Ep. 84 The Stern Truth: Re-Release - How To Keep Momentum in Your Business During the Summer

This is a first for me! I have a re-release from last year, episode 16. The thought behind re-releasing is to give an important reminder of keeping momentum up during a busy time like summer.

I reinforce that summer isn’t stalling your business. In fact, it can be more of a time for you to work ON your business. If you’re intentional, if you plan, you can build it.

From leadership development to new systems or batch learning, get creative. I’ll give you some strategies in this episode to maintain your growth in the summer. Take advantage of the downtime to play around before the September rush.

Whether your summer looks like time off or it’s your busy time of year (if that’s the case, you probably already have a great rhythm), plan. Plan for the busy, or plan for the lull. We live in seasons, and so does our business.

Keep building that momentum this summer along with other focused business owners – join the ONtrepreneur Inner Circle: https://marshallstern.net/page/ontrepreneur-inner-circle

Subscribe to The Stern Truth Business Unfiltered so you never miss an episode and receive a FREE GIFT: http://www.thesterntruth.com/

Join my Business Inner Circle Community for free here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thebusinessinnercirclegroup

Book your complimentary business blindspot assessment with me here: https://attractwell.com/MarshallStern/landing/breakthrough-session

I encourage you to reach out with feedback, topic suggestions, and share your own entrepreneurial challenges.

Get in touch in the comments or head to...
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Email: marshall@marshallstern.net

Transcript

[00:00:00] Marshall Stern: All right, so this is the first time I have ever done this in the Stern Truth Business Unfiltered podcast history, right? We're in over a year now, a year and a quarter, I guess. I'm actually reposting, republishing an episode from last year. Last year, heading into the summer around this time, I did this episode, How to Keep Momentum During the Summer.

[00:00:23] I've been in business for over 30 summers now, and for many of us it can be challenging. Kids are out of school. People are on vacations. You're getting out of offices notifications. So, grab your pad of paper and pen. If you didn't hear it last year, even if you did, the strategies are just as, if not more, important and more vital this year and helpful this year.

[00:00:44] So grab your pad of paper and pen. Enjoy this episode. Also, to help you keep momentum during the summer, we're going to help you keep and build momentum during the summer, come and join us in the ONtrepreneur Inner Circle. More on that in the show notes. Reach out to me at marshall@marshallstern.net. Go to marshallstern.net, check out our services.

[00:01:02] ONtrepreneur Inner Circle's right there. Even just come as our guest. Enjoy this episode.

[00:01:13] 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 it all by yourself. I've been through multiple recessions, and I have felt the highs and the lows.

[00:01:32] 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.

[00:01:56] This is the Stern Truth.

[00:02:01] All right, 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.

[00:02:30] 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 on and so forth. 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.

[00:02:54] 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.

[00:03:17] 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, you, like me in previous years, find it a bit challenging running a business, trying to enjoy the great outdoors, trying to enjoy your summertime, trying to raise kids, so on and so forth, this program might be for you.

[00:03:52] 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. 

[00:04:00] Okay, but here's the thing. So grab a piece of paper and a pen and 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, 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.

[00:04:26] 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. We're sending emails, we're getting bounce backs, we're getting out of office. People are constantly on vacation.

[00:04:47] 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 Here's the thing also, clients or prospects can be hard to pin down.

[00:05:12] 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 that they're on vacation. Summertime doesn't however, have to be a dead zone, a dead business zone for us. It doesn't.

[00:05:26] There's so many things that we can do to actually build, maintain, and grow our business during the summer. Take advantage or 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.

[00:05:47] 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 are some practical, mindset-friendly, okay, tips to help you thrive during the summer months. All right. because as this episode comes out, for some of you south of the border, you are already into the kids being off school.

[00:06:17] For others, it will be in a few short weeks, depending, 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. Maybe it's not just a slower season, maybe it's not a slower season for you, maybe it is a slower season for other people, your prospects, your clients.

[00:06:45] Instead of getting frustrated with the slowdown, which is very... I, I, I get it, it's very easy to get frustrated. Acknowledge it and adapt. Just like anything else in business, acknowledge and adapt. Same thing with the down economy, acknowledge and adapt. But here you're going to use your time very strategically.

[00:07:06] 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.

[00:07:27] 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?

[00:07:49] What needs revisions? Plus, your team. Do they need... If you have employees or subcontracts or contract employees, maybe you need some- spend some time focusing on some leadership development for them. Great opportunity to get ahead of the game in the summer by focusing on the bigger picture, the ON versus just the IN.

[00:08:13] Because when we're really busy, we're stuck a lot of times in the business. So, it's a perfect opportunity to spend some time on it. Okay, tip number two. I want you to think about creating – sorry, connecting creatively. Connecting creatively. What I mean by that, look, some people may not be checking – they might not be online.

