For several months now, I haven't been nervous about moving abroad to Spain, nor have I been nervous about operating my business from Spain, but I've been anxiously awaiting the feeling of actually doing it.

One of the common threads among small business owners that I interact with consistently on a daily basis is that it's hard to vacation, when you're responsible for running a business and used to working 80 hours per week.

It's hard to unplug, and it's hard to compartmentalize.

We constantly find ourselves seeking out little pockets of time to get things done.

Time = The Holy Grail in some cases.

We left the USA on August 12, and nearly 48 hours after, I had the best day I've had in several months.

In the Azores, a group of islands owned by Portugal, nobody in my family set an alarm to wake up, so we all slept in until 11 a.m., missed breakfast, and nobody cared.

After a great lunch, we missed our plans of going on a hike to watch food cooked by hot springs in the Earth, as well as missing several other activities that started at 8 a.m.

So we made the best of it, hiring a driver for 20 Euros an hour to take us around the island.

To say it's gorgeous would be an amazing understatement.

We saw pockets of paradise unexpected, visiting a local Tea Factory and witnessing the local hospitality, productivity and commerce all in one.

We visited some amazing waterfalls and hiking spots, then the coolest natural ocean pool I've ever imagined.

And the best part was playing "tonk" in the backseat of a van with my kids while my wife took it all in.

It was amazing, uninterrupted time with my family. And all the while, I didn't miss a thing at work.

Technology just works that way, and the time difference doesn't hurt either. I never felt behind, and I got it all done. This was a normal Tuesday, and my favorite day in a long, long time.

Family, new places, work, co-workers, fun and productivity all in one.

Hit me up with any questions anytime at paul@datadriven.design.

Thanks for reading, watching and listening, and have a great day!

KEEP MARKETING!

Paul Hickey, Founder / CEO / Lead Strategist at Data Driven Design, LLC has created and grown businesses via digital strategy and internet marketing for more than 10 years. His sweet spot is using analytics to design and build websites and grow the audience and revenue of businesses via SEO/Blogging, Google Adwords, Bing Ads, Facebook and Instagram Ads, Social Media Content Marketing and Email Marketing. The part that he’s most passionate about is quantifying next marketing actions based on real data.