The habit that stops me trying to do everything in my business at once
Why I plan my business with the seasons
When you’re building a business that works for you, it can be so easy to get frustrated and disheartened. When you’re itching for it to ‘happen’ it can feel like there’s no progress.
There’s one habit that’s supported me in my business for the last 5 years. It’s helped me to carry on. Because I chose self-employment to build a business where I do work I love and that earns beyond my hours – and creating a business that allows me to do that doesn’t happen overnight.
This habit is my review and planning process. I carve out time at the end of every season to pause, review and decide on my next steps.
This regular time and space has had such a positive impact on both myself and my business.
It reminds me of the bigger picture
It’s so easy to just keep on keeping on when you’re running a business solo. When we’re busy we get blinkers on and forget about what we’re trying to do and where we’re trying to get to. That’s when I see people making decisions that don’t feel good but are usually made in the spur of the moment based on panic or history. I know I’ve definitely gone down a path that wasn’t right more than once because I hadn’t come up for air.
Having time and space every few months to step back and remember what I’m doing and why, keeps it front of mind. So when I’m busy and am tempted to make quick decisions, I can make them with the bigger picture in mind.
It helps me see where I’m already making progress
We don’t often stop to celebrate our wins. And we often don’t even recognise them. In fact, in every seasonal planning session I host, there’s at least one person who comes along and says they’ve done nothing for the last few months, and then I see them scribbling down a long list when we’re reviewing what we’ve been up to.
Reviewing my business every season helps me to enjoy it more because it gives me a chance to recognise what I’ve achieved or chipped away at, and creates a moment to give myself a bit of glory. Because when it’s just you in your business, you’re also the only person who’s going to give you praise and recognition. So it’s important to carve out time to do just that.
It helps me spot what’s no longer worth my time
Seasonal planning isn’t just about what’s next. Because we can’t decide what’s next unless we learn from what’s been. Spotting what’s not working is a way to learn and evolve. And the way to spot what’s not working is to pause. Whether it’s my marketing, my messaging, or something else, I only ever know it’s not right by stopping momentarily to notice, and it’s usually at the end of every season that these realisations happen for me.
It’s so easy to carry on blindly hoping something will work, and get down the line and wish we’d changed things sooner. I find that if I try something that doesn’t work or fit me, I never feel much regret if I’ve realised after only a few months. But in the past when I didn’t have these moments to pause, I’d end up down rabbit holes for far longer - and it’s a lot harder to change course the further down the rabbit hole you are.
It gives me permission to change course
We need time to spot what’s not working. But sometimes we also need to review our plan if things change. Every so often, our priorities change or life happens. It’s much harder to make adjustments to the plan if you’re not used to checking in with it regularly.
Another reason I need to make changes to my plan is because my capacity and energy changes throughout the year. It’s not uncommon for me to come up with lots of wild ideas in Autumn, only for my energy to dip when winter rolls around. That’s actually a big reason why, instead of quarterly planning, I now do these seasonally.
A) the quarters don’t quite line up with the four seasons, and
B) by calling it a seasonal plan it actually reminds me of my changing energy levels throughout the year.
It helps me choose what’s actually realistic
It’s so easy to dive into planning mode with lots of exciting ideas, but never get any of them done. It’s usually because we’re not planning with our capacity in mind.
Now, I’ll be straight with you here, it took me a few goes at planning this way to realise I was expecting too much of myself. And I still don’t always get it right. But that’s the beauty of having these regular reviews. They help me to spot when I’ve been overzealous with my plans and had higher expectations of myself than I’d have for anybody else.
Now, I always start my plan for the season ahead by checking how busy I am in work, and what’s going on outside of work too.
It pulls me back to what matters when life gets busy
Life happens, things get busy, and sometimes we put a plan in place and don’t look at it until our next planning session. The joy of planning every few months is that when things do get busy there’s always time carved out in the calendar to pull me back in and reset. It’s never too long until I get the opportunity to pause and recalibrate.
I think this is actually one of the biggest benefits to this process, because it means there’s a cycle in place in my business that’s always forcing me to pause, take stock, and get focused again.
I treat my business like a creative project, which means I let it evolve and change over time. This process of reviewing and planning every season prevents me from expecting everything to be complete in ridiculous timeframes. I’m comfortable with everything iterating. It means I’m always moving in the direction I want to, but can make changes if I need to. And that means I know I’m always making progress, but in a way that works for me.
My community, On Brand is built around the cycle of these planning sessions. everybody loves them, not only for the chance to take stock and get focused again, but because they’re an opportunity to chat about ideas and plans with others - and remind ourselves we’re not alone in our business challenges.
Our summer planning session is on 6th July. If you’d like to begin this habit for yourself, I’d love to have you as part of the gang.
I much prefer the idea of a seasonal plan - like you the quarters don’t do much for me, especially when spring and autumn come round.
I plan around school terms, as that’s how my life is organised these days. But very similar idea - breaking the year down into bits.
And I do review at points along the way - as well as if something (like a talk at Atomicon!) makes me think I need to step back for a moment and check in.