Every summer, I hear professionals talk about how business slows down. Clients are on vacation. Colleagues are taking time off. There are fewer meetings on the calendar, and many people begin looking ahead to September when everything seems to become busy again. I’ve always looked at this time of year differently. When the pace eases up, I don’t think about what isn’t happening. I think about everything I finally have time to do.

For most professionals, business development, networking and personal branding are always competing with client work, internal meetings, deadlines and everything else that fills the day. Those responsibilities naturally come first, which means the activities that help you build your practice or advance your career often get postponed. Before you know it, months have gone by and you’ve barely had time to reconnect with your network, update your LinkedIn profile, write an article or invest in the relationships that have helped you throughout your career.

That’s why I think July and August are so valuable. They give you the opportunity to work on your business while continuing to work in your business. The time you invest now may not produce immediate results, but it often creates opportunities that appear months later. Relationships develop over time, your reputation grows through consistent visibility and business development is much easier when you’ve already laid the groundwork.

If you’ve been telling yourself you’ll focus on these things “when work slows down,” this is your opportunity!

Reconnect With the People Who Already Know You

When people think about business development, they often focus on meeting new people. Building your network is important, but I think many professionals overlook one of their greatest assets: the relationships they’ve already built.

Think about everyone you’ve met throughout your career. Former colleagues. Former clients. Mentors. Professors. Classmates. Alumni. Referral sources. Recruiters. People you’ve met through conferences, professional organizations or volunteer work. Those relationships represent years of experience, trust and shared history, yet many of them sit dormant because everyone gets busy. Summer is a wonderful time to reconnect.

Reach out to someone you’ve been meaning to call. Invite a former colleague to lunch. Grab coffee with a mentor. Send an email to someone you haven’t spoken with in a while and ask how they’re doing. You don’t need a reason to reconnect, and you certainly don’t need to wait until you have something to ask for.

The strongest professional relationships are built through regular conversations, not occasional requests. Staying in touch consistently keeps relationships active and makes it much easier to reach out when an opportunity naturally presents itself.

Ideas to consider:

  • Reach out to one former colleague each week.
  • Schedule coffee with a mentor or former professor.
  • Reconnect with classmates or alumni.
  • Make a list of your most important professional relationships and create a plan to stay in touch throughout the year.

Let LinkedIn Do Some of the Work for You

One of the easiest ways to reconnect with people is by paying attention to what LinkedIn is already showing you. Every day you’ll see notifications about promotions, new jobs, work anniversaries, speaking engagements, publications and professional accomplishments. Most people respond by clicking “Congratulations” and moving on. Those notifications are invitations to start conversations.

If someone starts a new role, send them a personal note asking how they’re settling in. If someone publishes an article, tell them what you enjoyed about it. If a former colleague celebrates a work anniversary, use it as an opportunity to catch up. These conversations feel natural because they are. You’re responding to something happening in another person’s career instead of reaching out unexpectedly months or years later.

While you’re spending time on LinkedIn, take a fresh look at your own presence. Update your headline and About section if they’ve become outdated. Add recent accomplishments, speaking engagements, articles or certifications. Refresh your Featured section, upload a current headshot if needed and make sure your experience reflects the work you want to be known for. If someone lands on your profile after hearing from you, it should tell the story you want them to remember.

This is also a great time to review your LinkedIn network. Connect with people you’ve met at conferences but never added. Update your CRM with job changes and new companies. Identify your VIP contacts and think about how you’d like to stay connected with them over the coming months. Small, consistent interactions strengthen relationships much more effectively than waiting until you need something.

If you’d like some accountability and guidance while you work on all of this, my next LinkedIn Mastermind begins in a few weeks. We’ll spend six weeks enhancing your profile, building a networking strategy, creating content that reflects your expertise and making sure you’re positioned for the opportunities you want. You’ll also meet and learn from some amazing people in the group. Summer is the perfect time to do the work before everyone comes back at full speed in the fall.

Create Content Before Your Calendar Fills Up Again

One of the questions I hear most often is how people can stay consistent with content when they’re so busy. My advice is to stop thinking about content one week at a time.

Summer is a great opportunity to build a content library that will serve you throughout the rest of the year. Write the article you’ve been putting off. Draft several LinkedIn posts. Create a client alert. Outline a webinar. Record a few videos. Develop a content series around questions your clients ask repeatedly.

