It’s August. Things are a little slower; maybe you’re squeezing in some vacation time, and the inbox is quieter than usual.
And then September 1st hits and suddenly three people want to book, two existing clients need something urgent, you’re trying to onboard someone new, and you’re running your business out of a Notes app and a prayer.
Sound familiar?
What if that chaos was optional? We are going to wish that into existence.
Today, we’re giving you our August business checklist and prep guide so that when September shows up, you’re ready for it instead of buried by it.
Are You In a Slow Month?
Summer slowdown is real for a lot of service businesses, and most owners either panic or coast. But there is another option… and that’s to build.
The best time to do it? August.
The businesses that come out of September ahead are the ones who used August on purpose.
And when we say build, we’re talking about working ON the business instead of IN the business.
- Client work fills your calendar but doesn’t build your infrastructure.
- August is often the only window in the year where you can actually work ON the business without dropping balls.
The 4 Systems Worth Locking Down Before September
Check in on yourself right now and look at your calendar… What does your August actually look like right now? Are you coasting, panicking, or building?
If you have some 🤯 free time 🤯, let’s start building.
#1: Your Inquiry process
When three inquiries land in the same week, do you have a clear, consistent process, or are you winging it every time?
Lock down:
- Optimize your inquiry form — get as many details as you can here
- Set up your auto-reply — set the expectation for when they’ll receive a response
- Make your first touchpoint response time faster than they expect
The goal is that a new inquiry gets a great experience whether you’re slammed or not. They shouldn’t know the difference.
Do a quick test to see how optimized your inquiry process is. Complete your own contact form and watch what happens, especially if it’s automated.
- Is it clunky?
- Do the automated emails make sense?
- Do you receive everything that’s promised?
#2: Your Onboarding Experience
Onboarding is the first impression after the sale, and most small businesses treat it like an afterthought.
A chaotic onboarding erodes the confidence a client had when they booked you. You might have had an amazing discovery call, but then they feel like they got passed off to an intern during onboarding.
Lock down:
- Your welcome email — give them all the details about working with you
- Your client portal or shared folder — do they have access?
- Your kickoff process — is it clear?
Here are your action steps in this business checklist:
- Write the welcome email you wish you’d been sending all year.
- Write an SOP for your onboarding process.
If you prefer to talk through your process rather than write it all out, Wispr Flow Tool is our favorite way to voice dictate!
#3: Your Proposals and Pricing Documents
If your proposal is a Google Doc you’ve been cloning and editing since 2022, a busy season is going to expose that. It’s time for an upgrade, my friend.
Lock down:
- A clean, current proposal template that reflects your updated pricing and positioning
- Bonus: make sure your pricing page or package descriptions on your website match what you’re actually quoting
Pull up your last proposal and ask if it represents the business you are today.
- Does it have your current branding?
- Is pricing correct?
- Are the package details and deliverables the same?
Sometimes we’re moving so quickly and on autopilot that we don’t realize the experience we’re giving our new clients. Take this slow season to reevaluate your processes.
#4: Your Scheduling and Capacity Plan
Nothing creates more September stress than overbooking because you didn’t know what you could actually take on.
Lock down:
- How many clients you can realistically serve per month
- What your booking lead time looks like
If you use a scheduler, update your availability before the rush hits. Block out your September and October calendar with realistic capacity before you open the floodgates.
This is a good exercise to do before the holiday season, too! Especially if you plan to take time off.
How to Warm Your Audience in August so They’re Ready to Buy in September
Don’t go quiet in August! Buyers don’t make decisions the moment they see something — they need multiple touchpoints over time.
If you disappear in August, you’re starting from cold in September instead of warm. You don’t need to be loud, but you need to be consistent and present.
3 types of content to consider:
- Visibility content: showing up, being seen, staying top of mind — doesn’t have to be heavy or salesy
- Authority content: one or two pieces that remind your audience you know your stuff (a blog, an email, a carousel)
- Seed content: plant the idea of working together without a hard pitch — “spots opening in September,” “thinking about a fall rebrand?”
Let’s talk about email… your warmest audience and the most underused August asset.
If you have an email list and you haven’t emailed them since June, August is the time to re-engage. One value-forward email in August does more for September bookings than a week of Instagram posts.
Here are some ideas of what you can send:
- Something useful
- Something personal
- Something that makes them remember why they signed up
What To Do With Your Website Before Fall Traffic Picks Up
Fall is one of the highest organic traffic windows for service businesses. People come back from summer mode with fresh budgets and real decisions to make. Search behavior across industries picks up in September—we aren’t just making this up!
But traffic to a broken or outdated site is wasted.
A few things you can do this month for your website…
- Update your availability and any time-sensitive copy
- Check your homepage, services page, and any CTAs for stale language
- Make sure your portfolio or recent work is current
- Add one or two recent projects or client wins before September arrives
- Check your contact and inquiry flow end-to-end
This is our plan too. Seriously! Now it’s time to make yours…
Your August Prep Prompt
“I just listened to the Duo On Air episode about prepping for September. Here’s the transcript/show notes: [paste link or text here]
Based on what Abbey and Court covered, build me a personalized August prep checklist for my business. My business is [describe what you do and who you serve]. I currently [have/don’t have] a CRM, my scheduling tool is [name it or say none], and my biggest weakness going into fall is usually [inquiries piling up / onboarding being messy / going quiet on content / my website being stale — pick one or describe your own].
For each checklist item, give me a specific action, not a vague to-do. Then organize everything into a week-by-week schedule across August, so I’m not trying to do it all at once. Format it as a task list I can copy into [Notion / Asana / Trello / Google Tasks — pick yours].”
August is an Opportunity
Don’t think of this as another business checklist to add to your plate. Think of it as a little prep that future you will thank you for when busy season hits again. We both know you won’t have time for it in September!
Have fun working ON your business!
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Abbey Oslin and Courtney Petersen are Minnesota-based marketing experts with over 20+ years of combined experience working with big brands. They are educators and co-founders of Duo Collect,ve; a boutique organic marketing agency specializing in SEO, branding, and custom websites for women-led small businesses and creative entrepreneurs.
Ready to grow your visibility and become unforgettable?
Learn more or work with our team here.
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