PopUP! Series ✈️ Part 2/5: Why Your Business Needs A Vacation.

Vacations are growth tools in disguise. In this episode, I'm breaking down why you need to prioritise taking a vacation asap if you want to work less, and make more in your business.

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Track: Positive Motivation
Author: AShamaluevMusic (ASM)
Publisher: CD Baby (IPI 700570289)

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Transcript

Ilonka Ras (00:00.066)
Welcome to the first episode in this series, Take a Vacation Your Laptop Isn't Invited To. Today, we're talking about vacations and why your business needs a vacation from you. Let's go. Welcome to the Effortless CEO podcast, the only show that teaches South African business owners how to improve their operations and design a business that can run without them.

If you're interested in leading your team more effectively, creating more operational efficiency, delivering with excellence while getting some of your life back, then you're in the right place. Here's your host, Strategic Intervention Coach and Operations Specialist, Ilonka Ras.

So when was the last time you took a real vacation? One where you weren't worried about what was happening at the office. You didn't bring your laptop with you just in case you had to do some urgent work. A vacation where you could be 100 % present with your family and not worry about checking emails or responding to notifications. I like to call this an unplugged vacation. Now the reason why most business owners

can't enjoy an unplugged vacation is because everything in the business runs through you. You are in essence the business, right? Every decision that's made in the business is made by you. You're wearing multiple hats. You're the marketer, the salesperson, the delivery guy. You do the books, you send and follow up on invoices. You are the one that does all the work.

Now, perhaps you've even taken the leap and hired a few people to help you inside of your business, but you may still be struggling to truly hand things over to them, maybe because you're afraid they're going to make mistakes or maybe they are making mistakes. And honestly, you just don't really trust them with the important stuff yet. This means that you either never go away on vacation because if you do things fall apart or you take work with you.

Ilonka Ras (02:07.72)
and you sneak off into a closet somewhere to check in on emails while the kids are at the pool. Or you cram in as much as you can the weeks before you leave and then have a ton of stuff to catch up on when you're back. And then it just feels like you need to take a vacation all over again. You might be looking at your business and asking yourself, how did I get here? How is this the thing that I have created? And how am I not enjoying more of the

time, money, freedom that I wanted when I started this business. I know exactly how you got here. And it's because in the beginning of our businesses, when we are just starting out, we are really excited, really pumped up to get this thing off of the ground. And we hustle, we work the late nights, we push through the weekends, we do more than we think we are capable of. We put in the hard work.

because we want to grow this business. We want to build it and we're starting from scratch. And so we put in the work, right? We put a ton of work and effort into the business to get it going. And that pays off at the end. And without us really realizing it or consciously being aware of it, we are stacking proof for ourselves that the harder we work, the more success we create.

And this is true, right? You got where you are now. Hard work is important, but somewhere along the line, you started equating hard work to putting in more hours, right? So the more success I need or the more success I want to create inside of my business, the harder I'm going to have to work. And the harder I'm going to have to work means that I'm going to have to put in more time and energy and effort into this business. But now,

You're finding yourself in a place where you know you can't actually work any harder than what you're already doing without something breaking you probably or you burning out. Scaling your business, which in essence just means making more and doing less, right? So freeing up time in your schedule and also feeling energized by your business needs you to start doing something different, not more.

Ilonka Ras (04:30.688)
And you know this if you've tried every productivity hack that you can find on Google, and yet you still feel like you're behind. You still feel like you're chasing your tail. And continuing to push through this busy season, telling yourself that next year is going to be better, really isn't a strategy. If you want to feel energized by your business, grow more without doing more, you need to do different. You need to drop some of the hats that you've been juggling.

and get back into the driver's seat of your business, the chair of the CEO, where you are strategically driving the business towards your goals. So you might be asking, okay, that sounds amazing, but how do we actually get there? How do we fix this chaos that we are surrounded by? And the short answer is to take a vacation. Now, if you are thinking,

