Why the End-of-Year Is the Season for Business Perspective

Winter isn’t just about surviving. It can actually be the most valuable season for clarity.

There’s something about the shift into the colder months that makes business owners pause. Maybe it’s the darker mornings, or the way the year-end deadline looms like a shadow across the next few months. Suddenly we’re all thinking about where the money has gone, whether there’s enough left for tax, and if we can squeeze in one last push before Christmas. Couple that with the seemingly never-ending turmoil politically, economically and socially at the minute and it can be very easy to feel downtrodden, and desperate to start again next year. But winter isn’t just about surviving. It can actually be the most valuable season for clarity.

I was speaking with a founder recently at an event who admitted they dread this time of year. Not because their business is struggling, it was actually quite the opposite. They’d grown faster than they expected, but that success came with a constant, gnawing anxiety: Do I really know where I stand? Am I about to be blindsided by a bill? It’s hard to celebrate the wins when you’re lying awake at 3 in the morning wondering if you’ve forgotten something. That’s the strange thing about business: profit doesn’t always bring peace of mind. Confidence does.

In all my years in Business, I've come to realise that this time of year has a funny way of forcing you to look inward. By now, almost a full year’s worth of numbers are sitting in your accounts. The story of your year is there if you’re willing to look at it properly. When you do, you see patterns: the busy months, the dips, the cash flow gaps you smoothed over but never want to repeat.

So maybe the question isn’t “How do I get through the winter?” but rather: “How do I use it?”

Think of it like pulling out the winter coats from the attic. Some still fit, some don’t, and a few make you wonder why you ever bought them in the first place. Your finances are the same: some things worked, some didn’t, and some need to be retired before you carry them into another year. So maybe the question isn’t “How do I get through the winter?” but rather: “How do I use it to my advantage?

If you want to step into 2026 with more than just hope, it starts now, not in January. Not after the tax deadline, but here in the (soon to be) darker days, when clarity matters most. If you’re reading this thinking you’d quite like that clarity but don’t know where to start, we're hosting a webinar on the topic on Wednesday, 8th October at 2:00pm. Myself and Steven will be covering how to be End-of-Year Ready: Build Money Confidence Before January 31st. Click the link below to register.

By Michael Rutherford