Episode 134 transcript:

Hey, everyone happy summer this week. I wanna talk a little bit about what summer has looked like throughout my career. Um, both in corporate and as an entrepreneur and how it continues to evolve. It's going to be a short episode because I am in the middle of a week off. So I give myself effectively four weeks completely off throughout the year, two weeks, every six months. So this week is one of those two weeks. Um, but what that looks like for me is I work, I do things in the business when I want to, and when I desire to, without any pressure to, to do things. And so this was just coming up for me because I just got back from Disney. It was our first time back to Disney and since pre March of 2020. And, um, I have, my niece is here hanging out with the kids for a little bit.

So I've got a few minutes and I wanted to just share this with you. So when I started the corporate world, I was still like most of the world, I imagine working all summer summer just meant, you know, that weekends might look a little bit different, but work was still happening. The same as usual. There were no breaks, you know, unless you used specifically used PTO days during the summer, um, of which I started my career with 10 days of PTO. I think it kicked in after like 90 days of a probationary period, if I remember correctly. So after working there for three months, I was eligible to get 10 days of PTO per year. And then after so many years that would increase to 15 days and then you'd earn more days over the years, right? PTO meaning paid time off. I should clarify, just in case you haven't, um, worked corporate.

So, and what I learned growing up as a child of two business owners is that, um, you know, my dad's business did not stop in the summer. My mom's business didn't stop during the summer. And so they worked, you know, year round. And when they were not at their business, they were not making money. Their businesses were not designed to support them when they were off. So when I moved into the corporate world, I remember I wrote this up on Instagram the other day, and it just, I always think back on it so fondly, and it was such a weird thing, right? That about 10 ish years ago, I was still working corporate eight 30 to five 30 Monday through Friday. And my niece was in probably junior high and she called me one day and she's like, aunt Nicole, what are you gonna do for the summer?

She was out for summer break and I'm like, I'm gonna work. You know, what do you think adults do during the summer? And I had such a narrow scope of what my life could be like, you know, I really didn't have a vision for it yet. I just couldn't see it all yet. And so that was what I was told. That's what I saw. That's what I learned. And that's what I accepted as my reality until I got a little bit older and things started to evolve and shift for me. And I became a parent and I desired a different type of life. And so I started moving in line with a different type of life and a different type of summer. And it's a pretty deep thing for me actually. Um, summer has been summer has been a whole thing, but to not go into great detail for right now, what I'll say is that summer has evolved over the years when I started, uh, my own business.

And I stepped into entrepreneurship in 2017, I was still feeling like I was working during the summer. And my kids were still young enough that, um, you know, I, my oldest was only four. Uh, and so, and the little one was, she was like one and I, they were napping still. So I would still work on my business during the summer. And I would work on stuff during their naps. I would go straight to my computer and in the master bedroom and, and do things to work on the business. And like, we would take breaks here and there, right. But like, I was still working quite a bit during the summer and not really giving myself like an entire week off or anything like that. And so each year I feel like I peel back more and more of what's expected or the story of summer and entrepreneurship and adulthood and business ownership and even career that I was sold. And I ask questions like, who says, who, who says you have to work all summer, just like you do the rest of the year. And who says that your business can't keep supporting you when you're not in it.

And it felt kind of scary to think of taking time off during the summer. And I remember meeting the first time I met anybody, actually that would take extended time off, like beyond a normal PTO during the summer was when I worked in, um, a real, real corporate environment. And the owners would take off like the whole summer they'd go up north. And I'm like, what people, people do that I, I was so naive and just, I'd never seen anything like that. I didn't know anybody who did that, who just left town for the summer with their families. And they would call in and do occasional, like, you know, conferences, um, and check-ins and things like that. But they were just gone for six, eight weeks, 12 weeks. And I was like, huh. Interesting. And I just thought, well, that that's not for someone like me, you know, I couldn't do that.

I couldn't slim down my summers and still basically still get paid and still have a business. I don't look like them. My family's not like them. I'm not from places like them. I didn't go to colleges like they did. I wasn't raised in an environment like they were, I wasn't around things like that. I don't know people like that except them. And they're different than me, but the truth is that they're not really that much different than me. We're human. And it was just my own mindset that was keeping me from having the summers that I could only, I couldn't even dream of if I'm being honest, I really didn't even, I couldn't even get there yet. And so it's taking time and it has taken time and I'm taking time doing this work.

