In astrology, the planet Mercury rules communication. There are 3-4 times every year that Mercury appears to travel backwards in the sky. These are the periods that people call Mercury retrograde. Many dread Mercury retrograde since there is a tendency for things to go haywire, whether in your personal or business life. But did you know that there are also positives to Mercury retrograde periods? In this article, you’ll learn how entrepreneurs can harness the energy of Mercury retrograde to make informed decisions, influence their marketing, and more.
What if it’s possible to reimagine Mercury retrograde as a positive time that moves you forward in business? This isn’t toxic positivity; I’ll share the aspects of these periods that can help your business thrive while also alerting you to some of the potential pitfalls.
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Mercury retrograde is an excellent time to learn from the past
Author Marianne Williamson said, “Whatever worked in the past, build on it: whatever didn’t work in the past, break the chain that binds you to it.” As an entrepreneur, I’m sure you have a ton on your plate, but revisiting your past will help you shape a more aligned future.
Take an inventory of past decisions that have shaped this current iteration of your business. Has anything gotten lost in the shuffle? The cool thing about Mercury retrograde is that it supports you in looking backwards, so these are the perfect periods to do this type of introspective work.
Now, here are some hands-on exercises for entrepreneurs like you to harness the energy of Mercury retrograde.
Pull out your journal
“Listen, Willow, I’m a busy entrepreneur. I don’t have time to be sitting around sipping tea, putting pen to paper. I’ve got bills to pay.”
I hear you. But what if the time commitment was minimal, and it helped you more clearly envision your next business steps?
Consider devoting 15 minutes a day during the approximately 3 weeks of Mercury retrograde to answering questions that will help you better understand what you need. Basically, you want to delve into anything that has happened in your past that affects you and your business now.
Here are a few questions to ask to get you started.
- What’s something valuable from the past that I can recreate?
- What have been some of the most uncomfortable moments of business ownership? Why were they uncomfortable? What can they teach me about this period of life?
- Who are past clients that I’d like to work with again? How can I help them now?
- Which entrepreneurs or organizations have I collaborated with in the past, and who would I like to work with again?
- What are some old projects that I’d like to dust off?
- What have been some of my biggest lessons in life? Thinking of those lessons, how can I create a business that supports the current version of my life’s purpose?
Let the reflective spirit of Mercury retrograde aid you in answering these tough questions. And, feel free to add questions of your own. The clearer you are on your motivations and what you need for this period of your life, the more successful you will be in creating a business that supports you.
What to watch out for: recrimination
Some say Mercury retrograde is a time to do everything that starts with “re.” But, that does not include recrimination. Beating yourself up about past decisions is not the goal. Instead, imagine yourself as an impartial observer; you’d be giving the person who made these decisions (you) a lot of grace. The goal is simply to use the past to inform your present, not to see where you made mistakes.
“Whatever worked in the past, build on it: whatever didn’t work in the past, break the chain that binds you to it.”
Marianne Williamson
Talk to yourself
No, not that way, silly. Mercury retrograde shifts the focus from outward to inward, and this makes it easier to get in touch with your intuition. If you create quiet time for soul-searching, this can get you more clarity about what is truly right for you and your business.
Although bro marketers might scoff, you shouldn’t discount your intuition. The Harvard Business Review calls it, “a form of emotional and experiential data that leaders need to value.” The truth is, it’s a powerful business tool, especially when you run a purpose-led entrepreneurial venture. Your intuition will help you get crystal clear on what fuels you, and what steps to take next.
What to watch out for: confusing good risk with bad risk
Your intuition might be pushing you to try something new. Many times, our bodies react to new and unknown paths the same way as they would to a saber-tooth tiger. When you feel deeper into your body, your inner knowing, your intention, you may find subtle differences, though. And these clues can help you decide if this is the right next step for you on your entrepreneurial journey.
Reach out to old clients
Starting a new engagement, especially when you have to sign an agreement during Mercury retrograde isn’t usually recommended. But this is the ideal time to get in touch with clients you worked with in the past. Since you already have a relationship with these clients, Mercury retrograde supports reaching out to them. Share some of the ways you could help them in this season to make working with you again a no-brainer.
What to watch out for; confusion
Make sure you’re reaching out in a clear and succinct way. If that’s by email, you’ll want to double and triple-check your letter before hitting send. If you’re picking up the phone, you may want to create a loose script so you don’t get flustered. Communication can get shaky during Mercury retrograde, so make sure you approach this task with a full understanding of these dangers.
Reflect and innovate: Reimagine old marketing campaigns
First, get clear on your marketing goals for the next six months. Then, look back at a few pieces of content or past campaigns that still feel relevant or unfinished. These might be emails, blog posts, social posts, or even a general theme you’ve explored but never fully developed.
The work here isn’t about reusing content as-is. It’s about asking: How could this idea be reimagined for this season of my business? What would it look like with the clarity and perspective I have now?
This is exactly the kind of work we do in a Content Clarity Session.
In this 90-minute session, you come in with:
- A few pieces of old content or
- A theme or campaign idea you want to revisit
And together we:
- Re-envision the idea for where your business is now
- Identify what still has legs — and what no longer needs your energy
- Explore how the idea could evolve into a refreshed campaign, lead magnet, or focused content direction
- Create 1-2 finished pieces of content
- Identify ~3 ideas for how to repurpose that content
Instead of starting from scratch or feeling stuck in the past, you leave with a clearer, more grounded way forward; one that builds on what you’ve already created without requiring a full content overhaul.
If you’ve been feeling unsure how to reuse or evolve your existing ideas, a Content Clarity Session offers a supportive, focused space to reflect, recalibrate, and move ahead with intention.
