🍉 How to plan a summer sabbatical in 5 simple steps

[00:00:03] Off the Grid is a podcast for small business owners who want to leave social media without losing all their clients. I'm Amelia Hruby, a writer, speaker and founder of Softer Sounds podcast studio. On this show I share stories strategies and experiments for growing your business with radical generosity and energetic sovereignty.

Download your free leaving social media toolkit at softersounds.studio/byeig and join us as we do it all off the grid.

[00:00:32] Music.

[00:00:39] Hello and welcome to Off the Grid. I'm Amelia Hruby. I am the founder of Softer Sounds podcast studio and the host of this podcast. On this show, I support you in building and growing a thriving, feel-good business with radical generosity and energetic sovereignty and, of course, doing that without social media.

[00:00:59] Today we are here for Episode 12 and it is coming to you by special request. After I shared my story of leaving Instagram and launching my business without it, I had some folks reach out to ask about a detail of that story, some real good close listeners there [chuckles]. And the detail is that last summer I took a sabbatical.

[00:01:21] I left my job in June and I took the summer off. I went on that sabbatical and I ended up dreaming up the beautiful business I now run. So, you can head back to Episode Two if you want to hear that whole story [laughs].

[00:01:34] But today's episode, Episode 12, isn't about me and my sabbatical. It's about you and your sabbatical. Yes, you heard that right, babe.

[00:01:43] Today I'm going to give you a five-step plan for planning your own sabbatical this summer or any time you feel you might need a break. And speaking of summer [laughs], if you're listening when this comes out, Happy June.

[00:01:57] This episode releases on June 1st, one of my very favorite months of the year, and I can't believe it's already here— June 2022. This podcast is already three months old. We're already 12 episodes in. Thank you so much for listening.

[00:02:13] Before we dive into our conversation about summer sabbaticals, I have my usual reminders and a very special announcement. So, let's do the reminders first.

[00:02:23] Reminder number one, if you're new to this podcast or you've been listening for a while but just haven't done this yet [chuckles], you definitely want to go grab our free Leaving Social Media Toolkit so you can head to the show notes or softersounds.studio/byeig b-y-e-i-g. Drop your email there and you're going to get three— really my three best tools I've ever created [laughs] for leaving social media and creative marketing practices. So, those tools are a five-step plan for leaving any social media platform, my much-coveted list of 100 ways to share your work off social media, and the Creative Marketing Experiments Database that I use to plan my marketing schedule at Softer Sounds and that you can use to move your marketing away from social media. So, all three of those tools are wrapped up for you in a lovely little bow in Notion and you can head to softersounds.studio/byeig to get them today. Click the link in the show notes or below if you're watching on YouTube.

[00:03:25] Alright, announcement number two. We are still in Season One of Off the Grid, so our Season One giveaway is still going on. One lucky listener is going to win an Instead Deck for support scrolling less from Inner Workout. To enter, all you have to do is head to the link in the show notes or speakpipe.com/offthegrid and leave us a message with a question or comment about the podcast.

[00:03:50] I'd really love to hear what questions you have about leaving social media or creative marketing strategies, and when you leave a message, you're entered to win the giveaway. Plus, I'll answer your question on the season finale episode that's coming later this summer. So, it's really a win-win, win, win, win for everybody [chuckles]. If you don't want to leave a voice message, you can also enter by sending your question via email to hi@softersounds.studio. I can't wait to hear from you, friends [transitional sound burst].

[00:04:18] Okay, those are my two reminders. Now on to my [singing these words with excitement] special announcement.

[00:04:24] So, this August I am hosting a live three-part workshop series on envisioning an algorithm-free future for your business. I'm calling it The Refresh. It's a part summer sabbatical, part fall planning. It's going to be a great time. And I want to tell you a little more about it.

[00:04:43] So, three workshops, the first one I'm calling, "Clear the Fear." I'm going to share a kind of presentation— interactive experiment [chuckles]. We're going to talk about the fears that come up when we think about leaving social media or doing our marketing differently.

[00:05:00] We're going to go through some journaling prompts, we're going to do some reflecting together, and we're going to do a really amazing somatic exercise and visualization to help us clear the fear that comes up, get rid of all that gunk, all of those shoulds that clog your system. We're going to spend the first workshop clearing all that out.

[00:05:17] The second workshop is called— I'm calling it, "Weave the Web." So, in that one, we're going to focus on your special skills, your talents, the people in your community, and potential collaborators that can come in to help you and then build this beautiful web that comes from my framework that I haven't introduced on this podcast, but I will in the workshops [chuckles] that your business and your marketing can be built from three things— your core offers, your channels, and your collaborators. So, the second workshop is going to be all about how to identify your core offers, channels, and collaborators, and think about building a business that really suits you and your special skills and allows you to thrive, to run that fun, feel-good business I've been talking about all season.

[00:06:03] I've got a really great tarot spread we're going to do in that one— get a little bit magical.

[00:06:07] And then in the third workshop— I'm calling that one, "Make the Map," and in that one, we're going to take those things we figured out in the second workshop, the core offers, the channels, the collaborators, and we are literally going to make a map [chuckles] on a piece of paper, kind of weaving all of those things together. What are we offering in our businesses or selling in our businesses? What are the channels through which we're sharing them with others and who are the collaborators and community members who can support us in that effort?

