Fall Business

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

Hey All!

Haven't been around as I'm crazy busy.  Two new restaurants to reupholster booths plus my usual assortment of odd projects. 

Since this is my first year of business, I was wondering what to expect as we head into the Holiday season.  Does business pick up, stay the same or drop off?

I'll try to get some pics of some of my completed projects posted in the next few days or weeks.  I did a motorcycle seat and back rest that turned out absolutely fabulous!

Hope that everyone is keeping as busy as they want to be!

Virg

[sofadoc]

Other than an occasional long stretch of bad weather, there's no real seasonal slowdown around here (Texas). It's pretty consistent year round.

In early December, I start encouraging people to wait until that "dead week" between xmas and Jan. 1. Many of then do just that.......hence, ergo there is no "dead week".

Texans are real wimps when it comes to bad weather. They hunker down, and don't come back out until the sun does. I've often wondered how my business would fare up north.

What drives me crazy at this time of year (LONG stretch of 100+ degree days), is that customers ONLY bring furniture to my shop in the hottest part of the afternoon. Then they want to stand outside and talk about it for 20 minutes. But if it were a beautiful 70 degree spring morning, I couldn't force them at gunpoint to show up.

So what's business like up north when you have a long hard winter? Does life go on? Or do your customers hibernate until spring?

[Mike]

Sofa i can only say i. The narine trade up north it was dead. As boat were put away for the winter work died off. Try to get the upholstery customer to have rhere work done over the off season nov to march but 95% didnt care to even think about it till spring.
Here there is always somthing foing on ,not only marine but u hear alot of buisness now is the slow period sept oct.  then it. Picks up as folks come south for the winter.

Hi virg. Is it virgil or virginia ?   Where about are you?

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

Hi!

It's Virginia, but I answer to darn near anything!  I live in Grand Island, NE -- also known as God's Country (at least that's what we Nebraskans like to think).

I don't know what winter will bring as I was still working my full-time job last winter.  I was doing restaurant benches and a custom car interior restoration so I had my hands more than full.  I do a lot of custom car restoration for a firm and I'm hoping that I will be busy restoring interiors for them.  Their restoration mechanic told me this morning that they bought 6 cars last week and all need to be on their books by April 15th.

I do alterations, general sewing, etc so hopefully I'll have enough of that coming in to eek through in case upholstery slows or stops during the cold weather.

I am looking forward to being able to walk down my basement steps to go to work when there is a foot or so of snow on the ground.

Virg

[Lo]

Hi Virginia -- from one newbie to another  ;)

Might have to debate that "God's Country" slogan you say belongs to Nebraskans ... seems us Wisconsin-folk have claimed rights to it ... LOL

Must be the year for restaurant booth work as I also had a large project that covered six weeks this spring ... and now we are the 'repair upholsterers' for another outfit that will need full recovering within the next couple years. As far as your real question: I have a belief that I will be taken care of and thus far I have been (all thanks to God).

Cheers - Marlo

[Mike]

Hi Virginia -- from one newbie to another  ;)

Might have to debate that "God's Country" slogan you say belongs to Nebraskans ... seems us Wisconsin-folk have claimed rights to it ... LOL

when I was living in New Hampshire I heard it was there


now I say it florida in the winter

[MinUph]

I remember times when this time of year I would be booked through Thanksgiving, but times have changed. In recent years we are luck to have someone ever say can you have this for the holidays? I think we had one job last year that the customer said that. This year might be different as one design firm has asked when the holiday cut off is.

[sofadoc]

This year might be different as one design firm has asked when the holiday cut off is.

Back in the day, I used to cut off Thanksgiving deadlines orders no later than Nov.1. And xmas deadline orders right after Thanksgiving.

But the last few years, I have PLENTY of holiday orders, but almost none of them really press me with a deadline.
Nobody gets their dining room seats redone in time to have company over for Thanksgiving anymore. I used to do at least 1 set a day throughout the month of November. Now, I might do 5 or 6 sets the whole month. People just don't do the big family Thanksgiving around here that much.

And while many get something recovered as a Christmas present, they really don't seem to care if it's ready by Dec. 25 or not.   

[Mojo]

Typically, from a business cycle standpoint, and unless your in retail, things slow down around Turkey day. They get real slow around Christmas and then start picking up after the 2nd or 3rd week in January.

I get slow right around the holidays and then things start shaking up around the 1st of February. In March all hell breaks loose and continues to get worse as we get further into spring. I was booked out 8 weeks at one point in May/June. I am still booked out by 2 weeks.

