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What if you could take a proper family holiday without once thinking about your business or checking your laptop and come back to find out that you actually grew while you were away?

When I first started my business, I thought I was creating freedom for myself. But instead—and here’s the joke that no one tells you—what I did was create a prison where I was terrified to even take a day off.

Family holidays became a joke because I’d be sneaking off to check my phone and laptop while my family was at the beach, constantly worried that everything was going to fall apart if I wasn’t there managing it. And you know what? It was, right?

Sound familiar at all?

The Whole Point of Starting a Business

The whole point of starting a business is it’s supposed to be about having more time to do what we love, more time to spend with the people we love—not less.

I’m actually recording this just days out from a big family holiday. We’ve been planning this for well over a year, and I’m so excited. We’re going somewhere I’ve never been before—we’re actually attempting to go on a cruise. I didn’t think I’d ever get into cruises till I was well into my fifties, but the idea of not having to pack and unpack and of a kids’ club and all that stuff just sounded too good to resist.

But one thing people warned me about when it came to cruises was that the wifi is terrible. “Make sure that you are prepared to not be able to check in on your business,” they said, like this was something I’d be really concerned about.

And I was like, “Guys, guys, I’m good.”

I’ve been in business since 2007. I’ve worked out a few things. Particularly over the last few years, particularly ever since I’ve had a family, I’ve been really deliberately, really strategically setting up these little engines in my business that mean I can take a few weeks off without having to log in or stress about what’s going on.

Three Simple Systems That Changed Everything

Today I’m sharing three simple systems that changed everything for me—systems that mean my business keeps running and growing and delivering and making sales, whether I’m at my desk or I’m completely switched off with my family.

System #1: The Content Engine (Self-Funded Ads Funnel)

The first system you need is what I call a content engine. We also call it a self-funded ads funnel, and what this is in really simple terms is an automated system which allows you to run a really simple ads campaign—one that you may be checking on like once or twice a month.

It doesn’t require a whole lot of testing, tweaking, optimising, or an expensive ads team. So you have a really simple ads campaign that leads to a killer but strategic lead magnet, that then leads to a high-converting email sequence (don’t have one? Grab my 7-Day Payday) which then points to an easy yes offer.

An easy yes offer is something that somebody who is new to your world, who’s only received a couple of emails, who doesn’t have a whole lot of trust in the trust piggy bank, is going to more than happily say yes to.

Why we call it a self-funded ads funnel: The sales that come in from that simple email sequence to that easy yes offer become our ads budget for the following month, so this funnel actually funds itself.

When done right, if you add in a couple of strategic upsells, this becomes a snowball effect where you have an ads campaign that is just running 24/7 that you check in on here and there, and that ends up adding hundreds of new people to your list and essentially doesn’t cost you a thing because it makes back its own budget over and over again.

The key to making it work: Understanding its purpose. A lot of people set these up and think, “I’ve got this thing, but it’s not really making me much money. I’m spending $200 on ads and getting $250 back. That’s not enough.”

They don’t realise the purpose isn’t just the $250—the purpose is that it’s actually adding hundreds of people to your list at the same time. And if you do it right, if you get that lead magnet right and those ads right, those people are really highly targeted dream clients. You’re adding them by the hundreds, if not thousands, for free.

System #2: The Profit Funnel

The second system is a profit funnel, because we don’t build businesses just to build lists—we build businesses to enable us to pay for things, to enable us to pay for these wonderful holidays.

There are all kinds of different profit funnels out there. You need to make sure you match the right type of funnel and conversion event to the type of offer that you are selling. Certain price points work better with different types of funnels.

The purpose of this funnel: Now you’re going to have a second sequence. People come through your content engine—some will buy, some won’t—but either way, they’re going to get this great experience of some of your best content, learning more about you, engaging with you, getting more trust.

Then they’re going to come through and go into a second sequence that builds more engagement, builds more trust, and makes an offer at the right time in the right way. Now you are able to sell your signature programmes—not just easy yes offers, but what we call “hell yes” offers. Anything between $200 to $3,000, you can sell year-round, 24/7, as pure profit, totally on autopilot.

When we help our clients do this inside our 100K Club programme, it usually takes two weeks to create everything you need and test it, and then another two weeks to put it on autopilot. We’re talking about a couple of weeks here, a couple of weeks there, working around your business—not eight hours a day.

Why this works so well: You now have these two engines. One is growing your list more and more, bringing more and more people in, and the other one is making sales for you. Those sales are pure profit because you don’t have to worry about allowing a margin for marketing—all of those sales are pure profit.

Even if you convert 1% or 2% of those people (which you should—a decent funnel converts at 2% or higher), it doesn’t matter because you’re getting so much volume and momentum.

System #3: Monthly Evergreen Launch Campaigns

The third system is what I call my monthly evergreen launch campaigns.

Every month, we choose a topic, create an easy “hell yes” offer that matches that topic, and then I have an AI template that helps me write the emails to promote that offer and create a super simple sales page.

I’ve already done this for my upcoming holiday. I did it two days ago. That is now ready, my VA is going to schedule it out, and that’s going to run while I’m away, bringing in sales.

How this complements the other systems: My funnel is over there bringing new people into my world and then making offers to those new people. My evergreen launch campaign, which took a few hours to create and set up, is creating great content, sharing great value, and making offers to my existing list as well, so they have a chance to jump in if this is something that’s exciting to them.

The Beauty of These Three Systems

These three things—two which were set up once and are now just on maintenance mode, and one which takes about an hour or so once a month—this is really how I run my sales and marketing, whether I’m going on holidays or not.

Because I do this year-round, I know that while I’m away, while I am drinking some of those all-included cocktails on my cruise with my family, these three little machines are going to be running, and my VA is more than capable to keep things going in the meantime.

A Bonus Tip: Don’t Let Holidays Stop You

One final bonus tip: I literally had this conversation with a friend the other day. She was like, “I just don’t think I could do a 12-month container for my programme because I want to be able to take holidays.”

The thing is, your clients don’t expect you to never take holidays. If you sit down and are deliberate and strategic about it—if you’re helping your clients build the kind of business that they want to have (their dream business that lets them have holidays)—then you’re not a very good mentor if you’re not also taking time off because that’s completely against what you teach.

Your clients aren’t going to be mad at you for showing them what’s possible and going out there and living the life they want. They will get mad if you just ghost them. But if you give people plenty of notice, maybe allow an extra support call before and after, no one is going to get mad at you about taking holidays.

Growing a business is hard enough as it is. We don’t need to have business owners out there getting burnt out because you’ve got too much good work to do, too much to share with the world.

Ready to Steal These Systems? If you want to steal these systems and get more details on exactly which funnel you need and how to set them up, I’ve created a brand new free masterclass called “How to Turn Every Month Into Your Best Launch Month Without Actually Launching.”

Right now, it’s totally free, and you can grab your tickets here. Jump in, make sure you have a notebook, and I’m going to walk you through everything you need to know to set these systems up in your business.

So when your next holiday rolls around, you’re not panic scrambling, you’re not trying to batch everything a few hours beforehand—you know it’s sorted, you know your business will be fine, and you can just go and relax with a cocktail in your hand.