Do you have a seasonal business? ☀️❄️

[ElisabethB]

Hi, everyone! How many of you have a business that is seasonal? During which months do you operate, and what do you do during the off-season?

[rhudson385]

We are 95% seasonal for now. April thru October we wash and wax boats of all types and the rest of the time we get regular jobs if we haven’t saved up enough money to cover our winter bills and expenses 😁

[Gilbertetienne]

Hi , my is seasonal specially when school end , but that only job I have so I still work .

it’s not same

[VanKalkerFarms]

We are seasonal in the fact our retail and wholesale are only open April thru June.  during that time we peak with 30 employees and the drop to 5 employees year-round.  starting in January we start ramping up opening greenhouses to plant for flower sales later and we slowly start ramping up employees too.  We don't have an off-season as we are either building more greenhouses or other expansions and we also have 2 year-round bakeries as a separate business.

[Bronze_Palms]

I would say we operate a majority of our business from May to September. We don't run promos outside of those times and instead have seen traffic pick up when we run packages for specific events. It suggests that they need a spray tan for these events that they would have wanted one for but maybe didn't think about it. Being in CA where its typically always warm, I feel like I could expand our season better than I do - growing!!

[lipsology]

Yes and no.  For party entertainment there are busier times of year such as fall into winter because that’s when a lot of people have parties. That has changed a bit since I started doing Lipsology (lip print reading) which is great for things like birthdays, bachelorette and bridal showers, wedding events, and corporate and private parties of all sorts which happen all year round.

There does tend to be a slow down usually in the beginning of the year after New Year’s and in July and August but people are still having special birthdays and gatherings even at this time of year.  

When things slow down what I do is work on my promotional materials and I often will take a short vacation. Now that people are more used to doing virtual events I can even entertain virtually when I am vacationing. For instance, when I was entertaining on a cruise ship for a cruise line last May, I was able to use the ship’s high-speed Internet to entertain for a couple of parties and do a couple of private readings virtually on zoom. It was absolutely wonderful! It’s not always possible to do that sort of thing on a cruise ship because there’s too many people using the Wi-Fi at one time but this ship was less crowded than usual.  Another tricky thing was attempting to figure out the time zone difference.  When I got to where I was going I also entertained for a bachelorette party that I would’ve been doing virtually even if I was at home. One thing I made certain of was to make sure in advance that I had access to the Internet where I was going that was a good strong connection. That was a big part of why I chose the place I stayed at when I was vacationing. This helped my vacation be a time when I wasn’t losing money as much as I would have had I not had access to the Internet because May is not a time that I normally travel.

[midwest-aromas]

I am mostly doing fairs spring - fall, & during the winter months use my instagram to funnel buyers to my square online.

[SilverMediaLLC]

I consider business number 2 Minevera's Soaps to be Spring -> Fall I close up for Mid-winter -> Early Spring. This year's been terrible, got the State hounding me for not paying taxes. Hello? I made -$3 dollars! Plus they's demanding $100+ in Taxes how's that make any sense? So, instead, I'm trying to focus on  my Poetry book and putting together a Private investment circle since I have writings ready-to-go for 12 established bands that love my writings. I just need to cover US Copyright & Publications and I'd be good! But hold-up there is no moneys 😞 Need $600 minimum to cover those costs plus 2 book signings.

[CraftyLadies]

I am very seasonal. I do between 3-4 craft shows per year. (October -December). I do knit, crochet, woven, and decorative crafts. I do this with my grandma and nana. I've always loved to crochet and I loom knit and weave. It was something to bring in a little extra money around the holidays and to make gifts for my family and friends. 

[CandyCane]

I do craft shows from August thru November with  my floral wreaths. 2 years ago, I added year end sales by adding a Christmas tree decorating service. Keeps me busy thru January. I still work a full time job but i am heading into retirement and looking to take part of my business online.

[BombC]

✋I do ... Chocolate biz in AZ - This year I closed end of Feb and hope to reopen Sept, but last year it wasn't cool enough to ship until mid Oct.  This is a second biz for me, so during the "off" season I am still busy working my other biz.

[ElisabethB]

@BombC Oh wow, I hadn't thought of this type of seasonality, but it totally makes sense - I know exactly how hot it gets in AZ during those months! 🌶💦

[ksrsrq]

We are a campground and hostel for hikers on the Appalachian Trail.  We have two seasons per year, May/June for the northbound and Sept/Oct for the southbound.  We try to save for the off-season and put our accommodations on Airbnb and Hip Camp.  We are looking to add a classroom building to start hosting educational retreats in our off-season.  The Square savings program has helped us set aside winter funds without thinking about it.  

[Hailey]

That educational retreat classroom expansion sounds like a really great endeavour! Love that. Also so good to hear that Square savings has helped you saved money for future projects like that or for emergencies. Tagging @jmonfort from that team to see this 🙂 

[Jr13800]

Yes I have a solar panel cleaning business and I operate between feb-October/November ish. 

[lipsology]

That is a wonderful job to have!  I hadn't thought of that but it makes total sense!

[Hailey]

Wow thats so cool! ☀️ Brilliant business 

[johningram]

same here. we deal in inverter battery storage and it is also seasonal. But the good part is we are wholesaler so in even off month we get some business

[LukeNieuw]

My golf course is a seasonal business. We operate mainly from April to October. Sometimes we get lucky and can extend the season earlier or later. Over the last few years, we have operated an indoor golf simulator so we haven't been completely closed over the winter. 

The peak season can be pretty intense so in the Winter we use that time to plan the following season and hopefully take a vacation! 🙂 

[Fastenersandmor]

No

[ECT]

We are in tourism. Definitely very seasonal as we are in the North East. My husband and I have been doing this 8 years now. Over the years we have learned a lot about winters and have gotten to the point where we think of / plan for winter all year long. We share responsibilities and both run the business together. I have been working at an IT Consulting company for the past 6.5 years. My husband has been doing web design / online marketing as a side gig for the past decade but about 4 years ago got even more serious with it and it's slowly turned into something fairly lucrative. And then this past winter he took a Real Estate Sales Agent course, passed it, and is set to take his state exam at the end of the month.

When you are in something as seasonal as tourism. You have to do multiple things. Unless you are making millions of dollars or something. COVID crushed us for a couple of years there so thank god we had other things going on. We have learned over the years how to delegate and have the shop run itself as much as possible so we don't need to be there as much. In the beginning we were there all the time. 

It's not easy. But we are building something and one day hope to sell the business and go full time into real estate investing. At least that is what we are planning / dreaming for...