Episode #062: How I'm Prepping My Biz for 2-Weeks Without Me
How I'm Prepping My Biz for 2-Weeks Without Me
On this week's episode of Not Your Average Online Marketing Podcast, I'm sharing the details of how I'm stepping away from the business for TWO WHOLE WEEKS to get married - without sacrificing what I've built - team, time, and revenue.
I'll share what I've put in place to maintain business operations and growth during my destination wedding and honeymoon. When you listen in you're going to hear:
How I'm leveraging Facebook ads and automation while I'm out of office to continue sales and revenue generating activities
The importance of communication and expectations if you are going to step away from the business - for both your team and your audience
The role that recurring revenue is playing in creating stability to aid in stepping back
We all need a little support (from our team, audience, and students) to step back - and this episode breaks down how we're approaching getting that support.
LINKS MENTIONED:
TIME STAMP OVERVIEW:
[00:00:40] I'm about to be married man and being out of office for two weeks - here's how I plan to step away.
[00:02:40] The importance of listbuilding ads running in the background, and how I'm setting them up to run.
[00:03:51] How we're writing, automating, and finalizing emails for new and existing leads - and how they'll run when I'm OOO.
[00:05:02] The value of having our team edit and schedule emails and managing the inbox.
[00:09:03] The central spreadsheet for tracking tasks, emergencies and coaching issues to makes checking in easy for Zach while setting expectations for communication.
[00:10:59] Creating recurring revenue before leaving the office is key.
[00:12:06] What recurring revenue can look like even if you don't have a membership (or ever want to create one!)
[00:13:41] An overview of the 5-steps I'm taking to be 95% OOO
[00:17:49] Achieving work-life balance through flexible work arrangements for travel - from this trip, to future trips!
[00:19:26] Setting boundaries for a balanced life and maintaining a business that fuels personal freedom and flexibility.
FULL TRANSCRIPT:
Zach Spuckler [00:00:00]:
This is not your average online marketing podcast episode number 62. And in this episode, I'm on my honeymoon. No, really, the day that this drops, I'm on my honeymoon, not in the office. So what's that mean for you? Well, if you have been thinking about stepping back either for a vacation, a break, a honeymoon, anything at all, I'm gonna talk to you about how I prepared myself to be out of office for a couple weeks so that you can reserve your energy, take breaks, and still create a business that you love. So if this is of any interest to you, stick around for this week's episode. Hey, hey. Not so average marketer. Welcome to another episode of the podcast.
Zach Spuckler [00:00:40]:
And this one's kind of special because if you're listening to this on the day, it releases, well, I guess whenever you're listening to it, I am officially a married man. My husband and I just got married in the Dominican Republic, which sounds crazy to say husband, because at the time I'm recording this he’s still just my fiancee. But when you listen, I will have a husband, which is wild. So here's the thing, what does this have to do with you? Well, first off, I've already gotten lots of congratulations and best wishes and I super appreciate that. But here's the thing, we are in the Dominican Republic right now, unless you're listening to this after May 16, in which case I am finally back home, but I'm out of the office from basically May 5 through May 16. And for almost two weeks, I won't be taking calls, I won't be doing check ins. And I'm going to talk to you about how I've set my business up and the things that I put in place so that my business still runs. We still generate sales, we still generate growth, and we still have the support that my team and my clients need.
Zach Spuckler [00:01:50]:
So there are five big things that I'm doing to prepare my business for me to be away, and I want to share those with you today. So if you're as excited as I am, let's get right into it. The first thing that I'm doing is the week of May 1. The first week of May before I leave for the fifth, I am revitalizing all of my Facebook lead generation ads. So you guys know I am a huge believer in consistent 24/7 list building. And I kind of ask myself, like, what's the most important thing that needs to keep happening while I'm out of office? For the business, right? Not for my clients, not for my team, but specifically for the business. And for me, the answer was the email list needs to keep growing. So for about a week before I leave, I'm creating new Facebook ads.