[00:06:33] So, it's really beautiful. I have made my own map. If you're watching on YouTube, I will give you a very quick peek of it right now. It's not perfect, but it's real [laughs]. So, I'm going to use that exercise in our third workshop so that you walk away from this series, you walk away from The Refresh, feeling like you released your fear, you got clarity on what is at the core of your business and your marketing, and then you made a map that can kind of guide you through the fall as you then step into the next season.

[00:07:02] So, I'm so excited to offer these workshops. They're really going to help you take everything we've talked about on this podcast and integrate it into your business, and it's going to be an amazing time.

[00:07:14] Can I mention that it's one part summer sabbatical, one part fall planning? It's a nice little refresh in the month of August before we all start tipping into fall. And the best news yet— saving the best for last [chuckles]— it's only $99 and you can use the code refresh for $10 off if you book by the end of June. So, that's only $89 for three live workshops with me, the recordings, and some extra goodies that I'm planning for all of our refreshers— I'm thinking them— of them as refreshments if [chuckles] you don't mind my pun. So, you can get all of that for only $89 using the code refresh. Just head to the show notes or to softersounds.studio/refresh for more details and to sign up.

[00:07:59] Again, that discount code is refresh for $10 off until June 30th, 2022. Come join me for just 89 bucks, y'all. It's going to be really amazing. It's going to truly like— the way I'm thinking of this, as I have done all of this, like free content sharing on the podcast. But what we haven't gotten to do is come together and integrate it and implement it in our businesses.

[00:08:20] So, that's what these workshops are for. It's— I'm not just going to say the same stuff I've said here. It's totally new ideas, a whole new framework, new exercises, and a chance to do all of this live with me. Ask me all your questions, get my input on things happening in your business. It's going to be a great time. I don't know. I think I'm done pitching this. Just come join us at softersounds.studio/refresh and sign up now to save that $10.

[00:08:46] Okay. Let's dive into this episode where we're going to talk about how to plan a summer sabbatical.

[00:08:54] So, get out your sunglasses, pack your beach bag, and let's dive in, babe [water splashing].

[00:09:03] I'm so excited about this episode [giggles]— so excited to talk about summer sabbaticals. If you're watching on YouTube, you can see I even kind of dressed in my summer attire for this because I have a really funny relationship with summer.

[00:09:16] For most of my life, I hated summer [laughs]. Not going to lie. I was somebody who like— I love spring and fall. I like those, like, liminal seasons. Summer and winter are not my jam. I want to be in between. I want the days to fluctuate. I loved being in school as a kid. Summer break I was always like, "What do I do with myself?"

[00:09:35] And then as I moved into adulthood summer always felt to me like a lot of pressure like, "Oh, I should be doing everything all at once." And so, I really— it took me a while to learn how to enjoy summer. And the way I learned how to enjoy summer was through summer sabbaticals.

[00:09:51] So, what is a sabbatical? If you're not familiar with this term, a sabbatical is simply a rest or a break from work. It comes from the word Sabbath, the day of rest, and you can take a sabbatical any time of year. But I think summer is an especially enticing time to take a sabbatical because it's warm, the days are long, the kids are out of school. At this point, I should mention that, of course, I live in the Northern Hemisphere [laughs]. So summer is, you know, these months of June, July, August into September. We like to lounge in the summer.

[00:10:28] For me, summer has become about lounging by the pool and sabbaticals help me make really intentional space for that. So, if a sabbatical is simply a rest or break from work, why might you want to take one?

[00:10:42] Well, sabbaticals are an opportunity to recharge. Some people plan them every year or every few years. So, it's routine. We often hear about, like, professors taking sabbaticals, right? In their contracts, they get written in like every seven years, every however many years you get a sabbatical to work on your research, to take a break, to recharge, and to do deep work.

[00:11:04] So, I think of sabbaticals as an opportunity to both step back and to be integrating, be letting things sink in, work through. I get some of my best ideas on sabbaticals, but I'm getting ahead of myself [giggles].

[00:11:19] You might want to take a sabbatical for many reasons. Here are some of them.

[00:11:24] You might want to take a sabbatical if you're feeling burnout.

[00:11:27] You might just need a period of rest and a sabbatical is a way to do that.

[00:11:33] You might want to take a sabbatical if you're wrapping up a big project— if you're coming to the end of something— of a period of your business or your life, but it feels like a really good inflection point for you to just pause, soak in some rest before you move on to the next thing.

[00:11:50] You might want to take a sabbatical if you're incubating something new and you want to make sure you don't rush ahead before the idea is really fully, like, there in your body or your mind. So, a sabbatical can be a great way to kind of sit in that incubation period.

[00:12:07] You might want to take about a sabbatical if you need space to grieve. If you've come to the end of a period of your life or if you've lost someone and you realize that you need a moment for grief and you need to step away from work in order to have that.

[00:12:23] You might want to take a sabbatical if you just need some peace. If you are realizing that your work or something you're working on or doing in your life is bringing a lot of frenetic energy, it's really stressing you out, it's anxiety-inducing. You can't regulate your nervous system [wearily laughs]. You might need some peace, and you might want a sabbatical to find that peace.

