The Relentless Chaos of Holiday Season

The financial, emotional, and creative reality of the holiday season for artists and small business owners.

Hello friends,

As November winds down, we enter the official “holiday season.” I don’t mean “the season in which holidays are celebrated.” I mean, the holiday season as an official economic season. In other words: “the season in which cash money is spent in exorbitant abundance.”

On average, this year holiday consumers are estimated¹ to spend somewhere in the range of $900-$2,100. Spending money locally and with small businesses has long been a value of mine, but it feels even more important in the wake of the recent election. Tech billionaires have helped create and fuel a broligarchy, their pockets comfortably lined to help them get through any kind of financial “hardship” that will land firmly on the working class. Why do we want to keep lining those pockets?

I know, we can’t opt small for every item in our lives—my laptop as a gorgeous ceramic piece would be gorgeous, yet entirely not functional. When we can however, this is something that we actually do have control over in our everyday.

Spending money this time of year is one thing, earning it is another.

In talking to a lot of other creatives and artists, I know that this past year has felt tenuous. Those feelings are now exacerbated by thinking about what future lies ahead. As

Dana Miranda

wrote this week, “if money is freedom, we’re going to need money, so we have to talk about how to get it.”

What does the holiday season really look like for creatives and small business owners?

I beat this “shop small” drum every year, but it’s increasingly urgent. I don’t want you to just take it from me. Which is why I reached out to 20+ creatives to get a pulse on what the season really feels like—financially, emotionally, and creatively.

I’ve compiled their answers² into a few different themes and takeaways. I hope that it offers a little more of a clear-eyed perspective on how essential it is to support makers this time of year.

1. The season in a few words

I asked people to describe how this season feels to them. Here are a few words that came up³:

• Hectic

• Manic

• Relentless

• Chaos

• A mindfuck

• Frantic

• Stressful

• Busy

2. This season accounts for a significant part of annual income, exacerbating uncertainty

In an email that went out to users, Big Cartel (the platform I use for my shop) noted that in 2023, their network of shops generate $100 million during the holidays: about 29% of annual sales on the platform. That’s almost a third of sales in the span of just a few weeks.

I found similar statistics with the people who I surveyed. While the October to December season only accounts for a quarter of the year, about two-thirds of survey respondents said that it accounts for more than that in overall income. For almost 15% of respondents, it accounts for over 50%—over half of an annual income in the course of only three months.

That makes the holidays not only a very tight window, but also a pressure cooker. For the majority of respondents, they viewed the upcoming season with a sense of clear uncertainty.

“The sales of prints are abysmally worse this year than any prior year, and I expect this to continue through the holiday season.” - Claire Giordano

“Usually I get an influx of requests for Christmas gifts, but I’ve had a sudden drop off this past month that usually never happens. The tempo has traditionally been steady, but this year it seems unpredictable.” - Gabrielle Giannone

For artists who count on this season to make up a substantial part of their annual income, the unpredictability is stressful. A reduction in sales means everything from needing to dip into savings accounts, to being fearful of not being able to cover taxes, to abandoning their creative career and seeking part- or full-time work elsewhere.

“I shall be looking for more regular paid hours of work next year. I love what I do, but would prefer to just focus on bonkers art things than try to make stuff to sell.” - Annie Taylor

Artists may be thinking a lot about what their own finances look like, but the impact of holiday retail also goes beyond just the personal.

“Lower income = less mutual aid work/sharing of my resources. I will be fine but may not be able to support my community as much as I would like.”

3. Artists are not corporations

This may seem like a straightforward sentiment, but in the current economy where most things we want to purchase are just a few clicks away, it’s easy to forget that there are individual humans behind art businesses.

“As I am a very small volume retailer, it’s a busy and not super efficient time of year as I am doing piecemeal shipping, packaging, etc. as orders come in and also keeping stock available at my open-to-the-public studio space.” - Hannah Viano

That reality can often go unseen.

“It often takes me a whole week of 8am-5pm packing to get holiday orders processed and out the door. It’s a huge feat as a one woman business and it’s an invisible labor that people who have gotten used to conglomerates’ two-day delivery are unaware of.” - Kirsten Schiel

There’s often only one person on the creative business end—a customer’s emails, requests, or frustrations land entirely on the artist. That can easily seep into life outside of work.

“The retail crush, and the emails from folks asking you where the orders are, causes stress and missed time with family/friends.” - Claire Giordano

I asked people what they thought wasn’t fully understood by people who aren't in this business.

“How much time everything takes. How much we are dependent on other people buying what we make. That making art is a business, and one we were never trained for. And perhaps most importantly, it is a one person show. We are responsible FOR EVERYTHING.” - Bridgette Meinhold

Artists are also up against the demands of consumers who have largely been trained in an always-available online, next-day-shipping economy. Viano runs a studio/shop in the Twisp, WA that’s often open to the public, and identifies how hard this can be:

“Not all of us will/can be OPEN all through the holiday, 9 to 5, and each weekend day. That just isn't the reality for my space and life, but I think there is an expectation that if you are doing even a little bit of retail your things will be available and well stocked right up to the last minute... I try hard to fight this expectation.”

