plan, but I'm I'm I'm more curious about like what are your boundaries around working while you're away? Are you going to be totally unplugged? I'm going to be totally unplugged. I also don't even know if I'll be able to like what I'll be able to access while I'm there because I'll have a I don't think I'm going to get a VPN. So, like I might not be able to access Gmail. I'm just planning on being totally totally unplugged. And I that's something like I feel comfortable with preparing for a trip in those terms. Like I have a a process. I notify my clients like a bit ahead of time to prepare them and like so that I'm good I'm good with and I'm just planning to be completely away from my business. And because my little marketing brain is always going, I think it's also an opportunity for you to like show how cool you are to your future clients. So when they email you, you can say, "I am on a month-long trip, and I'm I'd be so happy to connect with you when I get back, or here's how you book a consult with me. Um, I won't be checking emails. See you when I get back." Like, yeah, that is so mind-blowing for people. M like you can do that. I I mean it's and maybe it sounds silly, but a lot of my clients know that they they're like one of them was here for a retreat and said, "So, what's your big trip this year?" Like they kind of to quote a family member, "Nobody wants a boring life coach." I love it. So, like you're doing something that's so cool, so out of the ordinary. Um you're not tied to your business. It's not your whole identity. And I think if you can share that, it often opens up possibilities for people. I love that because it sort of um like subconsciously part of my anxiety was like I am I I love both of these things. I love travel and family and like seeing where my in-laws were born and hearing more about their story. I love all of that. and I love my business and like serving people, but they were completely separate in my brain subconsciously. And I love like what you have sort of raised is like maybe they're they don't have to be so separate. I just I mean I think that if you can it speaks to your mindset that you're doing that and I think that even people who may not be as familiar with like how believing in something and then making it real works which is like what coaching helps people do. You see what you believed into reality and you decide if you like it or not. And if you don't like it, you start to adjust how you're thinking and what you're tolerating and what you're doing until you've believed yourself into a new reality. Um, and there's of course strategy and action and all the things that all the work that we have to do on this material plane, but essentially like it does start with is this person someone who can help me create something? Well, she's creating a month in a month away, a month unplugged. She's created a business and a life where that's just what she's up to. That's pretty incredible. Yeah, it's actually only two and a half weeks, but there will be monthlong ones in the future. Okay. And you know, maybe maybe you'll want to take some buffer days beforehand and after. And totally, you know, I think all like then there's kind of there's the layer of how do we not stop the momentum? Well, the momentum is not going to stop. Mhm. And then it's like how do you support you emotionally and physically and energetically kind of in Well, you're stepping into a whole new space. Literally a whole new time. Yeah. Literally. Yeah. I love that. Do you have a lot in place to do that? Um, a little bit. Like part of the planning process is like creating a structure to take care of myself and my partner when like we're both introverts and so like part of that is making sure we'll be okay on the trip and um and I don't feel yeah I guess I haven't like consciously put together a like a plan explicitly to be like how do I take care of me? There are some things that I know work and don't work from past experiences. So,
it's kind of also like because you're not going to a place where you speak the predominant language, it's an opportunity for you to just like be present with yourself in a different way. There's not pesky words to have to be speaking all of the time. like you can actually like be in your own energy bubble within that um and see that and see what happens. Yeah, I love that. And I think there's also like I have a tendency to feel responsible for like I don't know like some of the experience like taking charge of the experience when it's needed like I can also take the back seat but with this like I literally there are things I literally won't be able to. So, I think that'll be kind of interesting for me. Yeah. Oh, I can't wait to hear about how it goes. Yeah. I'm excited to tell you. So, I'm curious like in your experiences with travel and with taking care of your business through the experience of travel. What is something you find like very easy and very difficult?
