Ep. 16 The Stern Truth: How to Keep Momentum in Your Business During the Summer

I know how challenging summer months can be for entrepreneurs. In this episode, I share eight proven strategies that have helped me and countless other founders maintain momentum when clients and prospects are off enjoying their vacations.

Focusing on systems, new marketing plans, and furthering your leadership development is the name of the game in the summertime. I talk about batch learning and automation strategies and connecting creatively with clients during their downtime.

I go into why summer is the perfect time to prepare for that crucial back-to-business September rush. This is the perfect opportunity for successful business owners to use slower periods to work ON their business rather than just working IN it.

I also share details about an upcoming summer program designed to help small business owners maintain momentum and connection during these slower months. If you're a small business owner struggling with those frustrating out-of-office messages and feeling like your business is stuck in summer slowdown mode, this program is for you. 

I'll walk you through practical approaches that any entrepreneur can implement, from embracing the seasonal shift to creating summer hours that work for your family.

Let’s turn your summer into one of your most productive and strategically valuable times of the year. 

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Transcript

[00:00:00] So if you've ever gone into the summer months and kind of felt a lot of times and like lose momentum in your business because so many of your clients' prospects are out on vacation and you get all these out of office messages, back to you and all you want to do is be outside spending time with your family, with your friends, but you find it challenging to navigate summer.

[00:00:23] Keeping the momentum, this episode is for you. I'm going to give you some simple strategies that you can use that I've learned over my over 35 years in business, plus a special invitation for you. Enjoy.

[00:00:40] Hi, I'm Marshall Stern and I've spent over 35 years leading and growing multiple small businesses. I know firsthand the struggles of entrepreneurship, feeling isolated, lonely, overwhelmed, and feeling like you have to do all by yourself. I've been through multiple recessions, and I have felt the highs and the lows.

[00:00:59] I've been there and I get it. This podcast is here to change that every week. I will bring you straight talking advice, real world strategies, and honest conversations about what it takes to succeed in business without the fluff, the gimmicks, or the sugar-coated. If you're ready to stop spinning your wheels and start making real progress, then you are in the right place.

[00:01:23] This is the Stern Truth.

[00:01:28] Welcome back everyone to another episode of the Stern Truth Business Unfiltered. Okay. Today we're going to talk about one of the topics that, for me, I learned to navigate over the past 35 years in business, and that is how to navigate the summer months in business, how we can keep momentum. During the summer months, because here's what I do know, it can be very, very challenging for some of us when our business actually slows down in the summer, or our prospects and our clients are off vacationing, so and so forth.

[00:02:14] Okay? But before we get into that, I'm going to give you a few tips that you can use to navigate the summer months. Now, for some of you, it might be your busy months. Some of these tips are going to be very helpful for you as well. It's not a matter of just a slower time for us as entrepreneurs, as business owners, but if we're really busy, if it is your busy peak time, but you want to be able to enjoy some of the nice weather and you have kids, you have a family, some of these tips will definitely help you as well.

[00:02:43] But before we get into that, I just want to give a heads up that I'm going to be very shortly announcing. A new program to run through the summer to help you actually navigate and keep momentum during the summer months. If you like me in previous years, find a bit challenging, running a business, trying to enjoy the great outdoors, try to enjoy your summertime, try to raise kids, so and so forth.

[00:03:16] This program might be for you. So if you want to get on the list, if you want to get more information, just simply reach out to me, marshall@marshallstern.net and I'll send you the information. But here's the thing, so grab a piece of paper and a pen, take some notes. because some of these tips I think will really help you and they've helped me and you probably haven't thought about some of them because we do know the summertime brings sunshine.

[00:03:42] It brings sandals it, it brings beaches, golfing, the nice weather, so on and so forth. But it also brings a slowdown for many of us. Okay? For some small business owners, it's about maintaining momentum during the summer months, or finding a way to maintain momentum during the summer months when other people are also on vacation.

