Re-run.

Just sent my orders off for January, 2010.

I think next year is going to be a re-run of this year. I can't decide if we've taken 3 steps forward and 2 steps back, or 2 steps forward and 3 steps back.

We beat last November's daily average by just a snippet; about 5%. An increase is an increase, you say?

Not this time.

There were circumstances in this month's totals that I won't go into that more or less cancel out that 5%; in fact, I think if I'm being honest with myself, it was pretty much a wash.

Technically, 3 months straight of increasing sales would be a go-ahead sign.

Not this time.

September was an outstanding month, and the first half of October was pretty good. Since then, it's been even slower than last year. I'm going to take that as a sign that the trends aren't favorable.

My usual rule of thumb is that my worst month in the fall, will be my average for the slow months at the beginning of the following year. January is almost always my slowest month of the year, competing with November.

So on that basis, I'm going to be conservative going into next year. The store is extremely well stocked. And the thing about making conservative orders is that I can ALWAYS reorder.

I'll go into more detail about November's totals, probably tomorrow.

I'm thankful that I broke almost exactly even, even with the extra tax bills. There was a time when breaking even was a win; now it's a tie. Still, considering how the month went, I'm still going to consider it a win.