It's a good question. Um I mean I mentioned
I I think it's like a fine line because the coaching work that we do it is really hands-on with people and I think when I first started coaching the thing that was difficult was like I was very in with my clients and people would sometimes say to me this is probably not good but they would say like how am I supposed to survive without you for two weeks? I don't know what I'm going to do. Like, yeah, while I was still navigating how to make sure that I was giving them really empowering tools, but I do a lot of thinking partnership and content work, like I had to kind of get to a point where I wasn't building a practice where my clients like needed me or my opinion because that's not what I was trying to ever do. But sometimes that is the dynamic people will attach to their relationship with you. Yeah. And so I think one of the things that was hard initially was like setting up those boundaries in a way I'm always thinking about like how does this support my client? Like how does me disappearing for a month and not being available to them help them? Because I've heard I have a client right now who was talking about someone she was working with who like every other week was like going to Brazil or going here and going there like was living their like entrepreneurial Instagram dream and as a result she wasn't getting the service that she paid for from this person because they were literally always on vacation or going here going there and so for me it was like a lot about framing saying that when I come back from vacation, it's going to be the most fruitful week of your package because that is when I am the most clear. That's when I'm going to have had time to digest what's been going on. Even though I'm not going to be consciously thinking about my clients or working on their stuff, a lot of digestion happens. And often those weeks coming back to the point where I have a client who I've worked with for a few years, she'll like show up after I've been away for two weeks and she's like, "All right, I'm so ready." She's like got her pen. She's like ready. She's like, "Okay, give me the download. What are we doing?" And over the years, I've started to realize that I actually don't need to go away to have that kind of impact with people. I've reduced my work hours so that I am and I don't work with as many people. So, I try to always be nice and crisp. Mh. But speaking about vacations in a way where it was not about me, but it was really in support of the client through it being good for me. I had to figure that out. Yeah. And creating a practice where I'm not needed. And I think the way that I did that um was I created a whole client library. So if someone would get stuck on something, there's literally a bunch of videos, topics. I have like 300 some odd podcasts. Like they could go to my website and search for what they're struggling with and I probably have a piece of content for it. Oh, that's amazing. That also helped me mentally unplug. I was like, I'm not leaving somebody hanging with a relationship problem. Mhm. I have a book. They can look it up. I love that. What about you? Do you Do you have anything that kind of comes to mind in that? Mhm. Um I think maybe similar the like I think
yeah I think similar I definitely relate to what you're saying about like thinking through oh am I like who who will be supporting them? I want to make sure that my clients feel supported, but I also don't want them to be, to your point, I don't want them to become dependent on me because I don't think that's like a necessarily a a dynamic that's in their interest either. Um and I love the framework of like how is this in support of them even if just like particularly for the vacation like rest and relaxation aspect of it like if I am depleted I am not going to be coaching my best oh you know there are some things that we learn and tools that we learn that we can provide however we're feeling and like I'm not going to be as sharp as I would be otherwise if I'm feeling depleted. So like I do need to take care of myself in that way in order to show up for my clients. I also think like I want to normalize having values and valuing things beyond working all the time. Yeah. Um that's something that I want for my clients. I want them to be if they want to. I mean, if they don't, that's fine. But I want and and I think like like to operate with as much integrity as I can. I want to be if not leading that like there are lots of people who do that already. Like I want to be doing it. I want to be putting it into practice. Um because I think it's important to show people like other ways of being are possible. Um particularly as a coach. Yeah, I I'm with you. I I hate that we sometimes are in this culture of like you can only take a vacation when you're tired or when you're burnt out. And I sort of wear it as a I my out of office response email literally I think says practicing what I teach. I love that like I won't be responding to this email. If you have a problem with logging in or you need to change something or it's urgent, you can contact my team and I have an email that all my team has access to um when I'm not there. Um and then I try to practice what I teach because I don't know like that is a big struggle for a lot of my clients is like how do I unplug? How do I get away? I'm like let me show you how. You don't have to be burnt out to do it. you I we take two two weeks off the end of the year. I take a lot of time off in the summer. We go somewhere. We have a we have an adventure which at two I agree with you is not always a vacation. We have adventure travel and then we have relaxation time which is usually not while I'm away. Yeah. But that's like that's super um important. Yeah. I would be curious to hear about like what are your travel essentials? What are the things like when you're away you absolutely have to have with you or routines you absolutely like can't live without. What you know what are your tips and tricks? Oh boy. Um h okay. The one that one that is like kind of so essential it