May 6, 2025 • 26 mins
Are you terrified to take a vacation from your business? You're not alone. That persistent worry—"everything will fall apart if I step away"—keeps countless entrepreneurs chained to their laptops, even during family time or much-needed breaks.
This fear doesn't come from nowhere. Most of us have experienced the painful reality of watching our hard-earned momentum evaporate after stepping back, only to find ourselves essentially starting over months later. What's truly heartbreaking is how this creates a vicious cycle: fearing the collapse of our business, we never truly unplug, which leads to burnout, decreased creativity, and ultimately—the very business stagnation we were trying to avoid.
Here's the uncomfortable truth: If your business would completely stop functioning during a two-week absence, that's a crucial indicator that you're missing the systems necessary for sustainable growth. The good news? This isn't a judgment—it's an opportunity. Systems aren't just about maintaining momentum during breaks; they're about magnifying your energy and compounding your impact every single day.
Whether it's automated booking calendars that fill your schedule while you're away, email sequences that nurture relationships and generate sales without your active involvement, or lead generation funnels that grow your audience on autopilot—each system you implement transforms from a one-time energy investment into ongoing returns. Your business evolves from requiring your constant attention to supporting your whole life, including your fundamental need for rest.
The mindset shift is profound: Systems aren't restrictive chains that limit your creativity or authenticity. They're the very foundation of freedom. They don't earn you the right to rest—you already deserve that simply by being human. Instead, they create the conditions where taking that rest doesn't come with anxiety, guilt, or devastating consequences to your business.
Ready to break the cycle of perpetual rebuilding? Check out the System Seer Playbook at avmcoaching.com to identify your gaps and create a business that thrives—even when you don't show up. Because your business should support your life, not consume it.
Coaches, healers, and creatives—how much money are you leaving on the table?
Coach OS is the world’s leading all-in-one software that automates your business, scales your income, and replaces all your other software for a fraction of the cost!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, this is Annie Veblen-McCarty and I'm gonna
teach you how to be effortlesslyproductive.
I've been an entrepreneur forover 20 years and I got sick and
tired of experts preaching whatbusiness and life should look
like and what I should be doingas a leader and to turn a profit
, only to find myself wastingtime, burned out, feeling
(00:22):
inauthentic and still not makingany money.
On this show, we are ditchingthe shoulds.
I'm giving you permission to dobusiness differently.
As a certified master coach, Ibelieve that everything you need
to have success and build thelife and business of your dreams
is already living on the inside.
(00:43):
I'm going to empower you tolean into what you do best, help
you see your path forwardclearly and give you the
strategy and action steps alongthe way to become effortlessly
productive.
Let's dive in.
Welcome to today's episode ofEffortlessly Productive.
Today, we are going to betalking about how to build a
(01:07):
business that does not breakwhen you take a rest.
How many times in your businesshave you wanted to unplug?
Have you needed to unplug?
Have you had a vacation comingup?
Have you had a kid who ishomesick?
Have you had something going onin your life where you needed
(01:28):
to have a little bit of timeaway from your business, and
whether that means that youstepped away completely
unplugged, or maybe it justlooks like you're in a season
where you are not able to put asmuch time into your business as
you normally would.
And I think as entrepreneurs,we often have this worry that
(01:49):
when I step away from mybusiness, that things are going
to break, things are going tofall through the cracks, that
momentum that we have worked sohard to build is going to tank.
And this probably comes from apast experience where maybe we
have taken a little bit of astep back from our business,
maybe that we have not been asintentional with our business,
(02:12):
maybe we haven't been able todedicate the time.
We all go through those seasonsin life, and especially if your
business is not your main thing, that you are putting 30, 40
hours a week, if you have a nineto five job I'm going to say
that in quotes, whatever thatlooks like or you have lots of
other commitments.
(02:33):
Maybe you're a caretaker forsomebody Again, those kids, all
right, we got to take care ofthem.
So we all go through theseseasons where we, for one reason
or another, we have to pullback from our business for a
little bit, or we're not asfocused, we're not as
intentional and we probably havehad an experience if we do not
(02:53):
have our business set up inorder to support those breaks,
in order to support thoseunplugged times and we're going
to talk about what that lookslike or what that could look
like in a minute but if we donot have that set up and in
place in order to be able to dothat, we may have experienced
that our business falls a littlebit right, that momentum slows
(03:16):
down.
Maybe you don't notice it rightaway, but maybe, like three to
six months later, you're likeman, things are really slow.
What is going on?
Because usually the resultsthat we're seeing in our
business right now are a resultof the work that we have put in
three to six months ago.
So it's very normal to havethat story, to have that belief,
(03:40):
to have that thing holding usback.
This starts to turn into alimiting belief that if I unplug
, if I take that step back, thatthings are going to fall apart,
and what that creates is it'sgoing to.
If we kind of go through mylife coaching, the push method
that I teach and that I learned,so, when we have that thought
(04:04):
or that belief that we're goingto step away and things are
going to crumble, that creates acertain feeling in us, and then
that feeling it probably issomething like dread or fear or
worry or scarcity or whateverthat looks like.