The underlying issue for independent creative and small business owners is that this seasonal whirlwind demands an energy and output that defies our own human limits.

“It all takes so much sustained energy and we don't always (or hi, ever) have infinite amounts of it.” - Kerri Anne Stebbins

4. A creative business isn’t just business—it’s personal

Most artists I know got into their businesses because they want to make their work. That doesn’t always easily translate into the business part of things.

“This isn’t my hobby. It isn’t cute or fun that I run my own business. I actually hate it. But I love making my work and I haven’t figured out how to make my work without the business side.” -

Roshni Robert

This is part of why I believe that it’s essential to be transparent about the realities for working artists. It allows us to not only support each other, but also to help educate the people who want to support us.

“The myth of the creative life looms large. People don’t always understand that artists are entrepreneurs and running full blown businesses.” - Nicole Ray

Sarah Uhl, who has worked as an artist for over a decade, knows the ups and downs of business well, and points that this is a continuous path to navigate:

“I am grateful for a lot of repeat buyers… but when will that trail off and how much of it has to do with natural cycles more than it has to do with the quality of my work? How do I find a new and growing audience in a changing tide of social medias? How do I keep things fresh for myself and for those that might enjoy my work? I believe in exploring new interests and sharing the beginners mind…but this requires making space and it’s a risk to set down the old standard and reliable income streams to make space for new exploration/output.”

We may be able to intellectually acknowledge the decreasing impact and usefulness of certain marketing and social media channels, and we know that if sales go down it’s largely the result of the economy, general uncertainty, or some other element that is entirely out of anyone’s control. But on an emotional level, it is incredibly difficult to not take these things personally.

Aside from the general end-of-year sales demands as well as festivities, this time of year, “there's a lot of stress and self reflection and self doubt,” says

Desiree Flaming

.

It’s essential for any artist or creative to decouple their sense of worth from sales (as well as social media likes), but that becomes much harder to do when it’s part of your livelihood.

5. It’s a season on overdrive

One thing about this time of year that I like, is that a small dose of that frantic, chaotic energy can actually feel good and motivating.

Julie Cloutier

echoes that sentiment, saying, “it's both energizing and exhausting.”

Most of us don’t want to work at that pace all the time—nor could we—but it does make taking a winter break feel good, and the nature of art business may fuel us in other ways.

“I hit January completely depleted. But it’s also the time I see more of my fellow artists at markets etc and so it fills my cup socially so I can hunker down in the deeper winter months.” - Nicole Ray

The term “seasonal work” might bring to mind visions of fishermen or ski patrol, but being a working artist also has significant seasonal ebbs and flows.

“It almost feels unfair that people are not more interested in your work at other times of the year as it would be very convenient if they were. That’s also met with an urgency to get everything out the door before December 20th because if you don’t make that holiday delivery… your goods once again depreciate… Opting out of the madness is a privilege a lot of makers do not have, especially when sales have been slower in recent years.” - Kirsten Schiel

That goes for bigger businesses too, like San Francisco-based shop and studio Case for Making. As owner Alexis Joseph shared with me:

“We work half the year to make sure November/December are lucrative. We make all our profit in November/December. It's stressful and I work more hours.”

Putting in that kind of work in this season isn’t an option—it’s often an absolute requirement of keeping a business going. Joseph emphasizes that the profits of this season are what carries her business through:

“We're working harder with the hopes that it will give enough of a buffer to keep things going in the new year.”

6. Economic reality is in opposition to seasonal reality

The Holiday Season Industrial Complex makes us all susceptible to an out-of-season pace. At a time when our bodies want to slow down and rest, we’re expected to stay at peak performance.

“This quarter is always hard to navigate, it’s a time we should be winding down biologically and yet our society demands so much work. If we opt out of that work, we lose the chance at making as much profit (if not more) in the final two months of the year that was generated in the 10 months leading up to it. The holiday season is such a lucrative time for artists, it’s really hard to sit out.

It’s really quite strange that our society has so successfully created a short window of hyper consumerism… over the winter solstice!” - Kirsten Schiel

The end of the year can also feel difficult because what of what’s required of artists to market their businesses runs in opposition to the work that may fuel them. As one person put it, “The holiday season is a lot less creative and a lot more marketing.”

“My busiest months of making are September and October. With a lead-time of 2 months, I have to plan ahead. December is "busy" but in a different way with a lot less creativity time which can be a hard month for that reason alone. I'm most content when I'm making with my hands and in December that gets lost.” - Julie Cloutier

I see this play out regularly with artists who will make special batches of handmade items. Not simply because they can sell them, but because it provides them creative time away from marketing emails, promotion, and general retail duties, and allows them to have a slow, creative moment that they crave.

