646: I Left Our Business For 3 Weeks So Far: How We Equipped The Team and Ourselves to Grow While I Am Away

For too many business owners it is a pipe-dream scenario that would allow them to leave their business for one month while it not only continue, but also grow in their absence. We are in the middle of doing it right now. After a full Spring of 2023 of working as a team to liberate more clients from chaos professionally, and celebrating some major milestones for our family (daughter’s marriage, final child graduating, and 25-year wedding anniversary), Ashley and I made a decision a while back that we would setup an epic adventure to lean into our family mission of being a light and creating space through wisdom, adventure, and time around the table.  On the last work day of June 2023 we left; and will not return until the first workday of August 2023. By leaving I mean that I, the owner, have no availability to the business team at all.  Email… deleted from my phone.  Slack…deleted from my phone. The only correspondence with any team member or client has been entirely personal to share pics and stories of our adventure.  Zero business talk or email.   The last two weeks of our time, I will do a small amount of designated client work in specific time windows that was planned well in advance; but no business meetings for me. At this writing, I trust that all things are going as planned.  Ashley (runs our financial accounting) is still working and she has access to messaging, but I have asked her to not relay anything to me good or bad.   It has been a joy, but not a picnic.   The value of this time is that Ashley and I are enjoying time devoted to each other, and in celebration of 25 years of adventure while we plan and dream for the next season in some inspiring places that have become pillars of much of the world’s modern culture. We have walked, read, rested, and had plenty to eat.   Productivity thoughts try and creep into to my mind, but a dear friend had me prepare some thoughts that I can begin to recite on repeat when distractions come into my mind, and one of those was a sobering truth that another mentor of mine shared with me back in 2015, “Scott, God’s favorite thing about you is not your productivity.” It stung when he told me that, and yet I am grateful.  I have been productive on this trip, but I have also been “intentionally wasteful”; another sobering thought this mentor gave me. This time away did not just happen.  It was not a burned-out festered mid-life crisis decided on a whim; this has been planned. Here are a few things we set in motion prior to my leaving the business for one month. First, we wrote down the desire that we had to go on this epic 25th anniversary trip.  Don’t skip this step. Second, we ensured that we as a business team were habitually working the systems and processes that we already had in place.  Reviewing the vision, mission, values, following our financial processes, team meetings, coaches meetings, check ins, handbook training, content writing and distributing, marketing, sales, etc.   We have the majority of our business mapped out in our Master Process Roadmap; it’s our business on one sheet of digital paper.  It’s a must to have, and it is a must to implement what you have. Third, we paid special attention to, and updated our financial processes.  One of the BOP Coaches asked a few months back, “What happens if something happens to both of you (Ashley and I)?”  In other words, how does payroll get processed, bills get paid, and income get received? We revised our financial processes in recorded videos along with a two-page “financial playbook” complete with contact names for each area of our financial wheel (payroll, bank, insurance, processor, CPA, etc.). These videos are on a private hard drive in a secure place where one of our team members has access to in case of a legitimate emergency. Fourth, we communicated our plan about 3 months in advance both to our team and to my direct clients.   Every other month we host a one-hour “Vision Day” with our entire team via Zoom.  On a pre-scheduled Thursday afternoon, we all hop on a call having asked every team member to already have skimmed back through our written vision story. I come prepared with a series of Green/Yellow/Red flags based on our twice monthly Director’s Meetings where we are prompted to write out some Green flags (things that are going great), Yellow flags (things we’re aware of, but not freaking out about), Red flags (things we need to pay urgent attention to). After gathering those over the course of our twice monthly Director’s meetings, I then share them with the entire team during each Vision Day. During a Vision Day in the Spring, we shared with the team of our plan for me to be away from the business.   Fifth, we re-clarified our organizational structure prior to leaving with a focus on “who’s responsible for what”. We host an annual, off-site team day for our entire team each year.  This year we prioritized time to work through a host of organizationally clarifying tools; a rebuilt Org Chart, new job roles (including my new “CEO” role moving forward), and clarifying responsibilities and expectations all towards our mission of liberating owners from chaos to make time for what matters most. Everyone had insight and buy-in, and a clear perspective on how communication happens both internally (with us as a team), and externally (with our clients and partners). Finally, I set everything to leave. Setup a clear email response.  Check. Sent a clear email to all of my clients reminding them of our plans and how they get the support and help they need while I am away.  Check. Sent a final video to our team while at the airport about to leave.  Check.  Deleted email from my phone.  Check. Deleted Slack from my phone.  Check. It has not been easy, and it has not been a psychology beach with endless Mai-Tai’s. It has been more abundant, more restful, more inspiring, and more enlightening than I expected.   We’ve got two more weeks in some pretty amazing places that we’ve never experienced, and it has been space filled with light to share adventure, wisdom, and time around a variety of amazing tables; including Nico and Greta, our AirBNB hosts in La Spezia, Italy who we never would have met and learned of their story if not for making a plan and implementing that plan. Teşekkür ederim, and arrivederci for now.