“You've worked hard all year long...and YOU want time off, too."

Does your business budget include a way to take time off during the holidays?

No? Well...by the end of this article you will be running to update it with the exact steps you need to make that happen!

Many service-based business owners tell me this is the MOST stressful time of year.

Between Black Friday, holiday family madness...and that last-ditched effort to hit your annual goals, it's no wonder many of your employees want time off during the holidays!

But that's a problem, isn't it?

You've worked hard all year long...and YOU want time off, too.

So how do we structure a business budget that allows you to take all the time you need while all your competitors are scrambling during the holidays?

I was able to take two weeks off to travel over Thanksgiving and see my family in California, and Ben and I will be taking five days off over Christmas to celebrate our anniversary in a remote cabin.

But it isn't just "rich girl privilege" that made this possible (as one troll accused me of the other day haha).

Five years ago, I was homeless and living in a truck. And when I was nineteen building my first business while caring for my baby sister, there were days when I had $1 per meal in my budget for the week. So I know a thing or two about poverty and how to climb out of it.

This week on Fierce Feminine Finance I want to share with you how I plan my profits so I can take time off during the holidays, and let your competitors panic and yank their hair out, because you're STILL making more than they are!

So, as always, let’s pull this problem apart. 

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Want The Free Workbook That Goes With This Training?

With every episode of Fierce Feminine Finance, I like to empower you with a POWERFUL free resource that goes with the episode which you can implement right away to create some of the same results, if not better, in your business.

This week, since we are talking how to plan your profits so you can take time off during the holidays, I put together a Girl! Get Paid Guide so you know the best way to budget and plan for this.

After going through this freebie you will have a complete step-by-step plan to prepare for your next vacation or holiday season in your business, and know exactly what to do to keep earning income even while you're away.

You can download it right away by clicking on the picture above 👆

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With that said, here are the steps to plan your profits so you can take time off during the next holiday! 👊

If you are like most family-owned businesses, your family relies on your income. And so in order to take time off at any time of year, you have to make sure the show goes on...and the business continues to make money while you're gone.

The burning question most business owners have when they start to approach this topic of how to take time off, is: How do I do it without losing money?

I have a 3-step framework that I have developed which works well for this:

• Analyze Existing Roles In The Business

• Extract Yourself Out Of Them

• Create A Financial System To Make It Happen

Step #1: Analyze Your Roles In The Business

 Over the past five years of working with business women, I have noticed we generally fall into one of three categories:

Worker Bees

These solopreneurs LOVE what they do and often say things like “I’d do this even if I wasn’t getting paid.” They do the work themselves. They often make costly mistakes because they think like an employee: every time they see a job that needs to be done their FIRST thought is “how do I fit that into my schedule?”. The keynote of a Worker Bee is that, even when she has high profit margins and is sitting on a load of extra cash, she still thinks first of how she can take on more hats herself.

LeadHER Bees

A natural LeadHER thinks first of how to delegate. She finds work for others to do, and partners easily with other investors. She finds it easier to invest than Worker Bees, and often builds an investment portfolio quickly, but is likely to ignore opportunities to hire a mentor, management team or personal assistant. The LeadHER Bee’s weakness is she struggles to teach others how to manage because it just comes so naturally to her! Because of this, she gets stuck running the team that does the work and finds herself still trading time for money decades later.

InvestHER Bees

An InvestHER views her business as just one cash-flowing asset in a portfolio of investments. She has no urge to step in when work needs to be done, but instead thinks first of who she can employ to do it. She understands how to lead, but isn’t a micromanager and her greatest skill is in finding talent and giving others space and opportunity to shine. She finds it easy to let others take the limelight, and knows how to negotiate. For that reason she naturally attracts leaders and is willing to invest in them so she can escape the time-for-money trap. Her biggest weakness is a reluctance to step in when those under her are failing, which can sometimes cause her to lose money.

Whether you are a Worker, LeadHER or InvestHER Bee has little to do with your daily tasks and everything to do with how you think.

A Worker Bee will always look for ways to DIY…even when she has plenty of funds.

A LeadHER Bee will always avoid mentorship or investing in training her team. She will trap herself in the manager role. 

An InvestHER Bee might be doing some of the work herself, especially if she isn’t very profitable. But always ALWAYS she is looking for opportunities to organize, hire or automate herself out of hats.

She delegates easily, and believes in investing in her team, automation, and long-term growth.

She is thinking with the future, so she is less likely to duct tape things together, knowing that it will be hard to delegate. 

Step #2: Extract Yourself Out Of Worker Bee Roles

If you find you are spending too much time on Worker or LeadHER Bee tasks, hire a team or automate those processes! You might need to increase your prices in order to do this.

• Document your systems and processes

If you want to hire a team, document EVERYthing.

I keep a Google Drive folder called "Policy" where my team and I can access documentation and company policies that guide everything from our core values, mission statement and sales packages - to how to onboard a client.

Documentation makes it possible for someone ELSE to do what you do...exactly how you do it. And that makes these company policies VERY valuable to anyone who wants to take time off during the holidays!

Follow these tips when creating your own documentation:

• Keep the language simple. Avoid technical jargon or words that are easily misunderstood

• Each policy should state WHY it is being written, HOW the process or system is done with step-by-step instructions, and WHAT the result is supposed to be

Step #3: Create A Business Budget That Allows You To Take Time Off

Create an annual business budget that accounts for 3-5 weeks per year of owner absence. Most small business owners track their budget monthly, and spend almost every dollar they make.

Instead, create an annual budget and set quotas that take into account the 3-5 weeks per year you plan to be completely absent! And each month...when you make income, stash some of it away in a slush fund toward those future holidays.

The Financial System of your business exists to help you keep income higher than your expenses, and make it possible to achieve results for your clients, which is the basic purpose of your business.

And one of the most important parts of your Financial System is an annual business budget.

You give every dollar a "job" based on what you think is the best use of business funds, and then go back and compare your plan with reality to see how you did.

I know you have a LOT going on at the end of the year! This exercise will be worth the time you spend on it. Believe me.

When you plan your profits ahead of time using the method I teach inside my Girl! Get Paid Profitability Guide, you can even out cash flow by turning your business from a cash-eating monster into a smooth and reliable stream of income.

And that's why I was able to take two weeks off for Thanksgiving, and five days off for Christmas this year! I hope you will be able to do the same in 2024.

Other resources to help you get started with planning your profits:

• The Plan HER Profits Membership - learn the complete profit planning system taught by Sarah for just $24/month!

• New Year's Wealth MagnifyHER Retreat - Do your New Year Profit Planning together with me in the room at The Pemberley Farm in Kansas Click here for tickets!

• Can't make the Wealth MagnifyHER Retreat, but want to watch the replay? Join me January 1st at 1:00pm CST for a special virtual edition! RSVP here