You don’t have to publish everything immediately. Having content ready before your calendar becomes full again removes a tremendous amount of pressure. Instead of wondering what you’re going to write every week, you’ll already have ideas and drafts waiting for you.

This is also a good time to think beyond LinkedIn. Could you write an article for your firm’s website? Launch a newsletter? Update resources on your website? Prepare presentations you’ll be giving later in the year? Those projects often require uninterrupted time, and many professionals find they have a little more flexibility during the summer months.

Look for Opportunities to Increase Your Visibility

Your personal brand is shaped by so much more than your LinkedIn activity. Think about the organizations and communities where you’d like to become more involved. Summer is a great time to volunteer for a bar association committee, participate in a nonprofit, become involved with your alumni association or explore pro bono opportunities. If teaching interests you, consider presenting a CLE program or exploring opportunities to become an adjunct professor.

These experiences help you expand your network while demonstrating your expertise. They also introduce you to professionals you might never have met otherwise. Many referral relationships begin because people worked together on a committee, served on a board or collaborated on a project.

Choose activities that genuinely interest you. You’ll contribute more, enjoy the experience and build stronger relationships along the way.

Find Ways to Help Other People

One habit that’s made a meaningful difference in my own networking is looking for opportunities to help other people. That help doesn’t always involve making a referral. It might mean introducing two people who should know each other. It could be sending someone an article that reminded you of them, sharing one of their LinkedIn posts, recommending them for a speaking opportunity or congratulating them on a recent accomplishment with a thoughtful note.

Those interactions don’t take very long, but they demonstrate that you’re paying attention and thinking about other people. Over time, those small moments strengthen relationships and help you stay top of mind. Business development isn’t built around one conversation or one meeting. It’s the result of consistently investing in relationships over months and years.

Strengthen the Foundation You’ve Already Built

Summer is also a great time to spend time on the projects that support your business development efforts throughout the rest of the year.

Review your LinkedIn profile and make sure it reflects the work you’re doing today. Update your firm biography. Add recent speaking engagements, publications and accomplishments. Request a few LinkedIn recommendations from people you’ve worked with recently. Organize your CRM and make sure your contact information is current. Review your website, update your speaker biography and refresh any marketing materials that no longer reflect your experience.

These projects are easy to postpone because they don’t have an immediate deadline. At the same time, they make a meaningful difference when opportunities arise. Whether someone is considering referring work to you, inviting you to speak or looking you up after meeting you at an event, they’ll have a much stronger impression if your professional presence accurately reflects who you are today.

Think Beyond the Summer

One of the reasons I like to focus on business development during July and August is because I know the results often appear much later.

The person you reconnect with today may introduce you to a client six months from now. The article you write this summer may lead to a speaking engagement next year. The LinkedIn post you publish today may be remembered when someone needs your experience months down the road.

That’s how professional relationships work. They’re built over time through consistent effort, thoughtful communication and a genuine interest in staying connected. The professionals who seem to have the strongest networks and the most opportunities usually aren’t doing anything extraordinary. They’ve made business development part of their routine, and they continue investing in it even when they’re busy.

July and August give you the opportunity to make meaningful progress before the pace picks up again. Use that time wisely. Reconnect with people, strengthen your professional brand, create content, become more involved in your industry and invest in the relationships that have supported your career. When September arrives, you’ll be building on the work you’ve already done instead of wondering where to begin.

Key Takeaways to Maximize July and August for Your Business Development and Marketing

  • Reconnect with mentors, former colleagues, alumni, clients and other important contacts.
  • Use LinkedIn notifications as opportunities to start conversations.
  • Build a library of content before your calendar becomes busy again.
  • Look for opportunities to teach, speak, volunteer and become more involved in your profession.
  • Find simple ways to help people in your network throughout the year.
  • Update your LinkedIn profile, biography, CRM and other marketing materials.
  • Create a plan for staying visible and connected long after summer is over.

Most people treat July and August as a time to slow down professionally. I see them as an opportunity to get ahead. While everyone else is waiting until September to think about networking, marketing and business development, you can use these next few weeks to strengthen your relationships, build your visibility and put yourself in a much better position for what’s next. Your future opportunitie s are often shaped by the work you do long before they appear.

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