How Do You Handle Temporary Business Swings?

[SVLFever]

Hello Fellow Leisure and Entertainment Sellers!

As an FEC owner, we are now in the busiest time of year for our business, and the next few weeks will be quite the challenge to get through.   This made me wonder, how do other Leisure and Entertainment businesses manage the "swings" in a business that could be cyclical or seasonal.

Fortunately for me, I have several young team members that start with me in high school and invariably go away to college, but will come back and work over the holiday season to help me get through this "swing".  On the flip side, I have been fortunate enough to have some staff members take "summer jobs" when things slow down here some, but then return back in the fall.

How do you get by with swings in your business?  Do you hire temporary help?  Family members just in?   Semi-retired staff members come back?   

The community would love to hear your thoughts on how you deal with this, as it may inspire others to do the same so please share your thoughts here.

[CareyJo]

We're a seasonal business in that we have heavier seasons and slower seasons.  We don't have employees but that slow crunch still hurts.  I do know that a lot of businesses in the E&L industry like you, here in Montana, run seasonal employees.  It's super common here.  Our main example here is the kids that go off to college and/or come home for the summer.  Most employers here have a running list of who's coming and going and when to plan for transition.  They also do all of the career fairs around our area.  Our local colleges help recruit those winter employees and help them get internships too.  I know in recent years it's been harder to get and keep employees but generally this has never been a problem.  Sorry I don't have better suggestions or experience.

[DinaLRosenberg]

Thankfully our swings aren't that dramatic but we do rely on family members/friends that chip and and work when we're really strapped or to help with special projects.

[EOGORMAN]

I want seasonal work, it sounds fun! 

[BofBArtStudio]

Our swings are pretty dramatic as well and they typically follow school holidays. So we need less people when school is in session and more people on school holidays. We have, like you, a bunch of young people who go off to college or graduate college and then our staff is always changing.

Spring break, winter break, fall break, summer break, Monday holidays, and weekends are our biggest and busiest times. 

That works out pretty well because we then can get students who are also on break to work during these busy times. However then during the slower times like August when school goes back in, we are always trying to cut back on staffing. 

It feels like we are always training new people which is a challenge when we're always trying to keep things consistent and systematic. 

Our biggest season is summer, followed by spring, followed by winter and then fall. 

Mondays holidays can sometimes be busier than the busiest Saturdays. 

Saturdays and Sundays every week are the busiest days of the week. 

January and August are the slowest months of the year.  I always tell my team to brace themselves for January and August because it's going to be like crickets and we're going to be doing a lot of deep cleaning. 

But then February rolls around and it's Valentine's Day, and March rolls around and it's Saint Patrick's and spring break, and then April rolls around and it's Easter and then May rolls around and it's mother's Day and then it's summer and then it's August and we are dead slow, and then mid-September we pick up for Halloween, And then November is a little quiet but not much because everybody's planning for Christmas and December is a big month and then January dies off. 

It's pretty much like clockwork and I'm always hiring seasonal people to fill in during the school breaks.

[EOGORMAN]

And by the way, this is also Emily, from the suggestion above. I want to tell you I love your business! It is so amazing that you do that, and my homeless people want to get involved with being a customer and having a fun. And it sounds like a therapeutic experience! 

[EOGORMAN]

That sounds like a lot of fun. And scary at times! But I have a suggestion, hire employees in the community, such as school professors or people that want to get involved so that you don’t have to cut back!

[BofBArtStudio]

We have had some school teachers as well.  They get the school breaks off so it works perfectly.

Pretty much students and teachers have the school breaks off and can be our fill ins for the busy school break times.

😊