It doesn't happen overnight. At least for me, it didn't, I didn't just wake up one day and decide, decide it was gonna be like this. The conditioning was so deep for me that it's, it's taking a lot to peel back one piece at a time. And it's one thing to look at all of this with your mind and say, oh yeah, of course, yeah, that seems logical. There are businesses. And there are business owners who can do that. Uh, and it's another thing to believe it's possible for you. And then to integrate that into your daily life and to embody that possibility and make it your reality, that is next level. And it's a process, a process that I've become more and more committed to.

And I can proudly say that now for summer of 2022, my summer's gonna look very different. And I'm planning on teaching about this in a time management module that I'm teaching in the membership this summer . So I will be teaching this summer, but the schedule's gonna look very different and I'm gonna be teaching about time management, but effectively, um, I'm proud to say that this summer I am taking time as needed and my business will continue to support me while I do that. I believe that it's all possible and it's not just for me or someone like them or someone like me. It's possible for you. It's possible for all of us. You might not want the same type of summer as me. You know, you might not have a family right now, or I mean, children of your own, or you might not have a partner.

You might wanna be like a hot girl, summering or hot dude summering, like out there having the time of your life, right. And parties and all the things you might want to be with your parents. You might want to go camp and like go off grid for a month. You might want, um, I don't the, if there's endless possibilities and your desires are your desires. I know for me, and what I desired was to be a lot more present with my children. And I'll share more about how I felt that pull recently in another episode, perhaps, but I've been feeling this increasing desire to be even more with my kids. I'm already with them quite a bit, but I wanted to really be and just be, and the beautiful thing is that I have built my business in such a way that not only is it supporting me through all of this, it supports my clients members in my membership immediately upon joining have access to a library of, let me think for just a second.

I wanna say at least 36 prerecorded, um, replays, I should say, replay of various workshops, livestream Q and a. So they log in and they can start learning right away. They immediately have access to the peer support community, which is a private Facebook group where they can go in and network and connect and get to know people, start sharing, start asking questions. They can get in and start being supported right away, even when I'm not sitting at my desk. And then that twice a month during the summer where we're gonna be working together live, they will have that too. And so whatever your summer looks like, you can go at your slow pace or you can dive in and watch a replay every day for the whole month of June, perhaps, or every other day, and take it through June and July, or you could space it out.

Even, you know, it really is up to you. The beautiful thing is that the energy and the trainings are available to you and support my community when I'm not at my desk. And that is one of the ways that I, one of the things that I teach is how to build businesses like this, how to build a business foundation so that you can still live your life and your clients can still feel supported. And all of the above it, you do get to do that. You are a creator of your experience, a co-creator in your life, in your business, in your, all of the things motherhood, you don't have to do it. The way that we were taught is how it's supposed to be done. That's not true across the board. It's just not, and it will take some unraveling. And that's what I'm here for is to guide you through that. So that's your unschool message of the week. Your summer doesn't have to look the way it did when you were a kid, your summer doesn't have to look the way it did when you were in corporate or even the way it did last year. It gets to be different.

And all of that to say, because I decided to take, by the time you're listening to this, it's gonna be last week. Initially our online business school membership bonuses were set to expire May 31st. Meaning when, if you join during the bonus period, right? When the deadline is there, you get access to these savings. And what I've decided to do since I was off on the several days leading up to that. And because there were incredibly heavy events occurring in the world. And frankly, I felt like if I was feeling so heavy and was not up for promoting, I imagine that there were people in my community who just didn't feel like doing a thing, perhaps. So I gave us all a little bit of grace, because again, when you are the business owner, that's what you get to do. So what that means is I've extended the bonuses because it makes sense.

It makes sense for me. And hopefully it makes sense for you. If it's something you've been considering. So instead of expiring May 31st, we're gonna actually go through this week. So you can, here's what you do. If you are considering joining the membership, head to the link in the show notes, scroll through and take a look at the bonuses that are currently being offered. The exact expiration date will be at the end of this week. And then if you want to talk about a higher level of support that next round for higher level support officially kicks off in July. So DM me, send me an email message me on Instagram or Facebooks or wherever. And let's talk. If you wanna set up a time, we can talk privately and see if it's a good fit. You can start in the main level. You can start right now being supported and working together.

And then the next cohort of level two officially opens next month. Joining this month gives you an extra month to pay, which reduces your payments. We can talk more about that in private. If you like, you also start boxing with me right away. So boxers included in level two, I should say, not the main level. And when you join the private cohort of level two slash three, you get access to me via boxer. So we talk privately through a walkie-talkie app all the time, and we can start as soon as you jump in. Okay. If you have questions again, feel free to shoot me any questions. I hope you have found this super helpful, and I hope you have a beautiful week and start creating the summer that you dream of friends. I'll see you next week.