Working With the Seasons: A Different Way of Running a Creative Seasonal Business
Updated: 4 days ago
The Jenti Forest Journal — Stories of Nature, Craft & Irish Heritage
There is a particular kind of pressure that comes with running a business today: the idea that we should be able to produce at the same level every single day, all year round.
Seven days a week.
Fifty-two weeks a year.
Always creating, always posting, always selling, always growing, but the more I work, create, and pay attention to the natural world around me, the more I question whether that is actually how we are meant to work. We are not machines, and perhaps our businesses shouldn't be expected to run like them either.
For me, learning to work with the seasons has become a much more natural way of running my creative business, one that leaves room for family, nature, rest, inspiration and, ultimately, better work.
We Were Never Meant to Have the Same Energy Every Day
The idea that productivity should be constant is a relatively modern one. We are encouraged to create routines, maximise output, fill our calendars and measure our success by how much we can accomplish.
But nature doesn't work that way.
The trees don't produce blossoms all year.
The fields aren't harvested every month.
The ocean doesn't remain still.
There are periods of growth, periods of abundance, periods of rest, and periods of preparation for what comes next.
And we are part of that same natural world.
I think there is something important in remembering that, especially as women, our bodies and lives can move through very real cycles of energy and change. Learning to recognise our own patterns, when we feel most creative, when we need more rest, when we have energy for connection, and when we naturally want to turn inward, can completely change the way we approach work. Instead of constantly fighting against those fluctuations, perhaps we can learn to work with them.
Not against them.
What If Productivity Isn't the Goal?
I have spent a lot of time thinking about what productivity actually means to me.
For a long time, it has been very easy to fall into the trap of believing that being productive means doing more.
More jewellery.
More orders.
More social media.
More emails.
More content.
More hours at the bench.
But more isn't always better.
Sometimes doing less allows you to do something much better.
There is a difference between being busy and being creative. There is a difference between filling your time and doing meaningful work, and there is a difference between growing a business and building a life that you actually want to live. That last one has become increasingly important to me.
Running a Creative Business With the Seasons
My jewellery business is deeply connected to nature, so perhaps it makes sense that the seasons have gradually become part of the way I work too. Each season seems to bring a different kind of energy.
Winter encourages slowing down and turning inward.
Spring brings movement, ideas, and new beginnings.
Summer feels expansive and alive.
Autumn brings reflection, gathering and preparation.
I don't always follow these patterns perfectly, of course.
There are deadlines, there are orders, there are emails that need answering and jewellery that needs making. Running a small creative business still requires work, even when the sun is shining and the sea is calling, but I have started to become much more conscious of the difference between what needs to be done and what I am simply telling myself I should be doing. That distinction can be surprisingly freeing.
Summer: Less Quantity, More Quality
Summer has become a particularly important reminder of this for me.
Rather than trying to squeeze the same amount of work into the longer days, I have found myself wanting something different.
Less quantity. More quality.
I want to make space, space to work slowly, space to make jewellery without constantly watching the clock, space to follow an idea when it appears, and perhaps most importantly, space to spend time with my daughters.
There is something about summer that makes me want to step outside the rhythm of work and remember why I wanted to create this life in the first place.
So I walk, I swim, I spend time outdoors, I take my daughters into the woods, we spend time by the ocean, we notice things, and I allow myself to simply be there.
The Woods Are Part of My Workbench Too
Sometimes inspiration doesn't arrive while I am sitting at my jewellery bench.
Sometimes it arrives while I am walking through the woods.
In the shape of a branch, the pattern of bark, the way light falls through leaves, a tiny seed, the colour of a flower, the twisting shape of an old tree, these things stay with me.
They may not immediately become a piece of jewellery, but they become part of the collection of images and feelings that I carry back into the workshop. I think this is one of the reasons spending time in nature is so important to creative work. When we are constantly consuming information, there is very little room for our own ideas to emerge. Going outside creates space for that.
Swimming in the Ocean and Letting Go
The ocean has its own way of putting things into perspective.