[00:08:36] They might not see your posts. They might not be checking their inboxes as often as they normally would. 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.

[00:08:56] Just check in with them, see how their summer's going. Send them something of value that might help them. Tell them you're thinking about them, hoping they're having a great summer, and send them something of value. Post something fun maybe on your socials, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, whatever you use.

[00:09:14] Okay? Just connect with them. Don't just ignore it because it's the summer. Just connect with them. Keep engaged with them 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.

[00:09:40] So what I mean by that, if you, you want to take a vacation yourself, it's summertime, you want to take a few days off, a week off, couple weeks off, what have you, or you want just to 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.

[00:10:00] 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. 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.

[00:10:35] Even if it's for a day, a week, couple hours, enjoying the great outdoors, 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.

[00:11:08] If you're going to kayak – I don’t know 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 in the great outdoors, taking vacations, so on and so forth It's okay to shift your working hours.

[00:11:42] 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. If you put the right systems and automations and people in place, it will survive.

[00:12:08] All right. 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. Okay, tip number five, focus on the low-hanging fruit. What do I mean by that?

[00:12:35] 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. If you are thinking of, about launching something new and the summertime's not the best time for you, prepare for it.

[00:13:02] 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 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.

[00:13:37] Referrals are awesome. Don't be shy, but either testimonials or referrals. But if you... Here's the thing, okay? 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 if they're half as awesome as you.

[00:14:03] 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." Don't be shy. Most people aren't even thinking about it. They're happy with your services, but until you ask, till you prompt them, most people will not just say, "Hey, I know so-and-so." So, prompt them.

[00:14:24] Okay, because these, here's the thing, these activities are less effort, they really are, but the RO- and the ROI is amazing. It's astronomical. So don't discount any of them. 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.

[00:14:54] Use 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. Block some time to listen to the Stern Truth podcast. Catch up on all the Stern Truth Business Unfiltered podcasts or the YouTube channel, and other podcasts, other YouTube shows that'll help develop your leadership, your mindset, you as a business leader, okay?

[00:15:24] And if there's a specific skill you want to learn, probably not a bad time to do that as well.

[00:15:33] It is a great time to work on our mindset. It's a great time to recharge, and maybe even re- revamp our whole way of being and way of being a leader, because we probably haven't even thought about that when it's so busy and we're just doing, doing, doing. Okay, moving on. Tip number seven, plan for fall now.

[00:15:56] Now, I've 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. And this goes... I could say the same thing for December. If the Christmastime season is slower for you, same thing, prepare for January. When you're... If you're going through a slower time, plan for the fall.

[00:16:17] 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, okay? It often kicks off in September. I always say there's two big sort of back to business times in the B2B space.

[00:16:42] September, the back-to-school time. Some people start, 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, so be prepared now. What you do now over the next couple of weeks, over the next couple of months, will set the stage for the rest of the year.

[00:17:02] Use the summer to prepare whatever fall offers you have, launches, programs, services, what have you. Prepare for it now. Do whatever research you need. Prepare for it now. Refresh your website. All those... It's like spring cleaning. Spend the time now. Do all the things that you need to do to clean up. Even if it is a slow time for you, there's never a shortage of things to do.

[00:17:27] Okay. 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. Aas, as Marie Forleo's, I believe, grandmother says, says it 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 friends' houses while you maybe get some, whether it's work done that you need to get done or just enjoying the sunshine yourself.

[00:18:09] Go on little day trips. There's all sorts of things you can do, even on a low budget. All right? But give yourself some grace. Business doesn't have to be go, go, 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, if June and July are a little bit quieter for you, give yourself a break and work on the business.

[00:18:42] It will pay off, I am 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. Expect it. Again, with the caveat, it depends on what your industry is. It might be a really busy time for you.

[00:19:06] 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, whether you're busy or not busy, really, really important. Because again, we started this business because we wanted...

[00:19:26] Yes, we say financial freedom, but we wanted freedom. We wanted freedom to do what we wanted when we want, want it. Okay, final thought. Summer doesn't have to be like just businesses just stalled, and a lot of people treat it that way. If you want to do it for a week or two and take time off, or three, if you want to take this...

[00:19:50] 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 a slow period or not a 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, whatever you need to do, it's your business.

[00:20:18] 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. If you want to have that support, if you want to keep that momentum, if you feels like sometimes it, it, 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.

[00:21:01] Just reach out to me and I will send you the information on this program, which will 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, @marshallstern 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.

[00:21:29] That 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.

[00:21:49] 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 an upcoming episode or join us in one of our momentum accountability group sessions, simply email me to marshall@marshallstern.net. 

[00:22:10] That's marshall@marshallstern.net. And don't forget to hit the subscribe button so you never miss an episode. Until next time, keep pushing forward and leading with confidence.