summer

3 Things Small Businesses Can Do to Overcome the Summer Slowdown

Written by adminJuly 2, 2019

Summer can be a rough time of year for some smaller businesses. It really depends on location and whether you have a large tourist population. If you don’t, then summer can be a struggle. School is out and for several months, a normal schedule doesn’t exist. Families leave for vacation, trips to the beach, or go to camp.

Because the normal schedule is disrupted, it can slow down a small business who is already trying to grow. You don’t have to take this slowdown laying down, either. There are things you can do to improve your business while preparing for the rest of the year. Here are 3 things small businesses can do to overcome the summer slowdown:

1) Slow Times Aren’t Necessarily Bad

If you have times of the year when you’re really busy, having a slower season isn’t necessarily bad. It gives you, your employees, and the business as a whole time to catch your breath. Catch up on inventory. Do some upgrades to the building. You have the time to learn new ways to revamp your marketing. Convince your staff to use their vacation time during these months.

By using this time to prepare, you’re rested and ready to go for when the busy season kicks into gear. The last thing you want to do is go into it unprepared. So, lean into this time and take advantage of the opportunity.

2) Look at New and Innovative Marketing Techniques

There are plenty of ways to boost business during the summer months. If you run a restaurant, consider buying a food truck, having outside events, or sponsoring a catered party. Look for new ways to expand your horizons a bit. Reach out in new and fun ways. You can even change your business model slightly.

One great way to expand business during the summer is to promote summer events. Do promotions that draw large crowds. Buy a smoke pit and have a BBQ. Put together a weekend or sidewalk sale. Whatever it is you chose to do, draw your audience to you and build brand awareness.

3) Fill Seasonal Needs

There are a lot of businesses that cater to the needs of the people during different seasons. For example, you’ll have a landscaping company that mows lawns and does landscaping in the spring and summer also remove snow in the winter. They have figured out how to relevant all year long to serve the people of their community.

If you suffer a severe shortage of customers during the summer, find a way to stay open. Do something else. Change up your business model. This is a great time to get creative and make extra money rather than just closing shop until it gets busy again. It might even help to talk with your employees about ideas they may have.

Written by adminJune 16, 2019

Saving

Most people enjoy the summer. It’s a great time where we spend a lot of time outdoors and enjoying the pleasant weather. But sometimes, especially if you live in warmer climates, summer can mean oppressive heat. Throw in a bit of humidity and you can be drenched with sweat just from stepping outside.

Most people’s solutions to this problem is to crank up the air conditioning. The home itself can be as hot as the air outside. So, turning on the AC can really put a strain on the budget. Having the AC running during the summer months can triple your electricity bill. In order to combat that problem, let’s look at 5 ways to stay cool this summer without blasting the AC.

1) Keep Track of Your Windows

In the summer months, if you’re not running the AC, you might keep all your windows open. The air in the morning and evening are usually cooler than during the heat of the day. But the trick here is to block the sun’s solar heat from entering your home. That means that in the morning, close your east and south-facing windows and draw the blinds.

In the evening, close your west and north-facing windows and blinds. This trick will help block out the sun’s heat during the times it will most likely enter your home. Also, don’t forget that your home can hold onto a bit of that solar heat and release it when the air temperature starts to drop.

2) How is Your Attic Insulation?

Attic insulation isn’t just to keep the warm air in the house during the cold months. It also will help keep the cool air in place. So, in that way, having good insulation keeps the lower floors comfortable throughout the year. If your insulation is poor or isn’t think enough, the cooler air can escape, or even push the hot air from the attic down into the home.

3) Install a Ceiling Fan

If you don’t have a ceiling fan, they are great at keeping rooms a good 5-10 degrees cooler with one-tenth the power usage of an AC. If your fan doesn’t seem to be doing the trick, check to make sure it’s not on a ‘winter’ setting. A winter setting will blow air the opposite direction to blow the air up rather than down.

4) A Whole Home Fan

Consider the places in your home that are the warmest. They are where the warm air settles in and it can make parts of your home really hot and humid. A great way to cool off those areas is to install a standard ‘whole-house’ fan that works like central air. The fan will pull the warm air out and push it outside the home.

5) Keep the Oven Off

During the unbearably hot summer months, using the oven can make the problem worse. Nothing heats up the kitchen like having the oven roaring. During these days, use alternative cooking methods, like grilling outside, using a crock pot, or a microwave. This will even help save on the electricity bill.

It’s understandable that there will be some days so hot, you’ll have no choice but to turn on the AC. But if you do most of the things on this list, it should cover you on most of your warm days while saving a bit of money on your electricity bill.

Written by adminMay 25, 2019

Car Insurance

Ah, Memorial Day. It’s our first big major holiday of the summer. In fact, it’s the unofficial start of the summer season. Most Americans get Monday off, so it’s a popular weekend for people to travel. Of course, let’s not forget the reason for the holiday is to honor fallen troops. We’re thankful for all their sacrifices.

