
It IS possible to create a business model that empowers you to prioritize your goals and can endure your absence if necessary.
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Abigail Pumphrey
If your business isn't built for you to walk away, you're building a business that's dependent on you. That sucks. Welcome to the Strategy Hour podcast brought to you by Boss Project. I'm your host, Abigail Pumphrey, and I'm dedicated to supporting online businesses. I don't believe in one right way to build a business. I'm here to help you build business your way. One that supports not only the life you have, but the life you want. I'm on a personal mission to help you become financially free. I'm taking all the lessons learned as I turned a layoff into a seven figure online business. I'm here to help you prioritize your life every step of the way. Whether you're creating your first digital product, growing an email list, or scaling an already profitable business. Settle in. It's time to talk strategy. Looking for a way to make a difference with your morning coffee? Grab a bag of talitha coffee@bossproject.com Coffee Every purchase helps support survivors of human trafficking. Make every cup count@bossproject.com Coffee last week I was completely unexpectedly out of office. Not like a little bit out of office, like totally, completely unreachable. I had jury duty on Monday and I think like most people, I assumed I would show up, sit in a chair and at some point be dismissed. But that's not what happened. I went, I got my number, I was selected for the next round. I went upstairs into a courtroom and was sat next to 60 of my peers from every economic status, every diverse background you can think of from all across our city and was asked a ton of personal questions about my life and my experience and ultimately was selected as a juror for a civil trial. This all of a sudden meant that I had to cancel literally everything about my entire life, my entire business for the next. I was told I would be potentially completely unavailable until Friday and to prepare to do nothing else. And so that's what I did. I immediately messaged my team and said, okay, cancel everything. This is my focus. And from basically the moment I got to the courthouse and all the way until the moment I left, my phone had to be on silent. And I wasn't really allowed to contact or talk to anyone. I wasn't allowed to discuss the case. I couldn't even discuss the case with my fellow jurors until we were actually talking and discussing the matters at hand, like in the actual deliberation where we were deciding the verdict. By the way, being a juror is bizarre. You are literally your fate is in the hands of the people. And I know we give so much credit to lawyers and judges and the judicial system at large, but I don't think you realize how much of the decisions are literally put in the hands of the people. And I have a whole new respect for the entire process and learned so much along the way. But it was so distracting. Like it was taking me completely away from business for sure. I was definitely only there from 8 or so in the morning until 5 o'clock in the afternoon which is the equivalent of a full time job. But without any contact to the outside world and this being so much of my focus. Like I cannot explain the level of intensity that this has because you are taking down frivolous notes, wanting to make sure you get every detail because you can't go back and look at a transcript. Your recollection of the events of the case are literally on a notepad and you have to sit down with 12 other people and decide collectively the fate of this person. And So I was 100% out of office. Like more so than I've ever been. I've traveled and been on airplanes, planes and still check slack and checked in with my team. No, I couldn't even have composed a caption or posted anything on social media if I had wanted to because even when I got home I was still thinking about the case, I was still thinking about the details, I was still thinking about where are we going from here? How am I going to decide this is important And I am just so grateful that I have built a business that I can completely walk away from and it will continue to still run even when I'm not there. That was not on accident. Now side note, if you want the like complete behind the scenes of what's happening in real time, including all of the times I get completely derailed and distracted by real life happening, you should definitely be following me over on Instagram because I'm sharing all of the things you can find me by going to boss project on Instagram and then my personal profile at Abigail says is linked. Make sure you're following both accounts and I'm going to show you all the real real now. I am so incredibly grateful that I have added things like digital products into the mix now as much as sure I was able to contact a team and say keep things going. None of them are in charge of sales. None of them. I am 100% in charge of the sales and revenue generating strategies for my business. They maintain the production, they ensure quality assurance, they take care of my clients and customers. But I don't have anyone else in a sales role besides me. And I am so glad that I have built things like digital products that can keep collecting sales even when I'm away. Now, I'm not saying this is a totally passive strategy. There's absolutely things I had to set up in advance. I have absolutely been showing up so that it getting traffic even when I'm gone. But I had to build those things so that they would