How has your summer business been?

[Mikki Kavich MCPF]

My shop has been VERY busy all year straight into summer. I have taken off the first week of August the past two years because of a county wide event that messes with business but other than that I have been very busy.

Just wondering about other parts of the country.

 

[Les Martin. MCPF]

IT'S REALLY MESSING WITH MY GOLF GAME. Only played 4 times this summer, we've been working 6 to 7 days a week to try and get caught up. Hanover, PA. It's FABULOUS. Has to be my wife's fault, she's keeping me in the back away from the customers. Les

 

[Cliff Wilson MCPF]

The last week in July and August have been "more normal," but I am still up 24.2% over my best year.

I've been working most nights until 9:30 - 11 all summer.

I let Amanda run the shop on Saturday and I still get out for my Saturday, Sunday Golf though.
Come on Les, where are your priorities?!?!

Amanda (full timer) has been working overtime and I increased Elaine (part-timer) from 2 days to three and a half and we are just keeping up.
Trying to decide whether to add more help before the holidays.

 

[Randy Parrish CPF]

Business wise it has sucked, sales are down 15% from last year. I am in survival mode. I tried the package pricing but I think all that did was lower my general sales I need to rethink the pricing before the students start college, offering upfront pricing has driven in business from my website, just not enough. The whole thing has made me realize everything I did before I really started tinkering with pricing was exactly what I should be doing.

I had a customer complain about a $550 dollar order....that I delivered....to their home on a private road, where the garage was bigger than my house, to hang in their wine cellar......:violin:

 

[Gregory K. Norris CPF]

No breather all summer. But I'm not complaining.

 

[Kai Vanuffelen]

I suppose it depends upon where in the US you are located. Some areas must be doing well, while other areas are still in the recession. My business is located in an agricultural area. When farmers are doing well, they spend money in town. When farm-sales are down or their prices are down, or the weather has affected them adversely, then the farmers hold on to their expenditure. Up and down really.

 

[Mike Drury MCPF]

We are slightly behind last year which was our best in 36 years. That is fine because last year was crazy busy and lately we have had a chance to catch up on projects that have been idling along. We have 3 full time folks framing, 3 full time doing Photo Therapy and two part time helpers. It's great here in Lexington, KY!

 

[Russ Wood]

The first 6 months were not that good - basically flat with last year - primarily because of my corporate business is holding up well. But that was okay because I had a lot of personal stuff to deal with - my sister-in-law passed in December and we have been working with getting her estate stuff taken care of; probably more than 500 hours between Janet and me, but we are almost through that; and still lots of medical appointments, but, I don't complain about those because good medical advise and care keeps relatives around for a much longer period of time! They are certainly worth the effort!

So, based on the weak 6 months, in late June I started doing some more marketing / personal contacts / etc., and July and August have been really picking up, and July and August will be my best non-corporate months ever.

My website stuff, and the PPFA find a framer have apparently been effective; last month I had 4 new customers that live more than 40 miles distant. One even lives 178 miles away and probably passes at least 50 other framers on his way to my shop. All thanks to the internet. [He comes to Aurora once or twice a month for staple groceries, so he only had to drive an additional 20 miles to get to me). The one that lives in Erie (about 55 miles and probably 30 framers away) just said something to the effect "when I checked on the internet, you are mentioned everywhere". I'm fortunate to be mentioned so much, as I do not advertise.

I was also fortunate enough to be mentioned in the PPFA quarterly newsletter, and I sent a copy to our local paper "The Denver Post", and asked about being featured in their paper. Today, they sent out a photographer to take pictures of me working on one of my framing projects (it happened to be painted bevels...go figure) and hopefully they will write a nice article that will help my business even more. I also think I may have a framing job from the photographer, after her wedding in a few months. I showed her some wedding framing and she even started asking about what her prices would be.

And then, in September, I have a 4 day "event" that I hope will help even more with brand recognition.

So yes, the outlook is looking good!

 

[Robin Gentry MCPF]

Considering we moved to a new location in January and just got our sign up this week we are not bad. It seems to be coming in spurts. We will have several jobs going on that are needed right now and then a short slow down to get caught up. Overall we are not far behind last year. I knew the move would affect our sales this year but hopefully it will continue to steadily increase.

On the upside, our tickets have increased with the move. And we are seeing a lot of new faces.

Can't wait for the Holidays to see what happens.

Robin