2MatthewFreemanAdmin
The November numbers that tell you if peak is working
November feels good. Orders are up, money is moving, the shelves are emptying.
That feeling is not information, and it is the month where it is easiest to be busy and poorer at the same time.
THREE NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING THIS MONTH
What you actually cleared per order. Sale price, minus what you paid, minus fees, minus the real postage, minus the packaging. Do it properly on ten recent orders. Not an average guess — ten real ones.
Most people find at least one category where they are working for pennies, and peak is when they sell the most of it.
Your cost per parcel, this month. Postage went up in October and surcharges landed in November. The figure you have in your head is probably from the summer.
How many hours you are actually putting in. Not to be virtuous about it — because sale price minus costs divided by hours is the only number that tells you whether this is a business or an expensive habit. At peak, volume can disguise a poor hourly rate for two solid months.
THE ONE THAT HURTS
Work out which of your categories you would be better off not selling at all.
There is almost always one. High effort, low margin, awkward to post, and it keeps you busy enough to feel productive. At peak it steals hours from the things that actually pay.
You do not have to stop selling it. But you should know it.
WHY NOW RATHER THAN JANUARY
Because in January it is history and you cannot act on it. In November there are still six weeks of peak left, and the decision to stop listing the low-margin stuff and put those hours into the good stuff is worth real money between now and Christmas.
KEEP IT SIMPLE
You do not need software. Ten orders, a piece of paper, twenty minutes.
The point is not precision, it is finding out whether what you believe about your business is actually true.
WHAT DID YOURS SAY?
If you run the ten-order check, post what surprised you. The surprises are always the useful part, and they are almost never what people expect.
That feeling is not information, and it is the month where it is easiest to be busy and poorer at the same time.
THREE NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING THIS MONTH
What you actually cleared per order. Sale price, minus what you paid, minus fees, minus the real postage, minus the packaging. Do it properly on ten recent orders. Not an average guess — ten real ones.
Most people find at least one category where they are working for pennies, and peak is when they sell the most of it.
Your cost per parcel, this month. Postage went up in October and surcharges landed in November. The figure you have in your head is probably from the summer.
How many hours you are actually putting in. Not to be virtuous about it — because sale price minus costs divided by hours is the only number that tells you whether this is a business or an expensive habit. At peak, volume can disguise a poor hourly rate for two solid months.
THE ONE THAT HURTS
Work out which of your categories you would be better off not selling at all.
There is almost always one. High effort, low margin, awkward to post, and it keeps you busy enough to feel productive. At peak it steals hours from the things that actually pay.
You do not have to stop selling it. But you should know it.
WHY NOW RATHER THAN JANUARY
Because in January it is history and you cannot act on it. In November there are still six weeks of peak left, and the decision to stop listing the low-margin stuff and put those hours into the good stuff is worth real money between now and Christmas.
KEEP IT SIMPLE
You do not need software. Ten orders, a piece of paper, twenty minutes.
The point is not precision, it is finding out whether what you believe about your business is actually true.
WHAT DID YOURS SAY?
If you run the ten-order check, post what surprised you. The surprises are always the useful part, and they are almost never what people expect.
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