Episode #41: The Million-Dollar Q4: How to Gear Up After Summer Slump and Plan Your Fourth Quarter Like a CEO

Hello, my friends, and welcome back to another episode of Design your dream life. My name is Kara. I am your host. And if you are listening to this in the middle of August, I know exactly where you are right now.

You might be coming out of that summer feeling a little bit maybe. Well, it depends when your summer ends. So here in Canada, it's still like summer is full force still.

We're not gonna feel that until the end of August, beginning of September. Some of you, though, you know, summer is over, and you could be coming out of summer feeling a little bit off.

Maybe you took some time away from your business, maybe you didn't. But either way, there is sometimes this weird energy shift happening.

Everyone around you might start talking about Q4 planning and black Friday strategies, and you were sitting there like, I can barely remember what I was working on in June. Can I just say something? That summer slump that you might be feeling guilty about, that disconnect from your business. That's not a bug, friends.

That is a feature. And today we are going to talk about why that summer slowdown was.

Was exactly what your nervous system needed and how to use this transition period to plan a Q4 that actually serves your life instead of steal from it. Because here is the thing. While everyone else is planning their revenue sprints and holiday hustles, I want you to plan your freedom.

Now, I will say this. Money is important, absolutely. But your freedom and your life and how you achieve that money is just as important, if not more.

Let's start with some real talk about summer slump, because I need you, my friend, to stop feeling guilty about it right now.

You know, when nobody tells you, after you have become a successful entrepreneur, the more successful that you become, the harder summer slump could possibly hit you. And it's not because you're lazy or unmotivated.

It's just because your nervous system is finally sophisticated enough to recognize when it needs to regulate. So when you're first starting out, you feel like you can't afford to slow down, right? You're in survival mode. You feel like you're in hustle mode.

You're like, make it happen at all costs.

But when you have built something that is sustainable, when you have proven that you can make money, your body finally feels safe enough to exhale, right? They're like, oh, my gosh, can we slow down for a hot minute, please? And you know what?

I used to have so much guilt around wanting to relax during summer. I would feel this pull to slow down, to spend more time outside, to have a lighter schedule to be more with my kiddos and my husband and my family.

But then I would push through and work anyways because I thought that that is what successful people did. And it took me a few attempts to find my own flow and rhythm of what actually worked for me. And here's what I want you to understand.

You need to find what will work for you, my friend. Not for me, not for Sally, not for your bff, but for you. Now, maybe during summer you want to go down to three days a week.

Maybe you just take Fridays off. Maybe you take three full weeks off each summer. Maybe you work normal hours, but say no to any projects. Like any new projects.

Maybe you keep working, but you give yourself permission to work from a different location and to work from anywhere. Honestly, there is no right way to do summer as an entrepreneur. There's only your way.

So the guilt you might be feeling about not being as productive this summer, that is just old programming. That is a part of you that still thinks that your worth is somehow tied to your output. But friends, you're not a machine.

You are a human being with natural rhythms. And honoring those rhythms is actually the most CEO level thing you can do. I promise. So I. I wanna tell you about this summer.

Some of you, if you've been listening to the podcast, you know cause it might give you some perspective and some permission to reframe your own experience. Most of you know if you've listened to the podcast that I traveled for 20 days this summer.

And normally, normally I would have attempted to at least squeeze in a few workday call, like few days where I could do work calls. I would have told myself, like, I can just hop on a real quick call from my hotel room. Good WI fi.

I'll also just like batch some content while I'm here. But this time I made a completely different choice. I went into what I call maintenance mode.

I did the absolute minimum that I needed to do to keep things running. And then I gave myself permission at times to completely disconnect. And here's the crazy part.

I was convinced that like, I don't know, I would be a hot mess or there would be all of these fires, because 20 days away would somehow break everything that I had ever built. And that old version of me would have been checking emails from the beach or taking client calls from cafes, creating content between sightseeing.

But none of that happened. My business kept running. My team handled the things that they needed beautifully.

The systems that I had built had space to work without me constantly interfering. But the real Transformation was not in my business metrics. It was in my relationship with my business.

For the first time in a long time, I remembered what it felt like just to be Kara. Not CEO Kara, not any kind of content creator or strategist. Just me. And I came back from this trip not just rested, but inspired.

I had clarity about what I wanted to build, and I hadn't had that in a long time. And when I started creating from that place of genuine enthusiasm instead of obligation, everything felt different.

