Almost every day, sometimes multiple times a day, you can find me walking around the garden, prepping and making plans for the next season. Getting outside, digging in the dirt—physically, it’s the polar opposite of what I do every day for work—and it’s my preferred kind of therapy.
In the words of Piet Oudolf, Dutch garden designer and author, it might not save the world—but it did save me.
The garden is my meditation. My peace.
Without a single thank-you card written, with piles of boxes that needed to be driven to the storage unit, and with a dress—blackened on the bottom—zipped and bustled in its bag, the last thing most people would decide to do is plant 250 bulbs in their front yard.
But that is just what you could find me doing—only a couple of weeks after our wedding.
You see, one of my goals for the next growing season is to have blooms—food for pollinators—available earlier in the year (since my current gardens don’t really start to show off until the beginning of August).
In permaculture gardening, one of the principles is that you are always planting for the next season and creating a garden that you can harvest from all year long.
You have to be strategic about how and where and what you plant—but when it’s done correctly, from the time that the last of the snow is clinging to the lawn until the first hard frost hits, there’s something blooming.
And even in the winter, the seeds and structure that are left put on their own show (which is one of the things that Piet Oudolf is known for).
I love how much planning, foresight, and strategy go into being a gardener. How it is a mental challenge—layered with problem-solving, understanding, and tracking timing.
People underestimate the timing. And I think that is part of what I love about gardening—and where it overlaps with business. You have to have a strategy but still be willing to be flexible. To fail.
Time is funny like that. Some things have a window and a wait—like frilly tulip bulbs you plant in the fall and have to wait to see in the spring.
I think these are the best things. The things that do not give you instant gratification.
When it comes to building our brands, we want that instant gratification.
It’s not our fault as much as it is part of the landscape—we have to create content, and those content platforms can give us instant gratification.
We plant a seed and we expect this magic to happen where it grows before our very eyes and blooms.
We think that it’s possible—because the internet tells us it can be. Going viral, hitting the jackpot—but is it?
Or are we all putting in our 10,000 hours in different ways, all while still learning and adapting?
——
This week’s newsletter is a case study behind my own brand, Cedar June. It’s for the person who needs to hit the reset button on their plans for the rest of the year—but wants to work from a strategy that prioritizes their creativity.
The problem:
After a big shift behind the brand in what my 1:1 client projects were going to look like, I realized that I needed to hit the reset button so I could figure out what I was launching next and what kind of content I needed to create in the meantime.
Results from my Q4 reset:
- I’ve actually gotten ahead on content and figured out a work schedule that doesn’t feel like it is working against me for the first time since, like, April—which I talked about in last week’s newsletter + this article on Substack.
- I’ve created filters and systems behind my current content strategy which have helped me write more content in the past two weeks than I did all of last quarter. I’m working on a whole other piece of content on exactly how I’m doing that—so keep your eyes out for that one.
- I feel clearer and more creative than I have in a long time because the long game makes sense to me. Making that long game make sense—creating an action plan that helps you start planting the seeds for YOUR next big launch (without having to have it all figured out yet)—is what this newsletter is all about.
Background:
In the weeks leading up to my wedding, a lot of what my 1:1 schedule looked like shifted (you know what they say about the best-laid plans). With that, the next offers I was planning to promote no longer made sense to my brain or felt very exciting.
On the flip side, behind the brand, I had set a community-building brand focus for the year—a subscriber goal I was nowhere near.
The bottom line is I haven’t put a lot of effort toward my subscriber/community goal for the year, and as a result, my list has been pretty stagnant.
My plans for Q4 needed to shift. Quite frankly, there is a season to sit back and chill—but that had been the summer for me—and I knew this was a season where I wanted to lean back in.
I always feel that in the fall. It used to be the new school year of it all—because, yes, through grad school, I was the girl who treated my first latte of the semester in the student bookstore and adding everything from a syllabus to my new planner as a spiritual experience.
As business owners, we have to create that syllabus for ourselves. We have to decide what classes we are taking each semester. But for the sake of the garden metaphor/bit we’ve already committed to here, we’re going to think of it as a planting plan.
And one of the things that I love about Piet Oudolf is that his planting plans are works of art themselves. Every single founder I work with inside The Studio Session needs a better planting plan—a better strategy for how and what they want to grow. My goal is to turn that planting plan into a work of art.
What I’m growing
This newsletter is where the creative process starts for me + I want more people to see it.