[00:12:44] You also might want to take a sabbatical if you're in a period of composting. Shout out to my friend Emily Prentice here, who's helped me start to think about businesses as kind of natural entities, or the analogies between businesses and plants and how they live in the world.

[00:13:03] But just like plants, we are not growing every season and our business is not growing every season. So, your sabbatical can be the period where your field is laying fallow. Your sabbatical can be the time when you've closed the garden for the winter and covered it with compost so the soil can soak in those new nutrients. Your sabbatical can be the compost itself. Your sabbatical can be where you throw in all of the veggie scraps and things that didn't make it into the meal and just let them sit and stew.

[00:13:36] For me, sabbaticals are often much like that time when I've planted the seed in the ground and I know it's doing things, but I can't see anything on the surface yet. When I take a sabbatical, it often— it's like planting a seed and then that gives my body and my mind time to, like, integrate all the ideas that have floated through in the past few months, gives them time to germinate and then literally germinate and the new idea comes through, it pushes through the earth, it comes to the— into the sunlight and I can finally see it because I've taken the sabbatical.

[00:14:10] So, I invite you to plan a sabbatical any time any part of you is calling for one.

[00:14:17] This whole episode— the real— I'm going to give you a plan. What I really want you to take away is to feel empowered to pause and to take breaks and to rest. That's what sabbaticals are.

[00:14:29] I mentioned at the beginning of the episode, right, sabbatical comes from the word Sabbath. A sabbath was simply a day of rest— is simply a day of rest. Many of us take a sabbatical every week in our business if we don't work over the weekends or if we take a particular day of the week off. That is a sabbatical.

[00:14:49] I find that thinking of it as a— sabbaticals to me feel a little richer and juicier than just, like, a vacation or a break. So, I like to call everything sabbatical [laughs]. I'm like, "I'm going to go out in the backyard and take an hour-long sabbatical." Right? Or like, "I'm going to go away for the weekend and take a sabbatical."

[00:15:06] I empower you to use this word however feels supportive to you and to start to, like, pull it back from just being reserved for those like professors who get a year off work, right? Or those like corporate employees who, like, earn sabbaticals by working so hard over time.

[00:15:21] I empower you to grant yourself your own sabbatical any time you need it or you can offer it to yourself. That's what this episode is all about.

[00:15:33] So, let's shift gears from all that permission granting into planning.

[00:15:41] As you probably know by now— I think I've talked about it on this podcast— I am a Capricorn Rising [laughs].

[00:15:46] I love to make a plan. It's why I'm always here giving you five-step plans for everything. So, today we have another five-step plan. This is your five-step plan for taking a summer sabbatical or a sabbatical any time of year. It's a five-step plan for taking a sabbatical.

[00:16:05] The first three steps are all about data gathering. And then four— four moves into planning and five is about taking it.

[00:16:13] So, let's— let's dive into that journey.

[00:16:17] Maybe let's take a deep breath first so [deep breath] if you're still soaking in all that permission-granting— if you want a moment to just pause. I'm always reminding myself to slow down, take a step back. Let's release any air that we're holding onto in our bodies, ya'll. Let's let go with an exhale [exhale and pause].

[00:16:39] When you're ready, just breathe in [breathes in deeply]. Inhaling together, feeling your body expand if that feels good to you. And then releasing that air with an exhale [exhales audibly].

[00:16:57] We love our bodies here. We love rest here. We let our bodies rest here.

[00:17:03] And now let's talk about our five-step plan for taking a sabbatical.

[00:17:09] Step one— step one is figure out what you need a break from. Sabbatical is taking a break. What are you taking a break from? Most often we take a sabbatical from work. That could be your job or your business. We work in many ways. And you could take a sabbatical from all sorts of things— from a hobby, from a personal project, from housework. Maybe even a sabbatical from a particular relationship. I empower you to press pause, to take that break on any area of your life where you need some rest or some clearing or some space. Anytime you need that spaciousness or that restoration. I empower you to take a sabbatical there. As a business owner, if you are taking a break from work, that means taking a break from your business. But what in your business are you taking a break from? You could take a break from your whole business. You could go on sabbatical and step away from the business for a week, or a month, or a season, even a day. It could also mean taking a break from part of your business.

[00:18:21] Maybe you want to take a social media sabbatical this summer— stepping away from social media. You know, that's what this podcast is all about [chuckles].

[00:18:29] Maybe you want to pause taking new clients and just take a sabbatical from onboarding this summer. Nobody new. That's great.

[00:18:37] Maybe you— your online shop goes on sabbatical for a few weeks and your brick-and-mortar space stays open or vice versa. You close down your brick-and-mortar space for a few weeks, but your online shop goes on sabbatical. That's another way to take a sabbatical.

[00:18:50] At Softer Sounds I have one week a month where I don't take any meetings. That's my monthly meeting sabbatical [chuckles]. I am recording this during one of those weeks. That week is a time where I can get a little extra rest and do some deep work. That's my monthly sabbatical.

[00:19:08] So, step one is figure out what you need a break from. What kind of sabbatical are you taking?

[00:19:17] Now for many of you, I am guessing you tuned into this episode because you're like— you have an inkling of what you want to break from. For many of you, it might just be like, "I need a break from my business. Please [chuckles]." There's your answer.