So this trip taught me that maintenance mode is definitely not lazy mode. It is strategic. It is giving yourself permission to step back so that you can step forward with intention.

And that's why I want to reframe how you think about this transition period you might be in right now. Okay, so you've given yourself permission to not feel guilty about the summer slump. Now what?

How do you actually transition from that restful energy into productive momentum without burning yourself out? Well, I have developed what I like to call the post summer transition framework.

And it's built on working with your natural rhythms instead of against them. So first we have the summer review. My friends, before we start planning what is next, you need to honor what was.

I want you to think about your summer. And I mean really think about it. Not just the business stuff. What worked for you this summer? Maybe it was taking Fridays off.

Maybe it was saying no to certain types of projects. Maybe it was finally setting that boundary with a client who always texts you on a weekend. What didn't work? And I want you to be honest here.

Maybe you over scheduled yourself in July thinking that you could handle it. Maybe you said yes to things that drained your energy because you felt guilty about resting. But here is the most important question.

What surprised you? For me, what surprised me that first summer that I gave myself permission to rest was how much I actually enjoyed the quiet.

I had convinced myself I was someone who thrived on constant stimulation and creativity and activity. But it turns out I'm also someone who really loves the stillness and can I say, the art of doing nothing.

I never thought that I could slow down and do that.

And so what surprised me also was how much more present that I could be with my family when I wasn't constantly thinking about the next step or the next thing that I needed to create or the next thing for my clients. The other thing that surprised me was that my business didn't need to be on all the time to keep running.

And these surprises became data points that informed how I wanted to structure, not just my Q4, but my entire relationship with my business going forward. So this is where we get really honest about where you actually are right now, not where you think you should be.

So on a scale of 1 to 10, how's your energy, my friend? How is it? And I don't mean your motivation for excitement about Q4. I mean like actual physical, mental, emotional energy. Like, how do you feel?

Because here's what I see happen all the time.

Successful women come out of the summer, they look at their calendar immediately, and they start planning like they are a 10 when they are actually a 6. And then they wonder why they are burnt out by October. Your energy level right now is not a moral feeling.

It is not something you need to fix or overcome. It's information you need to plan around. If you are a 6, that doesn't mean that you can't have an amazing Q4.

It means that you need to plan a different kind of Q4 than if you were like a 10. If you had like, the energy of a 10. Right. When I did this last year, I realized, honestly, I was probably about a seven. I mean, I felt good.

I felt rested. But I also knew that I needed to focus my energy differently than I had before. So instead of fighting that instinct, I planned around it.

I decided to take it easier on my own launches and funnels and focus more on client work. I gave myself permission to prioritize the work that felt energizing over the work that felt like I should be doing. And you know what?

That decision served me so well. And this year, this year, I'm at a definitely higher energy. I am doing both.

I'm doing client work and focusing on my own funnels and launches because I have the energy and capacity for it. And so the point here isn't that there's one right approach to your Q4.

The point is, is that your energy level and how you are feeling, what feels aligned to you, that should be part of the information that you are doing when you're going to plan your Q4 and not the other way around. All right, so this is about building momentum without burning out. I want you to think of it like getting back into exercise after taking a break.

Note to self, I still also need to do that. But you do not need to jump right into running a marathon. Right? You don't need to be like, okay, like, I'm going to go do a 5k.

You start with walks and then maybe some light jogging. And then you build up gradually. It is the same thing with your business energy.

Maybe gentle RE entry looks like easing back into content creation by sharing more personal posts before you jump into highly produced educational content. Maybe it looks like scheduling one networking call instead of packing your calendar full of meetings.

Maybe it looks like finishing one project before starting something new. The goal here isn't to stay in general gentle mode forever, my friends.

The goal is to build sustainable momentum that you can maintain through Q4 without crashing. I usually give myself about 2 weeks for gentle re entry.

2 weeks of lighter schedules, easier projects, and just getting back into the rhythm of business without the pressure of like major projects or deadlines. And finally, we get to strategic key Q4 design.

This is where we plan fourth quarter based on our actual capacity and your actual value, not what everyone else is doing or what you think you should be doing. Most People plan their Q4 by looking at their revenue goals and working backward. How much money do I need to make and what do I need to launch?

How hard do I need to push? And I honestly want to flip the script on this. I really, really do. I want you to start with how do you want to feel at the end of the year?

Honestly, how do you want to feel? Do you want to feel energized and excited about the year ahead or do you want to feel exhausted and burned out?