If you plan on going on a trip this weekend, you won’t be alone. AAA says 43 million Americans will also be on the road along with you. The worst times to travel may be what you expect, but others are also making the same decision. They’ll try to find a non-peak time to hit the road. AAA says the worst time to leave would be Thursday evening.

Apparently, a lot of others have decided to take Friday off as well. Because the economy is doing so well and taxes are lower, more Americans have a few extra spending dollars. That’s what’s going to allow them to decide if they can afford a relaxing weekend trip at the cabin or having a BBQ with family and friends.

“Solid job and income growth have left Americans with a lot of disposable income in their pockets,” Robert Sinclair, a AAA New York spokesman, told USA Today. “Many have decided to spend their extra dollars on a trip, usually by car, in spite of higher gasoline prices.” The company expects this year to have 1.5 million more drivers than last Memorial Day weekend.

Gas Prices Have No Impact

One concern that doesn’t seem to be giving anyone pause is the national average price for a gallon of gas is near $3. It won’t be slowing anyone down this year. AAA predicts the increase in travelers this year will make it the second-highest volume since they started keeping track of the data back in the year 2000.

“Americans are eagerly anticipating the start of summer, and expensive gas prices won’t keep them home this Memorial Day weekend,” Paula Twidale, the vice president of AAA Travel, said in a statement. “Consumer spending remains strong, helped by solid job and income growth. Families continue to prioritize spending their disposable incomes on travel, and near-record numbers of them are looking forward to doing just that for Memorial Day.”

“Drivers in the most congested metros should expect much worse conditions than normal,” Reed said in a statement. “Travelers should anticipate delays to start on Wednesday and continue through Memorial Day. Our advice to drivers is to avoid the morning and evening commuting times or plan alternate routes.”

Written by adminMay 17, 2019

Saving

Looking at gas prices rise to near or over $3 per gallon is disheartening for Americans. It wasn’t but a few months ago that we were enjoying some of the lowest prices we’ve seen in decades. It certainly helped our pocketbooks and improve the economy somewhat. When gas prices are lower, everyone saves a bit more money. That is, except Wall Street.

It’s all about supply and demand…or so they say. Every year, they predict that summer gas prices are set to rise as we enter peak driving season. Families are going on vacations and longer trips during the summer months. While that’s historically true, something else has been happening. Wall Street investors have been jacking up the price.

They love to use fear to cause panic in the oil industry. They’ll talk about wars in the Middle East, pipeline concerns, and even an increased demand. But that only gets the so far anymore. The supply of oil has actually been increasing. Cars are becoming more fuel-efficient, yet we keep pumping out a lot of gas. Even the United States has become one of the larger producers of gas during Trump’s presidency.

How Wall Street Manipulates Gas Prices

You see, Wall Street investors only make money on oil and gas when the prices go up. It’s like stocks. They buy early and hope the numbers pump up so they can get value from their investment. When prices are lower, they’re not making their money. So, they create a fake panic or fears that there’s a shortage.

In reality, that’s a farce. As already explained, there’s more than enough oil supply in the world. When they start talking about potential $4 gas prices, that is intended to get people to buy, driving up demand. Of course, Wall Street desperately wants $4/gallon gas, even though it was hurt nearly every other sector of the economy.

They use economic fears, like the situation in Venezuela or decide that Russia is going to clamp down production. It seems as if anyone coughs in the Middle East, it’s time to up gas prices. It doesn’t matter if it legitimately impacts oil production or not, all in the name of profit. The weakening Chinese economy is another fear they hope will drive up prices.

What to Expect this Summer

Despite Wall Street peddling out fake news and stoking fears, the rise we’ve seen in price over the past few months is unsustainable. There is just way too much supply. If there was indeed a shortage, then yes, their fears would work and the prices would remain high. The difference is reality hits and the amount of oil really dictate the price we pay.

Even though there are fears about a war with Iran and Venezuela, one group, the Energy Information Administration, says gas prices will probably go down this summer. In fact, they predict that the price of gas this summer will be lower than it was at this time last year. They’re predicting around an average of $2.76, lower than the current average.

Written by adminJune 25, 2018

Life Style

It’s often known that in the summer, you’ll be paying more for gas. Rising prices typically signal a boost in demand as more people decide to go on trips and family vacations during the summer months.

Last Friday, President Trump made a tweet that might’ve spurred OPEC into action, stating that he hopes they will increase their output substantially to keep the price of oil down.

It wasn’t but a short time later when OPEC announced that they would indeed boost their production, flooding the market with oil and ultimately lowering the price at the pump.