[00:19:31] I encourage you to do some free writing on this, to talk it through with a close collaborator or partner. You know, take your time here. Figure out what you need a break from and be radically honest with yourself. Whatever comes up, like, let that be what you need the sabbatical from. I encourage you not to, like, talk yourself down or back into being like your body is— when you— if your gut is saying, "I need a break from my business," and then your mind turns on and says, "Oh, but you can't take a break from your whole business so how about just social media, or how about just your inbox? Or how about just new clients [chuckles]?"

[00:20:10] Like take a deep breath, release that inner voice, that inner critic that's coming up or limiting you? And just spend a moment trying to really get to what you need a break from. All of us have a different way of connecting with our inner truth. It may be your inner voice. You may go to the Akashic Records and ask them. You may pull a tarot card. There are lots of ways to get to this answer. But I encourage you to take some time with step one to figure out what you need a break from.

[00:20:47] Okay. Let's move on to step two. With step two I invite you to dream big about how long you want to be on sabbatical. How long will your sabbatical be? I started this one with dream big because I, again, want to empower you to really think about how much of a break you want or need. Is it a week? Is it a month? Is it a whole summer? Is it a whole year? Ask yourself how long you want to be on sabbatical and check in with yourself energetically about it.

[00:21:27] So again, there are lots of ways to do this. You can journal. Write at the top of the page, "How long do I want to be on sabbatical?" Free write for as long as you need to, as long as words will come out.

[00:21:38] You can ask yourself about it and do a body scan. How long do I want to be on sabbatical? Scan from the crown of your head to the bottom of your feet. See what comes up. You can ask your gut or your inner voice, how long do I want to be on sabbatical? You can pull tarot cards or Oracle cards. You can ask the Akashic Records— any practice you have for getting closer to the truth, that's where you're going to get this answer.

[00:22:04] Myself, I like to do a combination of these things. So, normally what I do [chuckles]— it's a little convoluted, so bear with me.

[00:22:11] I like to light a candle. I do a body scan. I kind of sit in my space. I do a body scan just kind of relaxing myself. I journal about rest, about breaks, and about sabbaticals. And from that, I settle on three lengths of time I'd like to consider. So earlier I said, a week, a month, or a season.

[00:22:36] Then I use those prompts for card pull and I draw a tarot or an Oracle card for each one. I say, you know, "What if my sabbatical is a week?" Pull a card. "What if my sabbatical is a month?" Pull a card. "What if my sabbatical is a whole season?" Pull a card. And then I sit with those cards, kind of see what messages are coming through.

[00:22:57] That's the way I like to do it, but I encourage you to use your favorite energetic, somatic, magical, spiritual tools to ask this question. Because we want that honest answer that's full of truth before all those sneaky narratives and critical voices jump in to say, "Oh, you can't take a break for that long. Oh, you could never step away for that length of time. You don't deserve a break. You can't have a break."

[00:23:24] Ugh, ugh, I don't even like hearing that come out of my mouth [chuckles]. It felt bad to say, but those are definitely the things that go through my head when I think about taking a sabbatical or going on sabbatical. So, if you're feeling that I want to invite you with step two, again, to just dream big about how long you want to be on sabbatical and try to see what answers your body or your spirit guide you to because those critical voices will come in, they will come back and they might be right.

[00:23:53] You may want to take a year off and your business might not be in a place where you can step away or press pause for a whole year. You might not be able to take a break for as long as you desire or need to do right now. But I think it's worth connecting with that dream, as audacious as it may be, and then looking to the quote unquote reality of the situation, rather than starting there with all those limiting beliefs and shortchanging the rest that our bodies and our spirits need. So again, step two is dream big about how long you want to be on sabbatical.

[00:24:31] Step one— just to recap, step one was figure out what you need a break from.

[00:24:36] Step two was dream big about how long you want to be on sabbatical.

[00:24:42] Alright. Now let's move on to step three— step three is clear the fear, then take a look at your numbers.

[00:24:52] So, this one is about numbers and money. Let's just acknowledge that upfront. I am not giving you a sort of, like, “Love and light, take a sabbatical, and just pray it works out,” approach. I'm way too much of a Capricorn Rising for that [laughs] so we did all of that work to listen to our bodies, to listen to our spirits, to check in with our energy, to see what we're dreaming of? What are we taking a sabbatical from? How long is it going to be? Now we're going to go into, you know, if we want to think about like the Suits of Tarot for this, right? We were doing a lot of like air and water work— not Suits of Tarot, those are elements of the Earth [laughs].

[00:25:33] When we think of the elements we can think about, like, you know, the— the what do I want to break from and the dreaming big about how long it will be. I think of that as very much like air and water. Now we're going to move into Earth. So, we went from that air and water space of dreams and letting ourselves feel how we're feeling. Now we're going to go to the practicalities of Earth and materiality.

[00:25:55] Let's look at our numbers. So, step three again is clear the fear and then take a look at your numbers.

[00:26:02] The first part is clear the fear because I just want to acknowledge that lots of us are afraid of money in our businesses and we're really afraid of taking a break because we live in a society of scarcity. We are forced— scarcity is forced upon us by our capitalist society constantly. And I think it can be a lifelong journey to move away from scarcity mindset. So, I'm not here to be like, “Let that go [chuckles].”

