🍂🍁The 'ber months

Happy Sunday my friend!

Before we dive in, I found myself in quite an interesting discussion on Threads this week. Someone received an email where the sender called them "friend," and she thought it was rude because...they weren't actually friends. 😂

I use "friend" here all the time because honestly, when I sit down to write the Sunday Morning Brew, I feel like I'm sitting down and talking business with friends. But now I'm curious - do you find it offensive? Would you rather see your name or just a simple "Good morning"?

Hit reply and tell me because I'm soooo interested in what you think. The conversation went both ways on Threads!

Okay, now on to business.

We are officially about to enter the 'BER months. Cue the PSLs, fall decor and all the things.

For business owners, though, these next few months tend to move FAST. September arrives and everyone is excited — summer is ending, kids are back in school, schedules are getting back to normal and there's this collective feeling of, "Okay, let's freaking GO."

And then suddenly it's Thanksgiving. Then December. Then you start hearing, "Let's reconnect in the new year."

We've been talking about this a lot inside the Focused Visionary Accelerator, and I think we need to have the conversation here too. How are you going to capitalize on these next few months AND keep your momentum moving through December and into January?

Because here's the first thing I want you to understand: you don't really have four full months.

If you're planning backward from the end of the year, assume the week of Thanksgiving is mostly a wash. Some people will absolutely be working, but I wouldn't plan a major launch, promotion or sales push that depends on people being highly engaged that week.

Then we get into December, and while some people will work the entire month, many will start mentally checking out somewhere around December 18th. With the way the holidays fall this year, I wouldn't be surprised if things stay relatively slow until around January 12th.

So when you look at the calendar that way, your strongest runway is essentially September through mid-November. That's roughly 12 weeks.

And I want you to do something with them. This is your sales season!!

Unless there is something operationally broken that's preventing you from serving clients or making sales, this is probably not the time to disappear into the backend of your business. Now is not the time to spend six weeks redesigning your website, creating a new funnel or deciding you need another offer.

Get visible. Build your pipeline. Make offers. Have conversations. Follow up. Sell.

And don't only think about how much money you can make before December 31st. Think about what you can secure now that carries you through December and into January.

That could be recurring revenue, longer-term clients, contracts, retainers or January projects with deposits paid now. The goal is to head into the slower holiday season with business already secured instead of showing up January 2nd with an empty pipeline trying to create momentum from scratch.

I'm being incredibly intentional about this in my own business.

I'm hosting a free workshop in September and another in October, which will give me opportunities to increase visibility and bring new people into my pipeline. I'm also continuing to actively promote FVA because increasing my recurring revenue is still one of my primary goals.

In September, I'll also be putting more emphasis on my Profit & Cash Strategy offers. As businesses head toward the end of the year, I want to help owners understand their numbers, manage their cash and make smart decisions about the money coming in - especially those year-end pay-in-fulls and cash injections that can make your bank account look real pretty until you realize you actually need a plan for that money. 😂

Then in November, I'll host my 9th annual Business Planning Program, which for the first time will happen BEFORE December.

And there's a very intentional reason for that.

This year's theme is Carry It Forward (Click the link if you want to "Save the Date" and be added to the waitlist). I don't want us limping across the December 31st finish line, shutting everything down and telling ourselves we'll figure it out in January.

I want you carrying revenue, pipeline, clients, relationships, momentum and a freaking PLAN into the new year. Because January momentum isn't created in January - it's created by what you do now.

So what are you selling between now and the end of the year? When are you selling it, and who are you selling it to?

And here's another really important question: Does your pipeline need to be FILLED or does it need to be CONVERTED?

Those are two very different problems that require two very different sets of actions. If you don't have enough people coming into your world, you need visibility and lead generation; if you have plenty of people in your world but they're not becoming clients, you need to look at nurture, follow-up, sales conversations and conversion.

We'll talk more about that this week because it's an entire conversation on its own.

For today, I want you to get your calendar out and work backward.

What do you want to have secured by December 31st? What needs to happen in November for that to be true? What needs to happen in October, and therefore, what needs to start happening in September?

You essentially have 12 weeks before the "let's wait until the new year" conversations start rolling in. Don't spend those 12 weeks diddling around in the backend of your business and then act surprised when December gets quiet.

Lock in. Get visible. Sell. And keep the momentum moving forward.

CEO Power Move of the Week:

Get your calendar out and block 30 minutes this week to map out your next 12 weeks.

Start at December 31st and work backward. Decide what you want secured by the end of the year, then map out what needs to happen in November, October and September to get you there.

Don't leave the last four months of the year up to chance. Make the plan now, then go freaking execute it.

Things I'm loving lately...

I am finding myself subscribing to more and more daily emails because it gives me a quick glance at REAL information without having to be on social media and getting sucked into the scroll. The Daily Upside is great for financial news and information especially if investments and long term wealth strategies are something you are interested in.