So that is going to make ustake certain actions, and often
that is that we do not giveourselves permission to step
(04:27):
away.
We don't give ourselves thoseunplugged times.
We either don't take vacationsor while we are on vacation, we
are still working the entiretime.
So we end up in this cycle wherewe are literally attached to
our business and we are unableto take those breaks because of
(04:48):
the fear of stepping away.
And this can even look likesometimes we just need to rest.
Sometimes we need to have aseason where we are not as
present, where it's more aseason of us pouring into
ourselves, of doing thingsbehind the scenes in order to
create that business that wewant to create.
So let's chat about what we cando to counteract this right,
(05:10):
because if taking a break in ourheads, if taking a break equals
losing momentum, the realitybecause that could actually be a
fact, right, it might not justbe this limiting belief that we
have.
It could actually be a factthat if you take a break, that
your results are gonna start togo down.
The momentum that you've builtis gonna slow.
(05:32):
So I want you to sit here andthink really carefully for a
minute and I want you to thinkis that actually a reality If
you were to completely unplugand stop doing anything in your
business for a week or two weeks?
Take a deep breath, because Iknow for some of you that just
created a whole feeling ofprobably panic or something
(05:55):
similar in your body.
Let's say you were to take thatweek or two weeks completely
off.
Or let's say something reallybig happened and you had to take
a month off from your business.
Do you have things in placeright now that your business
would continue to run in thebackground, with you not having
(06:15):
to touch every single thing?
Would there still be thingsthat were going on?
And if not, that is a prettygood indicator that you not need
, but that you could start tofocus on some systems that will
allow you to scale.
If the answer to that was, I'mgoing to step away and literally
my entire business is going tocome to a screeching halt.
(06:38):
There is nothing wrong withthat?
That just means that this islike an indicator of where you
are in your business and somethings that we can start to
focus on in the future so thatwe are able to take those
periods of rest when we needthem.
We are able to unplug.
So that is a huge indicator thatyou do not have systems in
(06:59):
place we're going to talk aboutsome different systems here in a
second but systems in place inorder to be able to scale your
business.
And the reason why this isimportant is because, yes, we
want these systems in place sothat we can unplug and take a
break and take a rest when weneed that rest.
And it's also really importantbecause these same systems are
(07:22):
what is going to magnify ourenergy and give us more time
back.
It's not magnifying our time.
It kind of is, in a way,because it's taking our time and
actually compounding thatbecause we're going to build a
system once and then it's goingto continue to run in the
background.
Or we can also talk about thisin terms of hiring people for
(07:46):
our team right, hiring supportsystems.
So this can look like a coupleof different things, but that is
a really good indicator thatyou don't have these scaling
systems either.
So what that means is, even ifyou are plugged into your
business, even if you arefocused and intentional and
you're able to dedicate howevermuch time it is that you want to
(08:07):
be dedicating to your business,you could actually be
maximizing that even more, youcould be compounding it,
multiplying it, magnifying it,if you did have these systems,
because when you're plugged inand you have these systems
working, that's where that hugeexplosion happens.
We can go back to math class,right, and talk about the
(08:29):
parabola.
I am a math nerd, so mathdoesn't scare me.
For some of you, that may havebrought up some memories, right,
maybe a subject that wasn'tyour very favorite.
But when we look at thatparabola, the growth starts off
very, very slow, right.
We can look at this asexponential growth too, like an
exponential curve.
(08:50):
So it starts off very, veryflat and then, all of a sudden,
it will spike up, right.
The reason that it can spike uplike that is because we have
these systems in place.
So more is happening than justthe work and the energy and the
effort that we are putting in,that time that we are putting in
.
We're able to compound that, andso when we talk about systems,
(09:14):
a lot of the time I feel likethat word is thrown around and
people are like I don't evenknow what that means, Like I
don't know what a system is.
People just talk about thesesystems, so these can look like
sometimes we're just talkingabout some structure to kind of
reduce that chaos, right, whenwe talk about business systems.
But what I am really focusingon here is actually the systems
(09:39):
that could be either automatedso that means you do it once and
then a computer from then ontakes that system and runs that
system over and over and overand over and over again in the
background without you having totouch anything.
That can be an example.
When we talk about an automatedsystem, that is something that
(10:01):
is going to support you when youneed to step away, right,
because it requires no inputfrom you.
You have to set it up that onetime, but then it does not
require any further input, sothat you know, even when you
take a break, when you need thatrest, when you step away, that
(10:26):
there are people doing some ofthose more manual tasks.
And this is also a reason whythat structure and systems are
important, because when we cancreate structure and systems for
the things that we do in ourbusiness.
It makes it really, really easyfor our team to come in, do
those things the way that wewant them done, do those things
the way that we have found,create success in our business
(10:49):
to follow this exact plan.
And obviously, I am 100% aproponent, as well, of hiring
team members who are alsobrilliant and bring their own
magic, because they will be ableto add their own flavor to that
.
But having that system and thatstructure in place is going to
allow that to be duplicated overand over and over again by
(11:13):
somebody else, so that you canstep away.
So what do some of these systemslook like?
These can be very, very I'mgoing to say simple in terms of,
like you know, it doesn't have.