[00:26:32] But it is so helpful if we can change our mindset around scarcity in this moment— if we can believe we are worthy of rest and that breaks are available to us. So, I want to gift you that mantra here and I'm going to say it a few times. I'm going to invite you to close your eyes, to take this in, to maybe repeat it with me if you would like.

[00:26:58] I am worthy of rest and breaks are available to me. I am worthy of rest and breaks are available to me.

[00:27:14] One more time. Try repeating it with me if you haven't already.

[00:27:18] I am worthy of rest and breaks are available to me.

[00:27:27] I love that mantra. I'm going to gift you one more because I can't help myself [chuckles]. Another affirmation. One that is on my own altar that I wrote last summer. And that affirmation was, "When I rest, I receive. Money flows easily to me." I'll say it again.

[00:27:51] When I rest, I receive. Money flows easily to me.

[00:28:01] I know that money is not simply about mindset, but I have found that as a business owner who is— I'm always trying to empower myself and my relationship with money in my business and with money coming into and flowing from my business. And sometimes those simple affirmations really help me shift my mindset. How does scarcity move toward abundance? When I rest, I receive. Money flows easily to me. I say that five times before I do my books every single month [laughs]. So, another side note if you want some, like, magical money practices for your business.

[00:28:38] So, now that we've shifted our mindset, let's look at our numbers together. When I prepare for a sabbatical, I start by looking at two things.

[00:28:48] I look at my monthly expenses and my savings.

[00:28:51] So I ask, "How much money do I spend each month in my business and how much money do I have on hand?"

[00:28:59] As a sole proprietor, I actually do this for my business finances and my personal finances. So, how much am I spending in my business each month? How much am I spending in my personal life each month? Then, how much do I have saved in my business savings and how much do I have saved in my personal savings? And I am married so my partner's finances also come into this. You know, sometimes I've got like a whole bunch of columns [chuckles] I'm looking at when I'm thinking about a sabbatical.

[00:29:23] So again, I start by looking at those two things: my monthly expenses and my savings. That's going to tell me how much money I have on hand and how much money is going out every month.

[00:29:37] Next, I do some forecasting and I look ahead at how much money is coming into my business in the upcoming months. So I ask myself, what recurring revenue do I have? What invoices are due— like my invoices, money that's coming in [chuckles], and what money is coming my way no matter what?

[00:29:55] So again, I'm forecasting, looking ahead at money coming in. This is partly why people love monthly recurring revenue so much so that they can potentially step away from their business and money just keeps coming in or so that they can count on money coming in every month.

[00:30:11] So, if you do your forecasting and you look at it and you're like, "Amelia, there's nothing for sure coming in in the months ahead." That's okay. That's very real for many of us who work on a project-based basis or who run product-based businesses. And we're like, "Well, my shop's closed. Not going to make any money. Who knows [laughs softly]?" You know, try to let that sort of judgmental questioning or critical questioning aside and just look at the numbers neutrally. Again, so those are the— and consider those three things.

[00:30:43] Those are my three numbers I start with. What are my monthly expenses? How much money do I have in my savings? What money is coming in in the upcoming months, no matter what? That gives me a very basic overview of where I'm at with a focus on, like, how much runway do I have if I want to step away, if I want to not sell, if I want to not market? How long could I take? How long could I do that for without running out of money, essentially?

[00:31:19] [Deep exhale] Okay. So, I just said that thing. It felt kind of scary— did you feel a little scared when I said running out of money because that's how I felt [laughs heartily]. And again, these are the fears that come up when we talk about sabbaticals. When we talk about taking a break, especially as business owners because we are in control or— sort of in control [chuckles] of the money coming into our business.

[00:31:44] It feels like it's all on us.

[00:31:47] And so if we surrender, if we step away, maybe there's no money coming in and that can feel terrifying. Ugh, it makes me feel scared. Again, when I said running out of money, I was like, "Woo," and maybe you're like, "Amelia, stop saying that [chuckles]."

[00:32:03] So again, we clear that fear. We go back to our money affirmations. Remember—

[00:32:11] I am worthy of rest and breaks are available to me. Or—

[00:32:16] When I rest, I receive. Money flows easily to me.

[00:32:21] Any time you feel the fear come up, go back to those and then let yourself go back into the numbers neutrally. Now, we talked about those three things I look at— monthly expenses, savings, and earnings for the month ahead.

[00:32:35] Depending on the type of sabbatical you want to take, you might also need to gather a few more numbers in step three. This is really our, like, data gathering stage.

[00:32:46] For instance, you might need to know your sales from last summer to know how much money could come in.

[00:32:52] You might need to know your follower or subscriber count over the past six months to know what might happen if you stopped posting on social media or sending emails.

[00:33:01] Based on your answers in the first two steps— what are you taking a break from and how long do you want to take a break for? Think about if there are any other numbers you'd like to have on hand as we head into our next step. Go ahead and gather those numbers, if you're doing this live. If you're just listening, think about what you're going to gather [chuckles]. And then we'll head on to step four.

[00:33:25] So, step four is start experimenting and get creative. If you've been listening to this podcast, you know there's nothing I love more than a creative experiment [laughs].