kind of goes without saying is my Kindle. I like always have to have a book on me whenever I'm traveling. Um and I love having access to like mixed feelings about Amazon actually like the negative feelings about Amazon but like the Kindle is one of my favorite purchases ever. What was that? I don't have one. You don't? No. So when you're like it's goes without saying I was like oh I don't have one maybe I have to buy one. You can sub it in. You can sub it in for book. But like that's sort of how I like relax. And that also like it's sort of a comfort thing. Ever since I was a small child I would like carry a book with me wherever I went. Like it's just something I had to do. Um, so that I would say like good noise cancelling headphones, um, eye mask, like basic things, but like trying to make my an uncomfortable experience as comfortable as possible. Yeah. Um, and then I think one that's it's not like an object, but just giving I've noticed that I've had a mindset shift in like a past couple of years away from like feeling a pre like a scarcity pressure to see everything and to do everything and and sort sort of toward like my experience of the thing is more important than like the list of things that I'm doing. So when I'm there trying to take care of myself so I have the best experience I can. So good. Yeah. I think that that's one people struggle with. Like it's a way of kind of making the trip a job where you're like I have to I have to m I'm cuz I'm an I'm efficient person and I'm a business owner and I've got to like get out there and see it all and say I did it. And it's like actually you don't. There's no award when you get back on the plane that said you saw all the landmarks and did all the things. Yeah. And I think my most cherished experiences traveling or like often well like eating the food. I love just like eating everything. Um but like wandering around and just getting a feel for the vibe of the place. So good. Yeah. What about you? Do you have any essentials? You mentioned the business class. business class impossible whenever possible. That has made a big difference to my quality of life while traveling and like how nice I am to my family for the first 3 days that we go somewhere. For short flights, I don't really bother, but like if it's if it's going to be overnight or more than like 4 hours. Yeah. If I can put my legs up, I'm really happy. Yeah. Um my pillow comes with me. Mhm. Even if it's a whole other suitcase that we have to take because of it, that thing is coming. Um, I have this like the body eye mask thing that's like it's like heat and pressure and I'm a gadget person, but it like it's I get migraines, too. And this has helped my migraines a lot. So, I always have that when I'm traveling. Um, I'm a big food person, too. I don't really care about a museum. I care about like if there's a Michelin recommended restaurant. You're there. Do that. I'd rather do that in a hike than see landmarks for the most part. Good shoes. Same. Yes. 100% same. I got these waterproof shoes um when we went to Spain and we did a lot of walking and a lot of hiking and it was so rainy because it was like April and I was the only one with dry feet and I was really happy. Oh my gosh. Okay. I was just looking I just bought some waterproof shoes and I was like doing a lot of research. I'm curious. Is it I'm sure people will be curious about what they are. We're not an advertisement. Yeah, I got Vessies. Um, I have really narrow feet, so a lot of their styles don't work for my feet, but I got these. They're called Stormbururst. Okay. And they like hug your feet and so water doesn't get in. And I I do like those and I will buy those again. Oh, good to know. And my kids don't have them and my husband has a pair because they all have like a referral link or something. But it's great. I mean like any I do sometimes still suffer with some like pain residual pain stuff. So but I love to walk and when I'm in a new place I like want to walk everywhere. So just having comfortable feet. Um and then like preparatory things I try to always have a massage the next day when I get home. Mhm. Um, and I try to take a day off at the beginning and at the end so that I'm never feeling flustered trying to get ready and then feeling jet-legged and like not really here when I'm back. I love that. That's actually that's one of the things that I was going to say that I I don't know if I I struggle with, but I haven't really put a lot of intentional thought into of like how to take care of myself when I come back from a travel experience that isn't necessarily a relaxing vacation. Um cuz I think when I was younger, I would just like power through and like the next day I would be up and Adam and I feel get off the plane, go to work. Yeah. Absolutely. Exactly. Like Yeah. 6 am, get off the plane, haven't slept on the plane, totally fine. Um, so not only am I like not really able to do that anymore, I also like the time I the time that I spend with my clients, I have a lot of respect for that. It's not like I can really phone it in with coaching. So you can't be like, "How's that feel, right? Flossing my teeth." Yeah, it's always coming back to hug me. It is. will never forget that last. So that I'll be interested in that. I do generally like I always come back on a Saturday rather than a Sunday or a Friday rather than a Sunday so that I have time to adjust before the work week starts. But I'm I think this this experience will be illuminating like how I'm feeling when I'm back and what I need when I'm back. Yeah. Or like can you have some kind of a body work while you're away? Like can you do something that brings you into the present? Like, can you sneak off to a spa for a day? Like, is there something that makes it at least one of the experiences something that's restorative and just puts you with yourself? Um, I used to do that when we would go to Hawaii for a month. I would like go to one of the nice spas for a day and just be like, I this is the one day where I'm Because when you're away for a month or two and a half weeks, you're probably