My apologies for not blogging for a while (and not filling your inbox up with my spam messages).
What can I say? Well, mainly I’ve been busy travelling around the country and generally doing proper work. But, also I feel this time of year is depressing and not conducive to writing blog posts.
The next month is the worst time of the year if you run a window, door and conservatory company. Leads are thin on the ground, and customers stop buying off us. Then our wives go absolutely barmy spending our hard earned cash on far too many Christmas presents. The weather is terrible, and the days are short. Then the last week of the month you’ve go to pay your staff to stay at home so they can get drunk, fall out with their family, and watch crap on the TV.
On top of that over the next six weeks I suspect that a fair few directors of window companies will run out of steam (and cash) and pack it all in. But, that’s a different story.
If you read my blog last year, you’ll realise I hate Christmas.
On a more positive note, I’d like to thank all those people who supported the Mushbashers for growing porn star tashes for Movember. So far, we’ve raised a massive £1330 for the Prostate Cancer Charity, although there’s still time to donate to this worthy cause at:
http://uk.movember.com/mospace/22901
PS. Sorry, not feeling very creative at writing blog posts today. Anybody got any guest posts they’d like to send me?
Tags: i hate christmas, Movember
How very sad …
I love December and Christmas , I always have done. It will sound cheesey with present giving, parties, playing the kids games , having a break, kids christmas concerts,nativity, celebrating the birth of Jesus etc, christmas markets and fayres , the days start getting longer ( or at least stop getting shorter) almost a celebration of the previous year , I love it .
I will grant you I don’t make any money in December, the employees all get too p^$$£d at the party and kick off, the answer phone has desperate service calls that they can’t lock an upstairs bathroom window handle ( which has been left open for the previous 18 months), it is cold and we have our BSI audit , but Christmas is not a time for work it is a time for the family and we are quite lucky to have the ability to shut down for a few days without real distraction………
January ….. well that is a completly different scenario
Kev
January’s a lot better than December. Loads of leads, no bank holidays, and new beginnings!!!
Bah! Humbug! Jesus wasn’t actually born at this time of year, the Christians have hijacked a Pagan feast, but what the hell it is a time to enjoy giving presents to loved ones no matter the pretext.
For Kev: I grant you a joyful and peaceful Christmas day with family and loved ones!
For RCG: I grant you 50 serious hits on your web site.
Personally I will take 25 hits and a reasonably joyful and peaceful day with family
Andy
Cheer up! At least your not skint like a lot of others. You need to detach from work and enjoy yourself a bit more, works not everything! Just think, nice warm India soon.
I also hate Christmas, every damn year we have to put up with this crap. I hate it with a passion! The thought of it makes my stomach turn.
I could write a whole book about why Christmas is so bad for our industry.
This year I will go mad if any of our staff says to me ‘have a nice Christmas’ or on the first day back say ‘did you have a nice Christmas?’ – like they give a crap anyway!
Anyway, I’m getting wound up just writing this, so I’m off to work out how I’m going to make up for the £100K Christmas costs me every year
Complete opposite for us – Christmas is our busiest time and being a small company, where everything is very much hands on, it means very late nights, very early starts and the nagging worry that you’ve forgotton something……
I remembered – kids Christmas presents – good job some toy shops open late xmas eve….
Have a good one everyone – don’t drink too much and try to give up the PC for one day at least.
Jonathan.
David-have a nice Christmas!
David —
Is your clerk called Bob Cratchett ? Have a heart and give your staff Christmas day off !!
Sleep well , don’t go having strange dreams that might change your outlook on life
Oh …………and… Have a nice Christmas
I just knew I’d get some stick over that
I still hate it!
David – I’m with you.
I cannot underestimate how bad Christmas is for our industry. As a devout atheist, I am frustrated that such a public holiday creates an unnatural trough in demand at a naturally difficult time of the year (ie winter).
I blame Christmas on a large number of company insolvencies, which in turn effects people’s incomes and jobs.
Yes, it might be nice handing a few presents to your kids, and decorating the Christmas tree, but having a statutory week’s holiday at this time of year is no good.
I vote that everyone stays at work for the whole period as a protest.
RCG – I couldn’t have said it better myself. If we we’re selling Christmas trees (which we are not), we might think differently (which we don’t).
I respectfully request that no one else wishes me a nice Christmas because I can guarantee that I won’t be having one. Anyway, I’ll be drunk throughout it so I won’t even care.
Dave – funny you mention Christmas trees, as my brother-in-law sells them at this time of year, as his normal business – selling lawnmowers – is not particularly vibrant at this time of year. But the margins are not great. You buy them for £25 and deliver to people’s houses for £40 (and customers think they’ve been ripped off).
Easter, mind you, is a more acceptable festive celebration. A long weekend, with better weather, and all you need to splash out on is a bit of chocolate.
It’s the selling of Christmas trees being my biggest headache … They are all over the damn place in Notcutts Garden Centre, anyone that finally achieves the mission of reaching our showsite is thoroughly p****d having clambered over so many of the things covering themselves in wretched pine needles.
A re-run of the u fit Christmas Do would cheers us all up … I’m still convinced the whole series was contrived … Oh god I hope it was!
From a selling point of view it’s a great month … A few cases of W
wine in the boot, visits to customers with bottle in hand often leads to an add-on or referral.
Edward – agreed, a re-run of the U Fit Christmas party would cheer us up, but I’m afraid it was entirely real.
What a miserable bunch of sods you are! If business is the only thing that marks your lives then you don’t have one. And if you were in the greetings card/toy/booze/retail business then you are praying for Christmas – so perhaps you should have a side line that’s seasonal-positive at this time of year.
And since when has Christmas been about religion for the majority of us? So being atheist is neither here nor there.
What does wind me up is the sheer commercialism of it all and my wife’s inability to buy a turkey that is small enough for one in a predominantly vegetarian family – but if you cut through that crap then it’s a great time to be with the family – but especially the kids. It’s the one holiday of the year when you can actually relax because you know the phone ain’t going to ring – sometimes that can be good.
So just ENJOY the time, even if you spend Christmas day thinking up new ways of driving up business in the New Year.
Bah Bleedin’ Humbug to the lot of yers.
I think I was on your side with this one Paul
Well said Paul. I think he’s missing the MO… and he’s become decidedly grumpier perhaps we should do a you tube version of Scrooge with Matthew being the main character.
Well, I’ve been reading these with interest. I’m not to keen on xmas either from the business point of view (maybe not quite on the scale of Dave and RCG) and i would love it if the banks would shut for the same fortnight holiday our fitters get.
I’m not sure about the phone not ringing either given every year there always seems to be a big storm around Boxing Day.
So what can we do at this time of year to generate more income. For the second year running we have just posted out our Care and Maintenance reminder cards to every customer who has one of our conservatories over 1 year old. They pay us to come out a give the job an ‘mot’ and make sure it is in good condition. It’s like getting paid for your own remedial work! Another 100 cards going out in the post tonight as we have to do them in batches. Bookings have already started for New Year
It’s certainly beats selling trees!