There is something wonderfully humbling about getting into cold water.
For those few moments, there is no business.
No Instagram. No emails. No list of things that need to be done. There is simply the water, the breath, the temperature, and the world around you.
And then you come out again.
A little more awake, a little more present, a little less caught up in whatever seemed so important before. I think we sometimes underestimate how valuable those moments are when running a business. Rest isn't necessarily time away from creativity. Sometimes it is where creativity begins.
Inspiration Needs Somewhere to Land
One of the things I have learned about creative work is that inspiration cannot really be forced. You can sit at your bench for eight hours and demand that you come up with a brilliant new idea.
Sometimes nothing happens, then you go for a walk.
You see something beautiful, you notice a shape, you remember an old story, you pick up a stone, and suddenly an idea appears. That doesn't mean the walk was unproductive, it means the work was happening somewhere else. This is especially true for a jewellery maker.
My designs are often connected to nature, Irish heritage, folklore and the landscape around me. If I never step outside the workshop, I am cutting myself off from many of the things that inspire the work in the first place. Sometimes the most productive thing I can do is stop producing.
The Invisible Work of Running a Small Business
Of course, there is another side to this.
Running a handmade jewellery business isn't only about making jewellery.
There is photography.
Writing.
Packaging.
Emails.
Bookkeeping.
Website updates.
Social media.
Planning.
Ordering materials.
Answering questions.
Preparing commissions.
And all the little jobs that nobody sees.
It can be very easy for those things to expand and fill every available space.
Especially when your business is something you have built yourself, because when you care deeply about what you do, it can be difficult to switch off.
There is always something else that could be done.
Another email answered, another photograph taken, another product uploaded, another idea written down, another task ticked off the list, but there will always be another task. There will not always be another summer with your children while they are exactly the age they are today. That is something I am trying to remember.
What Am I Actually Building?
This is probably the question underneath all of this.
What am I actually building? Am I building a business that demands every available hour from me? Or am I building a business that supports the life I want to live?
For me, the answer has to be the second.
Of course I want Jenti Forest Jewellery to grow.
I want more people to discover my work, I want to make beautiful jewellery, I want to take on meaningful commissions, I want to tell stories through metal and gemstones, I want to keep learning and developing my craft.
But I also want to be present for my daughters.
I want to walk through woods, I want to swim in the sea, I want to notice the seasons changing, I want to have enough mental space to be creative, I want to enjoy the life that the business is helping me create. Otherwise, what is the point?
A Slower Business Isn't a Less Ambitious Business
I don't think choosing a slower pace means giving up on ambition.
It simply means redefining it.
Maybe ambition doesn't have to mean constant expansion. Maybe success doesn't have to mean being busy all the time. Maybe a successful creative business is one that allows you to make beautiful things while still having a beautiful life.
That doesn't mean everything is always balanced.
There are busy periods, there are stressful periods.
There are times when the business demands more from me than I would like.
But balance doesn't necessarily mean everything receives equal attention every day.
Sometimes balance means knowing what needs your attention now.
And allowing something else to wait.
Learning My Own Rhythm
I am still learning this. I don't have a perfect system.
There are definitely days when I find myself slipping back into the old mindset, believing that I should be doing more, achieving more, and producing more.
But I am becoming better at noticing it.
I am learning to ask myself:
What do I actually have energy for today?
What kind of work feels right for this season?
What would happen if I stopped trying to force it?
What am I saying yes to, and what am I saying no to?
And perhaps most importantly:
Is the way I am running my business helping me create the life I want?
These questions have become surprisingly useful.
The Seasons Remind Us That Rest Is Part of Growth
Look at a tree in winter, and it can appear almost completely still, but beneath the surface, the story hasn't stopped.
The tree is resting, Preparing, Waiting.
There is nothing wasted about that period.
Spring will come, and when it does, the growth will happen because the tree was allowed to rest. I think our creative lives can be like that too.
There are times for making, times for sharing, times for growing, times for learning, times for gathering inspiration, and times for doing very little at all, none of these seasons are failures. They are all part of the process.
