I need you to go on a little trip back in time with me, Reader. It's the summer of 2018. My legal templates business has been up and running for over a year and I'm heading into my first full summer of running my own business.
I just started this program called the Ultimate Bundle®️ (but there was no ®️ back then lol) and I'm so worried no one's going to buy it (or that so many people will buy it, I won't be able to handle the volume.)
I'm making anywhere from $5-8k/month in my business right now selling individual contracts and 2-3 Bundles/mo, and although my expenses are low, I know I can't live off of this forever once you account for taxes, expenses, savings, and self-pay.
It might sound crazy, but I actually want to take some time off.
I've spent the last two years since I left the law hustling my tuchus off.
My dad's suddenly lost a lot of weight. I notice bad bruises on his arm. I ask him to go to the doctor, because I'm worried he has leukemia. He says no. Says I'm nuts.
Even if I'm just being a crazy, overprotective daughter, I want to spend more time with him this summer.
"Isn't that the point of having your own business?" I thought. "That's why I walked away from my 'safe' job as a lawyer."
But I still need to make money. I'm relatively newly married and we bought our first house. I have expensive taste in coffee.
So in order to take time off in my new-ish business, with no team behind me, here's what I focus on (so I can still bring in cash):
1 | MY EMAIL LIST 📮
I focus on my 929 email subscribers that summer instead of trying to reach any of my 1,012 Instagram followers. I keep in mind that I don't need thousands or millions of people to purchase my product -- even a handful would make a meaningful difference.
I focus on writing really "good" emails (good = of value, about them, addressing their needs). I include links to purchase my product, which they can get from me anytime, whether I'm working or not.
2 | OOO MESSAGE WITH FAQ
Since I have no one on my "team" yet (and can't imagine ever being in a position to be able to hire), I setup an out of office email autoresponder with answers to FAQs.
I link directly to the product, blog post (it was 2018!), or page they need. I make several sales just from this strategy alone... and realize maybe I don't need to spend so much time on sales calls.
3 | NURTURE WHAT YOU HAVE
I pour more into my current customers and contacts than trying to find new ones.
I send an email to customers asking if they have any referrals. I send DMs to business coaches asking if they will share about my legal templates. I see if current customers need anything else from me.
I generate $10k over the summer using this ^ strategy.
4 | INTENTIONAL CONTENT
I pre-write and plan content for July and August. Every single piece of content I write has one clear call-to-action: either a link to my product(s) directly, or to join my email list. Once they join my list, I email them about my product anyway. I've accidentally created my first flywheel.
It's around 2:30pm on Thursday, August 16, 2018.
I'm getting ready to go "back to the office" for September.
I take a sales call with a former Coke exec in Atlanta looking to start her own health coaching business.
My dad keeps calling me.
I keep sending it to voicemail.
He keeps calling.
I rush off the sales call, panicked something's wrong but also worried he's just calling to tell me Costco's got my favorite spinach dip on sale.
"I have to go to the hospital," he says.
I rush him there.
Doctors poke and prod and test.
We wait, sharing a bag of Utz from the ER vending machine.
The Doogie Howser-aged doctor struts in.
"Mr. Foss," he says with no emotion in his voice and a blank stare in his eyes, "When's the last time you've been to the doctor?Because you have a blood malignancy."
There's this brief moment in time where only I know that a "blood malignancy" means my dad has cancer because my mom went to med school when I was a baby and treated me like her study buddy.
He doesn't know.
My world literally and figuratively tunnels into a pin-sized black hole of nothingness.
I run out of the ER room and collapse in the hallway, making sounds I'd only heard from animals at the Philadelphia Zoo.
Thank god I took this summer off, I think as I pound the dirty hospital floor.
Thank god I created this business and actually enjoyed the benefits of it, I think as someone offers me a chair.
What the hell am I going to do? I worry as someone I don't know rubs my back.
I had no idea just how much I was about to learn about growing a business on such little time (and sleep).
I had no idea I'd build my business to be a multi-7-figure one the year he was diagnosed with cancer.
I had no idea... I had no idea...
But I did it ❤️
~~~~~~~~~
So I'm not delusional, Reader. I know it's not 2018.
But as I take the next few weeks off of most of my work (but not this newsletter, my Substack, or taking care of my customers!), I thought it would be more helpful for you to hear what I did to take time off before I had 1 full-time and 2 part-time people working for me. Before I could afford ads. Before everyone said, "must be nice."
If you want to hear more about:
- how I prep to take time off, go on vacation, etc.
- what to focus on and what to drop
- and how to still make money when you're OOO...
Listen to this week's episode of my podcast, On Your Terms®️→
I even shared about how I took the entire month of May off without telling a soul... and made multi-6-figures in the biz ;)
Since this was such a different type of email from me... I'd love if you hit "reply" and let me know what you thought of it.
There's a part of me that wants to go back to 2018-style, simple emails, too.
xo,
Sam