I just want to remind you that slowing down doesn’t mean you are a failure, or that you’re a quitter.
I’m Jess, your host on this episode of Cherries On Top, and I’m really the host of every episode of Cherries On Top. But I am honored to have you here. And I want to talk to you a little bit today about really embodying and leaning into a slow season, if it’s what you’re called to do.
And this isn’t just like a ‘if you’re called to it right now’, but maybe you’re called to it in a few months. Or maybe you’re called into it next year. Or maybe you’re called into it in five years. But I just want to remind you, and be the first to give you a breath of fresh air that slowing down does not mean you are a quitter.
And slowing down does not mean that you are a failure.
If you’re seeking a slow season, there is nothing wrong with you.
If you want to tell clients no, close your books, hibernate…you are not a quitter, you are not failing, you are simply human.
You’re simply feeling your seasons.
I don’t believe that we were created to be so go go go, go go hustle, hustle, hustle.
I believe that you’re allowed to slow down. And you’re allowed to take a day to lay in the wildflowers. And you’re also allowed to pass a client on to a different freelancer who is in their busy era.
Because your business has seasons, your life has seasons, you have seasons, wanting to slow down is a natural part of the cycle.
And I’m so tired of Boss Babes talking about hustle culture, like they haven’t burnt out on three year old businesses and they’re creeping up on retiring the one they’re in – like, sit down and breathe.
I want you to honor the season you’re in, especially if you’re being called to shut up and slow down for just a little bit.
Honor it and cherish it because if you do, I promise a busy season will come.
But your business is begging for this time for a reason.
So maybe slowing down looks like telling a client no even if you love working with them, or spinning a random Monday reading the last fiction book you bought just because you want to, or outsourcing some project so you’re more supervisor than a worker, even though you could do it yourself.
Maybe it’s selling a mini product from something you’ve already created. So it takes 1% of your energy to put it out into the world.
Or maybe it’s cutting back on your want spending so that you can comfortably sit in a slow season guilt-free.
Don’t think that stepping into a slow season means you have to burn everything to the ground, although that might be what you’re called to. And there’s a time for that too.
But honor your slow seasons. As much as you anticipate the money of your busy seasons.
Your body, business, brain, and bank account will thank you in the long run, and probably the short run, present time, too, to be honest.
I support my clients in doing exactly this…by going first. I feel like I’m in my slow season and I love it.
I’m using this time to plan for the first quarter of 2024. I’m already brainstorming new products, new offers, and new ideas.
But I’m not rushing the process. I’m not making them happen right now.
I know and I trust that the ones that are supposed to be my new offers will still be with me, come my time to birth them. And it’s not right now. It’s not right now. And it’s okay that I’m taking my foot off the gas.
I’m also honoring the slow season by preparing my body, soul, and business for the next season because it’s coming. But I don’t have to rush it.
This is a reminder that you don’t have to rush it, either. Your next big season is on its way. But you do not have to rush back. It’s Yours. It’s Yours. It’s already yours. Don’t rush it, it’s gonna come! Sit back, honor the season that you’re in.
I’m also using this time to get closer to God, and to spend more time praying for what He has planned for me, my business, my marriage, and my life in 2024. And beyond, which reminds me of a Bible verse.
It’s Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, and I’m going to read it quick.
“For everything. There’s a season and a time for every matter under heaven, a time to be born in a time to die, a time to plan and a time to pluck up what is planted, a time to kill and a time to hill a time to break down and a time to build up. A time to weep and a time to laugh. A time to mourn and a time to dance. A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together. A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing a time to seek and a time to lose a time to keep in a time to castaway. A time to tear in a time to sew. A time to keep silence and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate a time for war and a time for peace.”
There’s literally a season for everything. And that dream season that you’re picturing, it’s already yours. It’s already in your timeline. It’s already your destiny. You’ve seen it. It’s yours. You don’t have to get there tomorrow.
Sit back trust the season that you’re in trust the season that you’re in, if you’re called, if you’re being called, if you’ve been called to a slow season, to take your foot off the gas, to sit back to submit to trust, I’m just saying, consider it deeper, and maybe just do it. Because leaning back into your slow season might be the best thing that you ever do for your business.
You have, I hope, enough from this to take what serves you leave the rest always, and also to grow.
But I just want to remind you that this is how I support my clients. I support my clients by doing this work to remind you that it’s okay, that it’s safe, and that it works.
And if you want any one-on-one support on this, like navigating the seasons of your business, but you’ve been waiting to apply for whatever reason, maybe it’s investment timing or commitment, I am offering a way for you to dip your toes in the water.
You can apply for 1:1 mentorship here.
But otherwise, thank you for hanging in. I love you so much. I hope you honor yourself slow a little bit of a slow season or whatever season that you were in. I’m so proud of you for doing the work that you do and I will talk to you in the next episode. Peace out, my Girl Scout.
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