What does this picture remind you of? I think it looks a lot like that still from Gone With the Wind, the one taken just after Scarlett O’Hara says, “As God as my witness, I’ll never go hungry again!”

That’s not Scarlett in the picture. That’s Cyndi Thomason, founder and president of Bookskeep, standing in front of Pyrocumulus clouds at the Kileaua eruption in Hawaii. Though her life story isn’t quite as dramatic, this moment in her life is.

The picture was taken on Cyndi’s first-ever four-week vacation. Two years ago, she was working grueling hours in her successful bookkeeping business, trying to keep up with demand while still delivering the stellar service she provided to her ecommerce clients. She barely had enough time in the day to sleep, let alone tend to her beloved garden.

Now, she is free and her business is booming, and Cyndi is never going back to the grind.

In my new book, Clockwork, I track Cyndi’s progress as she designed her business to run itself. Part of the process is scheduling a four-week vacation. I know, I know—you may be thinking, “There Mike goes again with his wacky ideas.” Wacky? Maybe. Impossible? Nope.

See that picture above? That’s Cyndi on her four-week vacation. She did it, and her business not only survived without her—it grew.

Because Clockwork went to print before Cyndi took her planned vacation, I wasn’t able to share her story in the book. Now, you can read the epilogue first.

“On Tuesday I returned home from my four-week vacation,” Cyndi wrote in a recent post. “I started planning for this 18 months ago at Mike’s suggestion. I totally disconnected on July 1 and did not work in my business until Aug 1. I did not receive emails or internal chat or FB messages—no communication from the team.”

That’s right, my friend. Total disconnect. Can you imagine what that would feel like? Can you imagine how restorative that would be for you and your family?

When Cyndi returned, she met with her core team, and was pleasantly surprised to discover how much they’d changed. “They took ownership, they had confidence, they don’t need me and my husband! In fact, their big concern was that they would backslide now that we are back. There was so much love and team camaraderie among them as a group, I tear up when I think about it.

“When we huddled with the full team the same day, all we heard was praise for the core team and how everything went. There were challenges: three personnel issues and they handled them! They brought in a new client and raised rates on two existing clients. Clients had tough questions and they resolved them.”

Cyndi followed the process I detailed in Clockwork to completely transform her business, and her life. Now, she’s making more changes. “I am convinced my leaving town and disconnecting was so effective, that I am scheduling half my days as unavailable to the biz, at Mike’s suggestion I’m scheduling a week off every month and disconnecting totally and I’m planning another month off.”

“When you read Clockwork,” Cyndi added, “make that commitment to take a 4-week vacation and do every exercise so you can make it happen for you and your business.”

You can free yourself from the grind and scale your business. It’s doable. Cyndi pulled it off. I pulled it off. You will pull it off.

Your “never-turning-back” moment is coming, and I can’t wait to hear all about it.

P.S. If you want to get you ready to start your own Operation Vacation, I set up a page with all the resources you need at Clockwork.life.

P.P.S. Enjoy your 4 weeks. Send pics.