Which season of business are you in?
It's time to find out!
Today I'm sharing about the 4 seasons of your business in episode 2 of The Joy Coach Podcast.
Tune in to learn:
What the 4 seasons of your business are
What to expect during each one
How to identify which season you’re in
And how to maximize your energy and business growth using this approach
Click the play button below to listen!
Full Episode Transcript:
Welcome to this week's episode of the Joy Coach Podcast. I'm your host, Megan Ladd, and today we're talking about the four seasons of your business. This is a concept I developed after years of working with ambitious business owners who found it really challenging to relax out of go mode, and really just give themselves permission to have slower seasons.
So I totally get it. This isn't something that came naturally to me either. It's actually something I had to learn (and I did learn) the hard way through burning out, as so many of my clients have as well.
This way of approaching your business is really about taking intentional breaks and not expecting your energy to be constantly on high at all times and produce at your maximum capacity at all times.
That's not really how we're wired as humans. We are not machines. We are not meant to go nonstop. So even if you're used to pushing yourself and powering through, even if you can do those things, it doesn't mean that's what's best for your mind or your body, especially long-term.
What we're going to be talking about today is a way of approaching your business that will help you avoid that burnout, because it teaches you how to work with your energy.
If you're someone who wants to feel good and energized and build a joyful, sustainable business that you can grow for years to come, today's episode is for you!
Okay, let's dive in. So when I mention the four seasons of your business, they're the same as the four seasons you already know: winter, spring, summer, and fall.
I'm going to dive into each of them and talk about how they look in your business so you can get a real sense of how to make the most of each of them and understand how they can all work together to help you thrive.
Okay, so let's start with winter. This may be when you are in a more regular cadence in your business, like when you're not launching and you're just in a really nice, steady rhythm. Maybe you have weekly calls, you're kind of in your flow, and you'll know you're in a winter or ready for winter when you just want to turn inward and slow down.
It can be when you're called to take a break. You just know that it's time to recharge. Even if you have some resistance to doing that deep down, you know that your body, your mind is asking you for this intentional break, and it's temporary. It's a temporary pause from that peak go mode. And that's really important to keep in mind to give ourselves permission to do it temporarily.
You know that fear voice can rush in like: “Oh my gosh, am I going to lose all momentum? Am I going to fall behind? Can I afford to take a break?” So just knowing that this is a season and it's one that you can plan for and incorporate can be really helpful upfront. So winter is a time when you really want to nurture yourself.
You can go inward, you can self-reflect. It's where you let your mind and your body just rest more deeply and ultimately create space for new ideas to enter. This is a very essential time, so maybe you spend more time on non-business things that feel like a breath of fresh air, things you loved doing as a kid.
Maybe it's baking or, you know, playing basketball outside or taking a dance class. Reading a really good fiction book or just enjoying a non-work related hobby. Something that leaves you with more energy than you came into it with.
As a high achieving person, you might really resist this, like I said, because it feels unfamiliar. There might be this sense of not knowing what to do with yourself at first. Boredom and restlessness might kick in. Like “I don't even remember what I used to do for fun outside of my business,” and that's okay. I would just encourage you to lean into that and explore it with this sense of curiosity, like, “Let me rediscover some of the things that feel fun to me besides my business.”
And hey, it's great if you love your business. That is the goal, right? To do what we love. And this is a really beautiful time when you're in your winter season to nourish yourself with non-work things as well, to reconnect to those things, and you can then bring them into the other seasons too.
So during your winter season, you want to give yourself time to adapt. It will likely feel a little strange doing this if you're not used to giving yourself real permission to take a break. But here's what I want you to know above all else about the winter season, especially if you have those fears kicking in: if you set up this time with intention and you really lean into it, I promise it will act as a springboard for spring.
Spring is a very fun season when you enter it well rested and nourished and replenished! You'll know you're entering spring based on how you feel. It'll be the same sense of new life energy flooding in that you experience with the actual seasons, like the first warmer days and flowers blooming, and those signs of spring we all look forward to. They'll show up for you like an uptick in motivation.
You'll just find that you have more energy flooding in based on the decisions you've been making and how you've been spending your time. You will have replenished your energy and you'll have energy to act on these ideas that you created space for – these ideas that you've dreamt up and captured during your winter phase.
So you'll be gearing up, you'll be planning, you'll start moving, and this is one of my favorite times as a business owner. Partly because my brain is always still relieved that yes, once again, my motivation and energy did return in full. Hallelujah! So glad that happens because even though I'm familiar with these seasons now, I'll be honest, there's still a part of me when I'm in the depths of my winter seasons, that feels a little antsy.