[00:33:38] So, once we know what we want to take a break from and how long we'd like to take a break for, as well as the basic financial overview of our business, then we're ready to start experimenting and run a few scenarios.

[00:33:54] So again, what we're doing with these scenarios is looking at kind of our runway. How much time could we step away for? How much space do we have energetically— financially? You know what— there are other things that come into play here that I'll talk about with some significant— with some different scenarios. But, you know, how will taking a break impact our goals, how would taking a break impact an offering you might have planned? These are all things that are going to come into play as you start experimenting. But I just want to encourage you from the outset, let's stay in a place of play. Let's allow it to be creative. Let's give ourselves a sabbatical even if what we come to is, "I can take a week. I can take the mornings this week. I can take two days." That is still a beautiful, wonderful break for yourself.

[00:34:45] So, let's get into our play space. Start experimenting. And I'm going to run a few different types of scenarios with you so you can get an idea of how I might approach this. So, let's think about three different scenarios.

[00:35:01] Let's talk about a summer-long social media sabbatical, a month-long business sabbatical, and a two-week meeting sabbatical. I'm going to go through these one by one and share how I would approach them if I were trying to take them myself.

[00:35:17] Let's— we'll start with the summer-long social media sabbatical. So, here's my question: What would happen if I took a sabbatical from social media for the whole summer? How did I come up with that question? It was my answers to step one and step two. I decided I wanted to take a sabbatical from social media and I decided they want it to be the whole summer long. So, I landed on this question: What would happen if I took a sabbatical from social media for the whole summer? So, here's what I would think about if that's my question.

[00:35:46] I would be thinking about, okay, what is my sales calendar for the summer? Am I launching something? Do I have a new offering coming out? Is it steady and just like recurring people from my membership and I was just going to keep posting on social media because I want to keep growing my following, like, what is my goal when I post on social media and what will happen if I'm no longer posting on social media?

[00:36:11] If you've been listening to this podcast [chuckles], you know that I empower you to step away from social media any time you need to and for as long as you want. Myself, I logged off entirely and I'm never going back [laughs], so I think that what would happen if I took a sabbatical from social media for the whole summer? That answer is really based on what you're doing on social media when you're there.

[00:36:33] So, if you're selling products on social media and you're like, "All of my product traffic comes from Instagram or TikTok." You will— for your sabbatical— you will either— either need to decide, "I am able to have a reduction in revenue. It's okay if less money comes in for the summer because I've got all this money saved or because I have something coming from elsewhere." That's one way you can look at your sabbatical or you could say, "I want to take a sabbatical for the summer. I don't want to have less money coming in. So how am I, in the months leading up to my sabbatical, going to build other marketing plans and channels so I can keep making sales when I'm off social media."

[00:37:15] That's how I would approach a social media sabbatical for a— for a summer or a whole season. I would think about:

[00:37:21] What am I doing when I'm on social media? How will not being there impact that? And then what are my options? And that— in terms of what are my options— that's where we gathered that data because if I know how much is in my savings account, I can say, "Okay, well if my sales go to zero for three months, do I have enough money to pay my expenses in my business and for myself?" And is that okay with me to use my savings in that way?

[00:37:50] Or if you're like, "Well, Amelia, savings account is zero or is, you know [chuckles], not even a month's worth of expenses, definitely not a summer’s." Then you get to work on a plan that's like, “Okay, here's how I'm going to keep my revenue up while not being on social media.” And you can still give yourself that sabbatical. [Deep breath] If it's me and I'm in that second category, like, how am I going to keep the revenue up without being on social media? There are a lot of different ways to think through that. Maybe you decide, "Great, I'm just going to launch this whole, like, email marketing thing and that's totally going to do this for me for the summer. Awesome." Maybe you're like, "I need a break now. And I do not have time to launch a totally new marketing strategy [laughs]." Right? Like, that's a lot of work. So, maybe in that instance, you think to yourself, “Okay, I don’t think I can do this for the whole summer, but I could take a month where, like, I make less money and then, like, get back to it.”

[00:38:45] Or maybe you're like, "Mmm. I don't think I can do that, but I can take a week off by scheduling everything in advance." There are different ways to think through this. This is where those big dreams that we made in steps one and two kind of meet the reality of the resources we have that we found out in step three. And that's okay. You know, I don't want you to feel like, "Oh, if I have to quote unquote compromise my dreams, that doesn't count." That's not true. It all counts.

[00:39:17] All we are doing is remembering that we are worthy of rest and breaks are available to us.

[00:39:23] So, in step four run those scenarios. Figure out what's possible for you.

[00:39:27] Okay, let's move through my other two scenarios [laughs]. It's getting— I'm getting long-winded. My apologies.

[00:39:32] Second scenario— a month-long business sabbatical.

[00:39:37] So, there in step one, I've said, "I want to take a break from my business entirely."

[00:39:42] In step two, I said, "I want my break to be a month-long."

[00:39:45] So, my question is— what would happen if I totally shut my business down for a month? Here's what I would do with that. I— you could start, I think, with your offerings or with your finances, you could look at your sales calendar and say, "Okay, here's a month when I wasn't planning on selling anything or when I don't have like a big launch or something going on. So, there's my month I want to take off." Or you could start with your finances and you could say, okay, and you could look and say, "Alright, what happens if I make $0 in this month?"