What Summer Gives Me
For me, summer is becoming a season of gathering.
Gathering experiences.
Gathering inspiration.
Gathering memories with my daughters.
Gathering sunlight, sea air, and the feeling of being outdoors.
Gathering ideas that may not become jewellery for months or even years.
And I am learning to trust that.
I don't need every experience to immediately become something productive. Sometimes a summer day can simply be a summer day.
A walk can simply be a walk, a swim can simply be a swim, time with my children doesn't need to justify itself by inspiring a new collection, there is value in living simply because we are alive, and perhaps that is one of the most important things a creative business can teach us.
When the Work Feels Worth It
There are difficult days in any business.
There are days when the admin seems endless. Days when orders pile up, days when something doesn't go according to plan, days when you wonder whether you should have chosen an easier path.
But then there are moments like this.
A summer afternoon, my daughters beside me, a walk through the woods, the ocean stretching out in front of us, and I realise that all the hard work of running a business feels so worthwhile when it allows me to slow down and enjoy the wonderful life I have created.
That, to me, is success.
Not simply having a successful jewellery business, but creating a business that makes space for a meaningful life.
From My Workbench: Balance, Not Perfection
Perhaps I have become a little less interested in balance as something we achieve and more interested in balance as something we continually return to.
There will always be seasons when work takes over a little, there will be seasons when family needs more, there will be seasons of intense creativity, there will be quieter periods when nothing seems to be happening, and that's okay. I don't want to build a business that requires me to be the same version of myself every day. I want to build one that has room for all of me.
The maker.
The mother.
The woman who loves the sea.
The person who gets lost in the woods.
The dreamer.
The business owner.
The person who sometimes needs to stop and breathe.
All of these parts belong together, and perhaps that is the real lesson I am learning from the seasons. We don't have to bloom all year.
Making Space for the Life Behind the Jewellery
When someone buys a piece of Jenti Forest Jewellery, they see the finished object.
They see the silver, the gold, the gemstone, the texture, the shape, perhaps they see the story that inspired it.
But behind every piece is a life.
A workshop, a family, a landscape, a collection of experiences.
A person who has spent time looking closely at the natural world and trying to translate some small part of it into something that can be worn. That is why I think the life behind handmade jewellery matters. Creativity doesn't exist separately from life.
It comes from it.
The places we go, the people we love, the things we notice, the stories we remember, the seasons we move through, and sometimes, the quiet moments when we aren't making anything at all.
An Invitation to Slow Down
Perhaps you don't run a creative business, perhaps you have no interest in making jewellery, but I wonder if the same question might be worth asking yourself:
Are you expecting yourself to operate at the same pace all year round?
What might change if you paid a little more attention to your own seasons?
Maybe there is a time when you naturally feel full of energy and ideas.
Maybe there is a time when you need to retreat.
Maybe you are trying to force productivity during a season that is asking you to rest.
We live in a world that is very good at telling us to keep going, sometimes I think we need to hear the opposite.
It's okay to slow down, it's okay to do less, it's okay to step outside, it's okay to spend an afternoon with the people you love, it's okay to allow inspiration to find you, and it's okay if your business and your life, has seasons, because perhaps the goal was never to produce endlessly.
Perhaps the goal is to create something meaningful while still having the time to live it.
For me, that is the kind of business I want Jenti Forest Jewellery to be.
A business built around craftsmanship, creativity, nature and story, but also around family, freedom and a life that feels worth living.
Less quantity. More quality, Less rushing. More noticing, Less forcing. More listening.
And, above all,
balance.
The Story Continues
The seasons will change again, the woods will change colour, the ocean will become colder, the days will shorten. The workshop will become a little quieter, and eventually, another spring will arrive. There will be new ideas waiting, new jewellery to make, new stories to tell.
For now, I am happy.
To gather, to notice, to spend time with my girls, to swim in the sea, to walk through the woods, to make when I feel called to make, and to trust that slowing down isn't taking me away from the work. It is helping me return to it with something worth saying.
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