“This Business is Like a Vineyard”
An established leadership coach and author said that to me during her coaching session a few weeks ago. I wrote it down immediately, because in one sentence she had named the rhythm of solo practice better than I ever have.
Vineyards run on patience and discipline. You plant, you tend, you adjust, and you take care in any way you can, often against variables you cannot control. Most of the work that produces a harvest happens long before you see a grape, in seasons that look like nothing to an outside observer.
I have been thinking about that sentence a lot as July arrives, because this is when many professionals get distracted from their January goals and start slowing down.
The summer slowdown sounds reasonable. Clients are on vacation. Children are home more. Schedules adjust. Here in the Northern states, we want to be outside!! As a result, there’s often a tendency to let things go a little. We tell ourselves we will pick it back up when everyone returns in September. Three months later the inbox is quiet and fourth quarter feels a bit ominous.
Unfortunately, many solo business owners forget that revenue is a lagging indicator. The check that hits your account in August was earned by a conversation you had in February. The corporate client who signs in October has been watching your work since spring. The referral that lands in November came from a connection you nurtured eighteen months ago.
It’s important to remember that a solo practice runs on three operational seasons, and your role as your business’ CEO is to manage that rhythm.
The Root Work. Everything that strengthens your infrastructure, sharpens your messaging, and builds pipeline capacity. It compounds for months and sometimes years.
The Pruning. Cutting back low-margin services, misaligned clients, and obligations that no longer fit your mission and values. Pruning protects profitability and frees up the energy you need for what comes next.
The Harvest. The period of high delivery and peak revenue. The visible payoff for everything you built in the months and years before.
***Summer is root work season for almost every solo practice I coach.*** The quieter time is a gift and you have the rare conditions to do the work that compounds.
Action Steps to Consider:
- Look at your client mix and acknowledge who truly belongs and who does not.
- Audit your systems and fix the gaps that have been costing you time every week.
- Reach out to the relationships you have let cool.
- Sharpen the offer you have been meaning to refine since March.
- Update the page on your website that’s become stale.
- Block real time on the calendar for your CEO time. Work on the business rather than only in it.
By September, the work you put in during July will start showing up. By November, you’ll be breathing a sigh of relief at your still-growing bank account.