If you’re not ready to jump into running your own business full time, a summer business could be ideal. These types of ventures are seasonal and designed around the warmer times of the year,when tourists travel and everyone wants to enjoy the sunshine.
For people who know they’re not going to be as busy in the summer, like students or teachers, summer businesses are a great opportunity for a low-risk introduction to the world of entrepreneurship. Starting a summer business will teach you about the basics of administration, business finance, marketing, profit margins and more. They are a great way to stay busy, gain new skills, make some extra income and who knows — maybe expand into something bigger.
We want to help you get your summer business off the ground. Since 2004, we’ve helped over 250,000 people become entrepreneurs, starting exciting businesses and bringing their ideas to life. We’ll give you the support, guidance and advice you need to create a business and make it into a success.
Here is our simple guide to launching a successful summer business. From exploring the types of business you can start to the legalities of setting up your business and the realities of your day-to-day operations, this guide is here to help.
Read on for some insight into creating your own summer business and becoming an entrepreneur.
Some businesses are especially well-suited to being run on a seasonal basis. Here are some great ideas:
With kids being out of school, they and their parents may be looking for extra practice for sports, hobbies or academics. You can take advantage by offering private lessons.
Because kids can’t go to school or daycare in the summer months, some parents might want additional help looking after their children.
Summer is a busy time in the yard or garden, yet many people take longer vacations away from home. Think about offering weeding services, mowing lawns, watering plants or caring for animals.
If you know your city or the surrounding region well, you could set up a business providing interesting tours to visitors. You can even theme tours around unique local features or customs.
Vacation and itinerary planning can take up an enormous amount of time. You can reduce this stress and hassle for other travelers by providing booking, administration and other tourism services.
Airbnb’s are becoming increasingly popular — if you have a property that you can fully or partially rent out, summer is going to be one of the busiest times. Alternatively, you could also rent out a vacation home yourself or through a property management company.
Kids are looking for something fun to do over the summer season. Enriching activities or summer camp experiences can be very attractive to parents and children — you may be surprised at the rates you can command, especially if you're a trained educator.
You will need to think about the type of summer business you want to run, then research, refine and validate your ideas. Start by making sure you have the right skillset. For example, if you’re going to tutor or teach, do you have sufficient subject matter expertise to get the lessons across?
Don’t assume that just because you have a summer business, running it and making money will be easy. Even seasonal businesses have competitors, and you need to stand out, deliver superior products and services and excel in your chosen area.
Getting started in a summer business is easy, but becoming a success is harder. Before committing too much time, energy and money into your new summer business, it’s important to test the marketplace. Here's how:
Not every idea you have will actually become a summer business. There are all sorts of reasons to say “yes” or “no” to specific businesses, so think
about what your strengths and weaknesses are so you can choose a business you’d be great at.
Business plans are easily overlooked by summer businesses — after all, if you’re only managing a business for part of the year, you don’t need a business plan, right? Wrong.
Business plans will help you define how you’re going to run your summer business, market yourself, get sales, make a profit and grow. A business plan forces you to take your summer business seriously, so you can ask and answer tough questions that will make it easier to be a success.
Business plans do vary slightly, but they should all cover the following areas:
There are five main business structures you can have in the U.S., and it’s important to choose the right one. We’ve shared your options below. They are:
This is the "default" business structure and is what your summer business will be if you decide not to create a more formal structure. Although you could use this for a tiny summer business, we don't recommend it as it doesn't give you the legal protections you need.
This is a type of business that is formed when two or more people work together without creating a more formal business entity. Like a sole proprietorship, it may not give you all the protections your summer business may need.
The most common type of business entity, an LLC is fast, simple and inexpensive to set up and maintain. It protects your personal finances and assets and is a great way to start your summer business.
This is a more complex type of business and isn't generally recommended for smaller organizations like a summer business.
These are the largest and most complex types of businesses and are typically far more than the average entrepreneur or summer business owner will need.
Once you've legally created your summer business, you’ll need to get some other things in place.
The location you work from will be defined by the type of summer business you start. You can run some seasonal businesses successfully from home, although other businesses may need a retail or specialized location. Remember that if you do need to rent space somewhere, get a short-term contract to ensure you’re not locked into a lease for a long period of time.
Depending on the type of summer business you run, equipment needs will vary widely. You won’t have long to recoup your investment, so try and keep your equipment, inventory and other costs as low as possible.
Although most of your revenue will happen during the summer months, you should be marketing your business over a much longer period. You will want to stay top-of-mind with parents, kids, tourists or whatever target market you’ve chosen. You can do this by having a great website, social media marketing, paid advertising, local flyers or whatever works for your business type. Remember to build excitement in the off months so you can add to your potential client list.
The right software can make it easier to run your summer business; see our great list of the top apps at the end of this guide.
Take advantage of the spring, fall and winter to plan for your summer business. Experiment with different types of marketing, automate your business administration and talk about your summer business with others. Test out your ideas to see if they can add revenue, and continue tweaking and refining how you approach your business.
Depending on how busy your business is, you might need to hire some people over the summer months. If so, you'll need systems to to pay them, provide employee insurance and submit payroll taxes.
If you start an LLC, you will need a separate business bank account for your summer business. You might also want to consider a business credit card. Additionally, you will also need to keep careful bookkeeping records and file business and personal taxes. Here at Incfile we can even help you file your taxes.
