Wont be long !!!

[Mojo]

It wont be long and us Florida stitchers are going to get clobbered. The snowbirds are prepping for the winter hike down here and that is typically when the flood gates open for us.

We had two weeks of slow sales and all hell broke loose last week. We are back to full throttle again and it is going to get worse as coach owners start going over their buses for the trip down south.
Our Canadian worker will be arriving soon and this is the first time we have entered the winter with two employees.

I have always said you have to be excellent at budgeting and cash management if you own a business in Florida. I have seen restaurants go belly up along with many other types of businesses because the owners were terrible at managing cash flow. They make a killing in the winter time but do not set aside some of that money for the lean summers. They run out and spend it and pull excessive profits from their businesses rather then banking it. Then summer hits and they go belly up.

We always hold back alot of cash for the summer months payroll, taxes, materials, etc. Actually we have made and then bank the entire years worth of our expenses by May and hold that till the end of the year. Any money left is split off and carried over. We try and calculate the years fabric purchases and just changed our routine and are now stocking rolls beyond what we need. I sleep alot better knowing we have our expenses covered for the summer and we do not have to worry about payroll.

We are already seeing a big uptick in orders and it isn't just for the florida crowd. Our West coast sales are starting to take off as well as some of the bus crowd from there who winter in Texas and AZ.

I am sure Mike, Paul, Ed, Rick and other Florida stitchers will be getting real busy soon.

Chris

[MinUph]

It has already happened to us also. The last two weeks have blown up. I was reading in a Remodeling mag I get about the "building boom" Not just in Florida mind you but nationally. The are predicting greater than before the bust of 2018. I was talking to a fabric salesman today and other than the Tampa Bay are his customers are 4 and 6 months out. I'm sure it will hit the Bay areas very soon. It is very good news to hear on so many fronts. I had a very slow summer, having enough work to keep everyone working pretty much, and have brought on a new guy this week. It is a nice problem to have.
  May we all weather the storm and learn from each other how to handle it all.

[kodydog]

Our lives are upside down right now. The folks buying our house came in today pulling a 20' trailer full of stuff they will store in our shed. They close on their house Aug 13th and we will close soon after that. This is the screwiest closing we have ever done.

Rose and I are both working overtime trying to get as much upholstery work done as possible. We have 4 deliveries next weekend. On top of that we're doing our best to keep the house pristine. I'm power washing today, 3rd time this year.

We spend every spare moment searching the internet for commercial property. Our business is doing better than it has in the last 8 years so we can only afford to close it for a couple weeks while we move. I'll have to work out of the garage in our High Springs house till we can find commercial property in our budget.  The good thing is, because the closing has been so screwy they will give us two weeks after closing to get out.

[Mike]

this year was different normally September is slow. but woirk started coming ij in august when normally it dropped off. I actually got my best big boat project to dATE im starting tomorrow along with some normal covers that have come in and cushions work to boot. ive been going crazy shorthanded  on the heavy lifting while my brother is recovering .  Chris I hated having a employee and having to cover his income when I was up north he ran the bait shop but slot of the time when it was slow the canvas covered h so when I was busy sewing id see him talking hunting and such with customers bullshipping   no rest this winter   but im trying to learn to pace myseld and say no I cant do it or raise my price if I do