We're not talking.
You have to have a system thatis this huge, massive thing that
does a ton of different actions.
Right, it doesn't have to bemassive, it can be big.
(11:36):
It can take care of lots ofthings and have lots of systems
working interconnectedly.
However, we can also dosomething as simple as maybe you
create a booking calendar,right, so that people can go
online and schedule appointmentswith you online without having
to have a conversation back andforth.
(11:56):
That is a system.
You could set that up.
You could unplug from yourbusiness and, as long as that
calendar is out there in a waythat supports this, you could
have people booking appointments, booking calls with you.
If that is something that youdo that serves your business,
they could be booking paid callswith you.
They could be booking just likediscovery calls with you, so
(12:20):
that could be running in thebackground so that when you come
back to your business, you havea calendar full of calls set up
and ready to go.
So that is one example ofsomething that could be a very
simple system.
Now, with any of these systemswe talk about, we can actually
add on different layers.
Right, I mentioned that we canstart with a very simple system
(12:42):
and then we can make that moreand more complex.
So an example of something wecould add on to a calendar
system is that we could then addon some reminders about the
appointments.
So set it up so people aregetting automatic emails and
automatic text messages toremind them of that upcoming
appointment, so that they showup and they don't miss it.
(13:05):
We can also add some emails ortext messages that are maybe
starting a conversation withthem beforehand, that are
helping them get to know us,that are maybe introducing them
to some other systems that wehave built.
Maybe you have a free offer thatyou would love for them to plug
into, just to stay involved inyour brand and in your teachings
(13:30):
.
Maybe you have some paid offersthat are evergreen.
When I say evergreen, thatmeans we're not teaching it live
.
It can be delivered without ushaving to show up live.
Right, it's something thatwe've pre-recorded or
pre-written like a product thatthey and this doesn't have to be
a tangible product.
It could be a digital productthat they can purchase and get
(13:53):
access to and then watch rightor read or consume whatever it
is, and they're going to belearning and getting that value.
But here you've made a salewithout you having to actually
show up live to anything.
So we could use this emailsequence to nurture people, to
have them get to know us andthen to upsell them to have them
(14:14):
grab some of our other offersright, some other things that we
have that they can plug into.
That is not a showing up live,so we can do that.
We can also use these emailsand text messages to follow up
with somebody after their call.
So maybe you're asking forreferrals, maybe you're asking
(14:35):
for a testimonial.
I know, for me, collectingtestimonials is, I'll be
perfectly honest, that'ssomething I have not done a
great job of, and because that'snot something that I tend to do
manually, I have started tobuild this into all of the
systems that I put into place.
So once I am finished workingwith somebody, or they have a
(14:58):
course that I have created or aworkbook I have created, I am
then automatically reaching outto them via email to collect a
testimonial from them so that Ican use that to help other
people connect with the offersand the gifts and the knowledge
that I have to share.
(15:18):
So that is an example of how wecan take a very simple system
and then compound on it and youcan see this is turned into
something where we're nurturingpeople, where they start to get
to know us.
This is turned into kind ofservice after the sale, if you
will, even though maybe wehaven't had a paid call with
them.
(15:38):
It's that service after it'salso collecting things that are
going to help us continue tobuild our business, like
testimonials and referrals.
So we can take a very simplesystem and we can add on to it
and maybe within that you thenhave a team member who is doing
a piece of that, who is doing afollow-up with them.
(16:00):
So there's lots of differentthings that we can do here where
we're adding in that humantouch as well as the automated
computer touch.
I will say, when we talk aboutthose automated computer touches
, you have written that you havecreated that to begin with.
So whatever energy you createit in, that is infused in there
(16:25):
and that energy gets to getmagnified over and over, and,
over and over and shared.
It's not like you wrote it,with that energy and that energy
just disappears and now it'ssuddenly this cold interaction.
No, whatever energy you'vepoured into these systems as you
build them, that is, the energythat is going to get magnified
(16:47):
and duplicated and compounded,is going to get magnified and
duplicated and compounded.
So this is how we take ourenergy, our time, our effort,
how we pour it into thesesystems that we are creating and
then we can actually compoundthat energy over and, over and
over again, without it having tobe us giving that energy every
(17:08):
single time.
We can take the energy that weput in one time and we can
actually use that over and overand over again.
How beautiful is that?
So that's one little example ofa system.
Another system that you couldset up is, again, we have this
free thing that we want to giveto people so that they can start
(17:29):
to better their lives, so theycan start to heal, and also so
they can get to know us and knowour magic and find out if we
are somebody that they want towork with.
We can have a system set upMaybe you have some ads running
that are directing people tothat free thing that you have,
whether it's a video or adownload or a checklist or a
guide, whatever that looks like.
(17:50):
So we can do that.
We can have a page with a formthat they can fill out to
actually get that to request.
Whatever this free thing is.
That also adds people to ouremail list, which is beautiful.
I love email.
I'm going to say marketing, butemail just like pouring value
into people with the emails,like showing up in their inbox
(18:12):
to help them and light up theirday.
We're collecting their email.
They are getting all of thisvalue from us.
