Some franchises have to take full advantage of the holiday rush to capture the bulk of their sales for the year. Depending on your own strengths and weaknesses, these types of franchises might be a good choice or a terrible one. It all depends on how well you can manage sales and stress as well as how your personal responsibilities align with the needs of the franchise.
In the time leading up to Christmas and Hanukkah, some franchises have to work overtime to provide customers with the gifts they want for family and friends. Franchises in this category include Schakolad Chocolate Factory, Doc Popcorn, and Tasty Image, all of which offer items that make popular holiday gifts.
When your business depends on the holiday season, there’s a lot of stress involved. For two months out of the year, your business is at what feels like more than full-tilt—it can easily become all-consuming and your life outside your business may be nothing but recovering so you can re-enter the fray on the next day. Leading up to those busy times, you’re working as hard as possible to bring in customers, working on strategic planning to increase sales as much as possible during the busiest time of year. All in all, your business centers on the stress of making numbers in a short period of time.
If you love to plan and to execute those plans and you thrive on high-stress situations, this type of business might be a good one for you. During slower times throughout the year, you might take time off to spend with family or travel. If your business is only open during the holiday season, you can do other things with your time, including other business ventures or a full-time job.
On the other hand, for business owners who are looking for a less stressful occupation than the one they’re in now, a high-stakes holiday season might not be best. It’s also not a good choice for parents trying to mix business and hands-on parenting. The business that lets you attend recitals in the middle of a work day in September can mean you never attend a holiday pageant, or even get home in time for dinner during the month of December. If you’re accustomed to intensive charity work or community music performances over the holidays, you might miss them if you go into a business that does most of its trade during the same time frame.
Businesses that depend on the holiday season for most sales have two options: balance the holiday rush with a different focus at other times of the year, or simply shutter up for the off-season to reopen the next year. Depending on what you want to do in your personal life, shuttering up might be the best option — but it might have a negative effect on your business. Franchises that continue business throughout the year, on the other hand, have to strive to make their products and services relevant during the off season.
If you’re considering a business that depends heavily on holiday sales, take a look at what life-work balance you want and how the business fits into your life before you make a final decision.
