What are you most concerned and excited about heading into the festive season? ‌👻‌ ‌🍂‌ ‌🎁‌

[Hailey]

As the days begin to get shorter in the Northern hemisphere, and the temps warm in the Southern hemisphere, we are all reminded that the holiday season is just around the corner. 

So this week, we want to know...

How are you feeling heading into the festive season?

What are you most concerned about? What are you most excited about?

We are eager to read your replies!

[rtfulk]

We are excited about the upcoming season. We are a mobile business so we don’t have a traditional brick& mortar store.  We have the advantage of going to where the people are.  Summer fairs have been great for us.  Attendance and sales have been up.  We have been fortunate that we have not increased our prices, I think that has helped us.  

[Candlestore]

Getting excited about the Fall and Holidays coming up, the Lights the decorations etc.  Plus over the summer I bought some equipment for my hobby of woodworking and might add some of these projects for items to sell in store and possibly online in the future too.

[Doran]

Super excited for the holidays and everything I have planned for the shop.  Holiday windows and events! 

I'm always concerned over the news headlines and how that will effect my customers and shoppers.  I've been in business through a recession and now pandemic so I know how rough it can be and how long it can last.  

[phillipsrw]

It's a great time of year autumn, so pretty and the cooler air is great for a chocolatier businesses. The holiday season is our time to shine and make people happy and make money to keep us rolling during the leaner times.

Concerns are many, engery price crisis, 10% inflation, shortage of 'man' power,  cost of living concerns, raw material supply issues....so many concerns that I think the best we can do is hold on tight and ride the approaching storm!

[JUYBoutique20]

Definitely my favorite time of year.  So excited to decorate and play my Christmas music.  The main concern I have concerning the holiday season is that I always overdo it then need a few weeks to recover.  I also hope the current inflation doesn't change the shopping habits of my customers...

[aprilb13]

I am excited about the cooler weather and all the warm food and drinks. Yum Fall Drinks!

[AHMH]

New to square here and I'm concerned about whether I have my site optimized correctly to get eyeballs.

[mksavage]

Hi @AHMH -- welcome to Square! I took a look at your site, looks like you have a lot of wonderful, thoughtfully-made products!

We use the Square Online Store to sell our products, but our actual website is hosted through Squarespace. So, I'm not super familiar with how Square lets you set up an actual website (if that's what you're doing) and how much customizing you can do, but I found this article really helpful for improving general SEO overall: https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002090267-SEO-checklist

Again, I know that's for Squarespace and not Square, but I imagine a lot of the tips would apply. I printed it off and used it as a checklist to make sure I was doing as many of the things as possible.

Many people on here use Square for their sites, so maybe they can chime in further, but I wanted to share the list in case it was helpful at all as you continue setting up the website backend.

Best of luck getting everything set up, and with the holiday season!

[AHMH]

Sooooooooooooooooooo helpful.  Thank you!

[AHMH]

Soooooooooooooooo helpful.  Thank you!

[Jayv2251]

I am both eager and hesitant at the same time. I just opened a knife sharpening service local to my area. Having researched before doing so, I know that I've hit a "gold mine". This was further bolstered this week when a salon owner from 30 miles away called to see if I could sharpen shears and clipper blades for her. While I cannot do that at this time, I was planning on doing this by next spring, or as soon as I could set up a mobile workshop. That's the good news!!! 

Now for the bad. The economy. It's sluggish at best. The most recent increase for the prime rate of interest going up a full .75 will hurt the housing market. Mortgage rates are already twice what they were just a year ago. People with ARMs are already feeling the pinch. Those with lower interest rate loans are still having to deal with living expenses up 30-50% over the last 2 years. I worked retail for 20+ years. When big box stores like Walmart, Target, and Kohl's start having inventory fire sales in the middle of the summer before the seasonal shopping season, you KNOW there's an economic issue. Meanwhile, other companies have either begun layoffs or have instituted hiring freezes. So, every night I go to bed wondering, am I doing the right thing trying to start my own business in this economic environment? 

[QuokkaCoffee]

We've had a wet start to spring this year; summer always reinforces my love for cooler weather. The upside is that I'm likely going to take another two-week break over the Christmas and New Year period to spend time with family.

I've yet to have a conversation with my team about it but if they're keen to run shifts--not everyone celebrates Christmas!--then I'm more than happy to let them take the lead even if it'll be quieter than normal. 🙂

We've had more conversations about what we'll be dressing up as for Halloween. My team lead's a go for Gollum and I, in the spirit of good management, will attempt this on-brand orc:

The internet: it's a magical place

[mksavage]

Okay, we are definitely going to need photos of your team on Halloween!

[foliopress]

Inventory is crazy this time of year! The past couple of years had us pretty concerned about getting products in a timely manner for the holidays with all the insane shipping delays and supply chain issues, so we opted to order early and are just drowning in boxes. On top of that, last year was a record-breaking holiday season so we felt it was necessary to stock up and go for it this year. Top that off with switching POS systems this month (moving over to Square) and we have so much on our plate.

That being said, it really is exciting to see all of the arms of the business chugging along. Our custom print business is gaining traction in the community, our wholesale letterpress card line is churning out orders nationwide, and the retail shop is getting over the late summer lull and getting busier for the fall/winter holidays!

[KateWattsHair]

Concerned about being able to see everyone that wants in. But I will not add any extra work days unless my kids are in school. I'm very excited about the Waitlist option in beta for the holiday season.

[Stone1234]

hot cocoa, soup, the beautiful colors 

[phillipsrw]

Hot chocolate..oh yeah!😍

[Artmosphere]

Our biggest concern is not having a pre-approved bar tab in Square.  This kills us on a busy night.  Please please please get this created so our bartenders aren’t scrambling looking for credit cards throughout the evening.  

[ReginaRMT]

@Hailey  I feel the same as I always do. Can I stay busy and can I get through the day without getting drained.  I just need to make sure my hours are set for the days I want to take off. I’ll be just fine. 

[perpettual]

Anxious about consumer spending, inflation and the markets. Last year was record for fintech SaaS companies like mine and I'm just now trying to get off the ground. So just lots of headwinds.

[shopfybr]

I have mixed feelings. A little apprehensive about the economy however we have some really exciting stuff coming up!