Modest Summer Goals

You wouldn't know that summer was on it's way by the weather we're having in the Pacific Northwest lately. However, since the upcoming Memorial Day holiday is the unofficial start of summer (even if I do have to wear a sweatshirt the entire weekend) I figured I might as well make some summer goals.

For me summer is usually really really quiet from a sales standpoint. More importantly, it's also typically the time of year I start dipping into the business savings because sales are quiet. So the goal for me this year is to try and make sure that my monthly sales exceed my monthly costs. Even if it's only by $1 I'll be overjoyed.

Now here are the caveats - there are a few things that happen in the summer which my summer sales simply won't cover. Things like final payment for my tradeshow booths even though the shows won't happen until the Fall, getting new packaging made up in advance of the busy fall season, etc. Things like that are exempt (for now) from this goal. The goal is to simply have my 'normal' monthly costs - like my workspace rent, raw materials cost, etc - all be covered by what I sell each month.

And there are two ways I hope to meet this goal. First is by increasing sales - even if only slightly - via the Farmers Markets (pray for good weather this Thursday - pray for good weather this Thursday!). Secondly is that I want to continue to reign in spending whereever possible because the lower my costs are each month the easier it will be for my monthly sales to cover them.
.
So far May is off to a good start with an order going out today that will cover about 60% of May's costs. That just means I need to try and get another 40% at the Farmer's Market this Thursday (pray for good weather, pray for good weather) and then I need to start thinking about how best to tackle June.