Why I Stopped Taking Orders for Two Weeks in December

Right before I left for India, I made the decision to shut down the ordering function on the website for a couple of weeks. It was actually a tough decision. I hate disappointing people. I could have had some temporary employees run the business in my absence. I thought long and hard about it before deciding not to do it.

A few days before Christmas, I shut off the shopping cart. Actually, it wasn’t so easy. The web platform we use doesn’t offer an “off” switch or vacation mode. I had to work with my programmer to make it happen. It’s just not standard practice in America to stop doing business. Ever. We live in a 24/7, 365 day a year business environment. You can order from anywhere, any time. I guess with a name like Reluctant, you can get away with something like this.

As the sole owner of the company, I realized that I could do whatever I wanted. I realized that it would be worse service to take orders for two weeks without being around. If problems were to arise, customers wouldn’t get taken care of properly. I realized that it would be better to shut down than to stay open.

I have to say, it was a liberating decision. I was able to go to India with a free mind. As a business owner, it was nice to have two weeks off. Of course, I spent most of my time in India finding exciting products for next year. Which will only make it more difficult to shut down for a vacation ever again. Or will it?