I admit that I am one of the worst people you can have buying you gifts. I tend to be one of those guys who are shopping on Men’s Day at The Mall, which is more generally referred to as Christmas Eve.
When I was in retail, I would be tired after weeks of selling others gifts and helping them prepare for a special Christmas and shopping for gifts was the last thing I wanted to do. As a result, I would usually resort to purchasing the last thing that Margaret mentioned that was an issue in the house. Range hoods, vacuum cleaners, silver garbage cans, and even a toilet plunger are gifts that I have managed to buy and slip under the tree for my adoring wife. Thank God, our family tradition has more focus on a baby sleeping in a manger than gifts themselves or I would probably spend most Christmas nights sleeping in the barn myself!
Christmas for many small business owners in retail can be a time when they have more sales than at any other time of the year. Seasonal businesses can be frustrating to manage. As an owner, you might focus your efforts on preparing for sales that can be derailed by weather, economy, technology, social changes or just down right bad luck. Imagine if all of your income was based on how you preformed in just a few weeks of the year? You might feel the stress that some owners of seasonal businesses feel. When everything goes just right, you get a bonus, but facing an unforeseen ahiccup and you are scratching to pay the bills for the year. Unfortunately, if they don’t get the timing right, a few missteps can create a year of little or no profits. Christmas for those business owners can be a bleary time indeed.
Owning a business based on seasons can be challenging but by thinking out of the box, some people in business have developed a whole new industry. Here are some examples:
- Ski hills have changed their business by running their lifts in the summer as well. This industry has discovered that they don’t need to be idle when there is no snow. Downhill mountain biking is the rage and by opening up in the summer, and adding a golf course, ski hills around the world have created a new source of income that has allowed some of them to increase their revenue streams that offset years when the snow didn’t show
- Many landscape companies turn to snow scape when the white stuff falls. Snow removal uses much of the same equipment that is used in the summer, just in a different manner. Some landscape companies focus on erecting Christmas lights and Christmas décor. By using your investments differently in different seasons, expenses can become profits. Another option might be to add energy audits or renovation services to those clients with whom you have already built up a trusting relationship.
- Depending on the restaurant, the food business can be very seasonal. To offset this, restaurateurs need to be creative. To diversify their reliance on the seasonal business, some entrepreneurs including some well known big names have moved to adding food trucks to add additional revenue in the off season. One of our clients is developing a plan to diversify from restaurant cooking to specialized cooking classes in the off season.
- Chocolate and flowers are big sellers for 3 days a year: Valentines, Christmas and Mother’s Day are when the majority of these products are sold. Instead of waiting for these very seasonal business opportunities, some entrepreneurs are trying to figure out how they could have a year-round business. Some have created a model where they service hotels, offices and people who want weekly or daily flower arrangements to impress their guests. Chocolate manufacturers look to customized designs for tourist locations to spike summer sales that are typically slower.
- Stoven is a UK based company that was not satisfied with its business of just selling water heaters in the winter and being slow all summer. The company diversified to selling solar panels in the summer and now has a booming business year around.
There are plenty more examples of how you can diversify your business so that you can not be hamstrung by seasonality. The soup shop that sells ice cream, the vacation company that does corporate retreats, bike shops that sell skates or skis. and The Tipsy Elves Christmas Sweater Company that now sells clothing to college students year around are examples of ingenuity that have saved businesses. The options are endless.
Thinking out of the box sometimes takes an outsider to inspire you to see your opportunities. The benefit of creating a business that is busy year-round results in less cash flow challenges and less stress. You might not decide to buy better gifts for Christmas giving but you will probably be in a better position financially to afford them.
- Dave Fuller, MBA, is a certified professional business coach and small business owner. His wife will be receiving a pressure cooker as a gift this year for Christmas and he will be sleeping in the doghouse, unless you send him a better gift idea. Dave can be reached at dave@pivotleader.com