They're going to continue toget value from us.
We can then have an email thatdelivers whatever that free
thing is that we wanted them tohave, that they wanted.
And then we can again use thisemail sequence.
(18:32):
We can use the thank you pagewhere they requested whatever
that is that they wanted, thefree thing.
We can use that to share withthem some other offers that we
have and again it just it's kindof like that calendar, like
this.
We can build and build andbuild on this.
So now we have all of theseother things, we have these
(18:54):
upsells, we have theseadditional offers that they're
now getting introduced to.
Maybe you offer them yourcalendar link to be able to book
a free session with you.
There's so many things we can doand you can see how, once we
get that up and running, they'reliterally you do not need to
step in.
So let's say you were to unplugfrom your business for a week
(19:17):
or two weeks, all of thesepeople would be coming in from
your ads.
They would be downloading,requesting to download this free
thing which is building youremail list.
They would be on the thank youpage, maybe buying a paid offer
or booking a call with you.
They would then be gettingemails to get to know you better
(19:38):
.
Maybe you're introducing, ifyou have a podcast like hey, go
follow my podcast, follow me onsocial media.
Here's another offer that I'mdoing.
Here's a program that I'mlaunching Join the wait list.
Again, there's so many thingsthat we can start to do with
this.
So you can now see how, if youwere to unplug, maybe you come
(20:00):
back and your email list hasgrown by 10 or 50 or a couple
hundred people.
Maybe you've made some sales inthe background for whatever
these evergreen upsells are, andyou were able to deliver these
all automatically, right?
So your time and energy isstill out there, it's happening
(20:23):
automatically in the background,and you've now been able to
unplug from your business whileyour email list still grows,
while people get to know you,while you're putting your face
and your name out there, yourbrand out there.
You've been able to have someupsells, you've been able to
book calls on your calendar, allwhile you were completely
(20:46):
unplugged from your business,been able to collect
testimonials, been able tocollect referrals.
It's beautiful, right?
So this is how we start tobuild a business that does not
break when you need to take arest or when you want to take a
rest.
Even more importantly, we don'tearn that rest, we get that
(21:10):
rest.
We deserve that rest.
We are worthy of that rest.
Just by being us, just by beinghumans, we don't have to do
anything to earn that.
You are going to have times,especially as I am recording
this.
I don't know what time of yearyou are listening to this, but
we have summer coming up.
I know so many entrepreneurswho are like I want to take a
vacation, but I am honestlyterrified to do that and
(21:33):
completely unplug.
I want to do that for my family.
I want to give my family thegift of being fully present and
not checking into my business.
However, I am terrified if I dothat, I am going to come back
to a pile of rubble, all themomentum I've been working so
hard for completely gone andjust literally starting from
(21:54):
scratch.
And entrepreneurs get in thiscycle of starting from scratch
over and over and over and overagain because they don't have
these systems supporting them.
So if you are scared to unplug,systems are what you need in
order to support that.
Systems are our rest makers, ina way.
(22:14):
So I know a lot of people.
The idea of creating thesesystems and building these
systems is maybe not in theirwheelhouse.
Maybe you run into tech fatigueand you're like, oh my God, I
don't ever want to have to touchtech again and that's something
else that we can work throughright.
That's part of why I loveteaching people how to build
these systems and breaking itdown in a way that is super,
(22:37):
super easy, that it makes iteasy for them, that it makes it
little bite size and that we canstart to then build one little
piece of a system and then buildthe next layer of it and the
next layer of it and the nextlayer of it until you do have a
fully supportive system.
So we need to have this shiftright.
(22:58):
This is a mindset shift, thisis a belief shift.
This is honestly an identityshift.
So systems are not what is goingto restrict you.
I think a lot of people havethat thought of.
If I put these systems in place, like systems are so rigid,
they're so restrictive.
Systems are actually what isgoing to give you the freedom to
(23:21):
be able to unplug, to be ableto pour your time and energy
into the things that you want tospend your time doing, like
maybe you love coaching people,healing people, going on
in-person retreats, all of theseother things and right now,
like creating new programs.
Right now you don't even havethe capacity to be able to do
that, and part of that is thatyou are doing everything
(23:44):
manually and you don't have thissafety net of systems.
You don't have this support ofsystems and you're so afraid to
create systems because you'reafraid that's going to be a
restriction.
But in reality, these systemsare actually that freedom that
you have been seeking and youcrave so badly.
So I invite you, start to babystep into systems, if you
(24:07):
haven't already, and if you area systems expert, a systems
veteran, do an audit of yoursystems and look at where maybe
you have some gaps that you canstart to fill, before we head
into seasons where that rest issomething that we want to plan
for right.
And even if you know you're notcoming up on a season where
(24:29):
your rest is something you wannaplan for, life is unpredictable
right.
And even if you know you're notcoming up on a season where
your rest is something you wantto plan for, life is
unpredictable right.
So it's always worthwhile tokind of do an audit If you want
somebody else to take a look anddo an audit for you, because
sometimes we can get so focusedin on our business, it's hard to
see the bigger picture right.