In 2016, gas prices were falling significantly to the point where the major oil companies were having to lay off thousands of workers collectively to maintain profits. OPEC struck a deal with Russia and other major oil producers to curb production and cut the excess supply that kept the prices ridiculously low.

A lot can change in a few years, as now the world is concerned about an oil shortage. Prices have spiked 20% as demand has risen due to an improved economy in the U.S. and outages in major oil producing countries like Venezuela.

OPEC looks to increase the production by one million barrels, which will help ease some of those concerns and lower the prices, but the concern is that they would need to increase the output by 2 million barrels to keep up with current demand. That’s going to be a problem, as a lot of OPEC members will struggle to increase their production.

It’s expected that the increase will hit the global markets in July, but it has not yet been decided which countries would ramp up their production. In fact, gas prices rose at the end of last week as many investors actually expected to hear better news.

Cornelia Meyer, energy analyst and CEO of MRL Corporation, said last week that the OPEC leaders were “there own worst enemies” and that the current increase is “enough” to supply demand.

While we as consumers can be glad for lower prices this summer, a shortage is still expected later in the year unless OPEC can figure it out before then.

Written by adminJune 13, 2018

Saving

The first official day of summer is fast approaching. Most of the kids across the U.S. have already finished the school year. College students are settling into their summer life. It’s a good time to relax and unwind, if that’s really how you want to spend your time.

But, if you’re highly motivated, there are plenty of opportunities for you to get your side-hustle on and make a bit of extra cash for whatever you need it for. Maybe you want to pay off debts, get a down payment for a car, or need a little extra income for travel. Whatever you need it for, right now is the best time to earn it.

Here are the benefits to finding a summer job:

-Close to home. You don’t have to go very far from home to find extra work.

-Save money on gas/travel.

-Convenient. You can do it whenever you get extra time.

-You get a chance to meet interesting people and your neighbors.

-Easy to get going. Just print off fliers and cheap business cards offering your service.

-People around you know who you are, so it wouldn’t be difficult to convince them to hire you.

-Cash. You don’t have to wait for a paycheck. Do the job and get paid right away.

These are typical jobs that you might find a teenager doing, but it’s not bad work if you apply yourself and need a bit of extra cash. There are people who make an extra $1,000 per month doing these jobs.

The best part? There are all sorts of apps that can help you in ways that you couldn’t even imagine. I certainly wish I had these options when I was growing up, but now you can wield the power of the internet at your fingertips to expand your reach.

Here are the five ways you can make extra cash this summer:

1) Lawn Care

In the summer, there’s no shortage of lawns that need constant care. There are plenty of people who would rather shell out a few bucks to have someone else do it for them. Depending on what services you want to provide, you can make a killing.

You can even use a subscription-based model to make even more. You can offer regular lawn care for $100/month. If you find 10 clients, that’s an extra $1,000 every single month just mowing lawns on the weekend.

Also, during the summer months, a lot of landscaping companies are hiring to keep up with demand, so you can look into that as well.

2) Pet Sitting

This is one of the easiest ways to make money out there. There’s a variety of ways it can be done. Pets mostly take care of themselves minus being able to put food in their bowls and go out for a walk to relieve themselves. Most of the time, it’s a quick job and it pays well.

Summer is a great time when families go on vacation. You can save them a lot of money by offering to pet sit so they don’t have to take their furry family member to the kennel. A lot of clients will allow you to stay in their home, eat their food, and watch their TV while paying you good money to make sure their pet is well taken care of while they’re gone.

Also, there are new apps that people can use to hire dog walkers. Sign up for that and you can represent your neighborhood!

3) Housekeeping/House Sitting

If you love to clean (or even if you don’t, but it’s tolerable) you can make money doing it for others. There are a lot of people out there who will pay you to help organize their stuff, clean out garages and/or basements, do final clean-ups after moving out, or maybe they’re disabled and willing to pay for extra help for a while.

To reuse the point about vacations, people need more help than just watching their pets. They could use someone to check on their home, water plants, bring in the mail, and do a few other chores to keep things looking good while they’re away.

Either way, this is a great way to make money while providing a needed service.

4) Tutoring

If you’re pretty good at something, you can get people to pay you to teach them. This is especially true if you’re willing to work with kids, as exasperated parents could use a bit of help teaching their kids math, science, history, or whatever subject they’re struggling in.

Summer is the best time for kids to pick up these extra skills before heading into the next grade year. Since this is specialized knowledge, tutors can make anywhere from $25-$100 per hour!

5) Uber/Lyft

Most of the jobs I mentioned are labor-intensive. You might not want to mow 10 lawns twice a month. That’s okay! With today’s technology, you can make pretty decent money just driving people around.

The only downside with Uber and Lyft are the ‘tough’ requirements. Your vehicle must be under 10 years of age and there can be some wear on tear from the additional driving. But, if you fit those requirements, it might be the best way to make extra money.

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