September

If February is my favorite month, September might by my least favorite month.

The days are getting dramatically shorter. This picture was taken around 7:30pm ... they sky would have looked like this at 9:30pm just three months ago.

Some years in Western Washington, we get our first extended stretch of nice weather in September. 2007 appears to be one of those years.

If you are a database marketer at a cataloger, September is the month you decide who receives your Christmas catalog. For you, this IS the Holiday season. You might work harder in September than any other month of the year.

If you are a database marketer at an e-commerce firm, September is a month where you finalize your plans for the Holiday season. From a systems standpoint, hard work is happening right now so that your website is ready to handle Holiday traffic. Will this be the year that traffic hits a plateau? And if traffic hits a plateau, will everybody still view you as an e-commerce genius?

If you're an Executive at a direct-to-consumer business that is exceeding expectations, you're looking to pour on the gas right now. You can start thinking about how you might spend your bonus check next spring.

If you're an Executive at a direct-to-consumer business that is struggling, this is a terrible time of the year. The Holiday season represents your last chance to bail out the profit and loss statement. If this is year one of your rebuilding plan, your owner/board might be willing to be patient with you.

If it is year two or three or twenty-seven of your rebuilding plan, you're reviewing your severance agreement. You spend more time talking with the headhunters that call you. You thoroughly understand the definition of the word 'pressure'. Earning a hundred dollars an hour never felt so pointless, especially when you're responding to e-mails on your Blackberry at 11:30pm. You're living the American Dream, your BMW lease proves it.

It's good that football season has started, and that baseball pennant races are heating up. We have something to look forward to! In the old days, we'd also have a new television season to look forward to.

Soon, the leaves will change colors. Frost is getting ready to greet us on a crisp fall morning. Until then, enjoy these final summer-like days.