Fall: Seasons in Business

Welcome to another season in your business. Today we're wrapping up our series by talking about fall. You made it!

Let's start with a definition: fall is the delivery of your product or service. Oftentimes, it's the whole reason we've started our business! It's when we actually DO our service or DELIVER our product to the masses. We're talking to clients. We're teaching or delivering our courses. It feels like this is exactly what we've been working towards... We're emailing and providing value. We're "Wow!"-ing our customers.

This is crucial in the fall season of your business

We have to make sure that we're delivering to clients in a manner and in an amount of time that allows us to work the other seasons. Yes, this season is "what we do," but still need time to process the activities found in the other seasons. Delivery can be very hard and draining, as well, and this can be a cause of burnout.

If you have a high client turnover in the fall, you might need to evaluate why.

It might be that your product or service is not lining up with what your clients need or expect. Taking some wintertime to evaluate that will be helpful. Reach out to past clients and see what feedback they may have. Or we could be delivering to clients who are underpaying us. Or who are not our ideal clients. Or too many clients. Any of these scenarios prevent us from spending time in the other seasons to build a healthy business. They can actually cause us to lose so much time and money that we have to shut the doors.

What happens if you ignore Fall?

You most likely are not ignoring fall. After all, fall = delivery. But you may have to look closely at how much time you spend here and make adjustments. * Perhaps you need to set some time boundaries for yourself. * Perhaps you need to hire somebody. Or let somebody go.

Your next step - inventory time!

Please do take some time to look at your fall, and see what changes you need to make. These seasons work together and each one is necessary for a healthy business.

• Create a schedule that allows you to work on each season over time.

• Consider hiring a coach to give you another perspective and accountability.

• Find a mentor.

• Invest monetarily in your fall season.

• Journal about your business so you can start to see patterns and struggles, and make plans.

Using these seasons will build an orchard in your business. You're not only growing one plant or getting one result. Done right, you'll be in winter, cultivating spring, seeing the fruits in summer, and working with people in the fall - all year long.

If you're struggling with this concept, or you know you are living in only one or two seasons, reach out to me at alicia@proadvisorcoach.com, and let's talk. I want you to thrive personally even as your business grows. Let's craft the seasons so they work for you.

I hope this series was helpful to you in creating a healthy, balanced business. At the end of the day, tho, don't forget to rest, because, as you hear from me each and every week…good rest fuels great work! (And YES, it's THAT important!)