September is a rebirth kind of month for me. It’s the month where my life actually changes between the 1st and the 30th. It’s a real turning point for me every year. A hard stop on what is currently happening in my life. A time when I have to make a complete 180 degree turnaround. But, there is a specific date every September that starts this whole rebirthing process. It used to be the 15th, but I had to tweak that date due to laziness issues. This year, that date is September 18th. Let me explain.
In my store, and in my business, the summer is my slow season. Since I just surpassed my 30th anniversary of owning my store, I’m going to pretend that I speak from a position of authority. If not authority, I can certainly speak from experience.
Somewhere around the middle of June, my business grinds to a halt. It happens every year so I expect it every year. I don’t fret, and I don’t worry, I embrace the pause from the normal hectic pace. Most of my customers are either on vacation spending money, about to go on vacation and saving money, or just got back from vacation and have no money. Then, it’s back to school time and all of the expenses associated with that. That cycle usually starts to fade around the middle of September.
I take advantage of the break every year to do some things that I never find the time to do the rest of the year. Mainly, I pretend I’m going to tackle those remodel and infrastructure repairs that I keep putting off. Some of the projects are big, and some of the projects are small. But this year, there’s only one big project, and about 50 little ones, like repainting the front door of my store.
My big project is putting in new countertops in my main equipment room. This is the room where all of my polishing and cleaning equipment is located. When I leased this space almost 4 years ago, I was in a hurry to get out of my old store – which was being bulldozed – and into my new space. And, since I have wholesale trade accounts that count on me, I needed to get my shop up and running as quickly as I could.
In my last location (which I never planned on leaving, BTW), I spent months building out the shop area with custom cabinets and countertops. For my new shop, I just pulled out all of the cabinets and countertops and moved them to my new space and put them where ever they kind of fit. They didn’t fit like a glove back then, and they don’t fit like a glove now. There is about a 4 inch gap between the back of the countertop and the wall that is somewhat of a black hole. If I drop it, it will find that black hole. I seriously need to fix that. The question is… will I actually do it this summer? Also note, I have no plans on moving from this location anytime soon.
The small projects are just things like touching up some paint and repairing a piece of trim on the floor in one of the back rooms. But this year, I actually have a plan. I’m going to do something I’ve never done before. I am going to make a ‘punch list’ to hold myself accountable. Anyone that’s ever built or remodeled a house knows all about the punch list. It’s a long list of little things that need to be addressed before the job is actually finished. You know, things like touching up some paint, and finishing off a piece of floor trim.
But, why does all of this need to be finished by September 18th, you might ask? Because at some point every year, I’ve got to transition from, ‘It’s the summer, I’ll deal with it tomorrow or next week’ to ‘Holy cow, Christmas is just around the corner!’ At some point I learned I had to have a hard stop on operating in ‘summer mode’ and to begin the transition back to work mode. Summer mode allows me to close early once in a while, take a few days off in a row, and basically just take a much needed break from the chaos of the daily grind of running a business. September 15th was supposed to be my hard stop. But I discovered a problem almost immediately with that date!
In 1995, the fourth year I owned my store, September 15th fell on a Monday. There was no way I was physically able to make such a hard transition on a Monday. I mean come on, most of us can barely function on a Monday as it is. I can’t make a life altering transition like this on a Monday. So I decided the real date of the transition will be the first Monday after the 15th. This way, I’ve got a few days to gradually accept the transition back to work mode instead of summer mode.
This year, the first Monday after the 15th is September 18th. So, as you’re reading this, around the first week of September, how do you think I did? Did I check everything off of my punch list? Or, do you think I’m scrambling to do an entire summer’s worth of projects in the next two weeks? The safe bet is on the latter.
September in the jewelry industry is the beginning of our fiscal business cycle. Our fiscal year doesn’t start in January. Our fiscal world begins a couple of months before Christmas because our world revolves around the Christmas holiday. September is the month that we begin to ramp up for the busy season. September 15th means there is only 90 days between now and Christmas in the jewelry business. YIKES!!!
As we prepare to enter into our busy season, try to take advantage of the end of the summer and take a moment to relax and reflex. In no time at all, we’re all going to be neck deep in deadlines and commitments. Enjoy these moments where we all have a little extra time to take care of ourselves and our employees. Give someone a paid day off – just because you can. Give someone the afternoon off – just because you can. Because, we all know in a month or so, you won’t be able to because we’re all back to the grind.
Oh well, I guess I’d better go pick up that danged paint brush I’ve been promising myself I’d pick up to paint my front door – since the middle of June – 2021!
And a note to my Indiana readers: I will be speaking at your annual state conference next month, on October 8th, in Indianapolis. Come see me and say hi.
