How annoying is it that you can walk in most department stores and find Christmas stuff already? It’s literally a thousand degrees outside but even now you can hop into your local Target and grab some blinking lights. It seems like the holiday season starts earlier and earlier each year, despite everyone complaining about it.

However, from the sellers’ points of view, they’re onto something. No matter how the buyers feel about the winter holidays rushing up to them at breakneck speed the stores have an obligation to provide product. After all, if people weren’t buying the stuff, they wouldn’t sell it! Thus, they have to prepare early lest they fall into trouble.

The same can be said about your Etsy store. If you don’t get your ducks in a row before the big selling season starts, you may be in over your head.

Know Your Worth

We don’t mean personal worth, because that’s incalculable! No, we’re talking about business worth; in other words, exactly where your store stands. Are you knocking it out of the park this year or struggling to keep your head above water?

The answer can make a huge difference for the holidays. It’s the difference between running a huge sale versus trying to be conservative with your decisions. If things are going swimmingly then you can risk offering free shipping during the holidays; if not, a more realistic promotion needs to be imagined.

These kinds of decisions are only available to you when you know the real worth of your store. You may try to get along the rest of the year without having an accurate view of your finances but during the holidays it could lead to big problems.

Protip: Get an account at Outright today to get the most up to date view of your business!

Set Accounts to Autopay

When it’s late November and you’re rushing to make enough product to relist everything in your store in time for Cyber Monday and you also need to ship 8 zillion boxes at the post office the next day, you really don’t have time to think of much else. The last thing in the world you want to worry about during that time is “did I pay the electric bill?”

Before the rush starts, set up your accounts for autopay. This is obviously more doable if your finances are secure, but even if you can’t get all your bills on a schedule, try to hit the important ones. Internet, for example, plus gas and power.

Trim Money Going Out

While the holidays are great for businesses, they can also be extremely expensive. Not just personally, but professionally – it’s the whole “spend money to make money” ideal. To stand out, you’ve got to put yourself out there with ads and promotional ads, all of which cost dough.

To keep your company from totally bleeding money all the time, look at all your expenses (should be easy now that you’ve gotten your Outright account set up!). Do you really need everything you’re paying for right now? When was the last time you watched Ghost Whisperer on Netflix while you made your products? Did that Reddit Gold account pan out like you wanted or is it a waste of money and a huge time sink?

This can also be helpful if you’re trying to beat your money-making records from last year. Decreasing your expenses can increase your overall net worth, giving you a much-needed boost of funds when starting the new year.

Have you started preparing for the holidays yet?

This guest post was brought to you by Outright.com, the easiest way to manage your small business finances - just in time for the holiday sales rush!