Zach Spuckler [00:02:40]:
I'm doing split testing, I'm seeing what works. Now, as a side note, if you want to learn our Facebook ads for list building process, you can head over to Heartsolhustle.com Bootcamp, and we have a $25 training that you can go through that teaches you exactly how we run Facebook lead generation and list building ads on autopilot. Twenty four seven to grow our business. But just know that that's the strategy that I'm using. I'm making sure that my list is growing while I'm gone, because when I come back, I'm going to have literally hundreds of new leads that I can speak to and share my content with. So we're growing our email list, and that means that we're doing a couple of things. One, we worked with a designer to get new graphics created, and I worked with a copy person to get new copy written for my Facebook ads. Now, this is really kind of scary for me to admit because we run an agency, right? So how am I going to sit here and say we're working with a designer and a copywriter to run our ads? Well, I'm still running my ads, but I am stepping into a place of, look, I'm going out of the country and I need to be as efficient as possible with my time in the next two weeks.
Zach Spuckler [00:03:51]:
So I'm not only running Facebook listbuilding ads, but I'm outsourcing the pieces of this week and this time that I can't physically manage or don't want to manage, or don't have the mental or physical capacity to manage. So, yes, I'm setting up my ads. Yes, I am managing them, but I want to be completely transparent that we're also working with a copy and a creatives person to get the stuff we need to run the ads successfully. Cool. So the second thing that I'm doing while I'm out of office is reviewing and finalizing automated emails for new leads and a promotion for existing leads. So when you're listening to this episode, if you're on my email list, you may actually be getting emails about not your average membership. And not your average membership is our signature membership, $50 a month, where we teach you how to automate your list growth, create an automated onboarding sequence, and sell low ticket products, and then scale up your business over time once you've created a central machine. So we're going to be doing an email based promotion of the membership.
Zach Spuckler [00:05:02]:
So that means that this week, this week before I leave, I am planning, I am writing emails. We're having my team edit the emails, we're scheduling the emails. But we're also creating a promotion. And creating a promotion is more than just come buy my stuff, right? It's also creating an offer, crafting the offer, what people want to get, right? So we are positioning it where we want our audience to know about the membership, and we want to sell the membership while I'm out of the country. That requires two things. One, all of the automation content offers written. But two, it also requires me to brief my team on the offer and putting someone in charge on my team of managing the inbox as that offer is running. So somebody will be there to answer questions, respond to emails, make sure that things are taken care of so that my team can handle that promotion.
Zach Spuckler [00:05:59]:
So we're setting up an automated promotion. And again, there's two things that I'm doing here. One is I'm empowering my team to essentially manage part of the business while I'm gone. But two, I'm creating a revenue generator while I'm out of the country. And I'm doing that because the reality is, for most of us who run this business, I know that the dream is like, full, passive, automated income. But for most of us, when our time in the business goes down, our revenue goes down. So I'm putting things in place like this promotion to stop that revenue decline or slow that revenue decline while I'm out of office so that I can still support my team, my business, and my cash flow while I'm away. Now, the third thing that I'm doing is preparing the members of my membership to know that the day before of and after my wedding, I am completely unavailable.
Zach Spuckler [00:06:53]:
Right? And there's kind of a threefold thing that's happening here. So I am stepping away from work about 95%. And honestly, this was a little scary to record and admit. I think a lot of us who listen to this, our business is our identity. It's a big piece of who we are. Some people are like, my business is my baby, or my business is a big piece of who I am. And we do have to shed some of that identity, right? But for me, I think that freedom is if I can go to the Caribbean for 13 days and I work three to 5 hours the whole time I'm there, that's an amazing win, right? But for my day before, of and after my wedding, I'm not checking in on work. I've briefed my clients, and I've put people on my team in charge of talking to clients, and I've put people on my team in charge of managing the Inbox.
