Seasonal Business

The Seasonal Business of Knitting and Handmade Fiber

October 31, 2009

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 [...]

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Collaborative Marketing Among Seasonal Rural Businesses

May 25, 2009

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. [...]

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Diversifying Farm Operations

April 6, 2009

At the national level, we talk casually about billions and trillions of dollars. And not too long ago, it was difficult to obtain small business loans for less than $250,000.00. Which just goes to show, what a difference a few dollars can make in the lives of small business owners who want to better their [...]

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The Experience Seekers

March 22, 2009

The Great Lakes Cruising Coalition is working to get more cruise lines enjoying the Great Lakes, to pull into port and visit their small towns. One of their members posted estimates on the economic impact for each day a cruise ship visits. With just two tourist vessels scheduling 12 stops in one city for 2009, [...]

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Coupons, e-Coupons and More

March 10, 2009

Everybody likes to save money, and in today’s economy that’s more true for your customers than ever before. Coupons don’t have to mean you make less money. In fact, you can offer coupons on specific products that aren’t selling and you need to move, or offer them during slower seasons of the year. Coupons can [...]

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Fun Can Mean Business for Rural Business

March 6, 2009

Have you given any thought to how attracting tourists to your area could help your business? The Palm Springs, California Bureau of Tourism did, and decided to market to college students traveling during spring break, using social media. You can take a look here to read four perspectives on what small business owners thought and [...]

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Climate Change in Appalachia

March 3, 2009

As some of you may already know, my handmade craft business is very much seasonal and tourist-based, particularly from May through October when travel on the Blue Ridge Parkway is heaviest. For those of us with tourism businesses, nature and our mountain climate can be our best friends ….or our adversaries. We watch our regional [...]

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The Mom and Pop Business Advantage

February 24, 2009

Here are two articles that address how mom and pop businesses may have an advantage over the big boys. In Customer Service is No 1 specialty shops find little things, like a friendly hello, can inspire loyalty and sales. The unique relationships that a ‘mom & pop’ or small business owner is able to build [...]

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Seasonal Business Rent and Space?

January 9, 2009

In July of 2008, a visitor to CNN’s Small Business Forum asked a very basic question any seasonal business owner would have an interest in seeing answered: How should a seasonal business rent retail space for only a few months? Believe it or not, there has never been a single comment or answer to that [...]

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For Every Tourist Business There is a Season

January 8, 2009

I guess all businesses have a seasonal ‘ebb and flow’ to their year, some kind of fluctuation in sales or activity that can be tied to the different times and seasons of the year. For those of us with tourism-based rural businesses located along the Blue Ridge Parkway, Winter is generally our ‘down time’, our [...]