I have decided to put some specific paid days off back into my contract. Even though I am the owner of the business and a typical business owner does not collect a payment for services not rendered, I am also the only full-time employee here - that happens to do the job of about 10 people on a daily basis! So, yes, I do deserve some vacation time.
So, here's what I came up with. I gave myself 8 paid holidays and 3 unpaid scheduled closed days. I also left in the line that I had previously had which states that I will give them as much advanced notice as possible for any additional days that I close. That allows me to randomly close as needed. I also left out whether those additional days will be paid or not, so if they chose to pay me they can!
Here's my list of paid days off:
January 2nd (Monday) New Year’s Day
May 28th (Monday) Memorial Day
September 3rd (Monday) Labor Day
November 22nd (Thursday) Thanksgiving Day
November 23rd (Friday) The Day After Thanksgiving
December 24th (Monday) Christmas Eve
December 25th (Tuesday) Christmas Day
December 31st (Monday) New Year’s Eve
The unpaid days off are for my birthday, my daughter's birthday, and Mother's Day.
Hopefully this is a short enough list not to scare away any potential clients. I didn't put a week of vacation. I honestly haven't taken a vacation in so long, I wouldn't know what to do with myself if I actually took a week off! I did, however, leave the option to take a week vacation by saying that there may be additional days that I close. I also have a helper who works regularly, so really, if I want to, I can take days off where I don't work, but my business stays open. So I really can be off work alot more. I just have to pay my helper to work for me.
What do you think?