cooking. You're probably maybe you are not doing that on this trip. But yeah, I was like, it's just like living in a smaller house with a different car without any of the things like the comfort things and no help and no school and it's like actually can be like more taxing so having I don't know like some nice experience that maybe you can't have here. Yeah, I love that. Okay. So, what would be your advice? You also I don't want to put you on the spot. It's just a thought a question that came to mind. Like what would our advice be for someone who's maybe starting out their business and like is like I I haven't put much thought into the idea of vacations or time off and I don't really know like what to do. How what would you advise them? I mean, I think what you said about like starting with maybe like the cultural holidays that are important to you for where you live can be like just a really easy way to step into the stream because if everybody else is taking that day off then it's like not a big deal for you to do the same. Um it's hard because I mean I also take Fridays off every like I don't work on Fridays. Um, and that's, you know, that's like really my my reset day. That's my like deeper learning day. But making sure that like if you're if you're not taking a ton of time off because you're in the season of starting out and it's new and you're like trying to just get the money crank going. Um, be like maybe a little rigid with your days off. Lock your computer in the office. lock it in another room. Tell some tell a loved one to change the password so you cannot get in. Like I really had I got I get coaching every time I go away. I always have a session a couple days before so I can like remind myself of my head space and what I'm trying to do. Yeah. And I feel like I'm good at vacations now. But even so, asking for the support to stay present and not like telling yourself it's some natural skill because I think when you're a business owner, hopefully this is true for everybody. When you're starting out, it's you you like love what you're doing. You're passionate about it. You're trying to make it work. It's exciting. Um it can be so hard to step away to from like that excitement. And other people go on vacations and maybe they hate their job and they hate their nineto-five and they don't want to be there. So it's easy for them to unplug, right? It's an escape, right? So I would just not assume that it's going to be easy for you, but maybe try to find why it's necessary to have that time. Beautifully said. Yeah. What do you think? I would I think I second everything you said. Um, I would also offer cuz I like to ask like philosophical questions as that excites me. Um, I would like I would say like what do you want to see in the world? Like how do you want the world to be relating to vacations? And you don't have to like solve this before you decide whether you're taking MLK day off or not. But for me that's exciting like and for me that helps me identify a north star in relation to time off or vacations that then I feel good about and I feel like I'm operating with integrity around because for me like I would like to see people valuing rest. I would like to see people taking care of themselves and in a world where that's supported and encouraged. I would like to see people like feeling free to have adventures and to experience different cultures. Like that all really excites me. So in order to see that like I want to be a part of creating that and so I want for me then that helps me make decisions about vacations and travel. Um and yeah so I think like and also like what do you want to see your clients? Mhm. Yeah. Have permission to do because that's even a more like direct line from you to your clients. Like what do you want to model for your clients as it relates to time off? That's such a good one. And I think even when you're thinking about travel, um I'll just share a quick story. I had was having a really weird couple like I was I was having a really weird quarter. It was a really low revenue quarter. Um, I was just like changing up some things in my business and the aftermath of that was like just this quiet period that felt very scary. And I was invited to a trip to Greece with some coach friends who I had traveled with a few times and I knew it was going to be amazing. We're like going to stay in a villa and it was going to be all incredible. But I was like looking at my schedule and looking at my bank account and going like this is a feels a little irresponsible to be booking this and because I'm like I like to travel business class when I'm especially when I'm traveling for by myself for business to do this retreat and I really like him and hawed about it and my my oldest kid was like you should just do it. you should just buy the business class ticket. You should totally book it because if you believe that it's all going to be fine, then this is how you prove it to yourself. Oh, and I was like, damn, little life coach. Like, she said it in like in like an 8-year-old way, but it was just like, yeah, you're it's going to like she I was just like, oh, yeah, booking this is actually believing in my future. But I'll be more mad when everything is fine in 3 months and I'm sitting in economy at the back of the plane really uncomfortable and I lose out on the full experience of this versus right being comfortable and if it didn't work out I would have had one last harrah I guess right and you don't have to beat yourself up as well for making a decision from a place of believing in your future like that's something you can hold to no matter what happens. Yeah. And and it actually turned out to be an a great a great year and it was totally fine and I felt like such a boss walking on the plane before everybody else. I was like this this is a this was a gift for my past self and I'm going to enjoy it. I love that. That's so beautiful. Okay, I hope you have an amazing trip. Thank you. Can't wait to hear all about it and yeah, thank you. Thank you. Thanks everyone for listening. We'll talk see you next time. Take care.