So I do audits, both auditingwhere you might have some energy
(24:51):
leaks, where you might havesome nervous system
dysregulation because that'sreally important.
Talk about that in anotherpodcast episode.
If you want to go tune into thatone and also do a full audit of
your business systems andfigure out where you may have
some gaps that we can start tofill so that you are fully
supported.
If you are listening to thisright when I launch it, this is
(25:14):
in process and it is coming sosoon If you're listening to this
, a couple of weeks or months oreven years out, this will be
out there for you.
I have a full playbook thatwill also help you analyze all
of your business, take a deeplook and help support you in
building these systems that youwant to put in place in your
(25:35):
business.
It's called the System SeerPlaybook.
So if you are interested inchecking that out and getting
this full support and doing adeep dive and starting to get
these systems built, go checkout that playbook.
I'm super excited for you toget it.
Thank you for tuning intotoday's episode of Effortlessly
Productive.
I will catch you very soon onthe next episode.
(25:57):
I hope you have a beautiful,beautiful rest of your day.
Hey, this is Annie Veblen-McCarty and I'm gonna
teach you how to be effortlesslyproductive.
I've been an entrepreneur forover 20 years and I got sick and
tired of experts preaching whatbusiness and life should look
like and what I should be doingas a leader and to turn a profit
, only to find myself wastingtime, burned out, feeling
(00:22):
inauthentic and still not makingany money.
On this show, we are ditchingthe shoulds.
I'm giving you permission to dobusiness differently.
As a certified master coach, Ibelieve that everything you need
to have success and build thelife and business of your dreams
is already living on the inside.
(00:43):
I'm going to empower you tolean into what you do best, help
you see your path forwardclearly and give you the
strategy and action steps alongthe way to become effortlessly
productive.
Let's dive in.
Welcome to today's episode ofEffortlessly Productive.
Today, we are going to betalking about how to build a
(01:07):
business that does not breakwhen you take a rest.
How many times in your businesshave you wanted to unplug?
Have you needed to unplug?
Have you had a vacation comingup?
Have you had a kid who ishomesick?
Have you had something going onin your life where you needed
(01:28):
to have a little bit of timeaway from your business, and
whether that means that youstepped away completely
unplugged, or maybe it justlooks like you're in a season
where you are not able to put asmuch time into your business as
you normally would.
And I think as entrepreneurs,we often have this worry that
(01:49):
when I step away from mybusiness, that things are going
to break, things are going tofall through the cracks, that
momentum that we have worked sohard to build is going to tank.
And this probably comes from apast experience where maybe we
have taken a little bit of astep back from our business,
maybe that we have not been asintentional with our business,
(02:12):
maybe we haven't been able todedicate the time.
We all go through those seasonsin life, and especially if your
business is not your main thing, that you are putting 30, 40
hours a week, if you have a nineto five job I'm going to say
that in quotes, whatever thatlooks like or you have lots of
other commitments.
(02:33):
Maybe you're a caretaker forsomebody Again, those kids, all
right, we got to take care ofthem.
So we all go through theseseasons where we, for one reason
or another, we have to pullback from our business for a
little bit, or we're not asfocused, we're not as
intentional and we probably havehad an experience if we do not
(02:53):
have our business set up inorder to support those breaks,
in order to support thoseunplugged times and we're going
to talk about what that lookslike or what that could look
like in a minute but if we donot have that set up and in
place in order to be able to dothat, we may have experienced
that our business falls a littlebit right, that momentum slows
(03:16):
down.
Maybe you don't notice it rightaway, but maybe, like three to
six months later, you're likeman, things are really slow.
What is going on?
Because usually the resultsthat we're seeing in our
business right now are a resultof the work that we have put in
three to six months ago.
So it's very normal to havethat story, to have that belief,
(03:40):
to have that thing holding usback.
This starts to turn into alimiting belief that if I unplug
, if I take that step back, thatthings are going to fall apart,
and what that creates is it'sgoing to.
If we kind of go through mylife coaching, the push method
that I teach and that I learned,so, when we have that thought
(04:04):
or that belief that we're goingto step away and things are
going to crumble, that creates acertain feeling in us, and then
that feeling it probably issomething like dread or fear or
worry or scarcity or whateverthat looks like.
So that is going to make ustake certain actions, and often
that is that we do not giveourselves permission to step
(04:27):
away.
We don't give ourselves thoseunplugged times.
We either don't take vacationsor while we are on vacation, we
are still working the entiretime.
So we end up in this cycle wherewe are literally attached to
our business and we are unableto take those breaks because of
(04:48):
the fear of stepping away.
And this can even look likesometimes we just need to rest.
Sometimes we need to have aseason where we are not as
present, where it's more aseason of us pouring into
ourselves, of doing thingsbehind the scenes in order to
create that business that wewant to create.
So let's chat about what we cando to counteract this right,
(05:10):
because if taking a break in ourheads, if taking a break equals
losing momentum, the realitybecause that could actually be a
fact, right, it might not justbe this limiting belief that we
have.
It could actually be a factthat if you take a break, that
your results are gonna start togo down.
The momentum that you've builtis gonna slow.