7. Burnout is real

The pressures of this season, paired with the pressures of running an independent creative business, can sometimes be insurmountable. With no social infrastructure or support systems in place, that can lead to difficult business decisions.

For several years,

Kerri Anne

ran the artist collective and brick-and-mortar shop McCall Made, in McCall, Idaho. In the summer of 2023, faced with rising monthly expenses alongside a local recession, she made the tough decision to close it.

“I'm avoiding participating in the holiday retail season, and have been noticing more creatives doing the same year after year, because I (at least temporarily) have the luxury to do so, and because I've honestly been battling a longstanding and deep-seated burnout that feels like it lives in my very bones... I'm currently (and what I plan to be temporarily) avoiding fully participating in the holiday retail season as an artist because I feel like I have to, and also to my own creative detriment, at least where artistic revenues and exposure are concerned.”

Some artists choose to work at shifting income streams, or where the majority of their income comes from.

“My holiday retail season has sucked the last few years, and to be honest, I am grateful that my income has shifted away from holiday orders. It was always SO so so stressful to be fulfilling orders right up to the shipping deadline, which often took time and attentiveness away from family. I am much happier now this time of year.” - Claire Giordano

8. It’s not simply about marketing and selling more

Many independent artists and creatives face the reality that so much of the ups and downs of business is entirely out of their control, even when they have been in that business for a long time.

“It’s really rough out there. I’ve been working for myself over 20 years and lately I feel a bit stumped. I think it’s extra hard too because we are carrying so many tough political and social issues on top of trying to make our little businesses work. It’s important to pace ourselves right now and be intentional with self care.”

When the season is a make-or-break economic moment, that exacerbates anything that is occurring in the personal sphere.

“The daily workload is intense. This is especially hard when life is happening at the same time. Maybe a family member needs care or your computer breaks or you are depressed (or all three last year!). And sometimes you just can’t send one more marketing email.” - Roshni Robert

Part of running a sustainable art business is understanding this cyclical nature—knowing when to push, and when to pull back.

“When sales are lower in one quarter, it's hard to fight the urge to work longer hours and more days to make up for it, but after 9 years of self-employment I've found that to be a losing strategy. That doesn't mean I don't work hard, I can string together some late nights, or work an extra weekend for a studio sale, but it absolutely should not be sustained.” - Julie Cloutier

9. Shop small, support community

I appreciated how Jacquelyn Speare summed up this season:

“I like to think the holidays are about a little more than buying mass produced items from mega corporations. What if we all committed to a hand made holiday? Wouldn't that be lovely and take back the real spirit of giving? Supporting human creativity is something to be celebrated too.”

I know that I love attending local holiday markets. They’re not just a space to buy things—they’re a space to feel creativity and community in action. These days, that feels more important than ever.

“If you support a local artist you are supporting your entire community not just one person. As a creative I’m more likely to purchase from other small businesses and artists, meaning the money stays local.”

No matter what you do this holiday season, high five an artist or pour them a cup of coffee.

I assure you, they’re hard at work.

-Anna

Thank you to everyone who participated in the survey. I wasn’t able to use quotes from everyone who participated, but reading through everyone’s responses was so informative and enlightening. My main takeaway: go hug an artist!

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24 Days of Making, Doing, and Being Digital Advent Calendar

Need a little breath of fresh air in your inbox in December? My 8th annual digital Advent calendar 24 Days of Making, Doing, and Being kicks off on December 1st. Every day brings a new reflection, prompt, or piece of inspiration. And there’s an audio version! You can find more info on the calendar here.

The Advent calendar goes out to paid subscribers. If you have been debating on upgrading your subscription, now is a great time to do so.

You can gift a subscription too!

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• PNW friends! I have two holiday markets on the schedule, one in Tacoma on December 1st, and one in Seattle on December 14th. More info here.

• Rosie Spinks
  ’s essay on system collapse is a must-read.

• I hope you click on the links to the artists featured today. I also hope you’ll go and bbuy

  Roshni Robert
  ’s calendar because it’s really lovely. Also: seaside postcards!

• Could humans hibernate?

• For a writing workshop this week, we read Katrina Vandenberg’s essay “On Cold-Weather Vegetables” and so many lines have stuck with me.

• There’s a spot left for the Singla Creative Retreat 2025!

• Bridgette Meinhold
  is dropping her handpainted ornaments on Monday. I have one and happen to keep it up all year long because I like looking at it.

• I am always here for murmuration photos.

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Do you enjoy Creative Fuel? You can support this work by becoming a paid subscriber. You can also order something in my shop, attend one of my workshops or retreats, or buy one of my books. Or simply share this newsletter with a friend!

1. Via CBS News

2. Some respondents wanted to remain anonymous, and others have their names listed, which is why some of the following quotes are unattributed.

3. Please someone turn this list into a poem!