Why I hate summer - and what I’m doing about it

Every year, like clockwork, my stomach knots up when summer arrives.

Even as I get into holiday mode – happily anticipating golf games and travel – I know I won’t be able to take my mind completely off work.

Why?

Because every summer business slows down.

And when business slows down, I become convinced that Knak is going to fail.

I see problems everywhere. I worry that we’ll never win another deal. I fear that everything is going to come apart.

It gets so bad, I sometimes don’t even feel like coming into work.

I know these feelings are not rational. I’ve been through summer slowdowns before. Things always bounce back in September – as my wife reminds me every year.

That doesn’t keep me from becoming anxious.

This year, I decided enough was enough. I am now fully resolved to turn my annual funk around.

Here’s how I plan to deal with it.

I’m calling this checklist my Summer Resolutions.

1. I will accept that summer is slow

Many businesses live with cycles.

Sometimes it’s seasonal, as in retail, where the Christmas shopping frenzy is followed by the dog days of January.

Sometimes the cycle is even shorter. Bars and restaurants are hopping on weekends but slow at the start of the week.

Everyone whose work is cyclical just has to deal with it.

At Knak, July and August is when things slow down.

Our team is on vacation.

Our customers are on vacation.

Our prospects are on vacation.

So are procurement people, lawyers and a lot of others.

Because people are on holidays there’s no one to connect with. And even if you do happen to connect with someone, it takes longer to get deals done, because there’s a good chance that one crucial person needed to seal the deal – a lawyer, or a procurement person – is out of the office.

As a result, not much decision-making happens in the summer.

And to me it feels like the business is doomed.

The first thing I tried to do this year was accept that for us, summers are just slow.

It was surprisingly difficult to do.

Every year I always think, ‘This summer, things will be different.’

And every year, things slow down.

So the first item on my Summer Resolutions list is to just accept it!

2. I will use the summer slowdown to make new connections

When business slows down in summer, my natural reaction is to turn my attention to fixing things that are broken. I find myself tackling all those little problems and issues I didn’t have time to deal with earlier in the year.

But because all I’m doing is fixing problems, I somehow manage to convince myself that everything in the company is broken. (That’s just how my mind works, I guess!)

But I had an ‘Aha!’ moment when I talked to a few customers over the summer. My exchanges with them reminded me of our purpose. And that made me feel good.

I felt even better when, at our onsite gathering of all Knak people in September, I talked to employees I don’t usually have time to chat with.

It was wonderfully uplifting to discover that there are people, like the new AI architect I talked to, who are working on exciting new things. These are things I don’t know about, because so much of my job is fixing what’s wrong, not looking at what’s running smoothly.

So next year, to break out of my self-reinforcing doom loop, I will make a conscious effort to reach out to new people and make new connections during the summer.

I will seek out people who can lift my spirits by talking about things I don’t know about, or need reminding of.

That way, I won’t be able to convince myself that everything at Knak is broken!

3. I will learn to work smarter

I can’t generally use the lull of summertime to work harder than I normally do. That’s because a lot of the people I need to work with are off on vacation.

But I can work smarter by using the advantages a summer slowdown brings.

For example, this year I was able to start work on a product initiative I’ve been wanting to tackle for years.

I also realized that I can concentrate on work projects secure in the knowledge that I am less likely to be distracted by customers or employees wanting attention.

So while I should not expect that we will be closing a lot of deals in July and August, I can use the time to do other things.

It just requires a change of mindset.

4. I will put things into perspective

Because I’m a founder, I have a strong personal stake in Knak and its future.

But I have to keep reminding myself that my personal happiness should not be tied to growth in the company’s revenue.

Revenue is not the only metric for measuring progress.

A company can improve if its product or service improves, and if its employees get better at doing what they do.

And that can happen at any time of the year.

So in summer, growth or progress shouldn’t just be measured by how much our revenue grows.

I need to accept that, and stop thinking that a summertime pause in revenue growth is a personal affront.

Without that perspective, I just get frustrated.

This past summer, our Board of Directors and our Board of Advisors helped me gain perspective by reminding me that it’s not all gloom and doom out there. And they reminded me that part of my role is to be a visionary thought leader in the campaign creation space.

One of my resolutions is to learn to put things in perspective and remind myself of my role.

5. I will manage my expectations

When you run a start-up and things are going well, growth becomes a given. As a result, you can be on a long-term buzz, bouncing from high to high.

That can make any lull or slowdown in the pace of growth seem ominous.

So I will learn to manage my expectations.

Our second quarter wasn’t as good as we’d hoped this year; that made me feel there was a lot of pressure on Q3.

But Q3 includes summer. So I shouldn’t expect the moon, right?

That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be aiming for growth; after all, one of our core values is ‘Embrace a growth mindset.’

But I have to learn to deal with variations in the rate of growth.

In other words, I need to tailor my expectations to reality.

6. I will be easier on myself

I work hard all year. You’d think that I could see that a summer vacation is a well-earned reward for all my efforts.

But there’s a part of me that doesn’t like taking a break until everything is in order. I find it hard to disconnect or reward myself unless we’re ahead on our goals. It kind of feels like I’m cheating.

Maybe I just need to be kinder to myself. If we haven’t reached our goals before the summer slowdown, stressing about it or trying to work harder won’t make much of a difference.

Summer’s over; I’m back to normal

Nothing lifts my spirits like the back-to-business feeling I get as summer ends.

Our annual on-site gathering in early September left me elated. We got together with all of our employees and opened 5,000 square feet of new office space. And deals that had been crawling along all summer suddenly started to come through.

Just like that, I feel that we’ve got our momentum back. Our energy level is super-high, and there’s a feeling we’re all pulling in the same direction.

Whew!

But as I pondered my Summer Resolutions, I started wondering: Am I the only person who feels dread in summer? Are there other people out there who think the world is going to end when things slow down?

I’m genuinely curious. I’d like to know.

Send me a message!

Meanwhile, I’m putting a note in my calendar to reread this my resolutions list in June of next year. Before the summer slowdown hits!