Taking a break from polished, grown-up professional articles today to step into the sun and share something raw. Every 2–3 years, as my business shifts service lines or clients, I hit a dry spell. Spring is all about new growth, but we forget it requires a fallow season first. Here is a peek inside my personal journal on navigating the quiet phases of a career...

_____

Dry spells are a fact of life. They still suck, as any fact of life does. If you're a solopreneur, a digital nomad, or a consultant, suckage hits at different times and in different ways. How you react and respond matters.

By benefit (or curse) of choosing to be a nomadic solopreneur consultant in Europe for several years, I've enjoyed a great amount of freedom. But also a great amount of responsibility.

It's both a pleasure and chore to set my own schedule, choose which clients to work with, and the scope and parameters of where I do it. The American in me means this phase, this context carries certain expectations and baggage for sure.

_____

Dry spells will mess with your head. Self-pity, doubt, uncertainty, fear, worry, loathing. All of it shows up in some form.  And it shows up differently for everyone, at different times. 

Every 2-3 years, I know my cycle. Too many fundraising/grantwriting clients means fewer strategic/large-scale clients. I dig the former for the challenge, while I dig the latter for certainty. I've been through enough dry spells to know the pattern and that they eventually pass. But they're definitely no fun when you're in them.

_____

I’ve witnessed what happens with other nomadic consultants and remote workers facing transitions. It’s not abstract, it’s real mental and physical exertion. Especially the silence. 

The usual feedback loops you rely on for orientation just thin out. You’re staking your plans and thoughts around the responses you receive. And many times, during intense periods, you have no responses to your queries, your outreach, your poking. Nothing’s coming but time. And that realization, like silence, just sits there with you. Until and unless you do something with it.

It is dangerously easy to treat this silence as a reflection of your worth, your benefit, your value. And your ability to land meaningful work. 

My current dry spell is directly related to earlier choices I made. I purposefully opted not to embrace some larger and longer term opportunities a couple of years ago. Not for lack of interest or lack of confidence, but due to inertia. Maybe lethargy.

IIt’s too easy to overlook and to remember most of the time, silence absence doesn't mean anything. It’s a pause, a signal, and maybe even a gift. A time out you’ve earned from the universe, not a punishment you’ve brought upon yourself. It’s time to adjust, maybe reset. But definitely not to boil, stew, or simmer. And not to freeze. Wherever you happen to be, you have to make a move or ride it out. 

#SpringDrySpell [1/5]