Briar

Today we are talking all about the Clockwork vacation. So if you have read the Clockwork book, you know that they talk all about getting your business ready so that you can take a four week vacation, completely unplugged from your business.

Today we want to talk a little bit more about why Clockworking your business is not just about being able to take a vacation.

So Lia, go ahead, take it away. Tell us what else is important about the Clockworking system.

Lia

Yeah, so I think it's, vacations are really valuable and lovely and wonderful and you probably deserve one as the CEO of your business and as a dance studio owner, I think you definitely deserve one.

So it is that but, that's not really its intention and that's not really its purpose. So today we want to tell you a little bit about why we do the four week vacation in the Clockwork process and what it is and what it isn't.

Briar

Yeah, so I feel like the Clockworking system is so valuable in being able to help us bulletproof our business.

There are going to be things that come up. Life throws us all sorts of different scenarios and things that we have to handle both in and out of our business.

I feel like having the systems in place so that you can deal with those life events that are inevitable, without having to worry about whether your business is going to be able to stay running and keep the doors open is so very important.

Lia

It really is and we use the vacation to test whether or not your business can handle those things, those absences.

And so although, you know, we hope that you never have those situations where you have to step out of your business for an extended period of time because of an emergency or negative or a bad situation, we hope that you just keep getting to take lovely vacations from your business.

We do the vacation to test whether or not your business can handle those absences. And we do them to see where the holes are. What we still need to figure out how to handle, where things are not working smoothly and effectively. And then we can come back and we can fix those so we can try another vacation and keep doing those vacations regularly just so that we know your business is ready.

Your business is ready to handle whatever. So if you suddenly need to go across the country to take care of an ill relative, and you're gonna be gone for a month, you can, because you've already practiced it, and you've practiced it in those four weeks when there weren't those things happening.

So that's one of the main reasons we want to do these vacations, is it is a test, it's a test for your business, it's a test for the systems that we've created, it's a test for your employees that we may have put into new and different roles or delegated new tasks off to them.

So it's all just a test to make sure if things are working the way we've intended them to work while we've been doing the Clockworking steps and the Clockworking process.

So that's the intention behind the vacation. It is really not about you as the business owner getting to go sit on a beach somewhere for four weeks.

That's not the purpose of it, that's not why we're doing it. You are welcome to sit on a beach for those four weeks. You can do whatever you'd like for those four weeks. What you can't do is contact your business and get back involved in your business.

So we want to make sure that you are really truly unplugged, that you're not available by email or phone, to solve problems or put out fires or answer people's questions.

We want to make sure that your business and your employees really, truly can run your studio without you. So that if something happens, you can step away without worry, without fear, without anxiety.

And if nothing ever happens, you are still empowering your team to run your studio the way you want to run it.

So you can continue to do bigger visionary work to continue to move your business forward and you're not bogged down by all of those things that you have an entire team to do for you.

Briar

Yeah, I love that. And in fact, we were chatting with a group of dance studio owners just about a week and a half ago. And, you know, a lot of them had thought that they had had vacations away from their business. But in reality, when we got a little deeper into our conversation, we realized that they were maybe planning their vacations around things that had to be done in their studio.

For instance, one was making sure her vacations were between payroll times because she was the one doing payroll and that there was someone responding to emails from a cruise ship, you know, because she needed to check in and make sure that things were running smoothly.

So although we sometimes feel like we have had a vacation or that we are going on vacation, we aren't truly unplugged from our business.

So one of the very first things that Lia and I do when meeting with new studio owners is we actually have you pull out your calendar and book your first one week vacation.

We also have you look ahead and book a two-week vacation, a three-week vacation, a four-week vacation. And the reason we do this is because having a deadline to the Clockwork systems and the work that we're about to do is really important.

We can drag out the Clockwork system and working through these processes over years or we can shorten it and be really efficient and get things done in a timely manner.

And I feel like the more time we give ourselves, the more time we allow ourselves and the shorter time we give ourselves, the more efficient and on the ball we can be.

So like I mentioned, you know, we will put those vacation dates in place first and then we will start implementing all the Clockwork steps and test out those systems.

When we come back from a vacation or a mini break or a test week, we sit down and we meet with our staff and we do what we call a debrief meeting to find out what went really well for them what systems worked no problem they were seamless no you know no problems at all what things still need tweaking and what things we really need to implement a system for that we didn't even realize that we needed.

Lia

And one of the reasons that we do you know the one week two week three week and four weeks, we don't want to throw you into the deep end by having you go away for four weeks your staff, so we're gonna ease you into it by trying to go away for one week and seeing, like Briar said doing the debrief, seeing where those things are that we need to keep working on.

Then the two weeks, then the three weeks and the four weeks and we're going to do that to ease you in and we're going to choose times that feel manageable for you. You might not want to choose your first one week vacation during something like recital, although ultimately we'd like your business to get to the point where if you have to be away for recital time, you could be, right? And, you know, we've seen in our business, multiple things come up.

There was one year where one of our key teachers, her partner surprised her with a trip to Paris during recital week. She was teaching the majority of classes. Like, she had so many classes on her schedule that year. I don't know why her partner wasn't aware of recital dates, but he wasn't. And there was this beautiful trip to Paris that he surprised her with. Well, she went, right? I don't blame her for going.

We had to figure out how to fill that gap for her not being there for all of her students backstage.

We've also had the opposite, where people have had family emergencies during recital time. So, we want to make sure that we're also not planning these vacations, these test times away from your business to avoid the busy, busy times.

We want to make sure that we're also getting those busy times captured with good processes and good systems and that if you need to, you can take that time away from your business if needed.

We're not going to start you there, but we want you to get there eventually right. And so that might even be you know a phase two for you of Clockwork. You might try to do a four week vacation in a less busy time but eventually test that out with things like recital or competitions or you know your first week of classes in September is also a very busy time. 

So we’re going to ease you into these vacations but the idea here is to really test your business and make sure that all the work that we're doing with Clockwork is paying off and actually is doing what it's supposed to be doing.

Briar

Yeah and I think also when we're trying to explain to our staff what we are doing and why we are going through this Clockworking system this helps to explain to them why you're going away and why you're taking those times outside of your business, but also that we are starting at the top.

We're starting with the CEO of the business and getting these systems in place and getting their job role clockworked, but we also want to be able to slowly go through our entire team, our leadership team.

We should also be thinking about down the road Clockworking their job roles and giving them that same freedom, that same opportunity that if they had a family emergency or if their partner took them on a vacation that they know their job role is fully covered because we've got the systems in place for their job roles as well.

So sometimes when trying to explain to our staff why we're Clockworking, they automatically just think it's because you want to go on vacation for a month, but this can sort of help explain that in the bigger picture and hopefully enlighten everybody on your team.

Lia

Exactly, because this is really a process that is going to be beneficial for everybody. And, you know, I think, especially in dance studios, there's a lot of really amazing team members that are really dedicated to our studios, and would feel really terrible if they had to step away for extended periods of time, and they feel really guilt-ridden and have a hard time asking for that, right?

So it really is about that, and we typically start with the business owner, because often, in small businesses, the business owner is the linchpin.

They are holding everything together, and if they were to step out for four weeks, things would really start to crumble.

So we start with the business owner for that reason, and then we can work down to the next linchpin in your business, right?

Who's your right-hand person who, besides you, is keeping everything running and everything together. So it's definitely beneficial for everybody. on your team. 

Briar

Yeah, and just lastly, to sort of round this all up, as an entrepreneur, we have that visionary mindset.

And giving yourself some time away from your studio, where you can step out, you can see the big picture, you can dream up new programs or new visions for your company and come up with new plans, is also really important.

So, you know, thinking about your health and your stress levels and you giving your mindset a break or a different perspective of your business is also a really beneficial reason for going through the Clockworking process and doing those test weeks away.

Lia

Yeah, and on that note, know, we call it vacation. It doesn't mean you have to go anywhere. So, you don't have to think, oh, I don't have money to go away for four weeks.

You can stay at home. The goal is just to not be in your business and plugged into your business.

You can stay at home, you can still be working. You could be at a work conference if you want to.

The purpose is though, you're not checking your emails, you're not checking in with your staff. You're not available for that part of it.

But you can absolutely use it as working time, as brainstorming time, as new idea time, as learning time, as experiencing time, and you can do that all from your home if you don't want to be spending money on a vacation.

That time is yours to do with as you want. The goal is to test the systems of the business.

So we're going to make sure that that is being tested accurately and effectively. But you can still work, you can still be at home, you can do those things, what you do on your vacation is for you to choose.

All right, so with that, We encourage you to look at your calendar and see when you could take a one-week vacation and what kind of systems would you need to put in place in order to take one week outside of your business or more?

And if you want some help and some guidance on that, check out thebalancedentrepreneur.ca.