I am nearing my 200th newsletter, by far my most consistent platform. But only the people behind this opt-in wall have seen the majority of my best work & writing.
What was at stake:
- The numbers for the launch I wanted to have in the new year
- But on a deeper level, putting out another 200 pieces of original content that not that many people are going to see.
The Q4 outcome I want:
- To grow my list to 760 subscribers by January 4th
- To actively work on overcoming my visibility block
- To get 115 people on my Brand Roadmap waitlist - you can be one of the first by clicking here.
- And to repackage and update the Brand Roadmap for 2027
What constraints are shaping this quarter’s strategy:
- I still have 4 1:1 clients I am working with this season—so I have to balance my time as a service provider and creator.
- I am actively working less and purposefully slowing down (and getting so much more done in the meantime).
- I am dedicating a lot of time to the next live round of creative living
- During the holidays, I want absolutely nothing to do with client work. I’ll be writing for CJ, and that’s it.
- I also have 0 desire to launch anything during Black Friday week or the holidays.
The thinking behind the solution—working smarter, not harder (but not at the expense of creativity)
So much of my content is behind an opt-in—so my focus this quarter is getting my long-form content (much of which has already been created) in front of new eyes and more people. Making it visible. All the while creating natural ways in the content to get the right people through the doors and on my newsletter list.
Hitting the reset button on your Q4 strategy & creating your brand’s planting plan
The #1 thing that actually keeps people from taking action on the goals they have for their brand is not that they don’t know where to start, but that they—the human behind the brand—need to be able to figure out how to balance the different hats, jobs, and roles that their life and brand require of them.
All too often—especially as women—we’re being pulled in a million directions, managing the household and the business we already have, and trying to figure out how to plant the seeds for the next season.
Time management and creating a schedule that works for you are among the most undervalued skills you can have as a founder. The best work, the most meaningful shifts behind the brand, need time and intention. This is why I took a couple of weeks off from creating content (because if you don’t know what seeds you should be planting, it’s 10x harder to know what to say). I reset hard—and used this season’s CCO week to spend some 1:1 time with the calendar, regrouping and getting clear on what my time and schedule already looked like for the months ahead. I mapped out how to do just that in this Substack article.
First, you need to understand the time and space you have (you can picture this like the outlines of the different beds in your garden).
Then, you can decide what you want to plant where.
When choosing a plant to grow in a garden bed, you have to understand what that plant needs to thrive and how to choose the best place for it.
The same rules apply when choosing what you want to grow in your brand.
Your brand’s planting plan
A seasonal strategy for deciding what to grow, where to focus, and when to start.
01. Prepping the soil
WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOUR BRAND
Understanding what you’re working with: what you already have and the conditions you are growing in.
PUT IT INTO PRACTICE
• Do a brand reset so you have data that backs up the decisions and plans you are making for your brand.
• Do audience research to better understand what people want and need in this season.
WHAT I DID
For me, this looked like cleaning up my
calendar and getting clear on what my time looked like.
02. Choosing the plants
WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOUR BRAND
Deciding what you can grow in this season, in those conditions, and what your purpose is for growing it. The purpose is important. Most people don’t grow a potato for its flower (even though it has one). Most people also don’t only grow one potato plant. It’s okay to want more.
PUT IT INTO PRACTICE
• What are you going to focus on growing behind the brand right now & why?
• In my case, I am growing my newsletter list, and the purpose is so I can get my Brand Roadmap framework in front of more founders that need it in the new year.
WHAT I DID
For me, this looked like deciding what the end goal was (relaunching the Brand Roadmap after the new year) and what I wanted and needed to do in order to achieve that. I wanted to focus on long-form content. I needed to get new people on my list that can benefit from exactly what I’ll be teaching.
03. Figuring out how & when to plant the seeds
WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOUR BRAND
Every seed packet has different instructions that help you to time when in the year to start that seed and how to start it. Once you know what you want to grow, you can figure out when on the calendar that seed needs to be sown. Some things you can sow more than once in a calendar year.
PUT IT INTO PRACTICE
This is where, on an annual basis or within a season, creating your brand’s planting plan can become a fun little puzzle of what fits where and when it can thrive—when do people need it? When do I want to do it?
WHAT I DID
I knew I didn’t want to be in launch mode during the holidays—so I started with mapping out when I wanted the new version of this offer to go live & then worked my way backwards between then and now to fill in the blanks.
Slow branding. Intentional growth.