[00:40:15] Like, you know, I am an Aries Sun so I'm— I like a blunt question [laughs softly]. If that question's scary for you, I understand. Tiptoe your way toward it. But what happens if you just take a month and you don't make any money? Do you have enough in your savings to cover your expenses for that month? Can you cut your expenses so you have enough money for that month? Just look at the financials again. Numbers are neutral. Let them be neutral and see what would happen.

[00:40:41] Maybe your answer to that question is, "Well, I want a month-long sabbatical, but there is not a month this summer when I have not already committed to a client [chuckles]." You know, that's another thing that will come— will come up when we think about sabbaticals, especially if you're trying to plan a sabbatical for the season ahead instead of planning, you know, one a year in the future.

[00:40:59] Well, what I would think about— this is a question I asked myself actually recently, like, if I want a month off this summer, am I already too committed for— like overcommitted to clients for that [laughs]? My answer was yes. I've already committed to editing clients, and— at Softer Sounds for the whole summer. But I was able to say, like, "Okay, well, here's who is on the docket. What if I only work with those people and I shut, like, my books for anybody new? How much money would I make? What would happen?"

[00:41:27] Or, you know I use the example of like, "I want to shut my business down for a month." Maybe you run a retail shop and you're like, "Well, what if I just shut down the online shop for a month?" Look at your numbers. How much money did you make in that month last year? How much money would not be coming in? How much money do you have? Can you afford that? Or if you just shut down your brick and mortar, you're like, "Mmm, we go on vacation in August. So, not doing that but I'm going to have the online shop up and running." Then maybe you ask yourself, "Well, am I running it myself or am I going to bring somebody on to run the shop for that month? How much is that going to cost me? What's going to happen?" Like, you know, if you really want to step away, sometimes what you need is support, other people who can do the work for you. And you don't have to shut your business down. You're just not the one doing it.

[00:42:12] Those are the types of scenarios I'd run through if my question was: What would happen if I totally shut my business down for a month?

[00:42:20] Third question— third type of sabbatical: a two-week meeting sabbatical.

[00:42:26] What would happen if I took two weeks off meetings this summer? I just wanna say I encourage everyone who's [chuckles] a service provider to do this.

[00:42:34] I mentioned my meeting-free week earlier and I love that week. I cherish it. That— that— that monthly sabbatical or week-long sabbatical every month is the best.

[00:42:46] [Deep breath] So, I think if my question was what would happen if I took two weeks off meetings this summer? I would look— I would ask, "Okay, well, what do I do in meetings? And are those meetings really necessary?"

[00:42:57] You know, maybe you're a coach and you've promised people a weekly meeting for the whole summer through your program. You know, what would happen if you took two weeks off? Sometimes even if you've already, like, promised that, when you say to people, "I'm going to take two weeks off of meetings for the summer because I need to— I need time to rejuvenate. I need to rest. I need this sabbatical. I encourage you to also use this time as a sabbatical to take these times we had scheduled for our meetings to do XYZ nice things for yourself, supportive things for yourself." That can be a great way to frame that.

[00:43:32] If you feel like, "I definitely have to give them that time." Think about ways you could make it up in another week or with a group offering or something like that. For many of us, closing our calendar for two weeks might be no big deal. You just do it [laughs].

[00:43:47] Or you run the type of business where you don't have meetings and you're like, "Amelia, this is not a helpful scenario for me."

[00:43:52] But I think— I like this example because it's just another reminder, like, there are many types of sabbaticals you can take. And what do you— I'd also ask myself in this one, like, "What do I do when I take those two weeks off meetings?"

[00:44:03] You know, it could be tempting to just cram them with all of the long-term projects you have perhaps not been working on because [chuckles] you've been too busy in meetings.

[00:44:13] But I really think the nature of a sabbatical, I do think sabbaticals can include some of that deep work and that integrative time and that, like, brainstorming and ideating, but the goal— but they also include rest.

[00:44:25] They're also restorative. So, when you plan your sabbatical, whatever it may be, I encourage you to either do all rest or all rest and some work. But a sabbatical is not all work. That's not how it works [laughs heartily]. I guess that's a pun, whatever.

[00:44:42] So, step four was start experimenting and get creative with your scenarios. You got this.

[00:44:51] Now let's go to step five, our final step. Step five is pick your plan and book your dates. Like this is it, babe. You just did all the scenarios. Look at them. Pick one that works for you. Fine-tune that plan a little bit and then PUT IT ON THE CALENDAR. This is in all caps in my notes. PUT IT ON THE CALENDAR. Put it on your email signature [laughs]. Say it out loud to yourself. To your accountability buddy. To your clients. To your customers. Say it out loud so that you don't back out because let me tell you how many times [laughs] I have planned a day off or a week off for myself and then, you know, just at the last minute was like, "Mmm, I'll just scoot that little meeting in there." Or, "Mmm, I think I actually want to get this done tomorrow."