exist so I could keep generating revenue even when I'm gone. And if you feel like you're in a position in your business where if you have to drop everything and you feel like everything would come to a grinding halt while you're away, then I definitely Recommend starting with bossproject.com jumpstart inside digital product Jumpstart I'm walking you through how to create a profitable digital product that is going to attract quality leads and help you get paid to generate those leads that are going to be a perfect fit for the other things you offer. But I want to give you more practical strategies. So for today, I want to bring you back an episode from this fall where I really talk about how to prioritize your life when shit hits the fan, because life will keep happening no matter what. And I'm going to level with you about the real challenges of running a a business that's reliant on you. I know you know these things, but sometimes just hearing someone else echo all of the things you've been thinking is going to make you feel a little more grounded and like you're not a crazy person. I'm going to talk about the flaws of focusing on things like time management and routines and habits and talk about some actionable things that can help you build a better support system starting at home. Now, let's dig into it. Women in our society already face so much natural stress and natural challenges, and I simply do not think enough people understand the reality of the added stress of running a business, of being a business owner and all of the additional challenges and stressors that that adds to our plate. I feel like your whole day or your whole week or your whole month or the entire next year of your life could be thrown off from one phone call. I don't care if it's your kid's school that calls and says that your kid forgot their lunch and they want you to drop it by. I don't care if it's that your mom called and she has a doctor's appointment today and it could make or break this new season because you're concerned about a serious diagnosis. On the other end of it. It could be a phone call that someone you love is in a car accident. It could be your own life altering news about your own health or something happening to you personally. And it's not always the big stuff that can derail you. It can be these little tiny bits of pieces of your day. A phone call, a text message, a pipe bursting in your own house. These things happen all the time and we can't plan for them. They're going to happen whether we had the business or not. Whether we work for ourselves or we work for someone else, life will continue to happen. But how do we deal with these challenges as they come up? And how do we allow them to not completely alter our future success in our business? I want you to know that this isn't unique to just you. Everyone I've ever encountered who runs a business has their own laundry list of crap. They've had to deal with things that have completely changed the course and trajectory of their life, big or small. I know for me, there's been a lot of things in my own path that have really made me rethink where I was at and where I was going and how I was spending my time. I had a traumatic brain injury on November 3, 2016. It took me over six weeks after that accident before I was officially diagnosed and it took me five years to fully recover from that accident. There were months of my life that I was spending 30 plus hours a week in doctor's appointments. To say that that didn't have an impact on how my business grew would be the biggest understatement of my life. I've also struggled with my own infertility journey. My husband and I have tried for children for many years before we knew and understood that the likelihood of us ever biologically conceiving was essentially nothing. And if any of you have ever struggled with fertility, you know that it's not just the making the time to, you know, do the deed or whatever. It's the emotional toll, it's the distraction, it's the tracking, it's the additional doctor's appointments, it's the uncomfortableness, it's the constant questioning about how you're spending your life and what you're doing next that can really get incredibly frustrating. I have navigated in recent years supporting my mother while she was going through a very messy divorce after being married to my father for more than 40, that was not a small distraction. I had Jared's grandmother move in on my birthday in 2020, we decided to sell our house and buy a new house less than a week after she moved in, completely unexpectedly. And we spent the next three years full time caregiving for her as she struggled with aging, with the debilitating disease of Alzheimer's. And that changed everything, absolutely everything. And it'd be easy to say, well, rely on someone else in that season or have your spouse be the one that's making the income or get a job or I hope you have disability insurance or insert a million other things. But here's the deal. I never want to be financially reliant on anyone else. And I know many of my listeners feel the same. Now, even if it would totally work for a season for you to be financially dependent on a partner, you don't want that for yourself. And I respect the hell out of that. And even if it's not about that, even if it has nothing to do with the money, you want your business to work. Even when life gets thrown your way because you care, because you care about the impact you have on your clients, because you want to see it be successful, because you have your own things that you want to