That question sat with me one summer afternoon while my team was savoring exactly what we had all been chasing after a breakneck season. Summer Fridays. A lighter load. The kind of quiet that feels earned.
They were grateful for the pace.
I was quietly doing the math and not liking what I found.
That was years ago. And it is a season I have spent a great deal of sweat equity making sure I never revisit.
If you run a service-based business, you already know what I mean.
Summer is not the enemy. But it can feel like one when the pace slows, the decision-makers go on vacation, the kids come home from school and the revenue that was moving steadily starts to move a little less. For many of the brands and businesses we serve at Choice, summer is not peak season. For us either. And I have had to learn, the hard way, how to build for it.
Here is what we do now. Every year. And it works.
This is the season to build relational equity.
Not to push. Not to pitch.
To genuinely ask what is next for the people in your world. The clients who say yes in October are the ones you stayed close to in July. Not with a proposal. With a real conversation. What are they preparing for? What do they need? Where are they headed?
Summer is a season of relationship. Treat your business accordingly.
Fill August, September, and October now. Not in August. Not at the end of summer when you are already behind. Now.
At Choice, we use private invitations, behind-the-scenes offers and waitlist nurturing for what is coming to make sure our fall is already working before summer ends. The Circle is one of the ways we do this. It is not something we broadcast publicly. That is the point.
You do not need a big launch to have a full season. You need the right people in the right conversation before the doors officially open.
This one changed everything for us.
A soft yes is an offer that feels light and easy and close. It does not demand a lot of bandwidth. It is not a heavy ask. But it keeps your client connected to you when their calendar and their mind are somewhere else entirely.
An example of a soft yes we do at Choice is my CEO Content Sessions. Usually clients can only work directly with me in our full day Collaborative experience. However, in the Summer only, I offer these shorter, content focused sessions. Our clients leave this time with me with a repeatable content model they can use to batch content for years to come. The time is still highly valuable, strategic, and practical while also being a lower investment (both in time and money). That’s intentional. It makes the perfect soft yes for our clients in the Summer months.
What’s your version of a soft yes that would help your customers this Summer and how could you implement it soon? When their full attention comes back in the fall, you will already have it. Because you earned it in the summer with your own version of the soft yes.
Katie, who runs my social, will be thrilled I said this publicly.
Slower mornings. Travel. Real life. When your brand shows up where your audience is actually living, it stays warm. It stays human. And staying human is how you stay relevant.
My content intentionally highlights what I’m loving this Summer. From Baseball mom recs and Summer-focused Red Lip Edits here on Substack (both coming your way soon!) to my weekly Saturday morning Farmer’s Market routine on Instagram, I’m showing up as my full self year round, including Summer.
Summer does not have to be the season your business holds its breath. It can be the season you build the thing that makes fall feel inevitable.
None of this is complicated. All of it requires intention. And intention is the one thing no one can give you but you.
Always your fan,
Heather
P.S. Are you a busy CEO who is feeling some burn out around content creation? If so, I’d love to help and I want to share something I don’t offer publicly with you.
This Summer, I am opening five spots for a personal executive coaching session with me. Ninety minutes. One on one. And the focus is entirely on your content strategy.
Here is what I hear from nearly every potential client we speak with: they are overwhelmed. They know they need content. They do not have a system. They do not have a plan. And without a plan, content feels like noise instead of momentum. They are absolutely overwhelmed with what to do where and how often and ALL THE THINGS.
I have built a content playbook that works. A batch creation process that saves me tons of time and allows me to show up with ease, consistency, and joy! It is the exact process and tools we use at Choice to create all of my content across platforms. In our ninety minutes together, I will walk you through it completely.
You'll leave the session with a repeatable content model you can use to batch your content for years to come, including a strategy roadmap and my personal content playbook in hand. This framework will allow you to invest only 2 hours a month and it will give you a full 30 days of content.
Repeatable. Sustainable. Joyful.
I usually do not open these spots publicly. They’re only open in the Summer and there are only five of them.
If you are ready to stop being overwhelmed by content and start operating from a real plan, this is the perfect “soft yes” you can gift to yourself this Summer.
Click the button below to book your session with me:
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