I offer this service year-round, but if you sign up during Mercury retrograde, it gives me an extra push of support from the universe.
What to watch out for: potential pitfalls
Don’t put out brand-new marketing campaigns
When it comes to marketing, it’s better not to start a totally new campaign during a Mercury retrograde period. But planning your marketing for after the retrograde period is over is perfectly fine.
Double-check for clarity and accuracy
Even if you’re just putting out your regularly scheduled marketing during Mercury retrograde, it still pays to be careful. You might be thinking, “I always am, Willow!” But the thing is, during Mercury retrograde, your normal communication style may not work like it usually does. That’s why I recommend double and triple-checking your emails, blogs, social media posts–everything you plan to share.
Maximize your efforts with content repurposing
Repurposing is remixing your existing content to use in a new manner or for a new purpose. Why publish your content only once when it has so much more potential? Your ideas deserve to shine, and that means you need to share them more than once.
Use the power of Mercury retrograde to take old content and reshape it into something new. You may see some similarities to the marketing section of this blog, but here are some ways to structure your repurposing work.
First, think about your business goals for the next 6 months.
Now, take a look at your existing content, whether that’s on your blog, on social media or elsewhere. Find content that falls into these three ideal categories for repurposing: content that did well, content that didn’t do well, and content that showcases your expertise and thought leadership.
Once you’ve decided on the content you plan to repurpose, you can start to think about the best format to reshare your ideas. Maybe you’d like to use one of your blog posts to create a carousel post. Find the key points in your blog post and condense them down into clear, short statements. Next, design carousel posts with minimal text and a clear call to action at the end.
You don’t need to move the content to a different platform. Perhaps you had an Instagram post that did really well, and you’d like to share the same ideas again in a different way. How about sharing that info as a Reel? I made this tutorial to show you how.
For pieces that haven’t performed as well as you’ve hoped, but speak to your expertise, come up with new ways to share these ideas again. Try new types of content (for instance, if you shared it as a short form video, try a long form blog post instead), or expanding on or simplifying the topic.
What to watch out for; the content hamster wheel
For entrepreneurs, content repurposing is a strategy that can help you streamline your content creation. It means you’re able to create more content pieces from a single idea, but I don’t think it should be used just to increase output. Put the purpose in repurposing, and make sure that there is a reason for everything you create.
Restart a project that you didn’t finish
What with client work, scaling your business, communicating with contractors, managing social media, not to mention the shitshow of the pandemic and all that meant for our world, can we acknowledge that you’re working really hard? You have to decide what’s most important at any given moment, and that means some things get put on the back burner, or even fall through the cracks.
As you’re exploring the past, think about whether you had projects you were excited about that didn’t come to fruition. How can you modify those ideas to serve your here and now? Do you need any support to make them a reality? And, read this article for more inspiration on restarting abandoned projects.
Organize your files and records
Getting rid of old physical or digital files that you don’t need anymore can feel like a big sigh of relief. Consider shredding physical documents that you don’t need anymore and adding them to your compost. And, deleting old emails, files on your desktop, and downloads reduces your digital carbon footprint and gives you extra clarity as you work.
Mercury retrograde can be a great time to organize your business or personal finances as well. Create digitized records of your receipts and get rid of the paper copies, rework your weekly budget, and organize your medical records for reimbursement.
What to watch out for: carelessness or procrastination
Take your time
Make sure you don’t throw out valuable records. How to avoid this? Don’t pressure yourself to work too quickly.
Peer support
If you want to get rid of some of the clutter but never seem to get around to it, how about body doubling with a friend or partner? The online program Focusmate is a great option too, because you can find a partner to co-work with you at any time of the day.
How to navigate the uncertainty of Mercury retrograde
As an entrepreneur, you already deal with a lot of uncertainty. And the pandemic was a further reminder that life and business are uncertain. If it taught us anything, it was that our best-laid plans might spontaneously combust.
The good news is that all this uncertainty has made us more resilient. If you remain aware that you may deal with more uncertainty during Mercury retrograde and you’re okay with that, there is a higher chance you will emerge unscathed.
Although many focus on the negatives and uncertainties of Mercury retrograde, you will be much more powerful if you let Mercury support you with its reflective energy. Try some of the activities in this article, and see how they work for you.
Look, Mercury retrograde keeps us on our toes. It comes every 3-4 months, just when you’re least expecting it. But marking these periods on your calendar, and batching out some of the reflective tasks you’d like to work on, can be a great way to not let it take you by too much surprise.
During Mercury retrograde
Book a Content Clarity Session, and I will comb through your existing content, notes, drafts, and ideas to help you uncover what is worth bringing back to life. Mercury retrograde is an ideal time to review the past: patterns, old posts, half-finished thoughts, and use them to spark fresh direction.
If you want to get more value out of what you have already created or explore ideas that could become offers, lead magnets, or stronger content, this session will help you see what is ready to evolve.
After Mercury retrograde
Once Mercury goes direct again, it is the perfect moment to move forward with clarity and momentum. This is where I love supporting entrepreneurs through deeper content strategy and repurposing, whether that is inside my OSO GOOD Content Strategy Intensive or through ongoing one-on-one work.
If you spent the retrograde reviewing old content, you likely have a lot you are excited to build. I can help you turn that into a cohesive content plan and create pieces that support your offers and speak clearly to your audience.
Harness the energy of Mercury retrograde…or at least try; what do you have to lose?
Look, whether you believe in astrology or not, revisiting the past to inform the future is a solid business practice. Now that you know how entrepreneurs can use the energy of Mercury retrograde, I hope you’ll try some of these activities. These Mercury Rx periods support us in learning from the past, and you’ll be able to bring these learnings into your present. Let me know how it goes in a comment below!
