Every September, I notice the same thing. My inbox fills up with messages from professionals who want to update their LinkedIn profiles, become more active on social media, reconnect with their networks, speak at conferences, write articles or become more visible in their industries. Many of them have been thinking about these goals for months. Some have been thinking about them for years.

The problem is that by the time September arrives, everyone is busy again. Client demands pick up. Meetings fill the calendar. Kids go back to school. Conferences start. The fourth quarter begins creeping into view. The intention is there, but the time isn’t. That’s one of the reasons I believe summer is one of the most overlooked opportunities of the year for professional growth.

While many people view summer as a time to take a break from business development and marketing, I have always viewed it differently. Summer creates space. Not unlimited space, but enough space to finally focus on some of the things that are difficult to prioritize during the rest of the year.

For professionals, especially lawyers, executives, consultants, recruiters and business owners, most days are spent reacting.

  • Responding to emails.
  • Serving clients.
  • Attending meetings.
  • Managing projects.
  • Handling whatever issue happens to be most urgent at that moment.

There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s part of the job. The challenge is that many important career-building activities never feel urgent. Nobody sends a reminder asking whether you’ve strengthened your professional network. Nobody follows up to see if you’ve updated your LinkedIn profile. Nobody calls to ask whether you’ve developed a strategy for becoming more visible in your industry. As a result, these things often get postponed. Then another year goes by.

One of the biggest misconceptions I encounter is that personal branding, networking and business development are activities that can be turned on whenever they are needed.

Someone wants more clients, so they decide to start networking. Someone wants to be considered for leadership, so they decide to become more visible. Someone wants speaking opportunities, so they suddenly begin creating content. Unfortunately, that’s not usually how it works.

Most opportunities are the result of groundwork that was laid months or even years earlier. The referral often comes from a relationship that has been nurtured over time. The speaking invitation usually follows years of sharing expertise and building credibility. The client opportunity may come from someone who has been quietly following your content for months before reaching out. The promotion often reflects a reputation that has been built through consistent visibility and relationship building. What looks like overnight success is usually anything but. I’ve seen this repeatedly throughout my career.

People often ask how I built a network of more than 40,000 followers on LinkedIn, how I became known in the legal marketing industry or how I ended up being invited to participate in LinkedIn’s Mastermind program for creators. The answer is not a single post, a single article or a single networking event. It was years of showing up. Years of writing. Years of sharing ideas. Years of building relationships. Years of participating in conversations. Years of helping people. The opportunities came later. The work came first. That lesson applies to virtually every professional.

The people who seem to have the strongest networks didn’t build them overnight. The people who are regularly invited to speak didn’t wake up one morning and decide to become thought leaders. The people who are top of mind in their industries didn’t suddenly appear. There was a process behind the outcome. Summer provides an ideal opportunity to focus on that process.

Summer is often a natural pause point. It’s an opportunity to reconnect with former colleagues, classmates and professional contacts.

Take a fresh look at your LinkedIn profile and ask yourself whether it reflects who you are today and where you want to go next. Consider what you want to be known for and whether your online presence reinforces that message.

This is also a good time to create content that highlights your expertise, explore speaking and writing opportunities and get involved in professional organizations that align with your interests and goals.

And while you’re evaluating your visibility, don’t overlook AI. More people are using AI-powered search tools to find professionals, making it worthwhile to understand how you appear in those results and what information is associated with your name.

The way people find information is changing rapidly. More people are using ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot and other AI tools to identify experts, research service providers and learn about people before reaching out.

  • Your digital footprint matters.
  • The content you create matters.
  • Your LinkedIn profile matters.
  • The information available about you online matters.

Whether you are actively paying attention to these things or not, they contribute to how people perceive you.

One of the questions I often ask professionals is simple: What do you want to be known for? Most people answer quickly. Then I ask a second question. Does your online presence reflect that? The answer is often very different. Many professionals have impressive experience, valuable expertise and compelling stories but very little visibility. They assume people know what they do. They assume people understand their strengths. They assume opportunities will find them.

Sometimes they do. Often they don’t. Visibility helps bridge that gap.

The professionals who are considered for opportunities are often the ones people remember. When your expertise, accomplishments and interests are visible, it’s easier for others to connect you to the opportunities, introductions and conversations that align with your goals.

Summer is one of the few times of year when many professionals have the breathing room to address these issues thoughtfully. That breathing room is valuable.

In many ways, summer serves as a bridge between where you are today and where you want to be six months from now. The actions you take during the summer can influence the opportunities available to you in the fall, next year and beyond. That’s one of the reasons I created the Social Media Butterfly Personal Branding Summer School.

For years, I’ve worked with professionals who wanted to strengthen their personal brands, expand their networks, become more visible and create more opportunities for themselves. Many knew these things were important. They simply needed a framework, guidance and accountability. My Personal Branding Summer School is designed to help professionals use this season intentionally.

We’ll cover personal branding, LinkedIn strategy, networking, content creation, AI visibility, speaking opportunities, thought leadership and practical ways to raise your profile without feeling overwhelmed.

Most importantly, we’ll focus on building a foundation that continues to create opportunities long after summer ends. Summer is going to pass regardless of how you spend it.

The question is whether you’ll enter September exactly where you are today or whether you’ll use the next few months to invest in yourself, your visibility and your future.

From my experience, the professionals who make that investment rarely regret it. I hope you’ll sign up for my Personal Branding Summer School!

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