Have you ever taken a "staycation" with your family or friends where you don't travel but you still act like you're on vacation? I don't know about you but I adore these vacations! They take a little bit more mindfulness to truly 'get away' but to take out the hassle of actually traveling is pretty dang genius...plus, you get to explore your local area like a tourist. OR do like I've done and get a hotel room and never leave. Hello room-service!!!
Well, my #bizbesties and I took this idea and made it a "business staycation" and it. is. fabulous! We did this 6 months ago and just did it again so it's official friend, I will be doing this twice a year.
What's a Biz-Staycation?
So glad you asked =) It's where you recruit a business-minded friend (a fellow yoga teacher who has started, like you, thinking of themselves as a business owner too!) and hold space for one another to get creative and get strategic with your business. If you want to take YOUR BUSINESS to the next level, this is how you get the plan together. For me this looked like a hotel the first time and an Airbnb the second time. Maybe one day this will look like a week at a resort but homegirl ain't there yet so this is the budget-friendly biz-staycation!
Sounds good, Amanda, now what?!
I feel ya, friend, and I've got you covered. I boiled it down to a 5 take-aways in order to plan your very own Biz-Staycation.
1. Get outta the house (or yoga studio)
This is the critical part. I know it usually costs money but it doesn't have to. You can get really creative and go to a park or see if there are any free co-working space rentals you can have access to. If you have a little budget to work with, you can rent a space for a few hours or do like I do and split the cost of a hotel room or airbnb with a friend. No matter what you do, you cannot stay in the places you typically use for business work. No home. No yoga studio that you typically work in. No coffee shops. You need to stretch your comfort zone here, it's the way to get creative. Just trust me! You will thank me later.
2. Recruit a friend who is like-minded
While it's possible to go at this alone, I do not encourage this. Think about how many times you've thought of an idea but the simple fact of sharing it with someone else took it to the next level. Or a time when you went down the negative-nancy trail and stayed there WAY too long. It's easy to do but if we have someone else there to catch us, we don't stay there and even better, we have help up. Bouncing ideas off each other, celebrating the good and working through the tough is what it's all about. Plus, that yoga teacher friend has tried other things than you so you can share ideas and brainstorm new ones together. Collaboration friend, this is where it's at! Plus...you share costs!
3. Set an agenda and goals before you go
Even if you aren't a planner by nature, I need you to hear me on this one. It can be a loose agenda if it's just the two of you but the critical piece is setting goals. Ask yourself, "what do I want to walk away with after this staycation?" and then back into that with the agenda. What questions do you need to get answered in order to reach your goal? The best part is that you don't have to have the same goals as your biz-bestie. For example, setting revenue goals and identifying how much revenue would come from each revenue stream was top-priority for my besties but for me, it was all about getting to know YOU better. My yoga teacher students. How could I learn more about what you need in the next 6 months. So even though we had different main goals, we still worked together and I came out with much better information than if I had done this alone.
4. Build in time for fun
Sounds silly but you have to do this, especially if you are like me and are a planner (to a fault sometimes). Yes, it's a business-focused time but the only way you can get really creative is if you have some fun too. For us this looked like going to Target before we checked into the airbnb and just wondering. We made all our meals to save budget so that time was fun time too, where we enjoyed wine and good conversation. We started our day with meditation and ended our day with cheesy Christmas movies. Do things that will help fill your vessel, remember your self-care in this too!
5. Plan ahead to be away from work
This goes without saying...except I'm saying it. Plan to be away. Whether it's an afternoon, a full day, or an overnight stay, you need to plan for this. Specifically, I want to say plan financially for this. If you go away and the entire time you're worried about how much money you're missing out on for not teaching classes, you will not reap the benefits of this staycation. So plan accordingly so you can truly get away and enjoy the planning time. It's for you and your business and it's important. So do whatever you have to do to make it happen and you will be thrilled you did! I can promise you this will pay off.
Once you take care of all of this, it's time to go and do the thing! Plan and enjoy and watch your business grow. I can't tell you enough how much this has helped my business and my mindset and I know it will do the same for you. So get it friend, get to planning your biz-staycation!!!
Here are a few photos from my most recent biz-staycation! Enjoy!
If you still have questions about planning your biz-staycation, reach out to me at amanda@ammarketing.co. I've had some interest in this and I've thought about hosting an in-person or virtual event to help yoga teachers with this. If this truly interest you, let me know and I will think about it a little more seriously and get something on the calendar.