Customer small business financing solutions delivered through a single, online application.
Loan Types
Free access to multiple funding solutions
See funding solutions from 75+ nationwide lenders with a single application.
Apply for financing, track your business cashflow, and more with a single lendio account.
Home Industry Trends Small business advice Overcoming Challenges: Seasonal Businesses vs. Holiday 2022
Ready or not, the holiday season has arrived. A number of experts are predicting more consumer spending for holiday 2022 and Deloitte’s State of the US consumer: September 2022 found that consumers are both spending more money and expressing less concern over day-to-day expenses. Both of these are great news for seasonal businesses that depend on holiday sales.
Still, predictions alone don’t temper the stress for a business with a single make-or-break season. What can? Taking a deeper dive into 3 major challenges of running a seasonal business and strategies you can use to overcome each.
Hiring quality staff is one of the biggest headaches for any small business — and even more so for seasonal businesses. Because many small businesses see an increase in demand during Q4, they need to hire additional employees for the season. But, with the employment window so short and priority high, any missteps during seasonal employment hiring can have significant consequences on your bottom line.
Hiring for seasonality can be difficult because:
While you’re likely to face many of the hiring issues above, how you handle them can make or break your holiday season. Below are some tips to help you when hiring seasonal employees.
Maintaining positive cash flow gives a seasonal business more financial latitude to cover operating expenses, capitalize on more opportunities, and mitigate the effect of unexpected expenses. However, just because it’s important doesn’t mean it’s easy.
Managing cash flow requires foresight, strategic planning, and effective decision-making. Not only do you need to generate more revenue than you’re spending, but if your business is seasonal, you’ll need to deal with the upfront expenses that come with scaling for holiday sales.
Cash flow management is obviously important for seasonal businesses, but what can you do to make your financial life easier during this important time?
Seasonal businesses have inherent peaks and valleys throughout the year, which can sometimes lead to tunnel vision. From budgeting and forecasting to scaling up and down, the preparation for the busy season can take a lot of time, energy, and other resources.
So, what happens when it’s not the busy season?
Succeeding during your busiest time of the year is obviously important, but that doesn’t mean you have to neglect the rest of the year. Finding opportunities to transform your seasonal business into a year-round money-maker could pay huge dividends long term. Additionally, knowing when to pull back after the holidays can help you avoid spillover expenses.
Below are a few ideas to help you crush your slow season.
As we close the book on ‘22 and prepare for a new year, it’s a great opportunity to evaluate your business and the strategies implemented this year. What worked? What failed? What opportunities do you see moving forward?
Take the time to analyze your business and use the information collected along with the advice above to guide your decision-making in ‘23 and beyond.
Derek Miller is the CMO of Smack Apparel, the content guru at Great.com, the co-founder of Lofty Llama, and a marketing consultant for small businesses. He specializes in entrepreneurship, small business, and digital marketing, and his work has been featured in sites like Entrepreneur, GoDaddy, Score.org, and StartupCamp.
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter for industry news and business strategies and tips
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter for industry news and business strategies and tips.