Peak Season Priorities

What I'm currently doing to prepare for the coming weeks...

Howdy friends,

As I was lying in bed this morning going through my mental to-do list, I realized I have a lot I am currently doing to prepare for the upcoming Q4 craziness. It feels like I am being pulled in a million different directions with things I can be doing to optimize my business as we inch towards the finish line of 2024.

I wanted to put together this list of things that I am personally, actively doing in hopes that it might remind you of something that you also can be doing.

Nothing in here is some sort of ginormous task or high level strategy — it’s just basic stuff that will make your life easier or maybe even make you a little bit more money.

Let’s get started.

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First, a “good problem” I’m dealing with…

I have a lot of inventory on pre-order. Much of it I was expecting to arrive in December or January. I wasn’t concerned about it arriving before Christmas or not, it’s just strong inventory I believe in that will sell year round. I was excited to have it arriving in December/January because that’s when the big daily paychecks start rolling in.

Well, manufacturers are ahead of schedule and I have tens of thousands of dollars worth of early product ready to ship to me now.

It’s not a bad thing. Like I said, it’s strong inventory and I will undoubtedly start selling it next month. The issue is that this is going to severely cut into my spending money for peak buying season in November and December.

So this puts me into a predicament — how can I ensure I have the right amount of funds for the coming months when I have all of this unexpected inventory coming in?

This question lays the foundation for a lot of what is going to be in this article, because many of the tasks within are addressing that question. Let’s dive into the specifics:

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Analyzing My Inventory / Repricing

This is something I am paying more and more attention to as we approach peak season. Where are my products trending price-wise? Are the seller counts dipping down? Is Amazon still showing 1000+ in stock but the product only sells 50 times a month total? What inventory is truly going to jump in value in the next 2 months?

This moment of reflection is important for my business because it’s helping me identify the inventory I’m probably holding onto for the wrong reasons. It’s tough, especially when I have products that I’ve held all year expecting a great return. But the truth is, there are going to be PLENTY of 50%, 70%, and even 100%+ ROI opportunities in the next two months.

Is it really worth being limited in how much I can buy next month, just so I can get an extra 10% ROI on the items I have in stock now?

Probably not. I’m taking a real in-depth look at what I have in stock and getting the duds selling. They might not even be duds — they could be products that are actually profitable, just not as much as I was hoping for. That’s okay. I’m getting them moving. It doesn’t even have to be all of it. I have plenty of products where I have 600-800 units and I can profit $3-$4 per sale, plus get my $20 buy cost back. Not optimal for that specific SKU, but it will be optimal when it comes time to buying grand slams in November. Plus I can still raise my price later.

Take an hour, look at your most overstocked stuff, and make some tough calls.

On top of eliminating inventory, don’t forget to raise your minimums on products that are consistently selling quickly at your minimum. If your minimum is $23.99 and you’re selling ten a day, why not raise it to $24.99 and make an extra ~$10 per day? You can always lower it back down if it stops selling. These micro-decisions, built up over the course of several years, will literally take years off your retirement age.

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Death Pile / eBay

I’ve been preaching this one for weeks now — get your death pile listed! I started really pushing my death pile to eBay in August, knowing some stuff would take a bit of time to sell.

That is $8,000.00 I wouldn’t have if I didn’t start listing a few months ago. Now I’m at the point where I can start lowering the price on the slower moving stuff that I have had listed for awhile, and just get it gone.

There is no emotional attachment to these items. I have already paid for them. The money is gone. I want to get some of that back and start making it multiply.

This isn’t even items exclusively from my death pile. I went into my closet looking for any junk I could sell. I’m literally pulling old low-graded Pokemon cards out and just selling them in bundles.

I may get an “undesirable” amount of money for my stuff now — $10 here, $5 there… but that $15 turns into $25 by spring, and then that $25 becomes $40. So on and so forth.

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Credit cards / limits

This one is pretty simple. With a 5-minute application, I was able to get a $35k limit credit card opened with American Express with 0% APR for a year. How could I say no? On top of that, it is eligible for a credit limit increase after 30 days. I’ll also be calling my primary bank and seeing if I can get credit limit increases on my other cards as well. I know this isn’t for everyone, but I like to pull out all the stops (responsibly).

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Monitoring Discount Gift Cards

Most discount gift card sites are pretty protective of their prices this time of year, but it doesn’t hurt to monitor for bigger than usual discounts on gift cards for stores you know you’ll be shopping at soon. Whether you use CardCookie, CardCash, or some other discount gift card site - check every few hours! Harder to find cards come in and out of stock, and there could be a random discount sometime soon. Also check on their discount bulk buying programs. For example, I know I’ll be spending money at Target next month. Why not save “future-me” some time and money?

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Not Forcing Buys

It’s that time of year where you may find yourself twiddling your thumbs a bit.

“I thought Q4 was supposed to be crazy? Aren’t I supposed to be buying a bunch right now?”

Well, really it’s November and December that are crazy. October is technically Q4, but doesn’t quite have the magic in it yet. One of the worst things you can do right now is ‘force’ purchases to meet spend goals or because you feel like you’re missing out. Don’t drain your capital on small 20% ROI plays right now, better deals are coming. Some stuff will pass you by, but it’s better to miss out on that than Black Friday deals.

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Reduce Risky Buys

If you are making purchases right now, make sure you do a proper risk analysis. This is not the time of year to be gambling on risky brands or products. Find a cologne that the brand owner used to sell but they’re out of stock right now? Hard pass.

The last thing I want to deal with in peak season is any sort of potential account health issue — especially with the uptick in Section 3 deactivations lately!

And while you’re avoiding these, go back into your inventory and CLOSE and THEN Delete your old risky listings. Can’t hurt, but it could help.

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How about some actual money-making activities?