Trusting the dip

Why I (and Jessica!) no longer panic when the inbox gets quieter & what I am working on to build my business for the next two months.

Hey lovely you,

One of my clients, Jessica, said something this morning in a coaching call that really struck me.

We were chatting about summer and how things naturally slow down for both of us, and she shared that one of the biggest shifts she’s experienced over the last two years of working together, both 1:1 and in the group programme is that she now feels far more at ease with the cyclical nature of her business.

That she knows she can take a step back or that business can go quiet for a wee while and it’s ok. She trusts that momentum will return. That going slow in summer is not just fine, it’s needed.

Hearing that made me feel really proud of the work I do with my clients on their mindset shifts and how they structure and see their creative business.

It also validated something I’ve come to believe over time: that our businesses are not meant to run at full speed, all the time. They are living, evolving things that move in seasons and change over time.

Just like everything in the natural world, there are times for growth, times to come to fruition, times to repair and times to rest.

There are bursts of energy in humans which very much relate to seasons, and then there are placid, steady times also quiet lulls, periods of rest and reflection. For me I have most energy for newness in Spring and Autumn and I need winter and Summer to be a blend of steady and fallow.

I believe the more we can trust in those natural rhythms, rather than resist them, the more sustainable and spacious our work becomes.

Sometimes the rest and reflection is self imposed; people take time off in the summer and downing tools for August is not uncommon with women running small creative businesses, especially when there are children to juggle and holidays to take.

Sometimes we notice that even though our energy might be high, that of our customers and clients may not be. In warmer weather for example, sales can naturally dip as people are taking time off and not seeing what people are offering them. They are, in a word, distracted. By ice lollies, BBQs, beaches and holidays.

People take social media breaks in the summer too

Louise Tilbrook ✨

wrote just today about how she’s coming of instagram for a while. Over summer, less people will see a lot less of your social posts, particularly during school holidays. (This alone is another reason not to put all your marketing eggs in the social media basket but I digress…).

So for me, summer is always a time to work on my business and not purely in it. To have less coaching clients booked in, less workshops and other work with organisations and to step away from launching or intense periods of selling. There’s no point in me fighting both MY energy and the availability and energy of my clients.

Yes people can still sign up as a 1:1 client with me over summer, this might be a great time for someone to also work on not in their business via coaching. But I won’t be doing any big pushes. I’ll just keep showing up and mentioning it and what will be will be.

What I am doing this summer to work ON my business:

1. I’m working my way through Denise Duffield Thomas’s Sacred Money Archetypes programme. This was a big invest of time and money, but it’s helping me clarify who I work with, what I offer, and how I attract the right people. This is closed now so sadly you can’t join in. Maybe next year!

2. Re-inventing my group programme. after two amazing years, I’m reshaping it into something fresh. I’ll be doing lots of thinking, planning, naming, messaging, and reworking behind the scenes. The current programme ends this week, with undying gratitude for the women who have been through it’s doors, many of whom stayed a long time and one who stayed the entire time! (Thank you Jacqui!)

3. Re-designing my coaching package. I want to bring together my best tools and exercises into a ‘pick and mix’ approach, so clients can co-create their experience based on what they most need. Stay tuned!

4. Taking part in the live run of Money, Manifesting & Multiple Streams of Income which is in Leonie Dawson’s Academy. Part of my next 12-month plan is to build a more diverse, accessible set of offers to add stability and growth to my business. And yes — my money mindset is always a work in progress (hello, childhood money stories and a smattering of early midlife financial trauma!).

   BTW I was wrong in my earlier email! The Academy and therefore my offer of 1:1 coaching if you book via my link is still open! But it does end today though at some point, click through and see the counter thingy. We could do the course together?!

5. Refreshing my messaging. I’m revisiting my website, Substack bio, course materials, and other content to bring it all up to date with where I’m at now. I recommend doing this once a year, it’s a powerful check-in.

I’m also going to really enjoy attending to the rituals and routines that I have that I know help to ground me and help me to energise and flow, namely:

• Daily journaling

• Daily EFT tapping

• Gratitude practice

Less frequent but still regular: massage, yoga nidra, creative writing, garden tending (thanks to my membership with

Kendall Marie Platt 🌱

!)

What’s going on with you this summer? I’d love to know. Are you going with the flow? Working on your business? Taking a step back? Or is summer a super productive time for you? Let us all know what’s going on in the comments…

With love,

Sarah x

PS If you have fears around not earning in times of imposed or self imposed quieter times, reply to this email and I’ll tell you what I have always done so that quiet times and holidays are covered. It’s not rocket science but so many people don’t do it x