[00:45:39] Set a hard boundary around your sabbatical, whatever it may be, whether it's a day, a week, a month, a summer, a year, whatever it is. Put those boundaries up. Whether the boundary is no meetings, no work, no contact, never talk to me again, whatever it is [chuckles]. Put the boundary up, book the dates, set the boundary. I put everything in my e-mail signature in my business. If you ever email me at Softer Sounds, you'll see it. I've got my office hours, and for this summer— Summer 2022, I have summer hours. And my email says something like, "I believe in taking it slow and being offline in the summertime and I have reduced office hours and I have reduced meeting hours." It's like, "These are the hours that you can expect from the office. These are the hours I will be meeting with clients." That's all in my email signature. I also have my out-of-office dates there.

[00:46:29] I don't currently have a full business sabbatical planned for this summer, but I do have a podcast sabbatical that I'll talk about shortly [giggles].

[00:46:38] So, step five is pick your plan and book your dates. Set that boundary. Give yourself that beautiful, beautiful sabbatical of your dreams. Whatever it may be. Remember. You are worthy of rest and breaks are available to you.

[00:46:55] That's why you're setting that boundary, to give yourself that gift, to receive that rest.

[00:47:02] Okay. So, a quick recap of this five-step plan.

[00:47:07] Step one: Figure out what you need a break from.

[00:47:12] Step two: Dream big about how long you want your break to be.

[00:47:19] Step three: Clear the fear. Then take a look at your numbers neutrally.

[00:47:26] Step four: Start experimenting and get creative with sabbatical scenarios [giggles].

[00:47:35] And step five: Pick your plan and book your dates. Set that boundary and gift yourself this sabbatical.

[00:47:46] That's it, ya'll. Five steps. Easy breezy, right [laughs]? Yeah, maybe not. I understand there are lots of ways this can be complicated. But if you're listening to this because you're feeling called to rest because you feel like you need a break. If your bones are telling you, "I need a break, I am burnt out. I am tired. I have just finished something big. I'm just about to start something big. I need space to grieve. I need space to celebrate, whatever it may be—" the reason you might need a sabbatical. If you're feeling that, I want you to have one.

[00:48:17] And I want to assure you that if you're listening to this episode, when it goes live in early June 2022, you still have time to plan a sabbatical this summer. Maybe it's a little late to plan a summer-long sabbatical for your business. Maybe not [laughs].

[00:48:32] But it is not too late to plan a week or even a month off. Don't sell yourself short. Don't shortchange yourself. Don't shortchange your body. Because when you do that, you shortchange your business.

[00:48:42] You are a brilliant business owner who can be savvy with a sales calendar and you can make a sabbatical happen for yourself. I promise.

[00:48:58] So, now that I have empowered you and pumped you up to plan and take your summer sabbatical [laughs], I'm happy to announce this podcast is going on a mid-season sabbatical.

[00:49:09] I am taking off the rest of June to integrate everything that I've shared on Off the Grid so far and to get ready for The Refresh.

[00:49:17] And then the podcast will be back for a few final episodes of Season One in July.

[00:49:23] I am over here practicing what I preach. I am taking a sabbatical and empowering you to take one too [laughs]. Podcast sabbatical here we come.

[00:49:33] In the meantime, while I'm on sabbatical, resting and working in turn, don't forget to download the Leaving Social Media Toolkit. Get my three best creative marketing tools for free at softersounds.studio/byeig b-y-e-i-g.

[00:49:52] Then leave me a voice message. Ask me your questions about sabbaticals and you will be entered to win our Season One giveaway to win an Instead Deck from Inner Workout. Leave that voice message at speakpipe.com/offthegrid. Link in the show notes.

[00:50:08] And finally, while I'm on sabbatical, sign up for The Refresh. This is your opportunity to integrate and implement all of the things you've been hearing me and my guests say all season.

[00:50:21] It's going to be restful.

[00:50:22] It's going to be restorative.

[00:50:23] It's going to be rejuvenating.

[00:50:25] Part summer sabbatical, part fall planning as promised. It's three live workshops with me, lots of fun activities for you. Even more good times along the way. Join me in The Refresh in August and sign up by June 30th to get $10 off.

[00:50:41] So again, head to softersounds.studio/refresh and use the code refresh [chuckles] by the end of this month, June 2022, you'll get $10 off. It'll only be $89 for three workshops and the recordings.

[00:50:55] If you love this podcast, you're going to adore The Refresh, I promise. So, sign up today at the link in the show notes.

[00:51:02] Alright, ya'll. That is all I have for you. I am going to put on my sunglasses, pack my pool bag, take a break, a beautiful sabbatical to start the summer with. I can't wait to be back in your air buds, air pods, earphones, headphones, car speakers wherever you listen in July to wrap up Season One, I really do hope you'll leave me a message— a voice [outro music begins to play] message between now and then. I really do hope you'll sign up for The Refresh. Get that discount, commit to that refreshment [giggles] in August. And until then, I'll see you off the grid [outro music gets louder].

[00:51:43] Thanks for listening to Off the Grid. Find links and resources in the show notes. And don't forget to grab your free Leaving Social Media Toolkit at softersounds.studio/byeig that's softer sounds dot studio slash b-y-e-i-g.

[00:51:59] This podcast is a Softer Sounds production. Our music is by Purple Planet and our logo is by n'Atelier Studio. If you'd like to make a podcast of your own, we'd love to help.

[00:52:10] Find more about our services at softersounds.studio. Until next time, we'll see you off the grid [music fades out].