Get Steady Before the Holiday Rush: The Real Prep Your Business Needs
📸✨: Jamie Davies (@jamie_davies)
Ever notice how October has this… vibe to it?
Like the world is whispering, “Hey… the year isn’t over yet, but you might wanna get your ducks, crystals, and Google Docs in a row before things get wild.”
Don’t get me wrong, I freakin’ LOVE Fall — I mean, it’s basically the universe’s version of a grounding breath.
And for heart-centered entrepreneurs, like us, it’s the perfect moment to slow down and ground before the holiday rush tries to sweep you into its peppermint-scented chaos.
As a workaholic (Virgo-Rising) marketer myself I kinda hate to admit this, but scaling during the holidays doesn’t start with marketing.
Or planning.
Or launching.
It starts with stabilizing — your energy, your systems, your expectations, your schedule, and that little inner voice that says, “We’re doing too much again, aren’t we? Oopsie!”
So in this post, we’re going to revisit the things most entrepreneurs skip before the busy season… but that make everything smoother, lighter, and way less stress-filled.
Let’s get grounded before we glow up. OK?!
1. Revisit Your Capacity (Energetic and Practical)
Before you take on anything new — more sessions, more holiday offers, more content — take a moment to check in with your actual capacity.
Not your ideal capacity.
Not your superhuman wishful-thinking capacity.
Your real capacity.
Ask yourself:
How much energy do I actually have to give right now?
What drains me quickest this time of year?
Do I need more breaks? More boundaries? More buffer time?
Is my body saying “we got this,” or “ma’am, sit down”?
Because if you plan your holiday season from a place of honesty, not adrenaline, you’ll be consistent and grounded — not productive-but-on-the-verge-of-a-meltdown.
And a little secret:
Capacity changes with the seasons.
So if you notice you have less to give in fall?
That doesn’t mean you’re failing.
It means you’re listening.
2. Revisit Your Client Boundaries Before You Get Busy
Boundaries that worked in summer may… absolutely collapse under holiday pressure.
So this is the perfect time to check in with things like:
Your communication expectations
Your response times
Your late-cancellation policies
Your holiday availability
Your “I will not do this on weekends” commitments
Your “please book ahead, I am not Santa” reminders
And before you tighten anything, do a little internal scan:
Where do I feel resentful?
→ That’s where boundaries need strengthening.Where do I feel stretched thin?
→ That’s where structure needs tightening.Where do I avoid my inbox?
→ That’s where expectations need clarifying.
Your boundaries don’t need to be harsh — they just need to be clear.
When you strengthen your boundaries now, you protect your energy later.
3. Revisit Your Offers: What’s Still Working? What Isn’t?
The holidays have a funny way of exposing every wobbly part of your business.
Any offer that feels…
too draining
too clunky
too time-consuming
too confusing
too not-you
…will be a thousand times harder to maintain during the busiest season.
So let’s do a quick offer check-in:
Does this offer still feel aligned?
→ Or are you doing it out of obligation?
Does it support your schedule?
→ Or does it accidentally eat your whole week?
Does it excite you?
→ Or do you sigh when someone books it?
Could it be streamlined?
→ Less back-and-forth? Clearer instructions? Shorter delivery time?
Should it be seasonal?
→ Some offers thrive in winter but flop in spring (or vice versa).
If something doesn’t feel aligned and you decide to retire it for now, you’re not giving up — you’re creating space for the right work to thrive.
4. Revisit Your Systems (Especially the Tiny Ones)
October is PERFECT for refreshing the small-but-mighty systems that save your brain during busy seasons.
Audit things like:
Your scheduling flow
Your payment process
Your onboarding steps
Your reminder emails
Any recurring task templates
Your content or social workflow
Your client notes or folders
Ask yourself:
Where am I repeating myself?
Where does the process feel clunky?
What can be simplified?
What can be templatized?
What can be automated without losing the human touch?
Small changes now = massively smoother holidays later.
Sometimes a single email template or folder cleanup can save you literal hours.
5. Revisit Your Energy Rituals (Yes, Really)
When business gets busy, your rituals tend to fall off first…
…and those rituals are exactly what keep your nervous system steady.
So take a moment to ask:
What grounding rituals help me the most during busy seasons?
What practices help me reset between sessions?
What do I need on days when everything feels chaotic?
What rituals or practices help me prepare energetically for clients?
Maybe it’s:
A few minutes of breathing
Clearing your space before sessions
Touching your feet to the ground between calls
Journaling quickly after client work
Setting intentions before busy days
Drinking water like it’s your job
Saying “no” like it’s self-love (because it is)
Your rituals don’t have to be elaborate.
They just have to be yours.
6. Revisit Your Plans With Gentle Realism
Holiday planning often goes one of two ways:
The “I will accomplish 19 major goals in the next six weeks” delusion
orThe “I’m too overwhelmed to plan anything” freeze
But October is the sweet spot.
The middle path.
The place where realistic expectations can shine.
Ask:
What is genuinely important to me this holiday season?