[00:04:07] We're sending emails, we're getting bounce backs, we're getting out of office. People are constantly on vacation. I know how frustrating that can be. So there's some strategies, tips I want to give you in just a minute. I have a few points here written down because I don't want to miss any of these important points for you.

[00:04:30] Here's the thing, also, clients or prospects can be hard to pinned down. We're waiting, constantly waiting to hear back from them. Some of them don't even have out of office responders on their email or voice messages set up saying they're on vacation. Summertime, doesn't however, have to be a dead zone, a dead business zone for us.

[00:04:52] It doesn't. There's so many things that we can do to actually build, but maintain and grow our business during this summer. Take advantage. Leverage the summertime. You can stay with the right strategies. With the right tactics, you can stay very, very productive. Okay? You can keep things moving and part of momentum is moving.

[00:05:14] It's moving forward. It's the action of doing things to move forward. That's how you build momentum and carry momentum. So here's some practical mindset friendly, okay. Tips to help you thrive during the summer months. Alright? because as this episode comes out for some of you south of the border, you are already into.

[00:05:42] The kids being off school. For others, it'll be in a few short weeks, depending on, of course, when you are listening to this episode or watching this episode. So tip number one, I want you to embrace the shift instead of fighting it, the shift from springtime into summer, maybe from a busy season to a slower season.

[00:06:04] Maybe it's not just a slower season, maybe it's not a slower season for you. Maybe it's a slower season for other people, your prospects, your clients. Instead of getting frustrated with the slowdown, which is very – I get it. It's very easy to get frustrated, acknowledge it, and adapt. Just like anything else in business, acknowledge and adapt.

[00:06:25] Same thing with the down economy. Acknowledge and adapt, but here you're going to use your time very strategically, so it's a great opportunity. Over the summer months to work on your business, which if you've been following me any for any length of time, listen to these podcasts. If you've had one-on-one sessions with me or chats with me, or been to some of my events, you know, I'm all about working on the business and not just in it.

[00:06:54] So it's a great time to work on the business when client work for some of us slows down. This is your chance to look at the bigger picture. Okay. Look at the systems that you have in place, the strategies you have in place or not, your marketing plans for the year. What do you have in place? What needs refinement?

[00:07:16] What needs revisions plus your team? Do they need, if you have employees or subcontracts or contract employees, maybe you to spend some time focusing on some leadership development for them. A great opportunity to get ahead of the game in the summer by focusing on the bigger picture, the on versus just the in, because when we're really busy, we're stuck a lot of times in the business.

[00:07:43] So it's perfect, perfect opportunity to spend some time on it. Okay, tip number two, I want you to think about connecting creatively. What I mean by that, look, some people may not be checking. They might not be online. They might not see your posts. They might not be checking their inboxes as often as they normally would.

[00:08:09] It doesn't mean that the communication, the connecting stops. In fact, what you can do is try some lighter touch points. Send a short email or a text, however way you communicate with your clients and prospects. Just check in with them, see how their summer's going. Send them something of value that might help them.

[00:08:28] Tell them you're thinking about them, hoping they're having a great summer. Send them something of value post something fun, maybe on your socials, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, whatever you use. Okay? Just connect with them. Don't just ignore it because it's the summer. Just connect with them, keep engaged with them.

[00:08:53] It's more about nurturing. Summertime to me, I believe, is more about nurturing those relationships and preparing for a lot of us preparing for fall. Okay, number three, batch and automate whenever you can. So what do I mean by that? If you want to take a vacation yourself, summertime, you want to take a few days off, a week off, couple weeks off.

[00:09:14] What have you, or you won't just spend some time with, with the family batch, whatever you can for yourself. Prepare your own schedule. Send emails ahead of time or prepare the emails to be sent. Automate wherever you can have the follow up automation. Put into place. That way your business keeps showing up even when you're not on it behind the scenes every step of the way.

[00:09:43] Or if you have a team, which is amazing, leverage them more. Use them to help stay engaged with your clients, have them checking your inboxes, so you're allowed to take some time away. Because the summertime is a great opportunity for us to recharge, even if it's for a day, a week, a couple hours, enjoying the great outdoors.

