Is Your Home Business Seasonal?

by Kori Rodley Irons | More from this Blogger

Yesterday, I received an e-mail from a home-based business owner while I was wearing one of my non-writer hats--working my part-time position as advertising director for an international "niche" magazine, she was explaining to me why she only purchased advertising sporadically and that I needn't pester her year-round. She explained that she made most of her sales from November to early January and that she'd found over the years it didn't do her much good to advertise year-round when starting up in October was the best use of her marketing budget. I couldn't help thinking about our community of home-business folks here at Families.com and wondering how many of you are operating businesses that could be classified as "seasonal?"

This woman shared with me that she pretty much works non-stop for three months of the year and then "does other things" for the Spring and Summer--gradually gearing up for the holiday season again in the Fall. How appealing this sounded to me! I tend to think of things as needing to be constant and steady. I fantasized about how a person could work another seasonal business during other parts of the year, or take on projects and freelance work to "tide one over" and then make a big, devoted charge during the busy months. I thought about long vacations, writing that illusive book, etc. Of course, I'm sure my fantasy is not at all like the real thing, but it certainly motivated me to do some investigating into "seasonal" businesses.

Here in my home town, we have an outdoor "market" that takes place every Saturday from April to September. In order to participate in the market, an individual has to be a micro-business, growing or producing their own product. In past years, I've had a few conversations with business-owners and found that many of them work during the winter months producing product and then spend the "season" selling their product at the market. Many of them work regular day jobs as well. Some, have managed to build a full time business by traveling to various markets, fairs and shows to sell their products. There is something very appealing about this traveling "gypsy" life to me too. Maybe as a "retirement job."

I would love to hear from some of you about your experiences with seasonal businesses. Can you make enough income to justify the business? Is it truly "seasonal" or are you working year round? How do you manage the income and make it last until things gear up again? I plan to do a little investigating on this one and hope you'll all give me insight. Stay tuned as I just might write about this one again...

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