What goals support my energy instead of draining it?
What can wait? (No, really. What can wait.)
What would future me thank me for doing now?
Your goal isn’t to “crush Q4.”
Your goal is to move into winter with grounded energy and a peaceful mind.
If you end the year steady — not frazzled — you’ve already won.
7. Revisit What You Want the Holidays to Feel Like
Not what you want to produce during the holidays.
Not what you want to sell.
Not what you want to achieve.
What you want it to feel like.
Do you want connection?
Simplicity?
Ease?
Stillness?
Creativity?
More joy?
More rest?
Because once you know the feeling you’re aiming for…
…it becomes obvious which tasks belong in your season and which don’t.
Your holiday vibe is your holiday strategy.
Tech Tip:
Create a Pre-Holiday Workflow Reset
If you want your busy season to feel smoother every year, create a tiny reusable checklist like:
Pre-Holiday Reset Checklist
Review capacity
Tighten boundaries
Update offers
Refresh systems
Ground your energy rituals
Set seasonal intentions
Review what’s realistic
Reconnect with your why
Save it.
Duplicate it every October.
Boom — you have a ritual.
Why This Matters (Energetically Speaking)
Here’s the part most business advice skips:
Stabilizing before a busy season isn’t just logistical — it’s energetic hygiene.
When your systems are messy, your boundaries leaky, your offers outdated, or your rituals neglected, your energy field starts carrying micro-strain.
Not enough to break you…
but enough to make everything feel heavier than it needs to be.
You know that feeling where you’re doing “fine,” but everything feels just 10% harder?
That’s energetic drag.
And stabilizing removes that drag.
When you clarify your capacity, your body relaxes.
When you update your offers, your energy stops resisting the work.
When you simplify your systems, your mind unclenches.
When you revisit your rituals, your nervous system finds steadiness again.
Energetic alignment makes your outer work flow smoother:
Clients show up with fewer reschedules
Ideas come through more cleanly
Your confidence feels grounded instead of forced
You don’t need to brute-force motivation
You stay present instead of scattered
You end your days with energy left in the tank
Stabilizing is like clearing the energetic brush before winter — it makes space for ease.
And when your energy is steady, your work becomes steady.
Not because you’re hustling harder, but because you’re not swimming upstream against your own system anymore.
Empowered Next Step:
Choose One Thing
Don’t overhaul.
Just pick ONE thing this week:
Clean up your onboarding email
Update your boundaries
Retire an unaligned offer
Declutter a client folder
Refresh your calendar availability
Do a grounding ritual before client work
Reset your website’s energy
Stabilization happens through small, steady steps — not giant leaps.
The Heart of It All
Before you scale, expand, launch, promote, or show up more boldly…
you deserve to feel steady.
Your business isn’t a machine — it’s an extension of your nervous system, your creativity, your intuition, your heart.
When you are steady, your business becomes steady.
When you stabilize:
You show up more fully.
You serve more deeply.
You create with more confidence.
You grow with more intention.
You feel more like yourself.
This isn’t about perfection — it’s about alignment.
It’s about tending to the foundation beneath your work so that anything you build on top of it feels spacious instead of stressful.
And truthfully?
This is the kind of preparation that makes your future self look back and say,
“Ohhhhh. This is why everything felt smoother this year.”
Ground first.
Then grow.
That’s the real magic of stabilizing before you scale.
Frequently Asked Questions About Stabilizing Before Busy Season
Q: What if I don’t have a busy season?
A: Perfect. This becomes your reflection season. Stability still matters — it just supports inner growth instead of outer activity.
Q: How early should I start doing this?
A: October is ideal because the pace hasn’t hit holiday frenzy yet. But truly — anytime you need grounding, this process works.
Q: Isn’t this just planning?
A: Not quite. Planning is about the what.
Stabilizing is about the how you feel going into it.
Two very different vibes.
Q: What if reviewing everything stresses me out?
A: Then pick ONE small area. The smallest area that doesn’t make your brain hurt. The goal is gentleness, not pressure.
Q: How do I know when I’m stable enough to scale?
A: When you feel steady, not frantic. When your systems feel supportive, not heavy. When your energy feels grounded, not brittle.
Final Thoughts
Stability isn’t boring.
It’s powerful.
It’s the quiet foundation that lets you stretch, expand, create, and serve — without wobbling, overextending, or losing yourself.
When you stabilize before you scale, the holidays don’t feel like a chaotic sprint.
They feel intentional.
Aligned.
Supportive.
Like your business is working with you, not pulling you by the ponytail into December.
So go ahead — stabilize.
Check in.
Reground.
Refresh what needs refreshing.
Your future self — the winter-you, the holiday-you, the cozy-blanket-you — will thank you deeply.
And your business?
It will rise from that grounded place with more clarity, more confidence, and more ease than ever.
Still Have Questions?
If you have any questions I didn’t cover here, or if you’re looking for advice specific to your business, feel free to reach out. I’d love to help you grow your business in a way that feels aligned and sustainable!