That sounds amazing, but it's also the dumbest idea because taking a vacation means that you are going to have to take work with you or that things are going to fall apart. Then this is exactly why you should plan your next vacation. And let me explain why. Your business needs a vacation, not because you need to take a break. And this is true. It's partly true. You do need to take a break. You do need some rest.

but your business actually needs it more. And here's why. When we go on vacation, it shows us the gaps in the structure of the business. It really shines a spotlight on where the business is relying on you too much. And planning a vacation, going on vacation gives us an opportunity to put the systems and structures in place so that

the business can continue working even if you're not there. I like to call this a business that works for you versus the other way around. And with the right systems and people, you can actually step into the things that light you up more, the things that you do best in your business and the things that you will do all day long because you love it so much. Now, before you freak out or panic because you're like, is no way that I would be able to

Ilonka Ras (06:52.088)
take a vacation from my business, there is actually a method for stepping away. You don't just leave and hope for the best. Every time you step away, instead of seeing it as I'm just going on vacation or I'm taking a break from my business, to shift your perspective from this is a vacation to this is actually an opportunity for us to create stability, independence and growth inside of the business. We are using you stepping away.

as a means to grow and to scale. Now, before we go away, we need to have clarity on where your time is actually going. We need to do an analysis to see what exactly you do in the day to day where the business is depending on you to show up. Now, once we know what you spend your time on, we can create a plan so that these things will happen even when you're not there.

Sometimes this plan includes outsourcing certain tasks. Sometimes it means hiring someone full-time. Sometimes it means implementing software that can automate things inside of your business. Regardless of what the structure looks like for your business, because it is different and it depends on what you ultimately want for your business, it gives you the choice of what you want to work on and when you want to work and also how much you want to work.

So taking a vacation isn't just about structure and stability and growth. It's also an opportunity for you to step back into the things that you actually are passionate about inside of your business, to get yourself out of the things that drain your energy and step back into the things that light you up. This isn't something that happens overnight, but it can happen very quickly because every time that you step away,

you are intentionally building a piece of the system so that the business becomes stronger, more stable and more scalable. Vacations are the perfect tool because they force you to get out of your own way. They create the perfect breeding ground for being resourceful and creative and to do things your business needs to thrive. And you can think about this. If you knew that you were going to be away for two weeks, three weeks, four weeks even, this is the

Ilonka Ras (09:11.81)
The goal that we set inside of my program is to take a four week vacation. If you know that you're going to be away for four weeks and you ask yourself, what are the things that will need to happen while I'm not there? If I wanted my business to grow, to still serve my clients, to still pay the bills, to still bring in money, how am I going to do that? If I am not going to be there, how am I going to make this happen if I'm not there to make it happen?

It's going to force you to start thinking differently about your business and about the systems and the structures that you have in place. It's going to force you to start thinking strategically about how you work and how you show up in and for your business. I want to leave you with this. You deserve time off. You deserve real rest, real unplugged vacations where you can just close the thousand tabs in your brain and just really

Be present with whatever it is that you're doing on that break, whether it is an actual vacation or, you know, doing something else in your life that you're also passionate about and that you want to give some time to. Your business deserves a break from you too, because it's going to be stronger, more scalable because of it. In the next episode, I'm going to share the five systems your business needs so it can run like a well-oiled machine, whether you are there or not.

If you're listening to this episode and you're thinking, I would love to be able to take an unplugged vacation while my business grows stronger. want to invite you to take the first step and apply to work with me. I work with professional service-based businesses who are ready to design a business that doesn't rely on them for every decision, every deliverable, every day. You can head over to the show notes or visit ilongaraz.com forward slash apply and fill out a short application form.

and then book a spot in my calendar so that we can discuss whether working together is a good fit. If you are, you and I can get started on building a business that gives you back your time, energy, and freedom. Because your next vacation isn't a dream, it's a decision. I'll see you in the next episode.