Working With Your Seasons: Why Business Growth for Female Founders Isn’t Meant to Be Linear
By Kate Kurdziej, Business Consultant, strategist and founder of olivier consultancy, hosting transformative business retreats in Costa Blanca, spain.Most of us start our businesses to escape the rigidity of corporate life. Yet somewhere along the way, we end up rebuilding the very same treadmill we were so desperate to leave behind. The endless Monday to Friday 9-5 schedule, the back-to-back Zoom calls, the constant pressure to be “on”. We trade one cage for another, only this time we hold the keys.
Sound familiar? Don’t worry, it’s totally within your power to step into an easier flow.
Women’s lives, bodies and responsibilities move in seasons. We have natural highs and lows, bursts of creativity and periods when we need more space. Trying to force ourselves into a linear, masculine way of working is not only unsustainable, it’s the fastest route to burnout- at least it was for me.
Once you acknowledge that growth in business is not linear, you can start to see shifts. It’s taken me years to recognise that, suddenly everything felt easier and lighter when I began to design my work and business structure around my energy, not force my energy fluctuations into the normal 9-5 work week.
We all have seasons
Energy is rarely steady. Sometimes it’s obvious, mornings may feel sharper for deeper work, afternoons may feel sluggish and harder to focus. Other times, the rhythms are bigger: monthly cycles, seasonal changes, school terms, or the demands of caring for others.
Men’s energy tends to follow a more predictable daily pattern. For women, energy is often cyclical. There are peaks of focus and creativity, then dips where the mind and body naturally crave rest. Add the invisible load of caregiving and emotional labour, and you can see why simply copying corporate structures rarely works for us women.
Plus, the aim was never to be busy in the first place. I never wanted to sit at a desk 9-5 and replicate my life outside of employment. I craved freedom.
The first step is noticing your own patterns. When do you feel most alive? What time of day are you most productive? Which months feel lighter, and which feel heavier? Start with awareness. These rhythms are already there, the work is to honour them instead of ignoring them.
My wavy growth model
For years, I tried to run my business as though growth should be a staircase. Always up, always forward, no pause. It’s what we’re taught. And it nearly broke me in 2022.
I looked at my diary one day. Horrified at back-to-back work from 8.30am to 6pm. That’s when I realised I’d built the exact opposite of what I’d left my toxic corporate job for. Normally I would have poured a big coffee and forced myself to follow my schedule to the minute, but this time was different. Instead, I cleared the decks, sorted into piles of must-do’s and nice-to-haves and stripped my schedule back while adding in rest times, slower starts and early finishes.
You can do this too. Often your diary becomes filled with other people’s priorities and your work is reactive. It’s time to take back control of your schedule.
What I know now is that growth comes in waves. Some seasons are for expansion, others are for stabilisation, and some are for rest. None of them are wasted.
In my own business, this looks like slowing down at Christmas, Easter and during the summer holidays. My son’s school timetable became my anchor. Instead of battling against it and feeling guilty for doing neither parenting nor business particularly well during those times, I now lean into it. I avoid launching new offers in August. I give clients breathing space between contracts so I can be present with my family if the dates fall over a school break. September has become a natural high-energy month for me and my business as I lead into hosting my business retreat in Spain, intentionally leaving enough space for settling my son into his new class and starting work with new consultancy clients.
The relief of not constantly juggling is immense. I’m no longer trying to be everything to everyone at once. My work feels lighter. My family gets the best of me. My business actually grows more smoothly because it has space to breathe. All I had to do was be realistic and shut out the noise.
I call this life-first business strategy. I’m no longer able to sacrifice myself or family time to squeeze in ‘just one more client meeting’. Sometimes the clarity comes when you step away from the busyness. Think of farmers: they don’t plant and harvest year-round. They know that the land needs to rest to stay in tip-top shape. Why should your business be any different?
For example, this could look like;
Q1 is a full-on push for growth season, launches, promotions and collaborations after a rest over Christmas. You feel energised and hungry for sales.
Q2 is still a growth season but at a lower intensity, we’re looking to ensure any new clients, team members or any moving parts are happy and you’re feeling in control.
Q3 is a maintenance season over Summer, where standards are kept high but no new clients or team are taken on. You work fewer hours, enjoy more time off and truly take care of yourself.
Q4 back into a connection + growth phase to prepare for Q1, attending networking events and retreats then slowing down for festivities at the end of the year.
Designing your daily, weekly and monthly flow
Once you’ve recognised your seasons, the next step is to build a structure that works with them.
On a daily level, you might protect your mornings for deep, creative work and leave admin for later in the day when you have less focus or you can move to a coffee shop or sit in the garden.
Try short, intentional breaks rather than powering through, research shows that even five minutes away from your desk each hour improves focus- look up the Pomodoro method.
Weekly, I recommend creating theme days to reduce constant switching. Perhaps Monday for marketing, Tuesday for client delivery, Wednesday for strategy. Or if that’s doesn’t quite work, then carve out one call-free day to give yourself uninterrupted space (this one is a game-changer if you always find yourself rushing between calls).
Monthly, look at where you can front-load bigger projects into your high-energy weeks and allow slower weeks to hold lighter tasks and earlier finishes. Some women notice mid-cycle is the time they feel more visible, confident and outward-facing, while lower-energy weeks are better suited to behind-the-scenes work. You don’t have to be scientific about it. Simply experiment and notice what feels natural.
The one thing we have to be in business is to be consistent, but this doesn’t mean you have to show up exactly the same everyday. What it means is designing a schedule that you can stick to for the long-term that fits with your lifestyle.
And don’t worry if your daily/weekly/monthly flows look totally different to someone else’s. That’s really the whole point. Your schedule should feel like a supportive container for YOUR energy, not a punishment or another to-do list or a copy + paste of your fave business coach.
Structure is your friend
No schedule will save you if your business model itself doesn’t fit your life. If you only have twenty hours a week available, you cannot sell thirty. If your services require constant hands-on delivery, you’ll forever feel stretched and needed 24/7.
Planning your services and workload is crucial as a business owner, not only will you see gaps and be shocked where you spend your time, but you’ll also find your most profitable services and become refocused on your time management.
I learnt this the hard way. In the early years I built a business around done-for-you services. The money looked good but I was exhausted. The real shift came when I redesigned my offers to match the lifestyle I wanted. I stopped being available to clients on Fridays, and take the day off wherever possible to enjoy long lunches whilst my son’s in school.
Today, I focus on hosting business retreats for female founders where I live in Spain, as well as selling passive digital products alongside lighter-touch 1:1 consultancy. Crucially, my work is more aligned with my capacity and aligned goals, and I feel energised rather than drained. I schedule in client meetings in advance with space between to lean into that slower pace, without feeling pressured to fit in ‘just one more quick meeting’.
Protecting your energy is CEO work
You didn’t start your business to have less freedom than you had in a job. You started it to create something better, for yourself, your family, and the life you imagine. Work that feels lighter, fun and fulfilling.
Embracing a life-first business strategy is about designing offers, schedules and boundaries that fit who you are and the life you want to live whether you have control over your seasons or not.
Your energy is your most valuable asset. Start noticing your seasons and design your business to honour them, then the success you imagine will follow in waves.