accomplish. You're passionate about that. And sure you understand that life is going to keep happening. But sometimes these phone calls, these text messages, these changes that happen in a moment's notice, they are the things that derail people, that they close businesses doors, that they require people to change course. And while I am not saying that you shouldn't change course or that you shouldn't re analyze what your priorities are, absolutely, absolutely pay attention to how as you grow and change and you face new challenges, how what you want changes. What I wanted my business to look like and how I wanted it to support me in different seasons of my life has been fundamentally different. When I was in recovery from my traumatic brain injury, I wanted to work five to 15 hours a week and make a reasonable salary. I wasn't trying to build this, this million dollar empire. I wanted to impact people absolutely. But making sure I had the space for rest and recovery was far more important to me. For some of these things, it's been way more about flexibility than it has been about changes. I wanted to be able to leave in a moment's notice or schedule an appointment in the middle of the day. I wanted to have these things fit in rather than be fit around. And that was important to me. And I absolutely believe that prioritizing self care and setting boundaries is important. But oftentimes the thing that life throws at you isn't going to be fixed by having a good self care day or setting better boundaries like that wasn't going to change the series of events from happening. I In addition to having a business that supports me and allows me to do the things that simply come at me, I also want it to give me the space to be the kind of person and live the kind of life that I want. I want to be able to prioritize my mental health and regularly see a therapist. And I do. I want to get monthly massages because I believe in them as healthcare and not nice to have and I do that. I want to be able to hop in the pool in the middle of the afternoon in the summertime and you best believe at 3:00 if it is sun shining I am out there. I want to be able to take a brain break and go shopping. I want to be able to go on vacations and not worry about my clients. And I do. But that didn't come all at once. I know so many of you would love to just wave a magic wand and be at the point in your business where you could rely on it consistently, where you knew it was unwavering in these challenging seasons. But many of you aren't there yet and that is fine. I'm not suggesting you need to be there today, tomorrow, next week, or even next year. What I want you to be doing is creating a business that allows you to prioritize these things. And that may mean some things have to shift and change. There's no amount of strategies for managing the stress and maintaining like a work life balance that are going to fix some of these things. And I get a little frustrated when people talk about, you know, incorporating these new rituals and these new habits to like manage and increase their productivity. And I'm not saying they're bad things. I'm not saying, you know, getting into the miracle morning or building habits using atomic habits or including a new workout routine where you get up at 5am isn't going to have a powerful impact on you. I'm not saying that's not possible. But what I am saying is that I'm a realistic and that I know that your own health challenge may very well mean no amount of miracle mourning is going to fix that. You have an autoimmune condition that means you can't sit up straight for eight hours and you're like, yep, but that's the thing. There's so many self help gurus, other marketers out there that are trying to get you to like wish away these Things when many of the times they're just part of who you are, they're part of your life right now. You can't fix them and you're not supposed to. That's not the thing. You're not trying to fix it. You're trying to live while it's happening, you're trying to work while it's happening. The life is going to keep happening. So I'm not here to help you fix it. If you need to go to the doctor, go to the doctor. If you need a therapist, get a therapist. If, if you need to spend more time with your family, spend more time with your family. What I want is to help you build a business that allows you to do these things without fear that it's going to fall apart. These seasons will happen whether you want them to or not, whether you see them coming or not. And no amount of waking up early is gonna fix it. And most of the time we're not trying to fix anything. We're trying to maintain. We're trying to not let it derail us. We're trying to not let us send us into a depression or send us into a stress cycle. We're trying to still be a nice person when things just suck. And I love time management techniques and setting boundaries and delegating tasks and practicing self care and these are absolutely things that you should be paying attention to. But we have to recognize the root of the issue. If your business isn't built for you to walk away, you're building a business that's dependent on you. Let me say that again, so it really sinks in. If your business isn't built for you to walk away, you're building a business that's dependent on you. That sucks. I'm not saying it's not powerful, I'm not saying it can't be amazing, but it also means when life happens, you have a huge risk. A huge risk. And I've seen people powerfully implement these things in their life and their business that allows them the ability to