For many small businesses the Christmas season is the busiest time of year and while it can boost your revenue, it often comes with additional expenses such as hiring seasonal staff, buying new equipment or renting extra space etc.

We know this because at Lumi we are a small business ourselves and have found a few helpful strategies that have proven useful over the years.

Check out four ways to cope with financial stress during the holidays, so that you can maximise your business opportunities. 

1. Add a healthy buffer to your budget

When planning your budget and business expenses on a monthly, quarterly and yearly basis, make sure to add an extra 15-20% during the holiday season to allow for unexpected events or opportunities. You can then allocate funds for specific purposes such as marketing, operations, sales, events etc.

2. Track your spending

Whether you use an accounting software such as Xero, one of those handy budgeting apps or a simple excel spreadsheet, make sure to accurately track your expenses against your budget allowance on a weekly or even daily basis. This will help you manage your funds more efficiently without any bad surprises. Keep track of the numbers so you can use this data to forecast your budget for next year. 

3. Reduce unnecessary expenses

If your tracker tells you that you are overspending or about to exceed your budget, make the call early enough to reduce some of the expenses that are nice to have and only keep the essential ones. Check out also the free tools on budgeting for businesses from the Australian government here. 

4. Get the right support

In case you have bigger plans than what your bank account allows for, consider getting the right help to boost your business growth. At Lumi, we understand that the Christmas period is an important but also stressful time for small business owners. Therefore, we are offering a 6 week repayment holiday on secured and unsecured business loans, so you can focus on what matters most - running your business. This means that if your loan gets approved before the 31st of December 2020, you will receive the funds immediately and won’t have to worry about repayments until February 2020.

If you want to read more about our simple 5 min online business loan application, have a look here. Otherwise, this article explains our minimum requirements for small business loans. Once you are ready you can apply for a business loan with Lumi here. 

In case you have more questions about SME lending, please contact our lovely team of experts, who’ll be happy to help.

Wishing you all a successful holiday season, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2021.

Your Lumi team