Q4 will be here soon, let’s get that bread. And by bread, I mean jewelry sales

September! You’ve sent or are sending the kids back to school, your trade show season is (mostly) done, and thoughts naturally turn to December. Truth – it is not too early to think about December.

Here is your check list to get you through this sprint from now until end of December. Pick one or two a week and get cracking!

• Inventory – do it now, look at last years sales and make some predictions based on your own data for what you should have on hand in November/December.

• Show deadlines – This week would be a great week to check any holiday craft and art show deadlines and get those applications in.

• Website – Check in on your SEO for your website, is your site prepared to be found in November? Right now is actually a great time to focus since being found in searches can take time to build, if you work on it now, by November your site should be ready to be found.

• Boxes – I cannot emphasize enough that inventory includes counting your gift and shipping boxes and ordering more boxes.

• Booth planning – If you are thinking about making any changes to your booth set up, give yourself until the end of September so that you aren’t scrambling come November. This is especially true if you need new banners.

• Photography – did you make a bunch of new pieces for the NY shows? Don’t let them languish in your safe! Get them photographed and onto your site.

• Build out your marketing calendar in advance – yes, things come up, things always do. Having a roadmap of your marketing topics for your emails for the next few months will give you an organizational home to return to for all of those times when life and work happen.

• Pricing audit – oh you knew this one was coming, especially from me. We’ve all left money on the table during the holidays before. Let’s make this the year that it doesn’t happen though, OK? It’s a great time of the year to review your pricing.

Q4 is the busiest time for the jewelry industry, and we can all use support and help – take one task from this list, sit down and tackle it for one hour – you’ll get to the finish line (December 24th!) before you know it!