Leo Rodolfi hadn’t taken a summer vacation in over eight years.
His wife and kids had come to accept that he would never see the beautiful beaches, National Parks, and lush forests they discovered over the years without him…and while they complained about it for the first few years, they came to accept it and started working together after each trip to build a slideshow of their vacation to show Leo.
They never seemed to notice that Leo teared up during every slideshow. He hid it well but silently vowed every time that he would not miss their summer vacation the next year.
He broke that promise to himself year after year, until something happened on his 40th birthday. As he prepared to blow out his candles with his oldest son at eye level for the first time, he looked up at his wife’s (very few) wrinkles and realized how much time had passed since he became a business owner.
Too many years of sideshows flashed before his eyes in a harsh reminder of how much he was missing as he continued to grow his lawn care business. His bank account grew significantly, but he couldn’t be there for any of the summer vacations the business’ success afforded his family. He just had to wait for the slides.
Sure, he was able to join them during the holiday season when they traveled across the country to see his parents in California every December. But running a lawn care business meant summer vacations were out of the question. He had people to manage, accounts to handle and 85% of his revenue to control over the three months the boys were out of school.
But on his 40th birthday, that slideshow flashback hit him hard. He blew out the candles with a wish that he would keep his promise to join his family on summer vacation that year, and he spent the next couple of weeks asking friends and other business owners for advice. One of them referred him to a buddy’s communications office, and from that point on everything changed.
Leo called the office and explained his situation: he was a business owner who had people and accounts to manage during the company’s busiest season, but he wanted to be able to travel with his family. The communications specialist, Angie, took his situation to heart. Her father was never around for summer vacations when she was younger.
Angie explained that Leo could easily get away and continue to run his business by managing and communicating with his team through a customized yet affordable setup.
“We can set up a ‘mobile extension’ for you that virtually puts you right at your desk extension but sends anything that would ring there straight to your cell phone. Your office employees and receptionist will still be able to transfer calls to your extension and then connect to you on your mobile, so you’ll still be available but you won’t be tied to every call that comes in,” said Angie.
“That sounds great, Angie,” said Leo, “but I definitely make many more calls from my office than the amount of calls I receive. I’m not sure I want my cell phone to be accessible to anyone who receives a sales call or customer courtesy call from me.”
“Neither would I!” Angie smiled. “The whole point is to do what is necessary while you’re out but to spend as much time as possible with your family, right?”
Leo nodded and grinned. He was getting excited and already envisioning beaches and mountain biking. “Yep!” he exclaimed.
“We’ll set it up so that you’re making outbound calls from your business number via your mobile. You can make all the calls you want but you won’t be sending your cell number to anyone. Like with the incoming calls, your cell will call out from your mobile extension via your business number.”
Angie was so excited for Leo. And she wished her dad could have had this opportunity 20 years ago.
“That’s amazing!” said Leo. “Will it take a lot of time to set up?”
“Nope,” Angie replied. “In fact, you should probably start packing. It can be ready tomorrow if you are.”
Leo smiled, thanked her and set up the appointment for installation the next day. He then called his wife and told her to let the kids know that he was coming along this year. “No more slideshows,” he told her with a huge smile as he teared up for the last time over slideshows of summer vacations.