Set It and Forget It: Your Summer Sales Plan

In this practical episode, Shelagh Cummins debunks the myth that “no one buys in summer” and shows women entrepreneurs how to keep their businesses thriving—without giving up their vacation vibes.

You’ll learn how to downsize your offers, pre-schedule your marketing, and adopt a “set it and forget it” approach that keeps sales coming in while you rest. Whether you're sipping iced tea on the dock or running the kids to camp, this episode will help you maintain momentum, generate revenue, and enjoy your summer without the hustle.

Because rest and results are not mutually exclusive. ☀️

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why summer is still a season of opportunity for your business
• How to simplify your offers without sacrificing income
• Ways to create a marketing drip that runs while you relax
• What it looks like to grow your business with ease and intention

Episode Chapters

00:00 – Summer Selling Myths Debunked
02:34 – Strategies for Selling with Ease
05:41 – Creating a Sustainable Marketing Plan
08:47 – Finding Balance in Business and Rest

Links

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Transcript

Shelagh Cummins (00:02.028)
You've probably heard it. You might even have said it yourself. No one buys during the summer. Listen, I get it. It's hot. The kids are home. You're juggling pool floaties, client calls, and that endless chorus of what's there to eat. And I'm bored. So the idea of not selling right now, it's very convenient. It feels like permission to rest. But today I want to offer you something else.

This is not a hustle pep talk. This is not a push harder moment. This is just an honest reflection on what's really true and how we can approach summer with intention instead of assumptions. Because here's what I know from watching dozens of women from behind the scenes. People are buying this summer. They're just not buying from women who've disappeared and decided not to sell anything. It's not because they're grinding. It's

because they've built a plan that works with their life, not against it. So if you think that nobody buys in the summer, or if your business comes to a grinding halt in the summer, then this is an episode that you don't want to miss.

Shelagh Cummins (01:21.878)
Let me tell you about the summer that I disappeared. I had just wrapped a huge launch. I was exhausted. My brain was fried. My kids were done school. And I told myself, it's okay. Everyone's offline anyway. Nobody's buying so I can just disappear. And so I shut down my laptop and I turned off the autoresponder and I spent weeks out in the backyard at the park, at the splash pad, doing the things.

occupying the kids, trying to reclaim this, having a little bit of guilt that I wasn't working. And then when I came back at the end of August, when everybody was starting back to school and September hit and I was ready to work, I'll tell you what I came back to. Absolute crickets. Nothing. My calendar was empty. My bank account was empty. And I had this panic energy set in.

because it wasn't the break that broke my business. It was the fact that I did not have a plan for the summer. And that was the moment that I fully realized you absolutely can still rest in the summer and you should, but let's be intentional about it so that we keep your business moving even when you're not because your dream clients, they're still scrolling. They're still struggling.

They're still searching for solutions and they didn't magically solve their problems because the kids are at home for the summer. They still want transformation. They just need to know that you're open for business and that can look a lot lighter than you think. So if you're sitting there wondering, can I even sell the summer without running myself into the ground? The answer is yes. And I'm going to share three ways today that you can sell with ease.

while still applying sunscreen when needed. Strategy number one. If you have bigger size offers, the summer is the perfect time to downsize it a little bit. It can be a tiny but a mighty offer. There is a process that you use to get your clients results. And each of those, that process probably has different phases to it. First, we do this.

Shelagh Cummins (03:45.72)
then we do this, then we sprinkle the special sauce and finally we do this and then they come down, they come out at the end of their transformation. Well, you can still offer your offer, but you can downsize it and make it tiny but mighty. We just want to strip your offer down to the core transformation that first phase.

