By: Anne-Marie Burton
Not long ago, we wrote about the importance of building a business you can walk away from — not because you want to escape it, but because you’ve designed it to run with strength, clarity, and trust beyond your constant presence.
This is the next chapter of that idea.
Because once you’ve built something that allows you to step away, the real question becomes: what do you step toward?
For us, that answer was simple: each other.
A Different Kind of “Business Trip”
Recently, we spent 10 days traveling together — starting in London, then heading into the Bordeaux region of France, and finishing in Champagne.
Coincidentally (or maybe not), we seemed to gravitate toward the left side of just about everything — from the left side of the road in London to the Left Bank in Bordeaux. Some habits are hard to break when “Left Turn” is in your DNA.
On paper, it might look like a vacation. And yes, it was rejuvenating. It was inspiring. It was fun.
But more intentionally, it was an investment in our partnership.
We treated this time as a different kind of working session — one without boardrooms, schedules, or interruptions. Instead, we created space to think, reflect, and reconnect as both business partners and people.
Because building a company together is a lot like building a family. It requires care, attention, and ongoing investment in the relationship at its core.
Why Investing in Your Partnership Matters
1. You’re Building More Than a Business
Partnerships are human first, professional second.
The values that bring you together at the beginning — trust, curiosity, ambition — don’t sustain themselves automatically. They need to be nurtured.
Spending uninterrupted time together, outside of the day-to-day pressures of the business, allows you to reconnect to those values. You remember why you chose each other in the first place.
In London, that looked like long walks through history — from the Tower of London to Kensington Palace — and unstructured conversations in pubs where ideas flowed more freely than they ever do between meetings.
There’s something powerful about removing the noise and simply being human together again.
2. Creativity Requires Disruption
We work in a creative business. And creativity doesn’t thrive in repetition.
To think differently, you need to experience differently.
Leaving home is one thing — but immersing yourself in a completely different environment is something else entirely. Different rhythms, different cultures, different ways of seeing the world.
London offered that contrast immediately — a blend of history and modernity that invites reflection. (Also, as Canadians navigating a city where everyone drives on the left, we felt oddly on-brand.)
Then wine country deepened it.
In Bordeaux, we slowed down and paid attention. In Champagne, we honoured the process and celebrated. We absorbed it all.
And in doing so, we created space for new ideas to emerge — ideas that simply wouldn’t have surfaced if we had stayed within our usual routines.
3. Inspiration Lives in Craft and Detail
One of the most impactful parts of the trip was our time in Bordeaux and Champagne.
We explored both the Left Bank and Right Bank — from Médoc to Saint-Émilion — and experienced firsthand the depth of care that goes into creating something exceptional.
Wine is a product, yes. But it’s also a philosophy.
From the cultivation of the grapes, to the timing of the harvest, to the precision of the process, to the storytelling in the label — every step reflects intention, discipline, and pride.
It reminded us of something important:
Even though we don’t produce a physical product, we do create something of value — our service, our thinking, our strategy.
And the same principles apply:
- Attention to detail
- Process
- Story
- Consistency
Watching winemakers obsess over their craft was a powerful mirror for how we think about our own work.
(And in full transparency, while we appreciated both sides, we may be a little biased toward the Left Bank. Some preferences aren’t learned — they’re branded.)
The Unexpected Outcome
What we didn’t fully anticipate was how much this experience would strengthen not just our thinking — but our alignment.
When you step away together, you create space for deeper conversations:
- Where are we going?
- What do we want this business to become?
- What matters most to us now?
These aren’t conversations you rush between calls.
They require time. Presence. Perspective.
And that’s exactly what this trip gave us.
What We Actually Talked About
Of course, no partnership trip is complete without the conversations that matter most.
The most valuable moments weren’t planned — they happened over long dinners and train rides.
We found ourselves coming back to a few key themes:
- Where we want to take the business next — not just in terms of growth, but in terms of impact
- What we want our roles to evolve into as leaders and partners
- How we continue to build a company that gives us — and our team — freedom
- What we want our lives to look like alongside the business we’re building
There’s a level of honesty and clarity that only comes when you step outside of your normal environment.
You think bigger. You listen differently. You challenge each other in more meaningful ways.
And most importantly, you leave more aligned than when you arrived.
Stepping Away to Move Forward
Building a business you can walk away from isn’t the end goal.
It’s the enabler.
It allows you to step away on purpose — to reconnect, to recharge, and to return with greater clarity and intention.
For us, this trip wasn’t about escaping the business.
It was about strengthening the foundation that makes the business work.
Because at the end of the day, a company is only as strong as the people building it.
And that’s always worth investing in.
And if there’s one thing we took away — beyond great wine, great conversations, and a renewed sense of direction — it’s this:
Sometimes the best move you can make in business is a left turn.