(Editor’s note: Last week, we began sharing ideas for preparing your business for Small Business Saturday, 2014. That event, scheduled this year for November 29th, is focused on building traffic at small, local merchants on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Working on that piece, we felt the need to answer the obvious question, “What about all the other kinds of small business owners and managers who aren’t retailers? Don’t they need to prepare for the holidays? And how? So we turned, once again, to our friend and contributor Becky McCray, the small town and rural small business expert and creator of Small Biz Survival). Becky, whose businesses include a cattle ranch and a main street retail store in Northwest Oklahoma, helps us get started on a series of how-tos for holiday planning for non-retailers with this advice that appeared originally on SmallBizSurvival.com.)
There’s always plenty of holiday planning advice for retailers, but what about the rest of us? Consultants, writers, manufacturers, engineers, farmers, and more all have businesses, but we aren’t necessarily retailers. Here are some things you can start doing today to get ready for the holidays that will be, as they always say, “here before you know it.”
Plan ahead
Even if your business isn’t busy during the holidays, your personal life probably is. Start now to get ready for, not just the holidays, but also the start of next year. Need some help for items to put on your list to plan for? Here are a few:
- What will you be doing early next year? Can you get ready now?
- When is your busy season? What can you do now to make that go more smoothly?
- What’s your next big project? How can you work ahead on it?
Get your books in order
The fourth quarter is one-day old, so it’s a great time to get caught up with accounting and bookkeeping tasks. Rather than wait and panic at tax time, panic now. No, wait, I mean, get started on the organization now. Break the tasks down into small chunks so you can fit them in during the days to come.
Decorate and get into the spirit
I’m not suggesting you decorate for Christmas now. Celebrate Halloween and Thanksgiving to keep the office, plant or warehouse fun and festive (and the morale high). But be thinking about how to bring cheer to the end of the year, as well.
Pick up some business by helping busy retailers
All through the holidays, retailers are busy, busy, busy. One retailer told me they always get to-go food orders from a local cafe on busy holiday days. Any local food provider could make extra sales by reaching out to retailers now and arranging for meal deliveries on busy days and weeks. How could your business pick up extra sales by helping busy retailers through the holidays?
Learn something
Brush up an existing skill or learn something that will help you serve customers. It’s good for your brain and your business. If you choose your learning method right, you can keep up with the lessons even while visiting family and friends over the holidays.
Plan a year-end event
It can be any size appropriate to your business. A small pot-luck breakfast is right for some. A dress-up event that includes friends and clients may work for others. Plan now for what it will be, but do something that’s right for you and that provides the right spirit for the year end.
Illustration by SmallBusiness.com from a photo by Rachel James via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)