Can Your Business Run Without You? | Scaling Together w/ Josh & Yesenia Nelson

You can't continue to scale, scale, scale, scale if you're just like 110%.

What's the point of having a 7-figure, multiple 7-figure, 8-figure business if you can't go on vacation, you can't take travels, you can't be present. Remember why you created your business in the first place. Welcome to another episode of Scaling Together where we're talking about how to grow and scale, not just your business, but your, your relationship at the same time and, and do it together. As a couple. And today we're going to be unpacking a common question that we get, which is, you know, it's great to have a great thriving business, especially as a couple, but how in the world can you unplug if you go on vacation and if you take trips and travels so that you can actually be present in the moment?

Yes, this is— this was a hard thing for us in the past as far as, you know, figuring out what is too much work. Because all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, right? So just finding the balance of being able to— the first time, for example, that we made the decision of like, okay, we're putting all of our heart and soul into this business, we do need to come up for air. And it is good mentally to just check out, to let the mind settle and calm. And that's how we were built as humans, is we need to have that moment to reflect on things. And you can't do that if you're constantly in the day-to-day and not taking a moment to yourself, uh, to be able to unwind. That is super important for stress and mental clarity. You can't continue to scale, scale, scale, scale if you're just like 110% at all times. It's physically impossible. As much as we like to think that we are supercharged and can do everything, and anything, um, we do need to be able to unplug from time to time.

Yeah, and I would say remember why you created your business in the first place, right? Most of us didn't create the business just to make more money, even though that's a big driving factor. The real reason most of us created our business is so we can have freedom, right? The freedom to call our shots, the freedom to be in charge, the freedom to do the things we really want to do. And so What's the point of having a 7-figure, multiple 7-figure, 8-figure business if you can't go on vacation, you can't take travels, you can't be present in the moment? And so recognize that's, that's, you know, really the objective. And, and really the only way you're going to be able to unplug truly is if you've built a team, right? And, and a lot of what we teach at 7 Figure Agency is how do we put the systems, the procedure, and the team in place so that You can still grow, you can still serve your clients, and things can still happen without you personally being involved. And so obviously if you're a one-man operator or you're running a 7-figure agency with a skeleton crew and it all sits on your shoulders, you probably aren't gonna be able to unplug fully, right? You're still gonna need to check in with the team. You're still needed to keep things going. Uh, but ideally as you put the right team in place, and you've got an integrator and you've got people in each of the key areas within the business, you can schedule your month, schedule your year in advance and say, okay, like for instance, in our case, later this year, we're taking a 10-day VR trip, RV trip, and we're gonna be off the grid. We're gonna be unplugged. But guess what? Our clients are still gonna get served. Our team is still gonna do their work. Our business is still going to grow. And so you just have to be intentional about it.

Absolutely. And I think a VR trip would be interesting in the future. Yeah. As technology improves. But yeah, so excited about the RV trip. It's our first ability to do 10 days on vacation, which is really fun. But yeah, we recently did a vacation where it was you and I and we unplugged for our 20th year wedding anniversary. Went to private island there in St. Kitts. So amazing. And we didn't have to check in to the workplace. Like, if we wanted to, we can look in and check emails, and we, we did that from time to time and create some videos and stuff, but because we like it and we enjoy it, not because we had to. And that's— there's a big difference there. And so, um, one of the, the key things is getting the right people in the right seat and that they have ownership of their roles and creating leaders in the organization when you hire them. So they don't necessarily have to have experience. You hire for passion, you hire for the results, the test results, right? The COBE, make sure that they match to do they enjoy and do they have passion in this actual position that you're going to put them in, that they're going to be doing day to day. If they enjoy it, then they're going to end up doing it way better than you are. And so not only can you not run a business by yourself, um, and to be able to step out and do vacation, but when it comes time to— if you ever plan on selling your business, um, it's going to be difficult to sell it if you are the main piece and you're walking away from that. That means that the other organization that's, that's going to be, uh, purchasing you is going to have to fill that gap of all those team members that would replace your role. So it is in everyone's best interest for you to hire an amazing team of people who are going to back you, create that team culture so that when you do step away, uh, everything is being taken care of and handled. Uh, your emails are being looked at by your assistant at that point, right? And having the accounts being handled, sales are still going to be coming through the pipeline because you're not the one that's actively selling. When you get to that point, it's amazing to do that. And then, and finally feel the relief of like, okay, I can go on vacation because I fully 100% feel comfortable and trust the people that I've put in place in those roles are who they're supposed to be and they have a handle and a passion for it. And guess what? They're actually doing it better than I would've done it. A year ago.

Yeah, I think the other thing just to be cognizant of is some of us are addicted to the business. We're addicted to Slack, what's going on with the team, looking at the metrics, checking social media, engaging. And we love what we do, right? And so naturally we want to go back and do that. But I think you have to go, you have to consciously go back to, like, do I want to be addicted to my business to the level that I can't go on a vacation, on a trip, and just be present and enjoy it? And if, if not, then cognizantly, like, remove those obstacles, right? Turn the cell phone off, don't bring the laptop, let yourself be in that moment. And, and it's a great litmus test to how good your team really is. Can they do the role? Can they handle things? In your absence? Because if they can't, then that's an indication that there's work to be done on your accountability within the organization.

