Is a Sabbatical Right for You?

Every time I experience envy of another business owner doing something like working fewer hours or being a digital nomad in Bali, I remind myself, you're self employed. You can do whatever you want. That's why today I'm preparing to leave on an indefinite sabbatical. If you've ever wondered what's a sabbatical and how do I get me one of those, this episode is for you.

Welcome to Profitable Joyful Consulting where you'll discover how to multiply your revenues without exhaustion working with pro perfect clients on transformational engagements. I'm your host, Samantha Hartley. If you're a woman consultant ready to increase your profits and enjoy your business more, you're in the right place. Hi, this is Samantha with the finale of season 20. Over the years, I've talked about dozens of topics related to being a profitable and joyful consultant.

Nuts and bolts like marketing, sales and delivering work to clients, and also the important mindset work that's required to sustain yourself in self employment.

And that's where sabbatical comes in. Before I dive in, please take a second to hit subscribe favorite or follow the show. There is a treasure trove of gold for consultants and women business owners in these episodes, and it's free. If you have a question about something, I've almost certainly done an episode about it. And if you love what you hear today, leave us a review at the end of this episode. As I often do, I'm sharing an assignment, a journal prompt, and an affirmation for you.

So spend the next few minutes with me. I once heard a fellow business owner talk about taking a sabbatical. It was the kind of thing that I knew was too soon for me, but I definitely felt a little bookmark activate in my brain. That'll be me someday, I thought. If you're a growth oriented person like me, and we both know you are, you are accustomed to being in an almost constant state of transition. Transition feels like being in a place of no longer and not yet.

The things that used to work for us don't anymore, but the things that are going to don't yet. It's a really uncomfortable place. But if you're going to be a growth oriented person, and we both know you are, it's important to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. When women consultants first come to me, they are in this place. They've gotten to some amazing accomplishments in their businesses, but their vision of how they really want it to be has remained elusive.

A couple weeks ago, a client shared with me that she was earning $11,000 a month when she hired me. Almost two years later, it's now over 50,000. That kind of thing is hard to do on your own. More often, female founders come to me doing between 200 and 500,000 a year. But unsustainably, they know that what got them here won't get them there. They're also working just about as hard as humanly possible, so they know that doubling down on the work isn't the answer.

And that takes me back to my first sabbatical. An unintentional one. I can choose to call it that now, but really it was a one year detox that was required after I left corporate. My work there was extremely unfulfilling and the culture was typical corporate. By the time I finally left on what was intended to be a leave of absence but turned out to be forever, my physical and mental health were in real danger.

I spent that year healing in therapy, working with a physical trainer, taking classes in literature, art history, and something called life goals from the adult education program at Emory University. I met up with a college buddy I hadn't seen in several years. He's my husband now. By the time I was getting serious about my job search, former colleagues from corporate contacted me to come and consult for them. And that was the launch of my consulting career.

My second, also unintentional sabbatical was in 2013, when we moved halfway across the country. That big physical transition was accompanied by my realizing that the massive growth I'd experienced in my business wasn't sustainable. Well, the growth might be, but the way of working wasn't. For months, again, I rested. Moving to a place as remote as an island meant I wouldn't see in person clients regularly anymore. Luckily, I had built a remote business.

So what changed was transitioning those who'd stayed with me to remote only that one change meant I had no negative financial impacts from the pandemic on my business. So if those were unintentional sabbaticals, what's an intentional one?

Literally, a sabbatical is a rest or break from work. You can hear the word Sabbath or Shabbat in it, and we associate the Sabbath with the idea of resting every seventh day. But it's also related to Shemitah, the idea of leaving fields fallow every seven years so the soil can rest and renew. In past episodes, I've talked about allowing yourself fallow time during the year, often during the winter months, while others are jumping up and raring to go on January 1st.

I usually find myself taking it easy until the start of Spring and March. I'll talk more about that in a minute. To be all you can be as a consultant, business owner and growth oriented person, it's important to know how you function best and provide yourself with everything you need.

Recognizing when you work best, how much rest you need Giving your inner child the tools to be creative and to flourish Protecting yourself from energy vampires and ensuring that clients, team members and colleagues align as perfect fits for your gifts and growth earlier this year I heard the call to take a sabbatical for a change. A huge change. I'm not burned out. Instead, the next iteration of my work and life is coming through to me in divine downloads.

But I can't hear what it is with all the activity around me. So I'm taking a hiatus from everything except my one on one clients. While I would love to tell you and I would love to know what the ultimate future is, that's not how the universe works. We are on a need to know basis from the universe. I was once told in a download. Our job is to know our next step and take it. I don't know how long the sabbatical will last, so I'm calling it indefinite.

This is a creative sabbatical for me, which is also necessarily about spiritual connection. I don't have a specific project to pursue during this time, like writing a book, which many people do while on sabbatical. What I'm clear I'll be doing is two Immersing myself in creativity and nothing as an enneagram three and a modern woman in the west slowing down and doing nothing is actually much harder than getting 20 things done during the day.

Nowadays, business owners are also marketers, and marketers are necessarily content creators. Everything in our businesses and much of what happens in our lives ends up being content for consumption by our target audiences. It's important for our health and well being to have parts of our lives that are for ourselves only. Creative output made for its own sake and not for any audience's. I'm deeply aware of the privilege that allows me to take an indefinite sabbatical.

I recognize both the decades of hard work I've invested in building a sustainable business and the advantages of race, class and societal structures that have supported this path. I'm also fortunate to have an incredible family and community who stand by me offering everything I need at every step. So what about you? Where in your life do you need rest and renewal? Remember that I took two long breaks from my business due to burnout and illness.

You don't want to wait until you're forced to take this time. If stepping back from almost everything feels impossible, here are some thoughts. Can you realistically plan for a sabbatical at some point in the future? What's the longest duration that feels possible for you? It can be difficult to spontaneously take time away, but page through your calendar and see if there isn't an unbooked week maybe six months from now that you can plan for yourself and look forward to.

Are you honoring the concept of a Sabbath in your own business? Do you make sure to rest completely rest at least once a week? How about an unplugged day? Writer Elizabeth Gilbert mentioned recently on a podcast that she does phone free Thursdays, which I'm going to try out. And lastly, do you make time for a rest and renewal within each workday? Time to step outside a few minutes for meditation, prayer or journaling? Schedule yourself as you would an employee you value and care about.

She doesn't thrive when she's over scheduled back to back meetings drain her life force. Help her to rest and renew each day, week and month. So here's your assignment.

Look at your calendar for the next year. Find a time period that could be a candidate for your personal sabbatical again. Make it far enough in the future that you can prepare your business, your family and yourself to take it. And consider adding weekly and daily breaks too. A journal prompt. Think about the last time you returned to work truly refreshed and excited. What made that feeling possible?

And finally, an affirmation Sometimes the most productive thing I can do is rest. Sometimes the most productive thing I can do is rest. Thank you lovely listener for your attention.

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As a thank you for being part of my community, I'm sharing free exclusive resources to help expand your consulting business. Head to samanthahartley.com super to access bonus content and tools from the show. For a complete transcript of this episode and all profitable joyful consulting episodes, visit samanthahartley.com.