The lifecycle of a launch:
I think that the word launch can sound intimidating, scary, cringe, salesy. But if you think of it as planting a garden bed, it gets to be kinda beautiful.
You get to prep the soil and create the right conditions, visualize what you want to grow, plant the seeds, and watch it grow—till that season is over and it dies back.
Think of your next launch as planting a garden bed. Each stage has its own purpose—and its own timing.
04. Planting seeds & figuring out how to nurture them
IN THE GARDEN
Not every seed you plant is going to grow. But you can do your best to create the right conditions—and observe what is working and what isn’t.
IN YOUR BRAND
This is when you can start creating content and testing messaging through it. It is experimental and intentional. Seeing what works and what people are responding to.
WHERE YOU ARE
You haven’t necessarily announced your launch yet, but you are feeling out your audience and starting the conversation.
05. Watching it grow & prepping for harvest
IN THE GARDEN
You don’t plant a seed and then immediately prep to harvest. You’ve got to care for it and watch it grow first. Once it’s no longer rooting underground—it’s officially broken through the soil—and you see those buds forming, you can start to plan for the harvest.
IN YOUR BRAND
This looks like engaging with people, building a waitlist, and continuing to build trust with your audience.
WHERE YOU ARE
Announcing that you are in fact growing and launching this thing. Making it known.
06. Harvesting the flowers
IN THE GARDEN
Getting to enjoy the thing you’ve been working to grow.
IN YOUR BRAND
This looks like the doors opening, tickets going on sale, etc.
WHERE YOU ARE
You’ve officially launched.
07. Harvesting the seeds
IN THE GARDEN
Just one plant can give you hundreds of seeds for the next season. Maybe you didn’t cut that flower, but letting it go to seed means future opportunities.
IN YOUR BRAND
Not every seed you plant = a sale, but that doesn’t mean it is a lost opportunity either. In fact, letting that plant go to seed and not harvesting it means it will naturally spread into even more in the future.
WHERE YOU ARE
Your launch is over—and you’ve created an impact.
08. The plant dies back
IN THE GARDEN
Its growing season is over.
IN YOUR BRAND
Remember when we talked about that void after the thing a few issues back? It’s only natural.
WHERE YOU ARE
The pause and reset before the next planting and growing season.
There are seasons for resetting. Seasons for planting. And seasons for growing your brand.
This fall so far has been a season of resetting, and now I get to start planting the seeds.
This is really only pt. 1 of this case study on doing a 180 on my Q4 strategy (while, quite frankly, Q4 has already started). Remember, timing is everything—and I’m still in the experimental stage right now where I don’t know exactly how that garden bed is going to look yet.
In the short term:
- I’m a week ahead on content thanks to the Creative Living writing calendar and a content strategy that is working for my creative process.
- By the time this newsletter hits your inbox, I’ll have published 4 blogs and 4 Substack articles: 3 pieces of long-form content across three different publications a week + lots of experimenting on Substack Notes (more on how the eff I am doing that soon).
- I’ve doubled my subscribers on Substack (from 4 to 8 lol)
A checklist: your Q4 reset
Before you plant anything for next season, make sure your foundation is in place.
- [ ] Understand your time and space. Get clear on what your calendar and capacity actually look like before you plan anything.
- [ ] Define one primary outcome. Pick the goal that matters most this quarter, and a short list of what you're going to stop or defer.
- [ ] Choose what to grow. Decide which focus fits this season, who you're growing it for, and why it matters.
- [ ] Work backward from your launch. Map when you want the offer live, then fill in the content, waitlist, and seed-planting steps between now and then.
- [ ] Protect your off-limits windows. Skip launching during Black Friday week or the holidays if that doesn't fit your season.
- [ ] Put first actions on the calendar. Schedule the work and set a regular review rhythm so you can adapt as you go.
Planting seeds for your next launch
Seeds take time to sprout, so start before you're ready to announce anything.
- [ ] Test your messaging in content. Use what you publish to see what your audience responds to and what they're asking for.
- [ ] Share the process, not just the finished work. Let people see what you're growing so they start to care about the launch before it opens.
- [ ] Build your waitlist. Give people a simple way to opt in now so they're ready when doors open.
- [ ] Plan your harvest. Pick the date you'll announce and the date doors open, and keep both out of your off-limits windows.
Stay tuned for pt. 2 of this newsletter down the line, where I’ll break down what worked and what didn’t and tell you whether or not I reached those Q4 outcomes.