walk away. I remember when one of our clients, she took her first vacation in years because she was running a social media agency and she had no idea how her client's content was going to be posted while she was out of town. And she was able to build a business that allowed her to prioritize herself. And I remember when she came back, she took a 10 day vacation without a laptop. All of her clients were still taken care of and she wasn't worried when she came home. She wasn't stressed. When she came home, she wasn't trying to fix stuff on her phone on the beach in Cancun. And I know that's possible for you too. But things have to change. Like, if you want a business that's going to respect all of this stuff that's going to be set up for you when things happen, then we have to make some changes. Because this isn't something that just like randomly appears one day. It's not like you just say, oh, now I'm going to build a business this way. And so it's just going to work. You have to build towards it and more often than not, you're not there. Right now. I know you know the feeling. Fear that keeps you from admitting what you really want. Self doubt, whispering, who are you to really claim this? The overthinking that turns every decision into a time suck spiral. I've been there and I know how suffocating it feels. But here's what I've learned. The biggest thing holding you back isn't a strategy you haven't figured out or a resource you don't have access to. It's how you think, how you decide, and how you take action. That's why I created Mindset Reboot. This workshop series is my way of helping you break through those mental barriers once and for all. But don't wait. You won't be able to grab this for just $11. For long. Visit creative templateshop.commindset to find out more. More often than not, you built a business where every single client is expecting you to do the work. They're expecting you to communicate with them. And when they have changes, they want you to do it on their timeline. And it's fine. I'm not saying that that's a bad way to start. For many of you, it got you to a point where you're creating consistent income for yourself. And that because that allowed you to work for yourself and create different experiences in your life, but it's not necessarily setting you up for long term success. You created a job for yourself, but you haven't yet created an asset. An asset that will run without you. It may not exist now, but I want to help you unlock it. What you need right now, though, what you need right now is time. Because more often than not, the money is what you need and any additional money is also what you need. And so you need to get your time back so that you can focus on building some of these things so that you can spend the time now to get it back later. So you can spend the time now so that you are taken care of later. And that means that you need a support network. You need people around you supporting you, building towards what you want, building towards something that's unshakable. And in the beginning, I think a lot of us hope for it being help inside the business, but it's almost always, almost always easier to start at home. And I'm not saying it shouldn't be for work, but you're easing home up so that you can make the changes at work. You need to create the ease in your life. So either you have more time to focus on what you want in your business, or when you're not working, you actually have the space to rest so that when you come back, you're ready and raring to go. And so you need to ask for help. You need people to take things off your plate so that you can create more ease in your day. I need you to think about the top five stressors at home. I'm not saying you're going to get rid of everything or 100% of that issue, but let's dig into it. And before you guys say my kids, like, you need to be way more specific. Is it bedtime? Is it getting them out the door? Is it making their lunches? Is it laundry? Is it cleaning the house? Is it birthday shopping? Like, what is it? What are the. It doesn't even have to be five things that are happening all the time. What are the five things this week that are adding to your plate, that are taking up space in your brain, that are distracting your focus? And can we ask for more help? I know initially I couldn't necessarily go out and hire people to help me with these things, but I definitely started with my partner and I had to get way better at communicating. And it wasn't about frustration because I think it's really easy when you're feeling the pressure and you have all this hitting the fan that you just dump on everyone you care about. It's really easy to, like, be the worst version of yourself to them because you're the most vulnerable with them. Instead, when you got your head on straight and shit hasn't hit the fan yet, when you're in a clear headspace, you need to have a conversation. Have a conversation first. Talk about the importance of you building a business that is rock solid, so it's going to support you through these different seasons. Talk about why that's important to you. Talk about what it could do for your family. Talk about what you need to be able to focus on to make that thing happen. People you love want to support you. They often just don't know how. And I think early on, we don't necessarily know what we need from them. So I don't want you thinking about everything everyone else could do for you. I want you to get really clear on one piece of instruction at a time. And when you start to do this consistently, things will open up for you. I remember some of the early conversations were about food. And I was like, you know what? I get so stressed out when I get off of work. And at the time, my spouse was working full time in an architecture firm. You come home, you're expecting food on the table. But I've been working all day too. I need a break. I need time to decompress. I also don't want you to assume that, like, I can just immediately start making dinner. So, like, what can we do to ease this up so that we can create more balance? And there was an entire season of my life where my spouse was way more in charge of meals, Way more in charge of meals. Now, that's since changed course, but there's still absolutely time where I will ask for clear help. Hey, today I have four meetings. Can you be in charge of deciding what's for dinner, making it, and cleaning it up? I really need my rest tonight so that I'm ready to da da da da da. Your support would mean da da da da da. The thing here is not complaining. It's really easy when you're in this constant state of stress to be like, God damn it, can you just make dinner this week and, like, blow up at people? But if we slow down, we show some appreciation and we share why we need the thing. More often than not, they're like, absolutely. And if they don't want to do it, they'll figure out a way to make it easier, Whether it's running an errand, whether it's picking up takeout, whatever. But they can be the one to have those decisions on them. And I know early on it was getting really clear on the balance I needed between work and life. And I had to communicate with my partner that I needed him to take care of more of the life stuff so I could be thinking about the work stuff. And we had to clearly delineate our roles in the day to day. And that continues to be an ongoing discussion. And those are things that we revisit often, maybe every six months or so. Who's doing what, who's maintaining what. And I know I was always really Bad about asking for help, especially from friends and just people that were, like, loosely in my network. Like people I went to church with or volunteered at a nonprofit with. Like, I just didn't know how to ask for support from them. One, I've been way better about sharing with my friends when I'm having a challenging time and saying, you know, I don't know how I'm going to do it all, but this is what's on my plate right now. And just being able to voice that, it's been shocking, even when I didn't know what I needed, that my friends have stepped up to the plate and taken care of me. When my grandmother passed, my friends were immediately like, what can we do? And then when I didn't know, they started sending me doordash gift cards and gift cards to local restaurants. So I just didn't have to think about how I was going to put food on the table. And it's not that I needed the money, but just them taking the decision. Fatigue away from what to do next was more than I could have asked for. In those moments, you may not be ready to ask for help, and that's okay. Building up those relationships and building up that trust in your network to be vulnerable and asking can be hard. I was not afraid, especially in those early days, to pay for the help that I needed because I wasn't going to burden someone. And I've since worked through that. I've realized that so often people do actually want to help. People do actually want to support you. And I had thought that me asking for help was a burden. It isn't. So I don't want you to get caught up in that. But I did do a better job of getting clear that it was okay to pay for help. So rather than consistently being overwhelmed by a certain aspect of my life, I was like, who can I delegate this to? Who can I pay to do it for me? One of those things early on was absolutely cleaning my house. I have no desire. I will pick it up every single day. I will make sure there's no shoes out. I will make sure there's nothing messes on tables, all of those things. I hate cleaning, and I always have. And part of it is like old trauma, but we don't need to get into that. I was willing to pay to have my house cleaned. Since then, I've been willing to pay for so much more than that. I consistently have help with laundry. I consistently have help with my house being cleaned. I consistently have help meal prepping. I make it Very clear to my spouse that he's welcome at any time to hire additional help for the yard. And he doesn't take advantage of it all the time because he thoroughly does enjoy it. But he's been so much better about hiring someone to cut the grass when we have a busy weekend, or hiring a whole crew to pick up leaves because we have so many trees. And if we were to do it ourselves, it would be an argument for four days, but they can do it in two hours and we don't have to touch it. And that ease has been so essential. And I get that those things cost money. I get that. So start small. Definitely start with the people closest in your life. Start with a specific ask and don't necessarily have it be a forever thing. Start with what do you need tomorrow, what do you need today? What do you need this afternoon? What do you need in the next hour? And how can you be kind and clear? And how can you do it in a way that's not begging but is assertive? It will change a lot for you, I promise. But starting at home is going to allow you to have the space, whether that's the actual time back in your day to use that to build the systems and efficiencies at work or to get that rest that I talked about so that you actually can feel recharged rather than