Business at Christmas: Everything a business owner should consider

The Christmas period can be a stressful time, whether you are a business owner or not. From trying to get all of the family gifts, to ensuring everything is ticking over in your company, Christmas comes with its own challenges.

Whether your business has a good Christmas period or not often depends on the industry. Retail businesses will notice a spike during this time, but service-based businesses may struggle, with people choosing to spend their money on gifts and wait until the new year to invest in services.

With this in mind, here are a couple of things you may want to think about when it comes to taking care of your business over the festive period.

Business gifts & Christmas parties

If you have clients that you work with on a retainer, it can be good relationship management to get them gifts during this time of year, to show you still value them as a client. These gifts don’t have to be expensive, but it is worth budgeting for this throughout the year, to ensure the added expenditure doesn’t take out too much from your monthly budget.

You may also have employees that you wish to throw a Christmas party for. Again, this should be budgeted for throughout the year as they can be very pricey. Booking around July or August is best practice, as this gives you plenty of time to plan costs and confirm the headcount.

If you are in need of some last-minute Christmas party ideas, hosting drinks in your office or finding a table for a meal and then going for drinks after can be a good, cheaper alternative.     

Advertising during Christmas

Making sure you give your marketing and advertising efforts a push during this time is crucial, especially if you find the Christmas period to be slow. Make sure you budget for this extra marketing spend all year round, as it could help to relieve some of the pressure when Christmas comes around.

Staying vigilant with credit card payments

Christmas can also be prime time for credit card fraud, so make sure you keep on top of your accounts and all of your credit card payments. Dealing with cancelling credit cards and fraud can add an extra level of stress to the Christmas period that business owners do not need.

Make sure to prepare for the new year

Allow yourself some time to make preparations for the new year and the new financial year that is coming up. If you are required to fill in a self-assessment, make sure you are ready to do so before the deadline on the 31st January.

Christmas is such a busy time, that many business owners forget to make time for winding down and planning ahead. Make sure you are working a few months in advance, to help give yourself and your staff time to unwind and tie up any loose ends before leaving for Christmas.

Coming back to a huge to-do list and piles of stress can set the mood for the year ahead, so ensure you are doing your best to start afresh in the new year.

To find out more about managing your accounts over Christmas and preparing for the self-assessment deadline, get in touch!