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!

[shimmer-sparkle]

Being such a new business, I'm nervous about staying organized and having enough inventory - and most of all, nervous about my inventory syncing properly across channels. It would be really difficult to have to manually adjust between my square inventory/instagram etc.

I'm most excited about meeting new people and having a positive impact on those I interact with. Also - growing my customer base, of course. 🙂

[HodgePodge]

We're already seeing cocktail sales declining, as we get into the months where people don't think about going out for cocktails. We're working on creative ways to combine both sides of business (coffee and cocktails) to keep bringing in customers! 

[mksavage]

First of all, coffee & cocktails are two of my favorite things, so -- brilliant combination, @HodgePodge! Also, my sister lives in Madison (it's where I got married)! I visit fairly often, and can't wait to stop by next time in town! I took a look at your website and love all of the events you're hosting -- yoga, pumpkin carving, coffee tastings -- those all feel like great ways to bring people in, and I hope they're super successful! People get so cooped up during Wisconsin winters, so a fun event with cozy fall cocktails sounds idyllic for a night out. 😊

[HodgePodge]

Ahh thank you!! We're trying to go a bit outside the box but not way off the wall where we will have 0 interest in our events. And definitely stop in when you're in town next! I'd love to hear more about how you got Savage Goods off the ground. Your entire menu looks incredible, I love the catering spread too. Your business looks like a combo of mine and two of my friends' businesses (Miggy's Bakes and Tricky Foods)! 

[mksavage]

Oh wow, you're right! We're definitely a combo of the three! Also, I am now craving brownies after looking at Miggy's Bakes website!! I'll have to pass the word along to my sister, she's actually getting married in May and was asking me about catering ideas. I'm hoping to be back in WI later this fall -- I'm making myself a note to stop by and say hi!

[JessPoynter]

I'm feeling pretty hopeful going into the holiday season. I'm undergoing a moderate "rebrand" that will go live on Saturday. It will make life easier for myself and my clients while also providing more information to us both. I don't feel too overwhelmed going in! (Check back at the end of November...it might be a different story then 😁)

[Autolock]

OK, I'm new here, and this is my first post.  But my business has been booming all summer and I'm actually looking forward to things slowing down a bit for the holidays.  I am an automotive locksmith and I split my work between vehicle dealerships (new and used, but mostly used) and individuals who have lost keys and/or keyfobs.  Summer is my busiest time since I live in a beach town and modern electronic vehicle keys do not mix well with salt water.  Traditionally my business falls off a cliff around Thanksgiving and picks back up after the first of the year.  As a result, I work as the evening and weekend Santa at the mall.   But, the way business has been recently, I'm not sure what will happen this year.  But, I'm preparing for a busier than normal holiday season just in case.

I'm going to have to learn more about this loyalty system, but in my case, I don't think it will do much.  My dealerships all pay by check or cash, and I might see my best repeat non-dealer customer twice a year.  During the summer, I'm dealing with mostly out of towners, so I rarely see that kind of customer more than once.

I just wish that Square would introduce a strip reader for Android phones that don't have a headphone jack.  This headphone adaper that I'm currently using is awkward at best.  I know that there is a reader for Apple phones that don't have a headphone jack, so I don't see why there isn't one for Android phones as well.

Steve Young

[dimo10]

Its a great time, my biggest stress of 2022 so far has been staff and rise of Cost of Goods... Seems going into Q4 both these issues have stabilised. The last quarter is traditionally our busiest for the year and with a stable crew, I feel we are ready.

Now is the time to fine tune our processes and bed down everything do. We can move into the Spring / Summer and smash it out.

This questions has brought a smile to my face because it gave me a moment to reflect and I feel more positive for the day. So thank you @Hailey 

Have an amazing day everyone.

[Hailey]

Oh wow @dimo10 thanks for sharing that. Sometimes we forget to slow down (or in the case of most entrepreneurs, don't have the time to!) but when you can, asking these kind of questions is definitely helpful. You either feel positive or notice gaps that are being overlooked which in the end helps your biz. 

Goodluck fine-tuning the process and going into the spring and summer seasons. 

[Sunfreckles]

I am super excited for the holiday season! I can't hardly wait to start doing fall and winter theme stained glass gifts,

[lenjobakes]

We just expanded our operations by 100%. We're not building out the space until after the holidays, but we cannot cannot cannot wait to have a season where we have enough space? 

For prep, for baking, for wrapping gift boxes.

We're going to be spoiled and I can't wait.

What I can wait for is manually counting up all of our pre-orders, but that's neither here nor there at this point 🙃

[Bronze_Palms]

Staffing is ALWAYS the hardest for me during "busy" times. Sometimes I staff too many hours and other times I have people calling because they can't get in. 

[travwall1]

It does feel like this is going to be a much better season then last year! I am excited to see how we preform with the changes that we have gone through over the last couple of years. The biggest concern for me is being priced out of my customer market due to inflation and over all higher cost of doing business, coupled with training post the most turn over we have ever gone through as a company. Since we are not corporate there is not a very thorough training as it was never necessary due to extremely low turnover. Supply chains seem to still be an issue and we have become accustom to rolling with the punches. There are more tools available to us than there ever has been and it is easy to forget the progress that has been made during these hard times. QR code menus, online ordering, invoicing for banquets, handhelds to help servers increase sales and KDS to keep every expo on the same page. We may have less, but we are much better equipped!

[doc_choc]

@travwall1 Tough times out there for some sectors for sure. We are finding it's a great opportunity to focus thr business, tighten up on the waste, trim the fat, and do the things we should be doing when times are good do but don't because it's too busy. So like you we are be looking at the great functionality Square offers to see if we can use the technology to improve our business further, in particular for us the Loyalty programme and Marketing functions. There is always something new to try.

[Photog]

I'm concerned with inflation and the slow economy right now. I bring in over 80% of my yearly revenue this time of year. It will have a huge impact on my business if it's slow.