Instead of having six calls, you could offer a 90 minute intensive. Instead of having a six week sprint, you could offer a one week sprint and focus on just that one thing. You could offer some done in a day services, a VIP day, a done with you. Let's work on this together. Drill it down, get it specific and have it be fine. Drill it down, get it specific, but have it focused highly on the results.

a very specific, tangible result. We want to think focused, potent, and summer friendly. And so we can get that quick win for our clients that solves a real problem without a huge time commitment. And so take what you have, don't create something new, just shorten it, make it tighter, make it more profound, more powerful. That is a way to keep selling in the summer. Strategy number two, the slow

Drip launch. There's no need for a big splashy launch if you don't want, but you can try a gentle, consistent rhythm. If you do nothing else this summer and you do not want to be client facing or you do not want to be in delivery mode at all, then get some set and forget marketing in place. Have some way to be growing your email list and be communicating with the list regularly through the summer months.

Tease them about what's coming in the fall. Don't leave them high and dry so they forget who you are. Make sure that you're posting once or twice a week. You can pre-schedule all of your marketing for the summer and then not touch it. Share some of the behind the scenes. Talk about how you're working differently this summer. You know, your energy is going to set the tone. I am very clear that different companies have different seasons.

Shelagh Cummins (06:01.654)
And I'm not challenging the fact that for a lot of companies, the summer has a bit of a downturn or quieter season. What I'm challenging is the fact that you are not selling and you are not making offers to your list when this is prime time. So when you show up consistently and clearly and available, people respond. There's no urgency. It's just openness. Strategy number three.

we've kind of already talked about it, it's the Set and Forget marketing system. And this one's one of my favorites. If you can batch create your content now, before you step away for two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, before the chaos hits, schedule four weekly emails or six weekly emails, write, you know, two to three posts a week, record, and I'm still open on Instagram Story.

pre-schedule all of it, then go and pour yourself an apparel spritz and let the system do the work. You don't have to ghost your audience to get rest. You can still be promoting past episode contents, great content that you have previously shared. Reshare some of your posts that were the highest converting. Have every single one have some kind of a call to action so that you can be capturing

and noticing and starting to love on the people that are connecting with your content. You don't have to ghost your audience just to get rest. You just need to plan ahead. Automation is not the enemy here. It is a strategy for you to be able to keep everything going so you can enjoy your summer. You know, here's the bottom line. Summer doesn't have to be a sales drought.

it's going to be what you make it. It doesn't also have to be a grind. A lot of times I talk to the women who want to take a rest but don't want to stop working. And one of the things I say to them is look at your schedule, acknowledge when you are actually truly 100 % available to work and create a condensed schedule. Work less days, work tighter hours.

Shelagh Cummins (08:15.744)
And when you're working, be so crystal clear focused on what outputs or outcomes you need to have ready so that you can keep the machine going. Clock off at one o'clock every day if you want. Work three days a week. It doesn't matter. Find the rhythm that works for you. You get to choose. Do you want to unplug completely? Then get your set and forget marketing in place. Capture people's emails over the summer. Start teasing them about what's coming in the fall at the middle of August.

and then you'll be ready to hit the ground running in September. Do you want to sell with a spaciousness? Then narrow down what you're selling. Look at the transformation you provide, break it down into phases and sell phase one in a highly intensive. Take your clients faster and further. That is an easy way to keep selling over the summer. And if you want a bit of both, just find the balance and the flow that works for you.

All of these are valid. This is why you started your own business. This is why you are a business owner. You get to make your schedule. Your clients can work around you, not the other way around. The thing here is though, clarity creates the momentum and whatever you path you pick is great. Just focus in on it. Do it consistently. Do it to the high quality that you are known for because this isn't about pushing through.

This is about choosing on purpose. If you need a little bit of help choosing your summer strategy, listen, just DM me the word summer over on Instagram or over on LinkedIn, or send me an email with the subject line summer, and I'm going to send you, not only am going to send you a free guide with some strategies you can be using to keep making money without melting down, but we can figure out what your next best offer is that you can be focusing on selling.

for the summer months. get to lead, you get to rest, and yes, you get to sell while still enjoying the summer. So thank you for tuning into this quick and dirty episode of The Road to Seven with Sheila Cummins. If this episode gave you clarity or gave you an idea or you know somebody who needs to hear it, I would be so eternally grateful if you could share it with another woman entrepreneur who might need the same reminder about summer. And

Shelagh Cummins (10:40.866)
I will see you next week with my iced coffee in hand.