Today I began to wonder whether I had missed Thanksgiving. I went grocery shopping at my local grocery store after returning from a vacation, and everything is ready for Christmas. There are Christmas decorations on the store windows, Christmas displays on the shelves, and Christmas music too. I remember a time when stores used to decorate for Thanksgiving, but I saw no sign of that today. In fact, the only things that hinted that it is nearly Thanksgiving were the great prices on frozen turkeys and the end cap displays filled with stuffing mixes, canned pumpkin, and other Thanksgiving must – haves.
If your home – based business relies on the holiday season for a large part of its sales, you are probably already seeing an increase in business. It seems as though holiday shopping starts earlier and earlier each year. I am not sure exactly why this is, but it is certainly something that anyone who is planning to start a home – based business should be aware of when they are writing up their business plan and thinking about when they should start their business.
For example, if you make handmade items and you plan to open an Etsy shop, it would be wise to get that shop up and running soon if you want to get in on this year’s holiday spending. Of course, you do not want to rush to get the shop up and running and conduct business in a haphazard way because that could harm your business in the long run. Make sure that you have everything in place to create a good customer experience before proceeding. If you are able to launch your business in an organized way now, perhaps even with a smaller initial offering than you were planning for, then your items just might make it into colorfully wrapped bags and boxes just in time to brighten someone’s holiday.
Photo by mconnors on morguefile.com.