(05:32):
So I want you to sit here andthink really carefully for a
minute and I want you to thinkis that actually a reality If
you were to completely unplugand stop doing anything in your
business for a week or two weeks?
Take a deep breath, because Iknow for some of you that just
created a whole feeling ofprobably panic or something
(05:55):
similar in your body.
Let's say you were to take thatweek or two weeks completely
off.
Or let's say something reallybig happened and you had to take
a month off from your business.
Do you have things in placeright now that your business
would continue to run in thebackground, with you not having
(06:15):
to touch every single thing?
Would there still be thingsthat were going on?
And if not, that is a prettygood indicator that you not need
, but that you could start tofocus on some systems that will
allow you to scale.
If the answer to that was, I'mgoing to step away and literally
my entire business is going tocome to a screeching halt.
(06:38):
There is nothing wrong withthat?
That just means that this islike an indicator of where you
are in your business and somethings that we can start to
focus on in the future so thatwe are able to take those
periods of rest when we needthem.
We are able to unplug.
So that is a huge indicator thatyou do not have systems in
(06:59):
place we're going to talk aboutsome different systems here in a
second but systems in place inorder to be able to scale your
business.
And the reason why this isimportant is because, yes, we
want these systems in place sothat we can unplug and take a
break and take a rest when weneed that rest.
And it's also really importantbecause these same systems are
(07:22):
what is going to magnify ourenergy and give us more time
back.
It's not magnifying our time.
It kind of is, in a way,because it's taking our time and
actually compounding thatbecause we're going to build a
system once and then it's goingto continue to run in the
background.
Or we can also talk about thisin terms of hiring people for
(07:46):
our team right, hiring supportsystems.
So this can look like a coupleof different things, but that is
a really good indicator thatyou don't have these scaling
systems either.
So what that means is, even ifyou are plugged into your
business, even if you arefocused and intentional and
you're able to dedicate howevermuch time it is that you want to
(08:07):
be dedicating to your business,you could actually be
maximizing that even more, youcould be compounding it,
multiplying it, magnifying it,if you did have these systems,
because when you're plugged inand you have these systems
working, that's where that hugeexplosion happens.
We can go back to math class,right, and talk about the
(08:29):
parabola.
I am a math nerd, so mathdoesn't scare me.
For some of you, that may havebrought up some memories, right,
maybe a subject that wasn'tyour very favorite.
But when we look at thatparabola, the growth starts off
very, very slow, right.
We can look at this asexponential growth too, like an
exponential curve.
(08:50):
So it starts off very, veryflat and then, all of a sudden,
it will spike up, right.
The reason that it can spike uplike that is because we have
these systems in place.
So more is happening than justthe work and the energy and the
effort that we are putting in,that time that we are putting in
.
We're able to compound that, andso when we talk about systems,
(09:14):
a lot of the time I feel likethat word is thrown around and
people are like I don't evenknow what that means, Like I
don't know what a system is.
People just talk about thesesystems, so these can look like
sometimes we're just talkingabout some structure to kind of
reduce that chaos, right, whenwe talk about business systems.
But what I am really focusingon here is actually the systems
(09:39):
that could be either automatedso that means you do it once and
then a computer from then ontakes that system and runs that
system over and over and overand over and over again in the
background without you having totouch anything.
That can be an example.
When we talk about an automatedsystem, that is something that
(10:01):
is going to support you when youneed to step away, right,
because it requires no inputfrom you.
You have to set it up that onetime, but then it does not
require any further input, sothat you know, even when you
take a break, when you need thatrest, when you step away, that
(10:26):
there are people doing some ofthose more manual tasks.
And this is also a reason whythat structure and systems are
important, because when we cancreate structure and systems for
the things that we do in ourbusiness.
It makes it really, really easyfor our team to come in, do
those things the way that wewant them done, do those things
the way that we have found,create success in our business
(10:49):
to follow this exact plan.
And obviously, I am 100% aproponent, as well, of hiring
team members who are alsobrilliant and bring their own
magic, because they will be ableto add their own flavor to that
.
But having that system and thatstructure in place is going to
allow that to be duplicated overand over and over again by
(11:13):
somebody else, so that you canstep away.
So what do some of these systemslook like?
These can be very, very I'mgoing to say simple in terms of,
like you know, it doesn't have.
We're not talking.
You have to have a system thatis this huge, massive thing that
does a ton of different actions.
Right, it doesn't have to bemassive, it can be big.
(11:36):
It can take care of lots ofthings and have lots of systems
working interconnectedly.
However, we can also dosomething as simple as maybe you
create a booking calendar,right, so that people can go
online and schedule appointmentswith you online without having
to have a conversation back andforth.
(11:56):
That is a system.
You could set that up.
You could unplug from yourbusiness and, as long as that
calendar is out there in a waythat supports this, you could
have people booking appointments, booking calls with you.
If that is something that youdo that serves your business,
they could be booking paid callswith you.
They could be booking just likediscovery calls with you, so
(12:20):
that could be running in thebackground so that when you come
back to your business, you havea calendar full of calls set up
and ready to go.
So that is one example ofsomething that could be a very
simple system.
Now, with any of these systemswe talk about, we can actually
add on different layers.