Like, “What if I stay here forever? What if I always feel this way?” If you feel that way too, I just encourage you to let that feeling be there. Let it be normal. Remind yourself of the importance of winter, and then simultaneously reassure yourself that, “Hey, this won't last forever.” It's kind of like when you have a cold and your energy is low and you don't feel like doing anything, and you're like, “Ugh, will I ever feel like myself again?! Will I just feel this tired forever?” Then a few days or a week goes by and you're just back in action. It's like that.
Spring is coming, and again, spring is a very exciting season to be in. Really, the best thing you can do here is use all of that clarity and inspiration you've gathered in your winter season and capitalize on it. Act with intention.
You know, you might be tempted to dive right into a more reactive place of like, “Woo! I have some energy. Let's just go for it now. Go, go, go!” Because that's more familiar. Because you are used to operating in full go mode.
But in Spring, I encourage you to move with purpose, to put some kind of plan in place to have this healthy amount of structure established before you go into Summer, which we'll talk about in a second. Have that healthy amount of structure in place to balance out that desire to just flow.
Spring is all about building momentum. This might be where you're starting to nurture your audience, maybe tease some upcoming offers, that kind of thing.
So even if you are tempted to just jump into full on launch mode without a plan (and hey, I've been there more times than I can count), remember that planning ahead of time ultimately saves you time and energy. It feels like it slows you down upfront when you're just itching to go. But really, if you can exercise some self restraint and plan at this beginning Spring stage, your future self will be so, so grateful because the ride from here will be a lot smoother.
And pretty soon, before you know it, it will be time for your Summer!
This is where most high achieving business owners feel the most at home. It's go mode. It's being on, it's being visible and sharing your offers, and it feels extra juicy after a season of rest and then a season of planning.
Something to note, and this is kind of a side note, is that these seasons do not have designated timeframes. They're not even all consistent.
Depending on where you're at in your own life and business, some seasons will last longer than others. Unlike actual seasons that we experienced, they don't have, you know, the start and end date that's predetermined. You might have a shorter summer and then a longer fall or winter. And even the lengths of time will vary for you as a person just based on where you are at, based on how your energy is feeling. Maybe you had a really big Summer, really big launch, and you need more time to recalibrate or follow through on whatever you just sold your clients, right?
So you could have a Summer, one season, that's months, or it could be weeks, or you might even just have a really condensed one, like a summer that's just a few days (like if you do a three day live launch event). It might be really condensed, really intense, and it's like you're planning, planning, planning.
After your Spring bloom, it's go time. Your summer is like “All systems are a go for three days!” and then you're already starting to shift into your Fall, which we'll talk about in a second, and that's where you're kind of onboarding and starting to shift into what will be your Winter of more consistent delivery, more of a rhythm.
So just know that going into it. I invite you to let go of predetermined timelines and more so just feel out where you're at. Be open to going with the flow. Above all else, just trust your own body and your own mind to tell you when it's time to shift gears.
Now, if you have a launch plan like I mentioned, you might actually have these preset times for whatever you're selling, but still pay attention and notice when your mind and body are asking you to slow down.
Because even if you don't incorporate it right away that time, it's just good to know for the future, like, “Hey, after three days of being really on, I need at least x amount of time to recalibrate.”
It's all an experiment. You're constantly learning about yourself and refining and working with your own energy.
Another thing that's important to note is that these seasons will look different for everyone. And again, it will shift in your own life. Really give yourself permission for them to look different year to year, even month to month.
Let's say you had a rhythm one year, but now the next year you have a really big life change like you are pregnant, for instance, and there's more going on with your body. It can be so tempting to compare your current state of your business and your life to your past, but we want to be really mindful about honoring where you are and really paying attention to, “Hey, is there stuff in my life that requires more of my attention and focus right now, and how can I honor that and work with that?” Versus working against it, because everything flows better in your life and in your business when you work with them together, when you establish a harmony between them versus having them be kind of these competing sources that are asking for your energy. It's like, let's be really intentional about where you're at and not fight that.
Okay, so above all else, long story short, this is a side note. I just want you to know at the end of the day, we want to honor where you're at. Let that be okay and not make it wrong If you're not always in Summer mode and if you're not always having the same kind of seasonal rhythm.
So again, back to Summer, there's more I wanna say about Summer, but I felt that was an important call-out.
Back to Summer. Summer is fun. Summer is flirty. It's where you're most likely to have high cash months because you're probably launching something and probably feeling great about it. You know that feeling when your energy is just on fire and you're feeling good and you've got momentum and people are noticing? That is peak Summer.
