How to Protect Your Energy (and Cash Flow) This Season
For handmade makers, summer is a beautiful contradiction. On one hand, it’s peak outdoor market season—a fantastic way to meet customers face-to-face. On the other hand, online sales traditionally take a dip as customers log off to go on vacation, and melting temperatures can make working in a hot studio feel like an extreme sport.
If you are feeling the mid-summer squeeze, you are not alone. Here are three actionable ways to protect your energy and keep your business moving forward when the weather heats up:
- Pivot to “Micro-Moments”: When online traffic slows down, stop forcing high-volume production. Instead, use this time for low-stakes experimentation. Try a limited summer, sketch out designs for your autumn collection, or test out a brand-new medium you’ve been curious about.
- Optimize for the On-The-Go Buyer: Remember that your customers are out living their summer lives. If they are browsing on their phones while lounging at the beach, your checkout process needs to be effortless. Audit your online shop on a mobile device this week. Can a customer buy an item in under three clicks? If not, streamline it.
- Survive the Outdoor Market Burnout: Hauling heavy displays, tent weights, and inventory into the summer heat is exhausting. Be brutal about protecting your physical energy. Bring double the water you think you need, invest in a battery-powered fan for your booth, and remember that it is okay to pass on a market if the weather forecast poses a risk to your health or your inventory (like humidity warping woodwork or melting candles).
Let’s be honest—regardless of why you’re selling online, making money is somewhere on your list of goals. Whether you’re aiming for a little side income or hoping to build a thriving business, sales don’t happen without visibility.
If you’re not promoting yourself on social media, you’re doing your business a disservice. Every day, potential customers are scrolling, searching, and discovering new brands. The question is: will they find yours? Don’t let the “if you make it, they will come” fool you. That is not how it works. You have to help them find you. You have to consistantly keep putting yourself in front of people so they see you over and over again. Social media gives you the opportunity to showcase your products, tell your story, build trust, and stay top-of-mind with buyers. The businesses that consistently show up are often the businesses that consistently grow.
Blog posts generally attract more organic traffic than new product pages because they answer informational search queries rather than just commercial ones. While product pages only capture people ready to buy, blog posts catch a much larger audience of people researching problems, comparing options, and seeking educational content. These are added easily in the Post section of your Shop Manager.
This difference in search behavior provides several distinct advantages:
- Broader Search Intent: Most search engine queries are informational (e.g., “how to fix a leaky faucet”) rather than transactional (e.g., “buy brass kitchen faucet”). Blogs capture this top-of-funnel traffic, generating exponentially higher search volume.
- Higher Link-Building Potential: Other websites, bloggers, and journalists are highly likely to link to informative, data-driven, or educational articles as resources. Product pages rarely earn these backlinks.
- Compound Search Value: Product pages can become obsolete when inventory changes. Evergreen blog posts remain relevant for years, compounding their organic traffic and search engine authority over time.
- Trust and Credibility: Blog posts build brand authority and trust by solving user problems without immediately pushing a hard sale.
Summer isn’t a sign that your business is failing—it is just the natural inhale before the hectic autumn and holiday rush. Use this season to try your hand at something new like a blog post, prep your systems, and play a little bit.
Maker Markdowns
PAT’S BEADED TREASURE SHOP
- 25.00% Discount
- 25 % off order of $30.00 or more order. Can only be used once per order
- Coupon Code: pat’s beaded treasure shop
- (Expiring in 3 weeks)
🎨 Keep Creating!
We hope these tips help you navigate the summer heat and find some time to rest your hands this week. Your creativity is valuable—make sure to protect it!
Until next week, happy making!
— The Maker’s Mix Team
Thanks for the great ideas. Always looking for new ways to improve and grow my business!