Zach Spuckler [00:07:46]:
And they know that the 8th, 9th, and 10th, you won't be able to get a hold of me. Right? That being said, I don't want to be working while I'm on my honeymoon, right? So what I'm doing is I've also created the expectation for my team and my members. So in my membership, I posted, hey, the 8th, 9th, and 10th, you won't hear from me. And the fifth through the 16th, there will be a delay in responses. What I have learned from my time online is that most people are excited for you. Most people love when you are living your life. And especially in the online business space where my membership is about freedom and automation, people are like, yes, go, Zach. Live your life.
Zach Spuckler [00:08:30]:
Step away, enjoy it. Right? And so I'm illustrating what's possible for my audience, but I'm doing it with clear communication. So there's not going to be like, May 8, like, oh, sorry, Zach can't respond today. He's getting married. It's not this shock to people who are active in the membership. They're aware, they know it's coming, and I've prepped them. I think communication and expectations are a huge key to success in this industry. The second thing is that I've set my team up, or I should say my team has set me up, because I tasked them with creating this.
Zach Spuckler [00:09:03]:
And they've been doing an incredible job with a simple spreadsheet that I can check in on three days a week for about 30 minutes. And on that spreadsheet is going to be here. Is any client emergencies that need addressed here? Is anything in the membership that needs responded to here's anything in your coaching program that needs responded to? And basically what it is, is it's this central spreadsheet that I get to check in on. Like I said, three to four days a week. I won't be checking in every day, but I get to do it first thing in the morning before my will at the time before my husband wakes up. I just get to go on, check the spreadsheet, see what needs my immediate attention, and trust that my team is handling the rest. So not only am I setting the expectation for my members, I'm also setting the expectation for my team that, hey, I'm only going to be checking this spreadsheet. I'm not going to be on Slack, I'm not going to be on Facebook, I'm not going to be here, there, wherever, unless it's in the spreadsheet, then I know to respond to it, right? So again, expectations for both the team and from the members of my community is huge.
Zach Spuckler [00:10:08]:
The next thing that I'm doing, or I guess I should say already did, is I built up recurring revenue with my membership. So here's the thing. I, for a long time was like, memberships are hard and they don't work. And if you didn't know this, I actually had a membership several years ago where I shut it down. I was like, I can't do this, right? I don't enjoy this. This is not worth my time. And I don't mean it in a negative way. It's just I wasn't making enough revenue to justify how much was going into it, right? And so what I did was I changed my model, I changed my messaging, I changed my positioning of my membership, and I started not your average membership and not your average membership has, at the time that I'm recording this, about 300 active members.
Zach Spuckler [00:10:59]:
And it's a great revenue generator for us. It's a six figure run rate membership every single year, even with the ebbs and flows in membership numbers. And if you want to learn more about how we started and launched and maintained a profitable membership, you can head to Heartsoulhustle.com/membership we have a $25 workshop where I taught my entire membership launch management, content strategy. And you can check it out there, but I basically set it up so that I have recurring revenue even when I'm away. So even though I'm away and yes, I've set the expectation with my customers that for three days I'll be completely out of office, I'm still getting recurring revenue payments, annual payments, monthly payments, semiannual payments. People are still continuing to pay for their membership, right? So I would challenge you to say, hey, if you're going to step out of the office, what can you do to create recurring revenue for the business before you leave? Now, this is what most people hear. Start a membership. Not what I said.
Zach Spuckler [00:12:06]:
What I said was, how can you create recurring revenue in your business before you step away? And that might look like selling a product with a three month payment plan, and month two and three or month two or three, you're out of the office, but you still collect the payments, right? Could it be getting people on retainer and letting your clients know well before the retainer kicks in? Hey, the week of May 5 to or excuse me, the week of May 1 through May 22, I'm going to be out of office. My team is going to be available to you. And again, it comes back to setting those expectations because the first kind of pushback that I get when I talk about this with people is they say, well, so you're going to have people paying you while you're not around. And it's if you set that expectation early on, all of my clients know I'm getting married, all of my clients know I'm out of the office, all of my clients know who's going to be maintaining their account while I'm gone because I've set that expectation. So they're happy to continue to pay for what they're getting because they know they're still getting the experience, they're still getting the content, they're still getting the membership, the ads management, the coaching. There's just a gap, right? So let me just do a quick recap of everything that we're doing, and then I'll talk about the last big thing. So the first thing is that I'm setting up my Facebook ads for Lead Generation to be running while I'm out of office. I'm spending all week optimizing, testing, tweaking, setting the budget, getting comfortable with how much we're spending, and really just setting myself up so that when I come back from my honeymoon, my list is bigger.
