The storm before the calm... hopefully
10 months ago I made the decision to take a whole month off. And in 3 days time, that month off begins.
To be totally honest it still doesn’t feel real. And I don’t think it will until I shut my laptop this Friday at 5pm (wishful thinking?) and realise there’ll be no clients to coach, podcasts to record or emails to answer for four whole weeks.
Since my burnout in 2017 I haven’t taken more than Christmas off. So why go from that to a full month? Well, aside from the fact that I don’t like to do things by halves, the me of 10 months ago had a few reasons...
August is naturally quiet and in past years that’s made me panic that things are failing and as a result find the whole month pretty stressful.
I fancy a rest after spending 3 years getting the business off the ground and not really taking my foot off the gas.
My life and identity are hugely wrapped up in my business and whilst that’s served me so far, it’s a balance I’m looking to shift.
I want to be sustainable by building a business that can handle a month on pause and in turn, learn to trust what I’ve built.
10 months ago I had no clue about the way my business was about to pivot (bringing in group programmes) or the pandemic we were about to face (hey corona) so with those factors also in tow, August off makes a whole lot of sense.
So with 3 days to go until the idea I had back in 2019 comes to life, I thought I’d unpack a little of what it’s looked like to prep for this...
THE PRACTICAL
I’d always assumed that taking a month off was reserved for the 7 figure global coaches with teams of 20 and followers in the millions. But over the last 10 months I’ve realised that for a business like mine, where clients and programmes are one off, it’s actually not too hard.
Sure, it takes forward planning and a lot of project management. But it’s doable.
I started talking about it 10 months out - I’m probably a bit of a broken record at this point.
I didn’t take on long term clients after March.
I’ve only said yes to projects and opportunities which line up with this month off.
I over-communicated it to all clients and ensured people were happy with how it would impact them.
Emily and I have factored August off into all of our project management.
I’ve been holding off on spending the businesses profit to cover August’s expenses.
There’s no doubt I’ll have missed some little task but I feel pretty confident that by this Friday all clients, projects and team will be wrapped up and ready to be picked back up in September. Note the words ‘by this Friday’ in that last sentence - right now my to-do list is LONG and I'm having to be V strict with myself about what's a priority and what's not.
THE MENTAL
I expected the practical stuff but if I'm being honest, the mental side has been tougher.
In a call with my mentor Jo last week I was talking through all the fears and thoughts I had about pausing the business for a month and I realised how it all came back to my (false) belief that work was safe and rest was not.
You see, the last time I stepped back from business I got diagnosed with depression, completely shut the business and ended up taking 7 months off so you don’t have to be a therapist to see the link between that experience and my belief about rest.
It’s helpful to notice that a lot of the thoughts running through my head (I won’t return to a business, everyone will forget about me, I'll never want to come back, clients will move on etc) aren’t valid but are coming from that belief. And as tough as it's been to walk through the last few months with that belief in tow, it’s a belief I’m looking forward to rewriting.
So what do I have planned for August you may (or may not…) ask? Well, a whole lot of paddle boarding, seeing friends, sitting in spas and reading books I think. I’m just about to finish Desperate Housewives so any recommendations of binge worthy shows are V appreciated.
I’ll still be hanging out over on Instagram whilst sharing some (pre-created!) content to help you level up elements of your business so be sure to follow along for that. I’ll be back in your inbox in early September to check back in, share some reflections and give you the first look at something V exciting coming for you service based heroes
Until then, I'm cheering you on from a (social) distance.
