The School Summer Holidays Business Diary: Behind the Scenes of a Mum-Owned Small Business

School Summer Holiday 2026 Roundup

Welcome back to my new mini-blog series, where I reflect on what happened while running my UK small business over the past month. Check my roundup for June 2026 here.

The summer months have always been the slowest months for sales. I naturally want to start work on autumn and winter ranges while it is quiet, but we had the school summer holidays. This is why this blog post covers July and August, as I just never got the time to do a roundup for those months.

I had 6 weeks of having my son full-time, as well as a week away on a cruise; I just didn't have the time to work on any of my Autumn range or do any winter planning. It was a real juggle just doing social media and days out.

So let’s break down the last two months and take a snapshot look at what’s been happening.

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Sales Snapshot 📦

Overall, sales for July and August were not great — 4 sales and 2 commissions for July and 6 sales for August.

I always try to view this quiet time to improve or update things in my Etsy store. 

Overview of Shop Stats:

• Best Seller: Sci-Fi Door/Wall Sign

• Unexpected Performer: Commissions - I received 2 commission requests from customers that found me on social media.

• Slower Product: Binary Code Mug

Website views have been down, but we had a certificate issue while we were away, which hasn't helped.

Repeat Customers: No repeat customers

What Worked Well: Social media engagement increased again over the last 2 months, especially on Instagram. Pinterest views and engagement have also continued improving, which has been encouraging to see.

What I’m Changing for September: I am going to be pushing more on social media and looking for a different online marketplace to sell my products. Etsy can no longer be a single reliable source of income.

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Product Development Corner 🎨

Realising I was running out of time to get out new Autumn products, I have started to shift my focus for Christmas.

But I did manage to:

• Test a new makeup bag design - Didn't work as I forgot to pre-press, but will hopefully try again soon

• Autumn mug design

• Note down Christmas ideas.

I was also hoping to launch a new gift bundle but will launch it in September instead.

I will be looking to launch new:

• Tea towel design that is part of my Cake Queen range
• Christmas stickers
• Create a new product based on my Mrs. Claus tin
• New product from my More Coffee Christmas decoration
• Autumn themed bookmark
• Yule Log and Mince pie designs

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Community & Connection 🤍

The small business community is amazing.

Right now, it’s incredibly difficult for many handmade businesses. Rising living costs and changes to import taxes are making it much harder to maintain profit margins, and even long-established small businesses are openly sharing their struggles.

More than ever, supporting small businesses truly matters

Big shout-out to The Luna Craft Studio for regularly supporting my content — and making cute hair accessories

And another lovely shout-out to Postivi-Tea Gifts for her insights and experience on signing up to alternative marketplace platforms.

Please do check out their pages if you love discovering other small businesses.

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The Reality Check

The last couple of months have been a real struggle mentally, not seeing the sales notifications and low views and visits to my Etsy store. Fighting to be seen amongst the AI images and dropship stores has been draining.

I am continuing to:

• improving listings

• retaking product photos

• developing new products

• reviewing older listings that may no longer work

With Christmas coming up, my shop needs to be updated and ready to go for the festive shopping.

Honestly, I still have moments where I can’t quite believe someone chose to buy something I created.

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Life Behind the Desktop☕

School summer holidays have basically taken over my life for the past 6 weeks, but the small business owner brain doesn't rest for long.

Since June, I have:

• Taken some product photos while on my cruise to the Norwegian Fjords.

• Planned social media.

• Tried not to burn alive during the countless heatwaves.

• Planned new product launches

• Looking ahead to Autumn and Halloween.

The income I make helps contribute towards family days out, endless fruit bowl restocks (because children are apparently bottomless pits), and occasionally the odd little treat for myself, too.

It can absolutely be hard at times, but it’s still worth it.

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Looking Ahead to September

As September arrives, I’ll be focusing on Autumn gift ideas on social media and start getting designs done for Christmas.

• Boo Basket gift ideas/inspiration

• Pumpkin-themed designs

• Christmas gifts and decorations

Listing photo and description updates will continue too — especially considering I still have nearly 100 products left to review.

New launches are also planned for September, including:

• Pumpkin Queen Mug

• Stationery gift bundle

• Bookmark

• and several products are still in development

And of course, the new school year has started, so I will soon be dealing with after-school clubs, Halloween disco, and listening to my son practice his Christmas songs for the nativity.

September is looking busy and a chance to boost sales.

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Until Next Month

Thank you for supporting my little business this month. Whether you ordered, shared, liked, or you have simply cheered me on — it truly means everything.

If you’re a fellow small business owner, I’d love to hear how your Summer went. For more updates, follow me on social media using the links below.

Until next month 💛