For the last 25ish years (how did that happen???) I have traveled back to my home country of New Zealand for a jam-packed couple of weeks to celebrate the holidays with my family and friends. It always felt horribly rushed and stressful leading up to it, and then horribly rushed while there, and finally horribly stressful when I got back to the USA in catching up with work. Does that sound like you?

Well, not this year. This year I planned to take a full three months off working full-time so that I could focus on some big life events. And wouldn’t you know it? Life had other ideas for me … one of my clients had a major, far-reaching audit with the IRS that I needed to support him through. I’m odd, I know, in that I quite enjoy going through the IRS audit process as it is validation that the work I do for my clients is valued, accurate, and efficient. And I always learn something new in the process too, so that’s a bonus. This audit resulted in my client getting a refund — yay!

But once that was over, I was back to getting through the main work that needed to be done to make the big changes in my life happen. November and December went by in a blur, but then there I was in my happy place in New Zealand for the holidays. So this year, instead of racing back to winter in the States, to more work, to more stress, I have stayed down in New Zealand where I have spent the first part of this year reflecting, planning, entertaining, and having fun.

It has been a blast. I have been able to keep the company running smoothly from afar while simultaneously hosting friends and family members in what has felt like a stream of visitors. This feeds my soul. Now everyone has left and it’s time to get back to the work of my soul, the passion that keeps me driven which is helping small business owners turn their businesses into sustainably profitable lifestyle businesses.

Next week I will be making an announcement about a new program that I will be launching that incorporates the principles of Fix This Next and Profit First from Mike Michalowicz. So check back next week and see if it might be something that you are interested in participating in.

In the meantime, head on over to our newly created Private Facebook Group to get started on the discussion of how to Fix This Next and start on the path to permanent profitability.