[00:10:06] Absolutely. Really, really important. Tip number four, create summer hours that work for you and your family. Again, if you have kids, this is so important, so important. Maybe you might want to alter your schedule, you might want to wake up a little bit earlier, stay up a little bit later to get the work done. So that during the day you could spend it with your kids, with your friends on the lake kayaking.

[00:10:35] Going to kayak, if you remember my story, check to see that there's no holes in the kayak, and you'll know. Don't ignore the signs like I did. You'll know if the water starts to fill up, you'll know. I digress. Build your schedule. So that you can actually spend some quality time with the people you love, doing the things that you love and the great outdoors taking vacations, so on and so forth.

[00:11:07] It's okay to shift your working hours. Look, this is, you built a business. Most people built a business for freedom. Freedom of not just money, but freedom of time. So take this opportunity to build the freedom for yourself in the summer months. And it's okay to be a little bit scared about it. Your business will survive.

[00:11:29] If you put the right systems and automations and people in place, it will survive. Alright? Again, start working earlier. Maybe stay up later. Spend the day doing what you want to do because you are the boss, you need to step into that leadership role. Have a little flexibility. Allow yourself that flexibility.

[00:11:53] Okay? Tip number five, focus on the low hanging fruit. What I mean by that, here's what I mean by that. Summertime may not be the best time to launch something new or a new product or a new service. Maybe it is depending on your business, but for many it won't be. But it is a great time. To reconnect with past clients.

[00:12:19] If you are thinking of about launching something new and the summertime's not the best time for you, prepare for it. Contact past clients. Contact prospects. Reach out to people. Do some research and development. Ask them for feedback. Follow up with old leads that you've had. You might not hear back from them right away, but just stay top of mind.

[00:12:46] And nurture. Nurture the relationships. We said that a bit earlier. And another thing really good to do with your existing clients and your past clients is to reach out to them, get in touch with them, and ask them for referrals or testimonials or referrals are awesome. Don't be shy about either testimonials or referrals, but if you, here's the thing, okay?

[00:13:12] If you've enjoyed working with someone. Tell them. Tell them that, Hey, I've really enjoyed working with you. I hope you feel the same way. I would love to have an introduction to someone. They're half as awesome as you. Who do you know that I might be able to help the way I've helped you? I would love to have an introduction to them.

[00:13:37] Don't be shy. Most people aren't even thinking about it. They're happy with your services, but until you ask. Until you prompt them. Most people will not just say, hey, I know so and so prompt them. Okay? Because these, here's the thing, these activities are less effort. They really are. But the RO and the ROI is amazing, astronomical, so don't discount any of them.

[00:14:04] Tip number six, keep learning and sharpening your skills, your leadership. Your CEO-ness. I just made that up. I think CEO-ness, maybe someone else has said it. Usually these slower days, if it's slower for you, block time. If you know anything about me, I love to time block. Block some time to read a book on leadership.

[00:14:33] Block some time to listen to the Stern Truth Podcast. Catch up on all the Stern Truth Business Unfiltered Podcasts or the YouTube channel. Other podcasts, other YouTube shows that'll help develop your leadership, your mindset, you as a business leader. And if there's a specific skill you want to learn, probably not a bad time to do that as well.

[00:14:57] It is a great time to work on our mindset. It's a great time to recharge and maybe even rev revamp our whole way of being. In a way of being a leader. because we probably haven't even thought about that when it's so busy. Or just doing, doing, doing. Okay, moving on. Tip number seven, plan for fall now. Now I kind of touched on that in some of the previous tips, but I want to have that as a separate tip because it's so important.

[00:15:30] And this goes, I could say the same thing for December. If the Christmas time season is slower for you. Same thing. Prepare for January. If you're going to a slower time, plan for the fall. Work on the business. Be prepared for what I call if this applies to you, and especially in the B2B space. For many, it does what I call the back to school is back to business September.

[00:16:00] Okay. It often kicks off in September. I always say there's two big sort of back to business times in the B2B space, September, the back to school time. Some people started, I know in August, but September's fall and people are now into school. And of course, January two new starts of the year, September and January.