Zach Spuckler [00:13:41]:
The second thing I'm doing is automating all the emails for new leads, which is really already done, but I'm just double checking them, making sure they look good, that I'm happy with them, and creating a promotion for existing leads so that I bring in new revenue while I'm gone. So because we're creating a membership promotion the week of May 8, we will bring in new customers, new revenue, new growth, while I'm not even online. The third thing is I'm setting the expectation for both my members, my team and my clients about what to expect while I'm gone. Because expectation and communication is key. I also talked to you about how I'm setting up a centralized, kind of like home based spreadsheet system with my team so that I don't have to. When I do decide to check in, because I have the time, I have the capacity, I have the space, and my husband is still sleeping in the morning, I can go in and say, okay, I'm going to check this central document. I'm not going to get bogged down in Slack, Facebook, Messenger. I'm just going to focus, show up, check this one location.
Zach Spuckler [00:14:48]:
So I need you as a team to make sure that anything that requires my attention goes into this spreadsheet. So I'm not perusing facebook perusing slack. I'm just going in, seeing what needs attention and starting there. And then the fourth thing we talked about is that I set up recurring revenue generators in my business. So in this case, it's our membership. But remember, it doesn't have to be a membership. It could be payment plans, it could be client retainers, it could be coaching retainers. But it's about creating consistent recurring revenue that exists whether you click I'm online or you don't.
Zach Spuckler [00:15:25]:
Now, the last thing is that I am mentally preparing myself and my team for what to expect. So this is a big one if I'm completely honest with you. This is daunting for me only working three to 5 hours over the 13 days I'm gone. It's scary, right? I can sit here and be like, I'm so ready to take a break. But I talked about this a little bit earlier. A lot of times we embed our business with our identity. And I've definitely done that over the years. And it's like, what if, what if, what if, what if this goes wrong? What if that happens? What if a client leaves? What if, what if, what if? So first thing I'm doing is I'm, I'm making sure that my team knows kind of what to do.
Zach Spuckler [00:16:09]:
So I've met with each person on my team in leadership and outside of leadership roles and I've said, this is what to do every single day. What are we doing every single day? I'm not going to lie. When I said this to them, I felt bad, right? At first. I felt bad because I was like, am I micromanaging? Am I making them do things that they don't want to do? Is cataloging what's going to happen too much to ask? And then I realized I'm not micromanaging. In fact, what I'm doing is the opposite. I'm setting them up to tell me what they're working on and then I'm actually trusting that they're going to do it. And I don't mean that in this tongue in cheek like, oh, I'm trusting them. I mean, like no, literally, I trust my team.
Zach Spuckler [00:16:55]:
And to build that trust, it helps me personally to know what they're working on. And so I'm not saying I'm going to check your work. I'm just saying, hey, tell me what you're doing so that I can have peace of mind and you can have the white space to do it, right? The other flip side of that coin is that I am working on my mental capacity to trust, to let go, to back away. And I know that when I record this episode, I'm going to get messages from everybody who's going to say, you shouldn't be working at all. It's your honeymoon, and you shouldn't even check in. It's your honeymoon. But here's the reality, right? I, number one, want to check in because I have control issues, if we're being completely honest. But number two, I'm still living this lifestyle that I want, right? I am going to the Caribbean for 13 days.
