The first week of July always brings a shift to Emma Carlisle’s studio.
Emails slow down. Client requests become fewer and more casual. Her team trickles into the office later than usual, coffee in hand, sunglasses still perched on their heads. The energy at Carlisle Creative feels lighter, and Emma, for once, isn’t fighting fires. She knows the summer lull is here—and while it’s tempting to spend the quiet days catching up on design inspiration or finally organizing the prop closet, Emma has something else in mind.
She’s turning her attention to her books.
It hasn’t always been this way. Emma avoided bookkeeping like the plague in her early years as a solo graphic designer. She’d leave receipts in a shoebox, ignore reconciling transactions for months, and cross her fingers every tax season. But as Carlisle Creative grew—now a bustling design studio with a small team and international clients—Emma realized that ignoring the numbers was costing her more than just stress. It was affecting her ability to scale.
So now, when summer comes, Emma doesn’t see a slowdown. She considers space to reset.
The Mid-Year Moment
One sunny afternoon in early July, Emma sat down with her iced coffee, opened her laptop, and logged into the Number Crunchers® client portal. It was time for her mid-year check-in.
She reviewed her year-to-date profit and loss statement. The year’s first half had been solid, with a few standout projects from a new tech client in California. Expenses were tracking well, though she made a mental note to revisit a few software subscriptions. Most importantly, her cash flow was steady—a massive improvement from past summers, when late invoices and high overhead gave her anxiety.
A quick Zoom with her advisor at Number Crunchers® confirmed what she suspected: she was in a strong position to invest in growth. Maybe that second office in Calgary wasn’t a far-off dream after all.
Letting the Systems Work
What made this year feel different, Emma realized, wasn’t just that she had more time—it was that she had better systems. All her systems were automated. QuickBooks Online synced with her bank accounts, and Dext handled her receipts. Invoices went out on schedule, and she got alerts when payments were overdue.
She remembered the chaos of summers past, scrolling through old emails to figure out which client still owed her, or where the Uber Eats charges had come from. Not anymore. With Number Crunchers® behind her, Emma wasn’t just organized—she was in control.
She clicked through her transaction list, cleaning up any loose ends. A couple of charges needed recategorizing, and she shot a quick Slack message to her assistant to upload missing receipts. It took less than half an hour to get everything squared away.
The Summer Clean-Up
With the basics done, Emma turned her attention to something she’d meant to do since April: documenting her internal processes.
She pulled up a blank Google Doc outlining how the studio handles client billing—from proposal to payment. It felt good to get it all out of her head. If her studio was going to scale, she couldn’t be the only one who knew how the finances flowed.
She even drafted a short onboarding checklist for her team to follow when a new project began. It included steps like tagging the project in their time-tracking tool and flagging billable expenses immediately. These are simple things, but they made a huge difference when it came time to reconcile everything later.
Looking Ahead
Later that week, Emma met with a fellow agency owner for lunch on a patio overlooking the water. They talked about their summer plans—Emma was heading to Tofino for a long weekend—but the conversation quickly turned to business.
“Isn’t it hard to focus when everything slows down?” her friend asked.
Emma smiled. “Actually, this is when I get the most clarity. It’s like the dust settles and I can finally see where we’re going.”
That night, she sat on her deck, laptop balanced on her knees, and mapped out her goals for the fall. She wanted to pitch three new lifestyle brands, update her pricing packages, and possibly hire a junior designer. With her books in order, she could make those decisions confidently.
A Quiet Season, a Strong Foundation
Summer doesn’t have to be a time of uncertainty. It’s become her strategic season for Emma—the time to shore up her foundation so she can hit the ground running when September rolls around.
Her story is a reminder that the quiet months aren’t empty. They’re full of possibility—if you know where to look.
Start Your Financial Journey with Number Crunchers® today and discover how we can support your business’s growth and help you achieve your goals. Like Emma, you don’t have to navigate the summer slowdown alone. We’ll help you keep your books in order so your business stays strong all year.