Each year nature moves through four seasons: a time to plant, a time to grow, a time to harvest, and a time to recover. Our businesses are no different: There's a time to plan, a time to nurture growth, a time to reap the benefit of our work, and a time to recover from our work.
Identifying the season starts with understanding the numbers of your business. Each industry has a different quarter when they're most profitable. Retail tends to be fourth quarter, service industry tends to be second quarter, and so on. As you analyze the season of your business you will find which quarters are your most profitable; this is your harvest season. Work backward from the times of harvest to when you need to increase your marketing and purchase inventory. Each season needs a strategy in order to take advantage of the following season.
Finding your sense of accomplishment will be difficult if you're in the recover season but failed to plan for this slower time when you were in your profitable quarter. If you planned for and identified the seasons of your business, you will find that while you may not be in the profitable month, the sense of accomplishment takes on the form of planned recovery.