Selling cheap hot tubs can be a seasonal small business.

Many entrepreneurs find that every small business is, to a certain extent, seasonal. For instance, as a freelance writer I often find that summer is my busiest period, while the beginning of the year — right after the holidays — is the slowest. I’m not the only writer to find that is the case, either — I remember reading it in a book on how to make it as a freelance technical writer, and I’ve always found it to be the case for me and almost every other writer I’ve talked to.

This is a fairly mild case of seasonal mood swings in business, however. Some businesses are seasonal by definition. For instance, hot tub repair guys, landscapers and gardeners, and golf instructors are all going to find that their businesses thrive in the warmer months and become almost anemic during the colder months. The nature of their business just means there is no demand for them in the winter, with the exception of regions where it is warm all year round.

The best way to survive with a seasonal small business is to either have two different businesses, or blend two different seasonal sets of services into a single business. The classic example is HVAC — heating, ventillation, and air conditioning. HVAC combines two very different systems — heating and A/C — into a single business to ensure that they always have business, all year around.

You can do a similar thing with other businesses. For instance, you could do landscaping or contract work during the warmer months, and plow snow for businesses and private homes during the winter months, all using the same truck. Or you could work on pools in the warmer months, and portable spas year round (since many people like to sit in the hot tub in the winter, and purposely install their hot tub so that they can do so).

Do you have a seasonal business? If so, have you found a way to keep work constant all year around?

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