‘Beautiful In Its Time’: How to Embrace the Seasons of a Family Business
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”
– Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NIV)
Every family business has its own rhythm. Sometimes it hums with growth and momentum; other times it slows down, recalibrates, and finds a new direction.
I love this reminder from the Bible: every season has a purpose. While it’s one thing to acknowledge this reality, the challenge comes when family business owners have to:
Discern the season they’re in and
Learn how to embrace it with humility, wisdom, and faith
Let’s look at how life’s circadian rhythms echo through the work of running a family-owned business.
A Time to Plant
Every legacy begins with a seed. The planting season in business is marked by vision, hard work, and risk. It's when families take a leap by founding a company, adding a new product line, or bringing in the next generation.
The sowing season is anything but glamorous. It’s marked with stress and worry, long, backbreaking hours, and anxious, restless nights. Planting the seeds of your legacy requires weathering the harshest of elements: time.
This season demands patience and perseverance. You won’t see immediate results. But rest assured, the work you’re doing is already taking root under the surface and out of sight.
Ask Yourself
What seeds are we planting today for the next generation?
A Time to Grow
“For a seed to achieve its greatest expression, it must come completely undone. The shell cracks, its insides come out, and everything changes. To someone who doesn't understand growth, it would look like complete destruction.” -Cynthia Occelli
Growth isn’t linear. It's an act of evolution. A metamorphosis. What got you to where you are today won’t get you to where you want to go tomorrow.
Growth begs you to let go of what no longer serves and rise up to new challenges. It demands new skills, better systems, new roles, greater preparation, and deeper trust.
Your destruction will foster the seedlings you first planted into mighty roots.
Ask Yourself
What do you need to leave behind to keep growing?
A Time to Harvest
A meaningful harvest feels abundant. You have so much to show for your years of planting, growing, and working.
Your family
Your business
Your impact in the community
Your financial portfolio
Your relationships
Your legacy
A Time to Guide
Harvesting isn’t about reaching an end goal. It’s about celebrating and honoring the end of one cycle and the start of the next. Harvest is also a time for stewardship.
Don’t take a back seat to the next chapter of your story. This is when legacy decisions are made.
Who will carry the torch next?
Are we stewarding our profits in a way that reflects our values?
Harvest is a fulfilling reward and a great responsibility. It's the time to pour into others: mentoring the next generation, investing in your community, or giving generously to causes that matter.
Ask Yourself
Have you prepared the next generation to take over your stewardship?
A Time to Move On
Letting go of the land you’ve devoted your life to cultivating and nurturing can be devastating. Whether it’s selling the business, retiring, or passing the baton, moving on must be part of your journey.
Succession is inevitable, but can be deeply rewarding.
Ecclesiastes reminds us that “God has made everything beautiful in its time” (3:11). Letting go doesn’t mean failure. It doesn’t need to set you adrift. A strategic succession plan will be a lifeline for you during this transition.
Succession means that your work in the field is complete. You have helped to create something absolutely beautiful in your time. And as the seasons change, it’s time to step aside, let the next generation lead, and turn your energy toward something new. It’s time again to plant, to grow, and to harvest the next chapter of your life.
Ask Yourself
Do I have a robust succession plan in place?
For All Seasons
Ask Yourself
What season are you in right now?
Are you trying to harvest before you’ve planted? Are you resisting the need to prune during growth? Are you clinging to something you're meant to release?
Your family business is part of a bigger story. Embrace the season you’re in. Lean in with intention.
Book a call with me today to learn how The Family Business Coach can help you identify your current season or navigate a transition in your family business.
