Entrepreneurs are not known for wanting to lose control and, as the recession bites ever harder, the decision on whether or not to take a holiday is a tough one.  Apart from the financial costs of taking a break, can entrepreneurs really afford to stop? Should they trust people in their teams to carry the responsibility while they are away?  Will the world fall apart if they are not there for ten days.

My answers to these questions are yes, yes and no.  Having taken my first proper break in a few years (if you are interested, ten days walking in the Dolomites), I can honestly say it is the best thing for the business that I have done in a long while.  In the short term it was, obviously, a dubious decision.  But as we had paid the full costs of the holiday when there was money in the bank, the only direct costs were day-to-day ones.

As we left to go away, all hell broke loose with potential leads or, better, potential contracts, coming in from what felt like everywhere.  I negotiated a compromise with my family: I was permitted my BlackBerry on the condition that I didn't check it all the time and I was allowed to carry my phone with me.  I spent at least a month before telling everyone that I was going away and set up appropriate out-of-office messages accordingly.  I left a few interns in charge of key bits of the business (and yes, we did pay them) and left.

The best thing about it, though, was that I had ten days of time and space to sort through the muddle of thoughts, plans and priorities while I was trudging up mountains.  After all, you need something to take your mind off the pain that your body is going through.  It gave me a strange sense of perspective on the whole business, what we were trying to achieve and where we were going with it.  When you have to explain what you do for a living to someone in a bar whom you are never likely to see again, it focuses your mind - rather like the elevator pitch!

So my advice is yes, take a holiday and, if you feel you can't leave off completely then take a BlackBerry.  And do use the army of enthusiastic, entrepreneurial and bright young graduates leaving schools, colleges and universities at the moment.  Pay them a living wage and they will truly reward you for the trust you place in them.