation for you, you can't take time off, I
(04:49):
need you here, like that's notgoing to work, it's not going to
happen right.
But we do just need tocommunicate efficiently,
effectively and early.
As soon as you possibly can,communicate with them the dates
Also, letting them know like,hey, this is a trip, that I
really want to be fully out ofoffice.
Or hey, I'm taking this trip,but I am taking my computer,
(05:10):
I'll be plugging in for 30minutes every night, you know,
for things that need to get done.
Just giving them a heads up ofwhat your expectation is and how
you're wanting your workload tolook while you're traveling.
Okay, so that was step numberone of three is to communicate.
Step number two of three is tothen work ahead and get as many
things done, as many of yourresponsibilities complete,
(05:32):
before you travel, so that,regardless of if you're working
at all while you go or not, asmuch of it is done as possible
prior to being out.
A lot of times there are thingsthat you can do ahead for your
clients, like scheduling outemails or if you're scheduling
their content on social.
If they have it ready for you,you can get it scheduled ahead
of time.
You can do things like writingtheir newsletters or creating
(05:54):
Canva graphics that they needthat stuff that you can get done
ahead of time.
But again, you're only reallyable to get it done ahead of
time if you communicated in atimely fashion so that they can
get what you need to you earlierin order to get it done before
you're out.
What I like to do typically onceI know I have certain dates
that I'm going to be out is Iwill go through my normal work
(06:17):
for the client, plus anythingthat will be coming up in that
time frame, and do like a braindump of all of the things that
are my responsibility in thattime frame and then go through
and highlight all of the thingsthat are my responsibility in
that time frame and then gothrough and highlight all of the
things that I can do prior toleaving and then, if I am taking
my work with me, if this is atrip where I'm going to find
those pockets of time whiletraveling, to keep working even
(06:39):
though I'm not at home.
Now, by working ahead, I haveminimized and reduced my active
workload for the time that I'mout by a lot, and so I'm
actually able to optimize thetime that I'm out and traveling
and get to focus on that andthen just fit my work into the
pockets.
And then step number three tobeing able to take time out, go
(07:00):
travel, take vacation as a VA isthat if there are things that
cannot be scheduled out ahead,right, some things need to be
done in real time.
Some things like running weeklyreports for your client on the
numbers of their business.
You can't do that ahead becausethe data doesn't exist yet,
right?
So for those kinds of tasksthat have to be done in real
time, have a chat with yourclient about delegating those
(07:22):
specific tasks to someone else.
This is obviously moreimportant if you plan on being
fully and completely out ofoffice, because those things
still need to be done.
They just will get done bysomeone else for that time frame
.
I have had experiences in thepast where it's literally just
me and my client, like there'snot a team, there's no one else,
(07:43):
and so in that instance myclient has just taken over those
tasks for the time that I'm outor in a couple of occasions
they've just said like, hey,it's fine, you can just do it
when you get back, like it's notthat urgent that it has to be
done while you're out, you canjust do it once you get back
into office.
And I've also had times where Iwork with clients who we do
have a team and there are otherpeople and so we're just able to
(08:04):
hand that task off to one oftheir other VAs or their OBM and
someone else on the team canjust take it over for that bit
of time that I'm out.
It truly is that simple.
It's not this big complex thing.
You don't have to put in PTO,you don't have to get time off
approved.
You really just need to beclear and communicative with
your client and then beproactive, work ahead, get as
(08:28):
much done as you possibly canbefore you go and then go.
Enjoy the hell out of your timeoff.
I know I did.
This trip that we just went onwas like the best freaking
family time.
So many core memories were made.
It is a trip that I, my husbandand our daughter will remember
honestly, I think, for the restof our lives, and I was able to
(08:49):
do it with zero guilt, any worryabout what was happening at
work, because I was proactiveand I handled my shit ahead of
time and was truly able to checkout.
Hopefully this is helpful toyou.
I know we are early in thesummer right now and that tends
to be a time where a lot offamily vacations are taken and
whatnot.
So if you are actively workingas a VA right now and you have
(09:10):
trips coming up, make sure youimplement these three steps.
And, on the flip side of that,if you are not a VA, if you are
someone who has been reallycurious and learning more about
virtual assistants but you stillfeel a little uncertain as to
what skills you have that wouldbe really valuable as a virtual
assistant, then I want you totake a second and pop down into
the show notes and grab mycareer switch cheat sheet.
(09:33):
It's a downloadable resourcethat will help you identify the
things that you're already doingevery single day at work and
yes, that includes stay atidentify the things that you're
already doing every single dayat work and, yes, that includes
stay-at-home moms, because thatis a job and it will show you
directly how those skillstransfer into virtual assistant
services.
Just to kind of get that ballrolling in your head and help
you see those connections ofwhat you already do and how
(09:54):
those would be incrediblyvaluable and make you successful
as a virtual assistant.
Just click the link in yourshow notes, pop in your name and
email address and you will getthat cheat sheet sent directly
to your email inbox.
Thanks for hanging out with metoday on your Virtual Assistant
Coach.
If you loved this episode, besure to share it with your best
friend, your sister or even yourfavorite coworker who you know
(10:17):
wants to start making a flexibleincome.
I'll see you all next time.
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