working all day and then working from 4 or 5pm until 9pm and then maybe watching an hour of TV and then crashing. That is a vicious cycle. And I see so many women stuck in the cycle where the businesses work and their life is work and the stress can make it all topple down. The life events could take it all away. And I want you to feel unshakable. Not that the thing itself, the stressor itself isn't going to still be stressful or challenging. It is and it will be. But I want that to be your focus. Not that all the additional stress it could cause. I want that to feel like the thing that you're not not worried about. The I got this. It's gonna be fine over here. So I can focus on the thing. You can build a business that can run without you. And I know for many of you that feels like an impossible feat. You built a personal brand to start, even if you're not calling it a personal brand. You built a service based business built on your expertise from your previous experience and you were selling your time to give your clients transformation. It was built around you. Now this doesn't necessarily mean that you have to remove Yourself. I think so many people assume the alternative option is that they have to only have a company brand and now they're selling the company's time and the company is completing the project. That's absolutely an option. But there's definitely a beautiful way to blend the two. And depending on what level of foundation you're after, like, do you want to be able to walk away for a week, do you want to be able to walk away for a month? Or do you want to be able to walk away for a couple of hours? Those things that you focus on in your business are going to be fundamentally different depending on what level we're protecting ourselves against. And I definitely think it takes doing it a bit at a time. Like, let's definitely get to the point that if you get a phone call in the middle of the day and you need to be gone for the rest of the day, that you're not scrambling until 10pm that's possible. Let's tackle that and then let's tackle the vacations and then let's tackle the bigger things one step at a time. Now, I know you guys know businesses exist like this. It may feel like a foreign concept to an entrepreneur, but you run into these types of businesses all the time. Think about your doctor's office. If your doctor is out of office, typically there's other people in the practice. If you call the florist, you're not necessarily calling one person. You're calling the floral department at a grocery store and there's half a dozen people that could fulfill your order. And it doesn't matter who's doing the work, you know it's going to be done. The same is true when you call the 1-800-number for your local plumber when you have an issue. Yeah, sure, you could hire an individual, but many times you're hiring a company and they do the work. And even if you've seen businesses like this where it is the one person, and if they're closed, they're closed, you know that the counter exists. And that's the point. I'm not trying to say these industries have figured it out and you haven't. That's not what I'm saying. This is not an industry issue. This is common in every type of personally owned and operated business. So many people start with building a business that's 100% reliant on them. And it takes a level of maturity, process, financials, et cetera, to get to the point that they can make it unshakable without them. But you've seen it, you know it exists. So I need you to imagine a world in which it can exist for you. There are some clear things that you'd have to focus on. You have to have a productized offer, you have to have people that can help deliver if you're not the one delivering. You have to have clear definitions of what sits in what department and who handles what kind of task. You have to build a strong team that is aware of where all of these things live. And if someone were gone, even if it's not you, that the rest of the team would have the backs of the people in the business. I'm not saying this is going to happen overnight. I'm not even saying it's going to happen before the end of the year. But I do want it to be something you're consciously working towards because it is the difference between this being a sustainable choice for your life and for your family and this being a season. I want this to be something that supports you financially, that supports your livelihood, that allows you to prioritize your life. And that's only possible if you a can imagine that it's possible for yourself and B take the action necessary to start putting these things in place. What's the very first step? What's the very first thing you need to do aside from opening up that communication at home and really talking about your needs? You need a way to generate sales even when you're away, period. That's what you need. And while I would love to see you bring on a team that can support you and ultimately help you productize an offer, building something like a digital product once and being able to sell it again and again is an incredible way to diversify your income and bring in not passive sales, but bring in sales, period. When you can't be in the business actively working, it is seriously been a game changer for my life and I can't imagine having been through all the things I've been through without having digital products by my side to make it something that I can lean on when I can't have the capacity to bring on as many one on one clients. It has been a game changer for my business and it is a strategy that