The Seasonality Playbook

Hey there entrepreneurs,

Welcome to the Better Business Brief, where I share takeaways from:

running businesses I’m building to sell for millions
My advisory with other business owners building to sell for millions
tips and tricks you can use to do the same

Slow months do not have to gut your margins or your morale. Seasonality is real in almost every industry.

Retail has holiday spikes. Home services boom or bust around weather cycles. Tourism has peak travel windows. Agencies ride budget cycles. Even software and B2B services feel Q4 and Q1 swings.

The fix is not to just work harder during the rush. It is to design cash flow, capacity, and demand on purpose year round.

So today, in less than 5 minutes, I’ll give you:

🧭 What seasonality really costs you

🔁 Three universal levers to smooth revenue

🧱 How to package offers that add value instead of drag

There are a few key plays that can help you escape the seasonality trap, but first you have to understand why accepting that your business is “just seasonal” is such a problem…

THE PROBLEM

Seasonality isn’t just a revenue dip.

It kills cash flow, forces layoffs, and makes it hard to keep good people.

Too many owners “white-knuckle” it through the slow months instead of designing around them.

So what can you do about this?

PLAY 1: SELL RECURRING

Let’s use home services as an example to think through.

In HVAC companies, that means maintenance memberships: think something like two annual visits, priority service, and a repair discount.

Customers pay monthly, you keep trucks rolling when the phones are quiet.

Same principle works in any seasonal business.

You can upsell one-time buyers into subscribers if you have the right packaging of value for them.

Just make sure you listen to what your customers are asking for and actually make them an offer they will find valuable consistently…

PLAY 2: SHIFT THE OFFER MIX

When one service slows down, you can also shift to a different service focus.

For example, in our HVAC example, when the installs of spring and summer slow down, you can shift to leading with duct or dryer vent cleaning.

Those jobs don’t depend on extreme weather, but they can keep technicians busy and cash coming in.

Translate that to your industry: push services that stay in demand when your core work dips.

PLAY 3: SET SMART TERMS

Poorly written contracts or agreements can drag you down.

In HVAC, many companies that do some kind of maintenance agreement lock themselves into multi-year agreements at yesterday’s prices.

Instead, you should make agreements annual, clear on scope, and flexible to adjust. The same holds anywhere: protect margins while offering stability.