Start with what kind of person you want to be during Q4. Who do you want to be present for? Do you want to be present for your family during the holidays? Do you want to be someone who honors her boundaries?

Do you want to be someone who makes decision from abundance instead of scarcity? Then I want you to design your Q4 to support those intentions.

Now let's talk about what it means to plan your Q4 like a CEO instead of someone who is desperate to prove their worth through constant activity. The biggest difference between CEO level planning and hustle level planning is this.

CEOs optimize for sustainability and hustlers optimize for intensity. Hustlers ask how much can I fit into Q4? How hard can I push? How much can we achieve? What's the maximum revenue that we can make?

And CEOs ask what is the most important thing I can focus on in Q4? What would create the biggest impact with the least energy drain?

And how can I end the year stronger than I started Those, my friends, are such powerful questions. Now let me give you an example of what this looked like for me last year.

When I sat down to plan my Q4, my hustler brain immediately started making lists. I could do a Black Friday promo I could launch a new course. I could host a challenge.

Ooh, I could write that book that I have been thinking about and, and, and, and, and, and, and. But my CEO brain asks different questions. What's the one thing that would move my business forward the most?

What's the one thing that aligns with my energy and my values? What is the one thing that would set me up for the kind of 2020? Was it 2025 I actually wanted to have?

And you know, for me this year, the answer is focusing on my signature programs and really dialing in my client experience and everything else. All those other shiny opportunities, they are just distractions from that strategic focus.

So instead of trying to do everything, I'm committing to doing one thing really well. And that one thing might have different components.

So example, if I'm working on my signature offer, I will might have a front end funnel for that plus the signature offer and I might have a downsell. So there's multiple things that could be happening while we're still saying that this is focusing on one thing.

So instead of trying to do everything, you really want to commit to going in and focusing. Here's what CEO Level Q4 planning actually looks like. You prioritize foundation building over quick wins.

So instead of focusing only on what will bring in revenue in the next month, you ask yourself, what can you build in Q4 that will make the next year easier and more profitable? Maybe that's finally implementing that CRM system you've always been wanting or have been avoiding.

Maybe that's hiring a team member that you've been putting off. Maybe that's saying no to all the little projects so that you can focus on one big strategic initiative that could possibly change everything.

Next is you plan your actual life, not your fantasy life. You remember that Q4 includes holidays, family commitments, and the fact that your brain is probably going to want to slow down come December.

I know I do. You build buffer time into your projects and into your schedule you under promise and over deliver. Okay.

You create realistic timelines that account for the fact that you are a human being, not a productivity machine. And you focus on elimination as much as creation. For every new thing you add to your Q4 plan, you remove something that is no longer serving you.

Maybe you eliminate the monthly networking event that drains your energy. Maybe you eliminate the client that pays well but also makes you completely miserable.

Maybe you eliminate the content creation schedule that feels like a constant hamster wheel. CEO level planning isn't just about doing more. It's also about doing the right things with the right energy for the right reason.

So I want to share with you the Freedom First Q4 framework, because I want to get tactical. I want to give you this framework and I want you to take it. Take what pieces work for you and leave what don't. I'm always a firm believer of that.

If you can get one golden nugget or use it all, like you take and you customize and you use things that work, good for you. So step one is the elimination road. Before you plan what you're going to do, you need to decide what you're going to stop doing.

And I want you to make a list of everything on your plate right now. Every client or every project, every funnel, every commitment, every. Every recruiting task, everything.

Now I want you to ask yourself these questions about each item. Does this energize me or drain me? Does this move me toward my vision or keep me busy? If I could only do one thing from the list, what would it be?

And anything that drains you, keeps you busy without moving you forward, or isn't part of your top three priority, it needs to go? And I know this feels scary. I understand, especially if some of these things are profitable. But here's what I have learned.

The cost of keeping energy draining commitments is always higher than the cost of letting them go. A few years ago, I had a client who paid me really well. But honestly, I dreaded my interactions. Like, they left me feeling frustrated and misaligned.

And I kept the relationship because the money was good, but it was honestly costing me more than what they were paying me honestly in my energy and my creativity and my ability to serve my other clients well. And so when I finally ended that relationship, I felt like I could breathe again.

And within a month, I had attracted a new client who paid the same amount, but was an absolute joy to work with. So the elimination, it isn't just about being mean or burning bridges. It is about making space for what actually matters. All right, step two.

