It’s August and in many of my clients’ sessions recently we’ve been exploring the seasonality of business. I know it’s been triggered by that weird holiday period over this month and the upcoming energy of the ‘new year’ in September.

So how is the seasonality of business relevant to business owners? What IS the seasonality of business? And how can you leverage it to your benefit? Be sure to read to the bottom to get my BIGGEST hack on this subject.

When I became self-employed I would often have an overwhelming feeling of ‘this is forever’… I could get stuck in a negative cycle of thinking of  ‘wow, this is it – I’m just going to have to hustle forever, I’ll never be able to take a real holiday, this is never-ending’. 

Have you ever had these thoughts/ feelings about your business?

It can be quite paralysing and super negative. Not fun. 

I recommend you break things down, look ahead at the year, tap into the seasons of nature or the seasons of your industry and plan things around this. 

Punctuate your year with different goals that you’re working towards to give it the change in tempo, the ups and downs and variety that us humans love. 

I know there are certain times in the year when launching a service or product is much better suited than others, do your research be strategic, ask industry peers and plan ahead. 

My BIGGEST hack, however, is to shift your MINDSET around your salary. If you’re like me and many others, you are used to a traditional 9am-5pm job with a MONTHLY salary. I spent nearly 10 years getting paid like this…

Instead, when you’re self-employed start moving to a quarterly mindset i.e. look at your sales and earnings from a QUARTERLY perspective, not a monthly one. This means that if you don’t quite hit what you wanted in July + August (Quarter 3), you’ve still got September to reach your goals. Winning!

You shift from having to hustle forever & hustling through every single month, it being an overwhelming expanse stretching out in front of you….. 

To the financial pressure being spread out over 3 months, taking proper holidays (📸  Winnie and I enjoying some time off), moving away from this toxic hustle culture and enjoying the peaks and troughs. 

Does this resonate with you? How can you incorporate this into your business? What have you learned?

I would love to hear fro you – email sophie@sophieclydesmith.com and share what came up for you when reading this.