Right, I mentioned that we canstart with a very simple system
(12:42):
and then we can make that moreand more complex.
So an example of something wecould add on to a calendar
system is that we could then addon some reminders about the
appointments.
So set it up so people aregetting automatic emails and
automatic text messages toremind them of that upcoming
appointment, so that they showup and they don't miss it.
(13:05):
We can also add some emails ortext messages that are maybe
starting a conversation withthem beforehand, that are
helping them get to know us,that are maybe introducing them
to some other systems that wehave built.
Maybe you have a free offer thatyou would love for them to plug
into, just to stay involved inyour brand and in your teachings
(13:30):
.
Maybe you have some paid offersthat are evergreen.
When I say evergreen, thatmeans we're not teaching it live
.
It can be delivered without ushaving to show up live.
Right, it's something thatwe've pre-recorded or
pre-written like a product thatthey and this doesn't have to be
a tangible product.
It could be a digital productthat they can purchase and get
(13:53):
access to and then watch rightor read or consume whatever it
is, and they're going to belearning and getting that value.
But here you've made a salewithout you having to actually
show up live to anything.
So we could use this emailsequence to nurture people, to
have them get to know us andthen to upsell them to have them
(14:14):
grab some of our other offersright, some other things that we
have that they can plug into.
That is not a showing up live,so we can do that.
We can also use these emailsand text messages to follow up
with somebody after their call.
So maybe you're asking forreferrals, maybe you're asking
(14:35):
for a testimonial.
I know, for me, collectingtestimonials is, I'll be
perfectly honest, that'ssomething I have not done a
great job of, and because that'snot something that I tend to do
manually, I have started tobuild this into all of the
systems that I put into place.
So once I am finished workingwith somebody, or they have a
(14:58):
course that I have created or aworkbook I have created, I am
then automatically reaching outto them via email to collect a
testimonial from them so that Ican use that to help other
people connect with the offersand the gifts and the knowledge
that I have to share.
(15:18):
So that is an example of how wecan take a very simple system
and then compound on it and youcan see this is turned into
something where we're nurturingpeople, where they start to get
to know us.
This is turned into kind ofservice after the sale, if you
will, even though maybe wehaven't had a paid call with
them.
(15:38):
It's that service after it'salso collecting things that are
going to help us continue tobuild our business, like
testimonials and referrals.
So we can take a very simplesystem and we can add on to it
and maybe within that you thenhave a team member who is doing
a piece of that, who is doing afollow-up with them.
(16:00):
So there's lots of differentthings that we can do here where
we're adding in that humantouch as well as the automated
computer touch.
I will say, when we talk aboutthose automated computer touches
, you have written that you havecreated that to begin with.
So whatever energy you createit in, that is infused in there
(16:25):
and that energy gets to getmagnified over and over, and,
over and over and shared.
It's not like you wrote it,with that energy and that energy
just disappears and now it'ssuddenly this cold interaction.
No, whatever energy you'vepoured into these systems as you
build them, that is, the energythat is going to get magnified
(16:47):
and duplicated and compounded,is going to get magnified and
duplicated and compounded.
So this is how we take ourenergy, our time, our effort,
how we pour it into thesesystems that we are creating and
then we can actually compoundthat energy over and, over and
over again, without it having tobe us giving that energy every
(17:08):
single time.
We can take the energy that weput in one time and we can
actually use that over and overand over again.
How beautiful is that?
So that's one little example ofa system.
Another system that you couldset up is, again, we have this
free thing that we want to giveto people so that they can start
(17:29):
to better their lives, so theycan start to heal, and also so
they can get to know us and knowour magic and find out if we
are somebody that they want towork with.
We can have a system set upMaybe you have some ads running
that are directing people tothat free thing that you have,
whether it's a video or adownload or a checklist or a
guide, whatever that looks like.
(17:50):
So we can do that.
We can have a page with a formthat they can fill out to
actually get that to request.
Whatever this free thing is.
That also adds people to ouremail list, which is beautiful.
I love email.
I'm going to say marketing, butemail just like pouring value
into people with the emails,like showing up in their inbox
(18:12):
to help them and light up theirday.
We're collecting their email.
They are getting all of thisvalue from us.
They're going to continue toget value from us.
We can then have an email thatdelivers whatever that free
thing is that we wanted them tohave, that they wanted.
And then we can again use thisemail sequence.
(18:32):
We can use the thank you pagewhere they requested whatever
that is that they wanted, thefree thing.
We can use that to share withthem some other offers that we
have and again it just it's kindof like that calendar, like
this.
We can build and build andbuild on this.
So now we have all of theseother things, we have these
(18:54):
upsells, we have theseadditional offers that they're
now getting introduced to.
Maybe you offer them yourcalendar link to be able to book
a free session with you.
There's so many things we can doand you can see how, once we
get that up and running, they'reliterally you do not need to
step in.
So let's say you were to unplugfrom your business for a week
(19:17):
or two weeks, all of thesepeople would be coming in from
your ads.
They would be downloading,requesting to download this free
thing which is building youremail list.
They would be on the thank youpage, maybe buying a paid offer
or booking a call with you.