I go back to again and again and again. And I want to teach you absolutely everything I know. So if you go right now to bossproject.com jumpstart, I'm going to give you all of the details. I'm going to walk you through how I was able to create over $8,000. My very first month selling digital products and how I was able to build something once and turn it into a $287,000 asset inside my business. This is a strategy anyone can implement. I don't care if you've been in business 10 years or you've been waiting and you've been hesitant to get started. This is where I would have everyone begin. Everyone. Whether you're needing to refine or you need to build from the very beginning, having an asset like this will change the game for you. And this is exactly where I want to see you start. Bossproject.com jumpstart I'll see you inside. I feel like I've been talking about some really serious stuff lately and I've been sharing my heart because I care so deeply about you. I care about your your future. I care about your independence. I care about your financial ability for you to provide for yourself and for your family. And I also think you're of a hell good time. I want to get to know you. I want to know your heart. I want to know your business. I want to know the challenges that life is throwing your way. And that's only possible if you spend the time to get to know me and introduce yourself. This is not a one way relationship. Many of you have spent years listening to this show and I love that. But I want to know who you are so I can understand the kinds of challenges life is throwing your way and I can help you prepare and navigate through them. So send me a dm. Introduce yourself. I want you to go to Boss Project on Instagram. Make sure you're following the company there. Then click on my personal profile Abigail Set and DM me that you just listened to this episode. Tell me your biggest takeaway. Tell me the thing that would change your life or your business. I want to hear from you and I want to know. So definitely follow me there. Definitely send me a message. Hey, a few quick favors before you leave. I'd love if you'd share today's episode, send it to a friend who needs to hear it and post on social. You can show us where you're listening from, your favorite takeaway or why someone else should listen. Be sure to tag me at Abigail says and at bossproject so we can share it. Okay. Second favor to get podcast updates and all the behind the scenes news from Boss Project. I'd love if you'd join my VIP list. Just head to bossproject.com signup to make sure I have all your contact details. Really love the show. It would mean so much to me if you'd leave a rating and review. It not only helps more listeners find the show, but allows us to bring on quality sponsors so we can keep bringing you this valuable content for free. Thanks so much for listening. Until next time.
Podcast Summary: Episode 914 - Fan Favorite: Design a Business That Can Run Without You
Podcast Information:
Abagail Pumphrey opens the episode by emphasizing the importance of creating a business that can operate independently of the founder. She states:
"If your business isn't built for you to walk away, you're building a business that's dependent on you. That sucks."
[00:00]
This foundational premise sets the tone for the entire episode, highlighting the necessity for entrepreneurs to develop systems that ensure business continuity regardless of their personal circumstances.
Abagail shares a personal anecdote about being unexpectedly called for jury duty, which significantly disrupted her business operations. She explains the impact of this experience:
"From basically the moment I got to the courthouse and all the way until the moment I left, my phone had to be on silent. And I wasn't really allowed to contact or talk to anyone."
[00:00]
This interruption underscored the vulnerabilities of a business overly reliant on its owner, reinforcing her commitment to building a resilient business model.
Delving deeper, Abagail discusses the drawbacks of a business dependent on a single individual. She reflects:
"If your business isn't built for you to walk away, you're building a business that's dependent on you. That sucks."
[Multiple Mentions]
She advocates for establishing systems and delegating responsibilities to ensure business operations continue smoothly in the owner's absence.
Abagail addresses the inevitability of unforeseen life events and their potential impact on business. She shares her personal challenges, including:
She emphasizes that:
"Life will keep happening no matter what. [...] You have to build a business that allows you to prioritize these things."
[Mid-Episode]
These experiences highlight the importance of flexibility and adaptability in business planning.
Recognizing that external challenges extend beyond business, Abagail underscores the role of a robust support system at home. She advises:
"Start with the people closest in your life. Start with a specific ask and don't necessarily have it be a forever thing."
[Mid-Episode]
Practical steps include delegating household responsibilities and fostering open communication with family members to alleviate personal stressors that can detrimentally affect business focus.
Abagail provides actionable strategies for delegation and outsourcing to create more business autonomy:
Home Support: Hiring help for household tasks like cleaning, laundry, and meal prepping to free up personal time.
"I was willing to pay to have my house cleaned. Since then, I've been willing to pay for so much more than that."
