The end of October is the end of the Summer tourist season for our handmade business of soapmaking.
It is also the beginning of holiday madness as we and the temporary elves prepare orders to be shipped out until just a few days before Christmas. We’re not unusual. Many of us with seasonal businesses actually have many ’seasons’ throughout the year, with different markets, customers, products, sales and workload. The end of one ’season’ isn’t the end of the business year. It simply marks the next phase of business activity.
For our friends in the fiber world, their season is full speed ahead. Each October we are a vendor at the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair outside of Asheville, North Carolina, now the third largest fiber event in the USA. Last weekend was actually our 11th year participating in the festival, which celebrates all the wool bearing animals (llamas, alpacas, cashmere goats, angora rabbits and every breed of sheep), their wool, and the spinners, dyers, and knitters of that wool.
An article I found this week on the seasonal business of knitting focuses on the seasonal aspects of the final product: those beautifully colored skeins of luxurious yarn sold in retail shops. But wool and fiber is not just a Fall and Winter business. It’s the other seasons of the year when fiber farmers continuously care for the animals that provide the wool ultimately shorn and spun. I can’t help but think of all their hard work - all year round - when I read about knitting as a seasonal business.
For farmers and rural business owners, the handmade fiber industry is a twelve-month devotion to duty.
We’ve all heard it, and probably all said it to others too.
Your own town can seem so easy to get around, when it’s what you are accustomed to.
When I moved to the mountains of rural western North Carolina 20 years ago and asked for directions practically every day, the phrase I learned to cringe upon hearing was, “You can’t miss it.”
As soon as they said it, I knew I would. I was doomed.
If something was “a little bit down the road,” that meant it could be 1-5 miles. And a ‘fur piece’ (which means a far piece to those of you non-mountaineers) might even be 5-8 miles.
So when someone would put these phrases together and tell me, “It’s a big red barn a fur piece down the road and you can’t miss it,” well, then -
I knew I was really in trouble!
Seeing your community the way a first time visitor sees it is the key to providing clear directions to tourists. If they feel comfortable and safe, they stay around and invest in your community by purchasing meals, attending events, visiting stores and attractions, and staying a night or two in local hotels. Take a minute and invest in THEM by reading some great suggestions on “Writing Better Directions for Tourists.”
Some small business owners are choosing to save money and in some cases save their businesses by moving their offices home, according to this article in the Dallas Morning News.
“We’re seeing probably twice as many businesses doing that compared to a year ago,” says George Cloutier, founder and chief executive officer of American Management Services, an Orlando, Fla.-based consultant to small businesses.
The article discusses the unique difficulties a small business owner may encounter moving their business to their home, including business image, zoning and tax issues, employee perceptions, moving costs and the distractions that must be managed when working within your home and family environment.
Local ‘mom and pop’ businesses who are effectively using Twitter and other social media were singled out recently by blogger Grace Boyle on her blog, ‘Small Hands Big Ideas‘:
“Call me a localvore (pertaining to not only food, but any local business). Coming from a small town I recognize the importance of the Mom and Pop stores and I love the sustainability that can be found from local business. So although I’m still a newbie to Boulder, I wanted to give a shout out to some local businesses that I think are doing their part online, by giving back and holding down, being unique in what they offer.”
Collaborative Marketing on a seasonal basis can bring success to all rural businesses involved.
The Red Rooster Route is a marketing partnership of six local family farms that have banded together to create a new self-guided farm tour, offering adventures ranging from picking your own summer berries and vegetables, to learning about naturally grown foods. Visitors will even be able to enjoy trolley rides and hay mazes for kids. Tours will be available in both Summer and Fall seasons.