100%. And not only the workaholic type of personality business owner, but also the problematic person is the micromanager business owner who feels like they can't let go of things because, well, they're not going to do it as good as I am. And so, well, I'll just do it. Um, so the micromanaging, I feel, is very similar and works hand in hand to— now that we're parents, um, the helicopter parent concept of like always hovering around your kids and, and not giving them the space so that they can grow and, and take on responsibilities themselves. So you don't want to do that with your kids. You also don't want to do it with your team. Uh, you don't want to micromanage. If you hired people who need to be micromanaged, then that's not the right fit, right? You need you have people who are going to own up to— and, and let them know when you're handing them off, say, hey, look, this is now yours. You are responsible for what happens with this department, with this specific role. Because they don't have to have somebody that they have report to them. They don't have to actually be a manager to be a leader in your organization. They just need to be a leader in that one position and say, so you're going to know every aspect of this role. And eventually, a year from now when you hire them, They're going to come to you and actually you're going to ask questions to them and you're going to say, hey, by the way, how do you do this today? You know, because they're going to have taken the job, taken it even further than you have done and done even better than you could have possibly because they're obsessed. They're there. You hired a very passionate person in that function. And so that's the key to also stepping away on vacation is knowing that you have these rock stars on your team. Yeah. So a couple last questions here to wrap up. What's one business decision I made that you thought was crazy but actually worked?

Well, there's been, there's been a lot of things that I don't necessarily think were crazy, but things that I might have been like, well, I don't know about that. Like, you know, like that feels like a lot of work. That feels like a big change. I'll probably say, you know, again, there's, there's dozens, but one good example of this is, uh, you know, the, the formation of the Titans Mastermind Group. Uh, and, you know, we like 7-figure agency, we'd grown to, you know, 300 or so active members. And initially the goal was like, hey, we're going to show people how to get to 7 figures. And that was a big crazy goal. And then we had literally hundreds of agencies cross the 7-figure level, and we started to get multiple 7-figure agencies. And the, the, the marrying of that population, agencies $10,000, $20,000 a month, and then agencies doing $170,000, $180,000, $200,000 a month. The needs were different. Like the problems they were looking to solve was different. And so it made sense. We need to create a group specifically for the multiple 7-figure agencies going to 8-figure agencies, uh, and create a space to mastermind, a space to do fun adventures. And that was like your idea. And you're like, I really feel passionate about this. And I was like, I don't know, like, yeah, I think it's a good idea, but that's going to be more time with that group. That's going to be more energy invested. But it played really, really well. I think it's one of the things I love most about 7 Figure Agency today and really creating that opportunity for agencies to spend time together and do great adventures.

It is so fun, but I totally side with you on the risk factor. It was, even as I'm saying it, like, I'm like, it's a risk that we're taking it, right? When we had that first conversation, of putting ourselves out there and, and just our schedule out there as well of like, okay, we're adding on 3 more events with the group. But like you said, it's just one of the funnest things that we look forward to when we look at our year. We're like, oh yeah, we get to do this really cool thing, uh, in March and we get to do it again in July and we get to do it again in October. So, so fun getting together with like-minded people. So, uh, that was a great one that, uh, that our team member added in. Um, so that was a cool question. Last one. If our business had a theme song, what would it be and why?

I'm going to let you share that.

Okay. So, um, thinking about this one, uh, I, I would compare it to, uh, now my song library is not extensive. I am a huge Disney fan, as you know, Josh. So I'm going to lean into the Moana song. This one is How Far I'll Go. And the fact that we cross the horizon to find these agency owners and we are all in, and it's something that we've dreamed up all of our lives and we get to do today is very fun. And the fact that we get to do it together is even funner. So, no doubt. Super exciting. Yeah.

Love it. So one last takeaway on this whole question of how do we unplug on vacation? I think the big thing I hear from agency owners that have even grown to 7 figures and multiple 7 figures is, I'd love to unplug, but I wanna be responsive to our clients. And if there's an emergency email that comes in or an emergency Slack message that I get sent, I need to see it. And I would say that is a role you need to take off your plate. You need to hire an executive assistant that owns your email and owns your calendar. That way, like you don't have to have your cell phone on you. You don't have to continue to hit refresh. You can go on the cruise and just relax because you know that somebody's checking the messages, is responding back on your behalf. Hey, this is Josh's assistant, Justin, got your message. And 90% of the messages that come in, can be handled, right? It's just a matter of routing. It needs to go to this person or that person. We need to pay this bill or we need to take care of this thing. There's only a small percentage that might be like, this is a really pressing thing that needs to be addressed. And your assistant can be trained to write back and say, hey, you know what? Josh is on a vacation right now. Just wanted to let you know I've got this and I'm going to be getting an answer for you ASAP. And just knowing that you've got somebody that's dealing with the 90% and is going to let the person know and be responsive on the 10%, can make a big difference in your mental capacity to say, okay, I know that's taken care of and I can relax and I can enjoy myself and be present.

So good. Absolutely. Having somebody in your corner is fantastic. So these are all the topics that we're going to talk about today. Excited for the next one that's coming up. Where can they learn more, Josh? Agency owners who are husband and wife team duo like us. Who are just trying to overcome challenges, not perfect individuals, but trying to overcome together as a team and working together. Where would they find more information on that?

Definitely connect with Yesenia and I on Instagram. So look us up on Instagram, but you can go to 7figureagency.com and see if maybe the mastermind might be a good fit for where you are in your life and business. If you're enjoying this podcast, be sure to subscribe and drop a review. We need some reviews on this so we can get organic reach. And, um, tune in for a future episode of Scaling Together.