This is your time to shine. In many ways, knowing that a break is coming can not only help you appreciate Summer more, but it can also help you maximize this window. Like what is the absolute best use of your time and your energy while you are in peak Summer mode?
It's probably not doing backend stuff. It's probably not doing admin stuff or hiring. Right? This is the time for you to be visible in your zone of genius doing front-facing business activities.
Once you start reaching the end of your summer, you will know because you'll start feeling the nudge to slow down. It'll be like that feeling you get at the end of a workout where you're ready for the cool down and you're like, “Okay, I made it to the end of the class.”
Time to dim the lights, cool down my body, stretch. And if you're in a yoga class, you know, you're always looking forward to that final Savasana. At least I am! That's the kind of feeling: you're ready for the break. And if you give yourself permission to take it, you don't have to fight that feeling.
So maybe you finished a launch and this is where you're onboarding new clients and you're just getting ready to be in that regular rhythm with them. There might still be, you know, work to do. You're not just pausing abruptly, pressing the brake pedal out of nowhere. But in the same way that Fall eases in with a little crisp in the air and a changing of the leaves, you too will feel your Fall creeping in.
You will feel that slower pace on the horizon. So Fall starts to make its entrance. You prep for it and you decide in Fall what the next phase will look like in your business, what your Winter will entail. You set your business up for Winter during your Fall. So if you're planning on having less energy output, maybe you come up with a plan to nurture your audience while you're not, you know, on Instagram as much. Maybe you schedule posts ahead of time. Maybe you batch podcast episodes. Maybe you invest the money that you've earned during your Summer launch, your Summer season launch, wisely – and you decide how you're going to steward those funds and intentionally.
Similar to Spring, Fall is all about preparation, except instead of preparing to speed up, you're preparing to slow down. And this is just as important because it eases your system in. We don't want to do anything super abruptly. We want to be kind and gentle with ourselves and do everything thoughtfully and with intention so that you feel taken care of – so that your business is taken care of, and so that your clients are also taken care of. It's a win-win for everyone and Fall is really a beautiful time to bask in what you've created during your Summer. I mean, how often have you done something really incredible, honestly, like achieved a big goal – and been like, “Woo! That was awesome. Okay, what's next?”
Fall is the opportunity to slow down before jumping onto the next thing. Reflect on your wins. Reflect on what you learned, take note of what you want to do differently next time, while it's still fresh in your mind. Now is the time to do that reflection and also just tie up any loose ends.
And then come Winter, if you do this preparation, you really will be ready to rest even more deeply. Which, as you see, starts to fuel you come Spring.
So they all work together. Each one is necessary. Each season is important to lean into.
To recap: we have Winter, which is the intentional slowdown where you rest deeply, recalibrate your energy and create space for new ideas and inspiration.
We have Spring, where you capitalize on that renewed motivation and you start to take action towards bringing those ideas that have dropped in to life through planning, through easing back in, through nurturing your audience, and resurfacing in a bolder way.
Then comes summer. Summer is your time to shine. You're ready to put in the work. You are feeling the satisfaction of a good day's work, and you are enjoying being your most visible self.
And then of course we have Fall, where you start to wind down, you start to ease out of go mode, you tie up those loose ends and you start to prepare for an intentional break during your Winter.
Again, notice how each season fuels the next one. They work really beautifully together in this kind of harmony to support you.
So think of professional athletes, right? They aren't playing games at the highest level, nonstop, pushing their bodies to the absolute limit. They are resting in between. They are training, they're preparing, they're practicing. There's a purpose to each phase of what they do. They're not just playing full out all the time. And the same thing is true in your life and your business.
And look, there will be times when life asks for more of your attention and you might spend longer than you'd like or anticipated in a Winter season, for instance.
But here's what I found time and time again: the more deeply I rest and give myself permission to do that, the more joyfully and successfully I create on the other side of that rest period.
So give yourself permission to be where you are. You know, that's the real takeaway here. That is really the point underneath the four seasons of your business: trust your body to tell you what you need.
Trust the flow of your energy. Your body is the only home you've got in this lifetime, so we want to honor that above all else, and your energy is your most precious resource.
Okay, that brings us to the end of today's episode. I hope this provided a new way of thinking about how you show up in your business and the expectations you place on yourself and your own output.
Really give yourself that permission to find your own flow between the seasons, and allow each one to play an important role in the long-term growth of your business.
Next week we are going to be talking about my favorite way to make fast and aligned decisions, even if that's something you normally struggle with.
I can't wait to share it with you.
I hope you have a wonderful rest of your week in the meantime, and I will talk to you then!
