Beating The Winter Blues With Your Business

Winter View Print from Les Images d’ Isa

February may be the month of love, but between the Winter blues and slower sales in the beginning months of the year, it’s easy to fall out of love with our handmade businesses.

The colder temperatures prevent us from getting outside and soaking up the sun, preventing our creative batteries from recharging. And the slow sales leave us questioning if we’re making the right decisions with our business, hanging on to every sale that we make and hoping another is quick to follow.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

This is the perfect times to change up your routine, find new sources to boost your creative juices, and brighten up your shop. Here are five ways to use this time to your advantage:

1. Get out of the house. 

   Head to a local coffee shop or cafe, visit a new exhibit at the museum, go for a road trip, or try a new restaurant. It doesn’t matter so much what you do, just that you’re doing something new. Something that’s going to break through your mental barriers and encourage your creativity to flourish.

2. Reassess your products. 

   Is there anything that doesn’t fit with your shop’s theme anymore? Or maybe something you have wanted to add that you haven’t had the time to do anything with? Now is the time to change your products to fit your ideal shop. Look at what you have in there that sells well or stands as one of your favorite products and find a way to make the rest of your shop reflect that.

3. Dream a little bit bigger. 

   Think about where you want to be in six months, a year or even five years with your business. Once you know what that is, figure out ways that you can work towards your goals. Maybe it’s a new marketing plan, or networking with our shop owners, or stepping out of your comfort zone. Find a way to make that goal a part of your focus every time you’re working on your business.

4. Give your shop a makeover. 

   Maybe you’re completely satisfied with the products in your shop so there’s nothing more to add to it. If that’s the case, give everything a makeover! New pictures, better tags, improved product descriptions, package deals, etc. Find a way to brighten up your current products to make them stand out.

5. Take a vacation. 

   What better time to celebrate your success than to take a vacation during your slow months? Not only will you beat the Winter Blues if you head someplace warm, but you’ll also be giving yourself some much deserved time away from the daily grind. Relax, have fun and enjoy the time away from your business. But whatever you do, don’t let the guilt follow. Give yourself some time away – 100% guilt free – knowing that you’ll come back, ready to take your shop to the next level.

What do you do during the slower months to help your business grow?

Ashley Wagner — After Nine to Five

Ashley is the creative force behind the After Nine To Five blog and shop. She’s a self-employed consultant/blogger/graphic designer that is determined to live the life that she used to believe would always be just a dream. You can follow her journey along with her husband’s journey as they make their transition from being Wisconsinites to Floridians on And a DIY Life.

She is also the founder of The Better Blogger Network – a community dedicated to helping each other grow as a person and even more so, as a blogger. She is also the founder of RevolutionizeHer – a project that is dedicated to encouraging and inspiring women to live the life they dream of living, especially through self-employment.