Goofy Summer

[Mojo]

No idea what caused this goofy summer we had. I was talking to a friend of mine on the phone yesterday and he said the same thing. He manages a manufacturing plant in MI and said business was real strange. The months he indicated were also the months we were experiencing the same thing. Way up and then way down.

His business ( and ours ) seen flat out balls to the wall production followed by a week or two of complete death in sales. Notta. Then sales would come on full tilt boogie and then die again. It did this all summer for us and for their plant as well. We maintained a steady flow of putting out orders as we we would get backlogged.

Thankfully fall is here and things are getting much more steady and orders are flying in the door. I have a " to do " list that includes making a series of DIY videos which will really be a huge driver of sales. I also have a new seminar I am going to be conducting in 2016 and have yet to write the script or build the powerpoint presentation. I have yet to do any of it. Our new website is sitting 70 % done and I wanted it launched a month ago but I have had no time to write the DOC files. Our developer is losing patience with me and is on my ass like white on rice.

I cannot rely on Mindy to do some of this work as she is buried in managing the company. And this all points to the headaches that small business owners have - Wearing many different hats. Do the rest of you get stressed out and find yourselves under water with business related projects ?
Did anyone experience the goofy summer cycle like we did ? I cannot put my finger on what caused it as the summer cycles in the past were much more gradual going up and down. This year it was full on and full off.

Chris

[sofadoc]

I was hit hard by commercial jobs at times this year. And every time the commercial work slammed me, the residential work just seemed to dry up for a while. It's almost as if the two were actually cooperating with each other in order to make my life go smoothly.

But I really can't describe it as an "up & down" summer thing.

[Darren Henry]

That is normal for me. We are always feast or famine in my shop. Part of it is the fact that I am the upholstery division at work, and part of it is my boss's obsession with "right now".  (1). I never have "work for next week". Case in point---Thursday he and I went to look at some restaurant seats I built a few years ago. The owner now wants to follow my advice and have one spare to swap out any damaged seats while I re-do the damaged one, and re-do 5 other 4 foot bench seats. Before he ordered the vinyl ---which still isn't in---he had one of the techs cut the plywood so I could get it padded. Then I was allowed to go back on the pontoon boat I'm working on.

(1) We picked up a couple of smashed trailer for our rental fleet recently. One is almost reconstructed, but the other one sits in a Quansit  with the front of the roof and the slide out smashed all to rat's. He has had me clean the hide a bed and recover the dinnette cushions already. Now we just have to build some walls around them and hope the techs rebuild the dinnette to my cushion dimensions. Bloody friggin' genius!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do the rest of you get stressed out and find yourselves under water with business related projects ?

That was the biggest part of my demise. I had to do the free on site estimates etc... to compete with the big shops. That meant I didn't bill enough to afford to hire some one to answer the phone or do the quote/order the material etc... So I had to do that on un-billable time. It was a catch 22. I couldn't work enough to pay for help, so I had to work less and do it myself, if you follow what I mean.

The next time your back gets sore from sitting behind a machine, go give Ingrid and Mindy a hug and a thank you. If Winnie had been an asset at all I might still be in Kenora.

[gene]

With 5 % unemployment you'd think everyone would be 'metal to the pedal'.

I'm kind of like sofaD. I seem to have customers who bring in a lot of work when other customers get quiet. It works out to a nice steady pace.

I do believe that if I wanted to hire an employee or two that I could find the business to make it work. I just don't know if I want to go through with all the extra work.

I am convinced that our fed does not want to encourage small business growth.

gene

[kodydog]

We just experienced the strangest year of our lives.

Here is whats really strange. Rose gave me a long over due hair cut today. Nice and short just how I like it. So I was shaving and noticed how big my ears are getting. I'm looking more like my grandpa Terrell every day.

[MinUph]

Yes as we get older our ears grow bigger, hair grows in weird places and much faster than it use to.

  Our summer was much slower than out winters are. It is a Florida thing I guess. We were slow but kept working. I had to layoff 2 people but we are back in full swing now. Brought one back and another newbie to join in. Payroll was a tuff mind game all summer and it is just getting caught up now. Hopefully I will stash more away over the winter this year so next summer isn't so bad.

[Mike]

my summer was busy I never ran down on work it did slow but not the usuale septenber skow time some years ive run down to 2 jobs one year  all out.  but this year when jobs were winding down in august I got my biggest well best paid job yet still about half done still its a ongoing project and 2 sailboat jobs rare for me. and now the dealer I work with started ramping up with boat show season and ended up having to work Saturday  again  seems ive gone in to the shop most Saturdays all summer.  and now im ready for a break that aint coming . in fact things were so upbeat I didn't mind getting a new truck

[Mojo]

Paul:

The most stressful part of this business is keeping business up so you can hold on to your employees.
My wife was adamant that we had cash set aside to Pay MIndy's salary for the remainder of the year regardless of how the orders were going.

Just speaking for myself, I find having employees a worry. They are dependant on us for making money to feed themselves, make car payments, pay rent, etc. When you stop to think of just how dependant they are on their jobs it gets scary. As an employer we carry a major responsibility to them and their families.

Thankfully we do not rely on this business to eat or make mortgage payments. My wife is a high school teacher and I have a pension. So we have more flexibility with our finances and can throw money in different directions - either investments, equipment or what have you. Neither of us take a salary. If we depended on this business for our sole source of income I wouldn't sleep at night and would be stressed to the max. I do not know how some of you manage that stress. I have a great deal of respect for all of you. Your all very dedicated to your trades and are hard working people. Your all awesome.

Chris