action and insight for the ebbs and flows
Did you know your business goes through seasons?
- What season is your business in right now?
- What season do you think 2023 was for your business?
- What season do you think 2024 will be for your business?
In this episode of Content with Character, we’re going to talk about the four seasons of business, and help you determine which one you’re in plus what actions to take no matter what the temperature is right now!
Depending on which season your business is in, the actions you take might look different.
Just as with nature and life in general, there are seasons in business each with their own feelings, vibe, celebrations, and challenges.
Business is cyclical we navigate each season of business in a different way.
If you can work with the natural rhythms of your business instead of trying to resist or resent them, you will be much more rested, productive, and calm when the turbulent times come rolling in.
Spring Season of Business
“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” – Audrey Hepburn
The Spring season in your business is about possibility, potential, and planting seeds.
Think about springtime in the natural world – it’s a time to get the soil ready, pick out the type of kale you’ll be planting, pack away your winter clothes, and start to clean HOUSE.
It’s a time of making way and starting to pave the path for new.
Spring Season Activities:
- Make new business plans
- Develop strategies and ideas
- Establish relationships and meet with new people
- Lay the groundwork with foundational pieces like branding and websites
- Implement systems
- Open up to new experiences and opportunities
- Let go of anything that you need to slough off to make room for newness.
Spring in our businesses is an energetic, exciting time, and there are lots of things you may find yourself wanting to try and say “yes” to. There’s room for vitality, and it’s a very action-oriented season.
Here’s what you may want to consider: what you plant in the Spring will grow later. What you say “yes” to, you will have to do later. When you’re planting those seeds, make sure that they are still seeds that are aligned for you.
Summer Season of Business
“In summer, the song sings itself.” -William Carlos Williams
The Spring frenetic energy starts to fade away, but the excitement remains. Summer is a little calmer, chiller, mellower. Everything you planted in the Spring starts growing. It’s abundant, flourishing, blooming, blossoming, and thriving. It requires a little less of a fast pace in order to make it so.
We might be happily humming away on things, nurturing and tending to relationships, and still connecting with new people too as we feel more outward-focused in our businesses.
Here’s what you may want to consider: Summer is always a time to remember you can’t just set it and forget it. You still have to be out there working on your business garden, watering it, giving it light, and loving attention. It should feel relatively EASY to do this because you have the energy for it. What you don’t want is to ignore systems and operations at this time, or forget marketing altogether because business is booming. Work to stay on track so you don’t get off track or super disorganized and set yourself back. Consistency is key and you want to be watering, nurturing, and taking slow steady steps to keep it going smoothly.
Fall Season of Business
“Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons.”- Jim Bishop.
The Fall season in your business is when the harvest is here and you’re starting to see the results of all your hard work!
It’s a season of abundance, and ease, and also change as you uplevel. You’re in the flow, have projects on your plate, new leads coming in, and your ideas are coming to life before your eyes.
Here’s what you may want to consider: Focus on CELEBRATING and GRATITUDE. Don’t let this pass you by without taking a pause to really soak it up and savor what you’ve built. Do what you can now to harness the energy and use your abundance to prepare yourself for leaner times.
- Get ahead on content and batching
- Put away some cash into an account that you can tap into later if need be
- Invest in something that will save you time and money down the road
- Follow up with your connections and referrals
Winter Season in Business
“I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape. Something waits beneath it; the whole story doesn’t show.” — Andrew Wyeth
“Let us love winter, for it is the spring of genius.” — Pietro Aretino
In your business, the winter season is a time of REST. Recovery. Slowing down.
This is a time to reflect before moving forward. Think about what seeds you want to plant in the next Spring and what changes you want to/need to make.
What do you really want? What you’re offering and whether or not it works, what you’re sharing, does it feel right for you? What do you need to let go? Add?
Here’s what you may want to consider: Try not to allow yourself to go into a downward spiral wondering what’s wrong with you, feeling blame or shame, or stressing out over how long it’s lasting. Try to use the winter seasons in business as a time to rest and reflect, restore, take stock, and contemplate what you really want.
Additional Resources
Whether you’re in refining, reflecting, resting, building, growing, planting. etc. I can help guide you in which actions to take next!
In my individualized Messaging and Content Strategy Session, I sit down with you for 90 minutes focused solely on your individual content needs and questions.