[Mid-Episode]
Business Delegation: Although Abagail maintains control over sales and revenue strategies, she emphasizes the importance of delegating production, quality assurance, and client care to her team.
"They maintain the production, they ensure quality assurance, they take care of my clients and customers."
[Mid-Episode]
A significant focus of the episode is on creating digital products to ensure consistent sales even when the owner is unavailable. Abagail shares her success story:
"I was able to create over $8,000 in my very first month selling digital products and build a $287,000 asset inside my business."
[Near Conclusion]
She recommends her program, Jumpstart, to guide listeners in developing profitable digital products that attract quality leads and generate revenue autonomously.
Abagail stresses the importance of clear communication and setting boundaries both at home and within the business. She advises:
"Have a conversation first. Talk about the importance of you building a business that is rock solid, so it's going to support you through these different seasons."
[Mid-Episode]
Key points include:
To achieve a business that operates independently, Abagail outlines the necessity of building a strong team and establishing clear systems:
Productized Offer: Developing standardized services or products that can be delivered consistently without requiring constant personal input.
Defined Roles: Ensuring each team member knows their responsibilities and how their tasks contribute to the overall business operations.
Systematization: Implementing processes that allow the business to function smoothly even in the owner's absence.
"You need to have a productized offer, you have to have people that can help deliver if you're not the one delivering."
[Near Conclusion]
Abagail provides a roadmap for entrepreneurs aspiring to create businesses that can run without constant oversight:
Generate Sales Autonomously: Focus on creating income streams that do not require active participation, such as digital products.
"You need a way to generate sales even when you're away, period."
[Near Conclusion]
Delegate and Outsource: Identify tasks that can be delegated to team members or outsourced to external providers.
Build a Support Network: Cultivate a strong support system both at home and within the business to manage personal and professional responsibilities effectively.
Implement Systems and Processes: Develop and document processes that ensure business continuity and consistency in service delivery.
Continuous Improvement: Regularly assess and refine business operations to enhance efficiency and resilience.
Abagail wraps up the episode by reiterating the critical need for businesses to be self-sustaining. She encourages listeners to take actionable steps towards building such a business and invites them to engage with her programs for further guidance:
"Bossproject.com/jumpstart – I'll walk you through how to create a profitable digital product that attracts quality leads and generates revenue autonomously."
[Near Conclusion]
Additional calls to action include:
Engage on Social Media: Connect with Abagail on Instagram to gain insights and share personal experiences.
Join the VIP List: Subscribe to receive podcast updates and behind-the-scenes content.
Provide Feedback: Encourage listeners to share their takeaways and reviews to help grow the community.
Notable Quotes:
Importance of Independence:
"If your business isn't built for you to walk away, you're building a business that's dependent on you. That sucks."
[00:00]
Life’s Unpredictability:
"Life will keep happening no matter what. [...] You have to build a business that allows you to prioritize these things."
[Mid-Episode]
Delegation and Support:
"I was willing to pay to have my house cleaned. Since then, I've been willing to pay for so much more than that."
[Mid-Episode]
Generating Autonomous Sales:
"You need a way to generate sales even when you're away, period."
[Near Conclusion]
Creating a Resilient Business:
"You have to build towards it and more often than not, you're not there. [...] If your business isn't built for you to walk away, you're building a business that's dependent on you."
[Near Conclusion]
Key Takeaways:
Systematize Your Business: Develop processes and delegate tasks to ensure your business can operate without your constant involvement.
Develop Multiple Revenue Streams: Create digital products or other autonomous income sources to maintain business continuity during personal disruptions.
Build a Strong Support System: Both at home and within your business, strong support systems are crucial for managing unforeseen challenges.
Effective Communication: Clearly communicate your needs and business goals with family and team members to foster a supportive environment.
Continuous Adaptation: Regularly assess and adapt your business strategies to maintain resilience and sustainability.
This episode serves as a comprehensive guide for entrepreneurs seeking to create businesses that are not only profitable but also resilient against life's unpredictable challenges. Abagail Pumphrey combines personal experiences with actionable strategies, providing listeners with the tools and mindset needed to build sustainable and independent business models.