What? Take a vacation? Not so fast

Sometimes a vacation shows a business owner that they need to change the way they run their business.

Priscilla Colon's first vacation after starting her Miami public relations firm in 2002 was something of a disaster. She planned a week-long sightseeing trip to Budapest and Prague last August, but spent almost all her time away working.

"Everything seemed to be under control," said Colon, president of Acqua Communications. Then, "clients started requesting my support," and didn't want to work with her staff.

The systems in her office, which required her to approve work before it went out, also created something of a bottleneck that she had to fix from thousands of miles away.

When Colon returned, she began restructuring her company. Now, for example, when she takes on new clients, they begin working with her staff as well as with Colon from the get-go.

Her company has also grown more successful, allowing her to double her staff. And with her company more evolved, she's planning another vacation, in late September. Colon feels more confident that she'll be able to enjoy this one.

A well-run company that grows over time will easily survive its owner's absence.

Alfred Portale found it very hard to take any time off when he opened the Gotham Bar and Grill, an upscale Manhattan restaurant, more than 20 years ago. He worked 40 days straight before even taking one day off. The day he got married, he and his wife went down to City Hall in the morning and he then returned to the restaurant to oversee lunch.

It didn't help that the first time he took a week off, for a trip to Italy, the restaurant was in the process of being reviewed by The New York Times. The Times' critic came to the restaurant twice while Portale was away.

"I was miserable, trying to call every night to see what went on," Portale recalled. "I should not have gone."

On subsequent vacations, Portale was still tied to the business, calling in frequently.

At some point, it sank in: "It isn't a vacation if you call in every day."

Years later, with a highly professional staff, some of whom have been at the Gotham for two decades, Portale is able to go away feeling confident that the restaurant will continue to do well. But he does leave a phone number where he can be reached in an emergency.

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