Mike and I are NOT very good examples. We get alot of business from snowbirds so winter time is our busiest. The northern members here are a better example of what to expect. But most trade/service businesses hit a downturn in their cycles around then holidays.

Chris

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

Thanks all for the info.

Back atcha Newby Marlo.

I suspect that most everyone thinks they live in "God's Country" or at least I hope they feel that way.

Another quick question.  Do ya'll use air staplers or electric?  I am hesitant to use air because of the compressor issue (weight of dragging one more thing around) as I am fused L5-S1 and do NOT want to ever have another back surgery.  It's been a challenge to find a dependable electric stapler.  Cross my fingers, I may have one now but tomorrow I could change my mind about that.

Virg 

[Mojo]

Hi Virginia -- from one newbie to another  ;)

Might have to debate that "God's Country" slogan you say belongs to Nebraskans ... seems us Wisconsin-folk have claimed rights to it ... LOL

Must be the year for restaurant booth work as I also had a large project that covered six weeks this spring ... and now we are the 'repair upholsterers' for another outfit that will need full recovering within the next couple years. As far as your real question: I have a belief that I will be taken care of and thus far I have been (all thanks to God).

Cheers - Marlo

Marlo:

Geesshhhhh..There is nothing but cheese, snow and the Packers in Wisconsin ( which BTW I am a Packer Backer ). :)

God's country rests in the Appalachian's ( despite me being stuck in the swamp lands of Florida ). My heart is still in the Blue Ridge Mountains. :)

Chris

[byhammerandhand]

I've been in Cincinnati for the last 35 years.  Worst problem here is threat of snow sends everyone into panic -- schools cancel the night before, groceries run out of milk, local news is 20 minutes of weather, expressway jam, accidents galore.  Though we get snow every year.

I used to live in northern WI and the rule was "get out or go stir crazy."  I'm convinced that if at lunch time you asked someone if it snowed last night, they'd have to stop and think.  "Yeah, I guess I did fire up the snow blower this morning."  Got sent home mid-afternoon once - 6 foot drifts on my street.  By 10 am the next day, even the farm road I lived on was cleared off.

My daughter moved to UP of Michigan to the US's third snowiest city.   They get out all the time.  Last winter they had 300 inches of snow.  (for reference, that's the top of the roof on an average  two-story house)   They had some unusual snow days for school, even into April.'

I grew up in northern Ohio where once we got snow in the fall, the ground was covered until spring.  In 12 years of school, I got exactly 0 snow days.   Busses put on chains and headed out.


Oh, and for staplers, I use pneumatic.   I have an aluminum tank compressor - weighs 23 pounds. 

So what's business like up north when you have a long hard winter? Does life go on? Or do your customers hibernate until spring?

[sofadoc]

I used to live in northern WI and the rule was "get out or go stir crazy." 

You could ask 100 people, and get 100 different answers.

New member Marlo (Lo) from WI has relatives in my area, so her and her husband visited my shop recently. Her husband said that he would take a Wisconsin winter over a Texas summer any day. On the other hand, I have a friend's daughter who got married last year to a Wisconsin man. The first few months, she raved that WI was "Heaven on Earth". Then winter came. She was divorced and back in Texas before January. She said that she couldn't understand why anyone would want to live in a frigid barren wasteland. 

I have 2 friends that moved here from Green Bay and Cleveland. They said that it was common to go 6 months without seeing the sun. I'm sure that many of you would debate that.

I have another friend from Denver who says that the winters in Texas are much harsher. I find that a little hard to swallow.

Ask 100 people.............

[gene]

My wife and I were riding horses in the Rockies in Colorado one summer. We had a guide with us. I noticed that the bark on the giant hemlock trees was missing starting about 30 feet above the ground. I asked the guide what caused that and he said "moose".

I thought he was trying to mess with my mind as I tried not to ask "So how do the moose climb up that high?"

Before I asked, he was kind enough to point out that 30 feet up the tree was ground level in the winter time.


I'm busy, but taking the last 2 weeks of September off to go to the Keweenaw Peninsula of the Up in Michigan. It's not God's country, but I do think an angel or two reside there.

Here's one place we will definitely visit a few times. http://store.societystjohn.com  Check out their catalog, and the brandy soaked fruit cakes. My wife buys me a brandy soaked fruit cake through the mail every year for Christmas.

Please, don't eat "Monk Minchies" and drive!

gene

[Mike]

Chris id think with internet sale most of your busy time eould be the norther campers. Rather then snowbirds   But the snowbirds do have the expendable  money