It’s a breezy, but not extremely cold day here in northern Vermont. The sun is peeking out and that makes a world of difference. This time of year, I spend a lot of my time in front of the computer. It’s time for updating websites, sales lists and social media – the many and various ways technology has given us to communicate about our business (for better or for worse).  It’s also time to wrap up the business finances for the year, pay sales tax to several states and send the rest off the the accountant to prepare the farm income tax return.

One of the things that continues to amaze me about being in business is the amount of time and money that is spent simply on being in business. I think the amount of paperwork, including record keeping for the alpacas, banking, taxes, marketing… the list goes on and on. It’s no wonder so many small businesses fail.

I sometimes feel like I have a dozen full time jobs that all need to be done NOW! What do people do in places where there’s no “winter”? This is our down time and the only time we are not mowing, gardening, haying, breeding, birthing…it’s our time to catch up on the things we don’t have time to keep up with all summer. Those of you who live in milder climates – do you have a down time? If not, how to you manage?