The holidays are just upon us, and every year I wrestle with the conflict between “should I keep my store open, or should I close it and take some time off?”. The last few years I have been faced with a mountain of paperwork that needed to be done at the end of the year, and I have had an office/studio/bedroom that looked like a herd of wildebeest had run through it.
Veteran sellers always said they took the time off at the holidays because they had worked so hard. That was back in the day when eBay was hot and they were selling collectibles. Those times have changed, and now everyone scrambles for every dollar they can get since online sales are not the least bit reliable.
Let’s look at the Pros and Cons of keeping your store open:
Pros
- More income as people spend holiday money
- The chance to get rid of more inventory
- Clearance and holiday sales to spur buying
- People are home during the holidays
- Post-Christmas shopping
Cons
- You have to work during the holidays
- People expect things delivered quickly
- No time to spend with family
- Gambling the income will be worth it
Personally, I prefer to take the time off and work towards making up the income difference along the next year. I am less stressed, and it gives me a chance to breakdown my art studio, clean and reorganize. I throw things to the side when I am packaging orders one right after the other, so it’s a real mess by the time I shut down. I do the same thing with my bookkeeping, too.
This year, I am shutting down the second week of December. This helps me avoid the stress of people asking where their package is and will it get to them by Christmas.
In the meantime, during my holiday, I am going to catch up on some of my reading!
Happy Holidays!
Julie
PS – Here are a few things on my reading list this year:
