Where did September go?

Hello Q4: this post was meant to be written a month ago

Hi Feisties,

You’ve all heard the story of the shoemaker who neglects his own family’s footwear needs, and now here is the newsletter writer who delays her passion project when there is money to be made. Hello fall. I’m not unhappy about the wealth you bring, but I need to be better prepared for the rollout.

I actually had been prepared, with a post pre-written for September, but then neglected to launch it out into the world. I think a lot of it is still relevant, since as I take my Q4 breather I am once again reflecting on the year that’s rolling to an end.

Without further ado, here’s how I go about preparing my business for the fall season, or “second new year” as I think of it (smell those freshly sharpened pencils):

First, I do an audit of the first part of the year since January. What projects have I enjoyed, what did I not like, which did I do best at and what was less successful. How did I handle my busy times and what did I do with my quiet times. Did I move ahead on any of my bigger goals? Which of them need to be reprioritized, brought forward, or put on the back burner.

Then I think about the rocks I want to put into my schedule from now until the end of the year. What big to-dos do I need to keep my eye on so I can move my business forward and how do I keep them from falling off my desk at the next busy time? Some tactics I’ve used in the past include scheduling business development time into my calendar (Friday afternoons when the week’s deadlines are done work well) or even just a weekly reminder into my calendar to do one small thing to move it forward. Sometimes I’ll break a bigger goal into its smaller tasks and schedule those too so they seem more manageable.

I also think about my process and tools to improve on. Are there any new tasks that I can offload to my assistant or a tool? In the moment, it often feels like more work to find the tool or do the training, but I know that time is an investment in divesting. As for tools, I consider whether it would be better to add a new tool or not. In January I added a tool to semi-automate my invoicing. That was a good decision as it helps keep better track and after the initial workload of uploading all the client details it does save time. I also handed invoice creation off to my assistant.

But sometimes the answer to a new tool is no. I considered trying out a different project management tool that everyone is talking about, just to see if it would be better than the simpler solution that I have. But ultimately I decided against it. Learning curves are a boss.

Finally, I think about my whole life happiness and whether my work is serving that. Is there work I’m doing that no longer fulfils me? Can I focus more on the work that’s really my jam? It’s a good time to get a little woo and ponder how to course correct or even experiment with new things.

What are you going to get up to in Q4?