[00:16:21] So be prepared now. What you do now over the next couple of weeks, over the next couple of months, we'll set the stage for the rest of the year, use the summer to prepare. Whatever fall offers you have, launches, programs, services, what have you prepare for now. Do whatever research you need, prepare for now, refresh your website, all those, it's like spring cleaning.

[00:16:46] Spend the time now. Do all the things that you need to do to clean up. Even if it is full-time for you. There's never a shortage of things to do. Tip number eight, give yourself grace. Give yourself a break. It's summertime. I've talked about this before. Block time for yourself. Block time for your family.

[00:17:09] Marie Forleo's, I believe, grandmother says, says the best. Everything's figureoutable. Okay. If you have kids, figure out what you could do with them. Maybe going outside, putting them into a day camp, having them over at friend's houses while you maybe get some. Whether it's work done that you need to get done or just enjoying the sunshine yourself, go on little day trips.

[00:17:37] There's all sorts of things you can do even on a low budget. Alright? But give yourself some grace. Business doesn't have to go all the time, but working on it, you take breaks and then you go back to it and work on the business, even if you're not. Working on client work like you might be in April, May, and June or September, October, November.

[00:18:02] If June and July are a little bit quieter for you, give yourself a break and work on the business. It will pay off. I'm telling you, if your productivity dips a little bit and you're not hitting the big sales numbers or client enrollments that you had before, it's okay. Give yourself a break. It's summertime.

[00:18:26] Expect it again with the caveat. It depends on what your industry is. It might be a really busy time for you, and in that, in that case, take this advice for your slower time, but still blocking time to be able to enjoy the outdoors, to be able to enjoy summer a bit for yourself and for your family.

[00:18:47] Whether you're busy or not busy. Really, really important because again, we started this business because we wanted, yes, we say financial freedom, but we wanted freedom. We wanted freedom to do what we wanted, when we want, wanted. Okay. Final thought. Summer doesn't have to be like just businesses just stalled and a lot of people treat it that way.

[00:19:13] If you want to do it for a week or two. Take time off or three if you want to take this. Here's the thing guys, if you want to take the summer off and your business won't miss a beat, go for it. For many of us, we need to keep it going. So whether you can bring people on your team to support the business during the summer, slower periods while, or whether it's slow period or not slow period, so you can take some much needed time off, or you just work your schedule around, change the schedule a bit, communicate that to your clients.

[00:19:42] Whatever you need to do, it's your business step into that leadership role. It could be one of the, the summertime could be one of the most valuable times of the year for you, if you're intentional with the proper planning, the proper creativity, and the proper support. But give yourself a break. Now, here's the thing.

[00:20:09] If you want to have that support, if you want to keep that momentum, if you feels like sometimes it's summer and I want to be outside and people aren't doing business and I'm not feeling connected, then join us in our upcoming program, which I will give more details very shortly. Just reach out to me.

[00:20:30] I will send you the information on this program, which we'll run through the summer on a weekly basis. I'll let you know what the start date is. Just fine tuning the details now, and you're more than welcome to come and join us in that program. So just send me an email, reach out to me on at Marshall Stern on socials or marshall@marshallstern.net and of course you'll be able to see all that information in for how to reach out to me in the show notes.

[00:20:56] Is it for this week? Wait till next week. We have another special guest. But until then, have an amazing week. Be intentional, step into your leadership role. You've got this and thank you for supporting the Stern Truth Podcast. We'll talk to you soon and see you soon.

[00:21:15] Thank you so much for tuning in to the Stern Truth. If you found today's episode helpful, we would love to hear from you. Please like, share and leave us a review. Also, if you'd like to be a guest in the upcoming episode or join us in one of our Momentum Accountability Group sessions, simply email me to marshall@marshallstern.net.

[00:21:35] That's marshall@marshallstern.net. And don't forget to hit the subscribe button, so never miss an episode. Until next time, keep pushing forward and leading with confidence.