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How I Take a Month Off Every Year as a Mom + Beauty CEO (Without My Business Falling Apart) including how we budget and where we are going next!

The behind-the-scenes of integrated life, travel, and smart business systems.

Travel is one of the things that fills my soul the most. New cultures. New food. New energy. New memories with my boys that I know we’ll talk about forever. 

I’ve always loved travel, and then years ago, I had a client in my chair who told me that every fifth year, she and her family packed up and traveled the world for 12 months. I was obsessed with the idea and between every cut I asked her about the logistics and in’s and outs of this unfamiliar lifestyle. She told me how they saved 20% of their income from every pay and then by the 5th year they would have accumulated their 80% annual income…then they would sublet their home and off they went. A whole year traveling places I had never even thought of visiting.

Ok, interesting, but the problem of making someone else’s dream your own is that if you don’t customize it it may turn into a nightmare. So after big discussions with my husband we knew; a year away from a life we built and love was never aligned.
We have big business goals. A community we adore. Kids thriving in school and sports. And a home love returning to as is, subletting was not of interest.

So we created our own version of that dream:

One month off. Every year. As a family.

And it has been one of the best decisions we’ve ever made, personally and professionally and I am opening up why and HOW. 

 

The Best Part: These Trips Make My Business Stronger

Here’s the thing, in order to go away and not cause chaos and frustration you need to have solid systems in place, and how could you ever know if your systems work if you never see if they run without you micromanaging them – and let me tell you if your ‘systems’ don’t work without you, you don’t have systems you have handcuffs. And the problem with that lies way deeper than causing chaos when you take a vacation. It stalls your growth and capacity and it makes your business un sellable or far less valuable because no one can run it without you. So maybe you have no desire to travel the world; no problem (I think you’re missing out but to each their own), at the very least take a staycation or pick up a hobby so you can take time out of your business to test your systems and empower your team! 

I’m never a fan of creating something from scratch if it already exists, I would much rather study, copy, or invest in a framework that works and that’s exactly what I did. Five years ago, we implemented a business operating system based on Clockwork by Mike Michalowicz. One of the foundational principles?

Your business should run without you.
The test? Take 4 unplugged blocks of time away from your business, each getting longer and longer. After, NOT DURING, each block I would debrief with my team, what broke, what chaos arose, what systems need further development?

When I stepped away for a full month that first time, everything kept working. My team grew. Leaders stepped up. Clients were supported. Revenue continued. 

In fact:

The less I am “in the weeds,” the more scalable my company becomes. And since implementing systems that work like clockwork I have grown my company, doubled the size of our team, brought on shareholders, and invested in our third business which was buying our local hairschool. 

And on the personal side?

I get to have this beautiful business AND be fully present with my family. No firefighting. No emails. No guilt.

Don’t let people tell you you can’t have it all, that’s their belief not your reality.

To learn more about the systems in place check out @BLOG 2 (Systems that give me life and the ability to scale)

 

Ok, let’s talk about the Financial Side (Yes, We Plan for It)

It all started by putting any and all our extra cash into a wine bottle, at that time I was still working behind the chair and getting a lot of cash tips, then one of our favourite traditions was smashing the bottle before a vacation or on New Years. 

The wine bottle was fun but as vacations got bigger and the cash tips went away as I stepped away from behind the chair we needed something more intentional. 

Now, we put a portion of our income aside from every one into a separate account. Travel has become a non-negotiable line item in our life plan, honestly this has become easier as a double income family but we were not always in good financial health and yet we still prioritized some form of travel fund, just like retirement savings or mortgage payments we planned our life to be able to save for travel. Ok, let’s be honest, in our 20’s there was a travel fund over a retirement fund but I don’t recommend it.

When our oldest son was younger we took him to celebrate with our friends who had just moved into a bigger home, much bigger than ours, honestly it was beautiful and we loved it. On our way home it led our son to ask why we didn’t get a bigger home and he asked how we got the home we had. Our answer was simple, every family has different goals with their money, some have more and some have less but regardless it is up to that family what they do with it, and for us we chose a home that would allow us to travel (At that time we were not taking 1 month vacations but we still took 10-14 days to go somewhere warm every year along with a holiday trailer for a lot of local camping trips.) It was a great lesson for him and years later when we upgraded our home, he recalled that conversation and asked us “oh no, does this mean we can’t travel anymore?!”. Which led to another great conversation around our family budget and values. 

If travel is in your plans open a travel account, open it at a separate bank if needed so you can’t easily transfer back and start putting a little bit away – and listen, I am not a financial advisor I am only sharing what works for us and the behaviours we use to plan ahead and not use debt for experiences. If you have debt (especially high interest debt we would probably opt for some local budget experiences – just like I said before, following someone else’s dream without taking your own life circumstances and values into consideration could quickly turn into a nightmare.  

Start small, try transferring 1%-2% from every pay day, it’s about those small habitual reps. 

It’s not spontaneous.
It’s intentional.
That’s why it works.

Where We’ve Gone — And What’s Next 🌍

These aren’t just vacations, they’re core memories for our kids, for my husband and I. And they are filled with lessons in culture, in patience, and in creating memorable experiences in my own business. 

Our month-long adventures so far:

• Panama 🇵🇦
  
  
• Thailand & Vietnam 🇹🇭🇻🇳
  
  
• Galápagos Islands 🐢
  
  
• (One year we did home renovations instead… less glamorous but still worth it 😅)
  
  
• Next up: JAPAN 🇯🇵
  
  

As the boys get older and build their own dreams, currently including live mario kart in Japan,  speed skiing in France, and seeing big snakes in the Amazon (not sure I’ll be funding that one…). Sometimes our trips are shorter, sometimes solo, sometimes with friends, but travel remains a core value for our family and we truly believe it’s made us all better.

Why I’m Opening Up About This

Because entrepreneurship should expand your life, not consume it. It should expand your community by creating jobs and in my opinion travel makes us better leaders, parents, and humans.

I believe in collecting memories over checked off task lists (as good as crossing off a to do list may feel – don’t let that trap you in a life of ‘busy’)

If this is the sign you needed to plan an adventure?
Consider it delivered. 

 

If you want more blogs like this:

I’ll be sharing:

• How to build a business that runs without you
  
  
• Cashflow planning for beauty entrepreneurs
  
  
• How to design an integrated life where business + joy coexist
  
  

Drop a comment below with where YOU would go for a month.
Your dream destination might just become your next calendar event. 😉