When I started my journey as a self employed woman, within a year I discovered something no one talks about enough and something I wasn’t prepared for: seasons in business.
Just like the seasons of the year change, each bringing a different tone, pace, and energy, the same is true for our business. It grows, shifts, sometimes thrives, and sometimes, it seems, moves backward.
Looking back, I understand that this isn’t a flaw, but a natural part of the development of a new business.
A Fundamental Misconception
Most people compare their business to being an employee, and there’s a very basic mistake in that. When you have an employer and a clear contract, you know how many hours you’re expected to work, your salary is defined, and the conditions are on the table. There’s a clear agreement: your time and effort in exchange for money.
When I started working for myself, I expected something similar.
And wow, it’s so different, there’s really no comparison.
In self employment, there’s no external marker telling you, “you’ve worked enough for today,” and none that says, “now it’s time to push harder.” There’s a need to create an internal marker that both motivates you to keep going over time, but also, (and this is something I see many people are missing), a marker that recognizes the hard work you’ve already done, gives you a pat on the back, and allows you to rest and take a break.
(And no, burnout or getting sick doesn’t count as a healthy pause).
At the beginning, what we all expect actually happens: a lot of hard work. More hours, more creative thinking, more trial and error, more networking, more effort to fill your calendar. We prepare for it, and we’re highly motivated, so the many challenges that come up don’t break us.
And then, at some point after all that effort, a new season arrives. Things begin to fall into place. Clients start showing up more consistently, you have testimonials, there’s movement, and your head is above water. You begin to reap the rewards of your hard work, and it feels really good.
From that place, a very natural expectation forms: that from now on, it will just keep getting better.
But then another season comes.
A season where things feel unstable again. Clients are inconsistent or leave, collaborations don’t work out, and there are external factors like holidays, sudden change of bureaucracy, or even a global pandemic (the fact that these are real things in our lives and not an episode of Black Mirror is still wild).
Often, personal and family matters enter the picture and change everything completely. Suddenly, what felt stable just a moment ago doesn’t feel that way anymore, and the business seems to be going backward.
The bottom line is that we expected consistency in income, in the number of clients, in steady progress. And we were disappointed.
And it’s not our fault.
It’s just that almost no one talks about this. In reality, building a business is not a linear process. There are seasons of building, seasons of growth, seasons of confusion, and slower seasons. It’s important for me to say this clearly: this fluctuation is not a problem in your business, it’s part of its structure. And when we don’t know that, every dip feels like failure.
The Advantage of Understanding That There Are Seasons
The good news is that just as you can’t always predict the challenging periods, you also can’t always predict the successful ones. A surprising collaboration, a well timed referral, or unexpected exposure can increase your business by dozens of percent overnight. In other words, this fluctuation doesn’t only work against you, it can also work in your favor.
But beyond that, the longer you are in your field, the more knowledge you accumulate, and it’s much more than just intuition. You begin to recognize patterns. You understand which times of the year tend to be stronger or weaker, when there are more inquiries and when there are fewer, and how external factors affect the rhythm of your business.
This allows you not only to react to seasons, but to start preparing for them in advance. For example, setting money aside during stronger periods, increasing your marketing efforts before quieter times, or planning ahead instead of acting out of pressure when your calendar suddenly empties.
In that sense, seasons in business don’t become less fluctuating, but they do become less surprising. And when they are less surprising, they are also less destabilizing.
In most cases, consistency in your actions, combined with looking back and learning from what has already happened in your business, is what leads to real long term growth. Not because there are no dips, but because you learn how to move within them in a more stable way.
A Passing Season or a Real Problem?
So how do you know if this is just a passing season, or something in your business that needs attention?
There’s no exact formula, but there is a direction you can lean on.
During seasonal shifts, even if results change or decline, you will still see overall positive movement. There’s a sense that something is being built beneath the surface, and there is still progress, even if it’s slower. When the difficulty goes beyond a season, you will usually see a slowdown or even a freeze in the action and progress. Less initiative, less experimentation, fewer adjustments. Not only are results not coming, but the path toward them feels heavy and exhausting.
This is a subtle distinction, but it can help you create a clearer picture of the decisions you need to make in your business, when it’s right to hold steady and keep going, and when it’s time to pause and reassess.
What This Means For You
In the end, when you understand that there are seasons in business, something in your mindset shifts.
You don’t expect your income to be stable all the time. You don’t interpret every dip as a personal failure. And you don’t rush to change direction with every fluctuation (Yes, I know you’ve thought about going back to being employed more than once).
Instead, you start to see the bigger picture. You learn your field, recognize stronger and weaker periods, prepare ahead, and rely on your past experience. You understand that success isn’t always predictable, and that there’s room for positive surprises as well.
And most importantly, you stop being afraid of the changes.
So remember, no matter which season you’re in right now, it will pass. But the more important question is not just which season you’re in, it’s how you choose to move within it. The more you understand this fluctuation, and learn to work with it instead of fighting it, the more you’ll be able to build a stable business, even when the path itself doesn’t always feel stable.
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