They would then be gettingemails to get to know you better
(19:38):
.
Maybe you're introducing, ifyou have a podcast like hey, go
follow my podcast, follow me onsocial media.
Here's another offer that I'mdoing.
Here's a program that I'mlaunching Join the wait list.
Again, there's so many thingsthat we can start to do with
this.
So you can now see how, if youwere to unplug, maybe you come
(20:00):
back and your email list hasgrown by 10 or 50 or a couple
hundred people.
Maybe you've made some sales inthe background for whatever
these evergreen upsells are, andyou were able to deliver these
all automatically, right?
So your time and energy isstill out there, it's happening
(20:23):
automatically in the background,and you've now been able to
unplug from your business whileyour email list still grows,
while people get to know you,while you're putting your face
and your name out there, yourbrand out there.
You've been able to have someupsells, you've been able to
book calls on your calendar, allwhile you were completely
(20:46):
unplugged from your business,been able to collect
testimonials, been able tocollect referrals.
It's beautiful, right?
So this is how we start tobuild a business that does not
break when you need to take arest or when you want to take a
rest.
Even more importantly, we don'tearn that rest, we get that
(21:10):
rest.
We deserve that rest.
We are worthy of that rest.
Just by being us, just by beinghumans, we don't have to do
anything to earn that.
You are going to have times,especially as I am recording
this.
I don't know what time of yearyou are listening to this, but
we have summer coming up.
I know so many entrepreneurswho are like I want to take a
vacation, but I am honestlyterrified to do that and
(21:33):
completely unplug.
I want to do that for my family.
I want to give my family thegift of being fully present and
not checking into my business.
However, I am terrified if I dothat, I am going to come back
to a pile of rubble, all themomentum I've been working so
hard for completely gone andjust literally starting from
(21:54):
scratch.
And entrepreneurs get in thiscycle of starting from scratch
over and over and over and overagain because they don't have
these systems supporting them.
So if you are scared to unplug,systems are what you need in
order to support that.
Systems are our rest makers, ina way.
(22:14):
So I know a lot of people.
The idea of creating thesesystems and building these
systems is maybe not in theirwheelhouse.
Maybe you run into tech fatigueand you're like, oh my God, I
don't ever want to have to touchtech again and that's something
else that we can work throughright.
That's part of why I loveteaching people how to build
these systems and breaking itdown in a way that is super,
(22:37):
super easy, that it makes iteasy for them, that it makes it
little bite size and that we canstart to then build one little
piece of a system and then buildthe next layer of it and the
next layer of it and the nextlayer of it until you do have a
fully supportive system.
So we need to have this shiftright.
(22:58):
This is a mindset shift, thisis a belief shift.
This is honestly an identityshift.
So systems are not what is goingto restrict you.
I think a lot of people havethat thought of.
If I put these systems in place, like systems are so rigid,
they're so restrictive.
Systems are actually what isgoing to give you the freedom to
(23:21):
be able to unplug, to be ableto pour your time and energy
into the things that you want tospend your time doing, like
maybe you love coaching people,healing people, going on
in-person retreats, all of theseother things and right now,
like creating new programs.
Right now you don't even havethe capacity to be able to do
that, and part of that is thatyou are doing everything
(23:44):
manually and you don't have thissafety net of systems.
You don't have this support ofsystems and you're so afraid to
create systems because you'reafraid that's going to be a
restriction.
But in reality, these systemsare actually that freedom that
you have been seeking and youcrave so badly.
So I invite you, start to babystep into systems, if you
(24:07):
haven't already, and if you area systems expert, a systems
veteran, do an audit of yoursystems and look at where maybe
you have some gaps that you canstart to fill, before we head
into seasons where that rest issomething that we want to plan
for right.
And even if you know you're notcoming up on a season where
(24:29):
your rest is something you wannaplan for, life is unpredictable
right.
And even if you know you're notcoming up on a season where
your rest is something you wantto plan for, life is
unpredictable right.
So it's always worthwhile tokind of do an audit If you want
somebody else to take a look anddo an audit for you, because
sometimes we can get so focusedin on our business, it's hard to
see the bigger picture right.
So I do audits, both auditingwhere you might have some energy
(24:51):
leaks, where you might havesome nervous system
dysregulation because that'sreally important.
Talk about that in anotherpodcast episode.
If you want to go tune into thatone and also do a full audit of
your business systems andfigure out where you may have
some gaps that we can start tofill so that you are fully
supported.
If you are listening to thisright when I launch it, this is
(25:14):
in process and it is coming sosoon If you're listening to this
, a couple of weeks or months oreven years out, this will be
out there for you.
I have a full playbook thatwill also help you analyze all
of your business, take a deeplook and help support you in
building these systems that youwant to put in place in your
(25:35):
business.
It's called the System SeerPlaybook.
So if you are interested inchecking that out and getting
this full support and doing adeep dive and starting to get
these systems built, go checkout that playbook.
I'm super excited for you toget it.
Thank you for tuning intotoday's episode of Effortlessly
Productive.
I will catch you very soon onthe next episode.
(25:57):
I hope you have a beautiful,beautiful rest of your day.
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