Zach Spuckler [00:17:49]:
And sure, I don't get to check out 100%, but guess what? A month from now, I go to California for a few days, and three months from now, I go to Europe for three weeks. And so it's like, yes, my honeymoon is important. I'm not downplaying that. And if my future husband or current husband at the time is listening to this episode, this is not about, oh, I hope that you can understand I'm always going to be working. No. I've created a lifestyle where work and play can exist simultaneously, and I can trust my team to take the stress and the pressure and the energy and the focus off of me so that for 13 days, I can check in for three to 5 hours. Realistically, how many people do you know that can do that, right? Even if they have a traditional job? I know some of the people who are coming on. We're doing a destination wedding, and we have family coming with us, and some of them are saying, oh, yeah, I'm going to check in on work in the morning and the evening so I can be gone for a week, right? It's like we have vilified even checking work because it should be so isolated and so separate.
Zach Spuckler [00:18:57]:
But what I believe in my heart of hearts is that with my online business, I've created a lifestyle that affords me the ability to do these things. And sometimes that means I have to work for 30 minutes in the morning in the most beautiful Caribbean island. And that's okay. I'm okay with that. So I want to just give you this thought. What are you okay with? If the answer for you is I need to be unplugged for seven days, completely fine. That's okay. It's just not my truth right now.
Zach Spuckler [00:19:26]:
And I've made sure that what is my truth is I'm not taking calls. I'm not taking stress. I'm emotionally unavailable for fires, but I'm going to check in and make sure that everything's running smoothly so that nobody feels abandoned and maybe that's my stuff and that's okay. But I'm setting myself up for a life and this is a life that I can maintain. It's a lifestyle that I can maintain. And like I said, the funny thing is people with the business that I've built, if I'm being completely honest and kind of vulnerable, is like, it's okay to work a little bit on my honeymoon because right after that we're going to California a month later and we're going to go to Disney Pride Night. And then three months later, we're going to the UK for three weeks, right? My life and my business exist in tandem and they fuel each other. My freedom and my flexibility fuels my ability to do whatever I want.
Zach Spuckler [00:20:20]:
And my work and flexibility fuels my ability to travel the world and do the things that I want, right? And so I know I know that for some of you it sounds crazy to even mention that I'm going to check in on my honeymoon. But here's the thing. It's my life and my business and that's my truth. And this is it's a little scary to say because I know there's going to be judgment from others. But here's the thing. I can't live my life just like you can't live your life based on the judgment and feedback of others. You have to find what works for you. So for me, it means setting up automation of lead generation, setting up automation of sales, preparing my audience, clients, members, preparing my team, setting up recurring revenue, and preparing myself.
Zach Spuckler [00:21:05]:
And by doing those five things, I'm able to go on a dream destination wedding, vacation, honeymoon that I'm so looking forward to. And I hope that this helps you realize that however you disconnect, however you build your business, however you connect with your audience, whether it be every day, every other day, every week, there are ways to automate, delegate and regulate so that you can step away when you need to. I hope you got massive value from this episode. It was a little hard to record, if being honest. Not because I didn't know what to say, but because I was afraid I'd say too much, too little, the wrong thing, the right thing. But here's the thing. This is who I am. This is the truth.
Zach Spuckler [00:21:48]:
This is where I'm going. This is what I'm doing. This is the intention. And I'll probably do another episode when I get back about how well this experiment went. And if it goes great, awesome. And if it goes bad, I've made peace with that too. I can't wait to be in the Caribbean. If you're listening to this while it's published, I already am.
Zach Spuckler [00:22:05]:
I hope you have an incredible, incredible time while I'm away because I know I'm going to have an incredible time while I'm away too. Before we wrap up if you would like to view the transcript of this episode, the show notes, the links that I mentioned, you can head over to Heartsoulhustle.com/nyap062. Again, that's Heartsoulhustle.com/nyap062 for not your average podcast. Episode number 62, we'll have show notes, timestamp, transcript, links, all that good stuff waiting for you. I'll leave you with this. It's your life. It's your business. Make it work for you.
Zach Spuckler [00:22:46]:
Don't get caught in the trap of working 80 hours a week waiting for the life you love. Build the life you love now and let your business integrate into it. It I hope you have an incredible rest of your week. And until next time, stay not so average.
