We offer paid leave in the easter week and the week between christmas and new year, in addition to four weeks vacation where three weeks are during the summer. I take some of this time off too, but my experience is that the best time for me to really do some important work, is when noone else is around. I am able to focus on developing the business much better when I do not have to care about the day to day-stuff.
Not in the same field as you, but here is what I would do: ask your current and former clients for numbers and results. The goal is to be able to credibly be able to say that company X increased their turnover by Y percent after you became their spokesperson. Then you make a list of similar businesses in the same markets and identical businesses in other markets. You contact them, introduce yourself, tell them what you did for the similar client and that you can do the same for them.