If you’ve been around my corner of the internet for the last ten years, you’ll have heard me talk about seasonal business quite a lot.
Business, just like nature, is seasonal. In nature, we see luscious green trees producing fruit. And then we see them let go of their leaves. And we see them rest for a season, until they start blooming again.
Nature is seasonal. And we are a part of nature. So it stands to reason that we are seasonal too, and that means our businesses are as well.
There are seasons of growth, seasons of maintaining what you've built, and there are even seasons for settling, resting, winding down.
If you tend to put pressure on yourself to always be growing, thriving and scaling or else you feel like a failure or like you “aren’t working hard enough” then this episode is for you.
You'll learn...
- The seasons all business owners go through.
- Why sustaining what you have or settling for less (for now) does not make you a failure.
- Why you can't always be thriving, and why that's OK.
Tune in below or scroll down to read the transcript!
Resources Mentioned
Transcript
Business, just like nature, is seasonal. In nature, we see luscious green trees producing fruit. And then we see them let go of their leaves. And we see them rest for a season. Until they start blooming again.
Nature is seasonal. And we are a part of nature. So it stands to reason that we are seasonal too, and that means our businesses are as well.
There are seasons for growth, seasons for maintaining what we’ve built, and there are even seasons for settling or resting. And I'll explain all of them in sec.
I believe the reason so many business owners feel like ‘bad’ business owners is because they put the unrealistic expectation on themselves to always be thriving. Always be in their summer season, where they have lots of energy, they're releasing new offers, getting booked out, and it's all going so well. They have the "work/life balance" thing all worked out.
But that's not how life works.
You aren't always in one state forever. Including a thriving state. I have no interest whatsoever in putting pressure on myself to always be "living my best life." In and outside of business. Because when we carry the expectation that life is supposed to always be that way, we automatically make ourselves perpetually disappointed. Because life cannot always be a certain way. Life is about experiencing a full spectrum of states and emotions, thriving and otherwise.
We can't always be growing and thriving in business. That's one season: your scaling season. In our scaling season, we are scaling and growing our income. Likely because we have the time, desire and mental/emotional space to do so.
Then there's the season of simply maintaining what we have already built. Often we enter a season of sustaining when our lives are a little busy and we have other things to focus on outside of our business that are more important to us than scaling. Maybe we're working on our marriage. Getting married. Traveling the world. Moving to a new area and house. Starting another business. In those seasons of life, we often don't have the capacity to also focus on scaling our business and it isn't our priority. So then we focus on simply sustaining what we have. There's nothing wrong with that. You don't have to always be growing in order to be a successful business owner.
Lastly, there's what I call a season of Settling. THIS is the season no business owners seem to talk about but I'm gonna be real with you here. Occasionally, there are Winter seasons in your business. Seasons where you can't work because of illness, burnout, or a family problem. Maybe you got dumped and it turned your whole life upside down. Maybe you're grieving the loss of a loved one. These are hard seasons and you're not even going to be thinking of scaling your business during these times. The hard thing is that these things can last months or years. So it may be that in this season, you make the decision to scale back your expenses and what you pay yourself so that you can stop focusing on work and focus on whatever is the priority in that season. Anyone who has suffered with a mental illness will know what it's like to have to say “I can't work at all in this season. it just isn't going to happen.”
That's okay. I want you to know that's okay.
It doesn't mean you're a bad business owner or you are failing.
Because winter is just a season, and if there’s something all of us can guarantee, it’s that seasons pass. Eventually the flowers will bloom and the sun will shine again and so will you. Even if, in your business, you have to settle for less for a while - less growth, or perhaps even less income - it does not always have to stay that way. There is always the next season. And if you don't think so then you need to trust in your resilience a little more than that.
So, which season are you in? Are you growing, sustaining, or settling right now? There is no right or wrong. DM me.
If you’d like to work with me, check out my courses or join the waitlist for coaching.
If you resonate with the idea of seasonal business, I encourage you to also look into seasonal living because the same theories apply and there are lots of benefits (and amazing articles online) about the topic!
About Nesha
Hey there! I’m Nesha, 10-year traveling entrepreneur and host of The Simple Business Show. I teach freedom seekers how to make a full-time income online without working full-time hours, so they have the time, location and financial freedom to live the lifestyle they dream of.
Looking for more ways I can help you? Here they are:
Organize & Automate - Join 1200+ students and learn how to organize your entire online service-based business in just two weeks (on the side of your regular routine!) so you can stop stressing and fall back in love with your business.
Simple Sales School - Learn how to get a consistent flow of clients so you can build the income & financial freedom you desire.
Subscribe & Leave A Review!
If you enjoyed this episode, you can show your support by leaving a review, subscribing, or sharing your biggest takeaways on your Instagram story! Just remember to tag me @neshawoolery so I can see it.
Here’s how to subscribe and review the show:
Subscribe on your favourite podcast platform: iTunes, Google or Spotify.
To leave a review on Spotify: Open my podcast and click the “rating” button under my podcast name.
To leave a review on Apple Podcasts: Open my podcast, scroll to the bottom of the page and you’ll find the rating/review button.
