Preparing Now for the Holiday Rush

Fall has a way of sneaking up on Spokane. One week you’re catching your breath from summer as the kids head back to school. The rain falls for a week and then second summer comes back in full force and you squeeze in a few more nights outside or weekends at the lake. But then the Halloween decorations sneak into stores and you realize Thanksgiving is only two months away.

Here are some tips to tackle now that will leave you feeling ahead of the game for the holiday rush:

Get honest about inventory early.

If your business sells product, this is the month to take stock, literally. You probably even have holiday goodies rolling in in boxes that you ordered months ago! Look at what moved last holiday season and what sat on the shelf. Order timelines get longer as suppliers get slammed with holiday demand, so the earlier you commit to quantities, the more negotiating room and shipping flexibility you have.

If you're a service-based business, this is your version of inventory: block out your calendar now, decide how many client slots or projects you can actually take on through December, and hold that line before the requests start pouring in.

Staff for the season you’re about to have, not the one you’re in.

Holiday demand rarely looks like the rest of the year. Figure out where the pressure points will be, whether that's extra hands on the sales floor, help with fulfillment, or simply more of your own hours, and make the call on hiring, cross-training, or bringing in contract help before you're already underwater. A short list of backup help you can call on short notice is worth having, even if you don't end up needing it.

Map your marketing timeline backward from your biggest dates.

Pick your key dates (like Small Business Saturday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, your own promotions, any local markets or pop-ups on the calendar) and work backward. Email announcements, social content, and any paid promotion all need lead time to actually land. Waiting until the week of to post about a sale means you're competing with everyone else who waited too. A simple week-by-week outline for November and December, even a rough one, takes the guesswork out of a season that moves fast.

Watch your cash flow, not just your sales.

More sales doesn't automatically mean more breathing room. Holiday season often means more cash going out before it comes in: inventory purchased up front, extra staffing, packaging, marketing spend. Know your break-even for the season and keep an eye on what's actually hitting your account versus what's still sitting in outstanding invoices or pending orders. A little planning here now saves a lot of stress in January.

Use the resources already built for you.

You don't have to plan this season from scratch. Vested's Holiday Guide is built to help members find each other during the exact window when local shopping and referrals matter most, and it's worth building into your own promotional timeline. Lean on the community, too. Some of the best holiday-prep insight comes from another Vested member who's already been through six or seven of these seasons and knows what actually works in our region. Stay tuned for details about how to get your top items in this season’s guide!

The winter rush rewards preparation more than hustle. Start now, and the holiday will feel like gravy (get it!?) instead of total chaos.