This is where you ask, what do I need to build now that will make next year easier? Maybe it's a system, maybe it's a team, maybe it's processes.

Maybe it's just getting really clear on your values and your vision so that you can make better decisions going forward. For me, this year, it's like the foundation phase is all about creating sustainable content systems.

I've been creating content on the fly for far too long, and I can feel how much energy it's draining. And so part of my Q4 is content creation. That feels sustainable and energizing instead of like reactive and overwhelming. Yeah.

What foundation would make the biggest difference in your business? What is the thing you keep putting off because it's not urgent, but you know it would change everything if you actually did it?

That, my friend, that's your foundation project for Q4. All right, step three is strategic focus. So out of everything you could focus on, what is the one thing that would make the biggest difference?

So not three things or five, just one. I know this is super hard, especially if it's someone who likes to keep a lot of balls in the air like me. And here's what I've learned.

When you focus on one thing, you can do it at a level that creates real impact. When you focus on 10 things, you're doing them mediocre. So your strategic focus should be something like that.

Aligns with your energy levels, moves you towards your bigger vision, has potential to create compound results, feels exciting, not like an obligation. Once you've identified your strategic focus, everything else becomes support for that focus or elimination. All right, step four, the strategic pause.

This is the part that most people skip and it is the most important part. How are you going to end the year? I do not mean December 31st. I mean the energy you want to carry into the new year.

The feeling you want to have when you look back on Q4, the person you want to be when January rolls around. For me, I want to end this year feeling proud of the choices I've made. I want to feel like I've really honored my values and my boundaries.

I want to feel energized about the year ahead instead of exhausted from the year behind me. So I plan my Q4 to support that feeling. I build in rest time. I say no to opportunities.

I honestly choose projects that align with my values, even if they're not the most profitable ones. The strategic pause isn't just about remembering that success isn't just what you achieve. It's who you become while achieving it.

All right, so our Q4 planning steps could possibly look like this. This is getting super practical here. And week one, you would do the assessment.

Complete summer review, do your energy audit, identify what needs to be eliminated. Week two is your foundation. Choose your one foundation project. Map out the timeline and the resources needed.

Clear your calendar of non essential commitments. And then week three, the strategy. Identify your strategic focus for Q4.

Create a realistic friend, a realistic timeline, and that includes buffer time. Align your team or contractors and resources around this focus. And week four is the integration plan.

How you Want to end the year, build in the time for rest and reflection and communicate your boundaries to your clients or team. However, you need to do this. And here's the most important part, you're going to want to add more things to this plan.

You're going to see other people announcing what they might be doing in Q4 and you think you should be doing more. And I want you to resist that urge. Your plan is not their plan. Your Q4 is not their Q4. Your version of success is not their version of success.

So the goal is not to have the most impressive Q4 plan. The goal is to have the most aligned Q4 plan. So to wrap this up, my friends, here's what I want you to do this week.

All right, my friends, we are going to wrap this up. So let's do a quick review of what you could do this week. First, I want you to choose your one strategic focus for Q4. Not three, not five, just one.

The one thing that would make the biggest difference in your business and your life. Second, I want you to identify what you're going to eliminate to make space for, right? What are you going to focus on?

What are you going to stop doing so that you can do this one thing really well. And finally, I want you to share it. Post it on social media or send me an email or dm. Tell a friend, whatever works for you.

Share your one strategic focus, that one thing, and the one thing you're eliminating. Share it with, like, your business bestie. Right, Whatever. And here's what I want you to remember.

Coming out of summer, feeling disconnected or unfocused is not a problem to solve. It is information to honor. Your nervous system knows what it needs.

And if it needed rest this summer, the rest was productive, even if it didn't feel like it. I promise you that you do not need to make up for lost time. You do not need to hustle harder, to compromise for a slower summer.

You need to build on the foundation that rest is created, right? It really is. And it's necessary. Your Q4 does not have to look like anyone else's Q4.

It doesn't have to be the biggest or the boldest or the most ambitious. It just has to be yours and plan your Q4 like the CEO that you are. You're brilliant.

You're strategic and creating it in the life that you actually want to live, who you want to be, how you want to show up, the energy you want to be in.

So, my friends, I will see you next week where we're diving into something that successful women deal with but rarely talk about, the identity crisis that comes with making it. And so, until then, give yourself permission to plan differently.

And remember, you are designing a business that serves your dream life, not steal from it. Have a great day, my friends. I will see you next week.