This is a good time of the year to think about ways you can save money in your hoof-care business, like sending used rasps out to be resharpened.

Many farriers find their business slows down during certain times of the year, especially wintertime. For the self-employed farrier who relies upon a steady cash flow, this can be disconcerting. 

Should you just take some time off until things naturally pick up again? Should you try and do other jobs to offset the income difference? The biggest mistake is to decide to do nothing.

This year, vow to do something different. Stop languishing and complaining about the slowdown use the time to do something to build the foundation of your business so that the natural business cycles don’t affect you as deeply. Take advantage of any slowdown to improve yourself and your own hoof-care bottom line. Here is a list of 10 items to check off that will help you and your farrier business thrive in 2013.

1 Get More From Your Rasps. Save money on rasps by saving your used hoof-only rasps. When you get a dozen or more saved, send them into a tool sharpening company such as Save-Edge in Ohio (www.saveedge.com) or Boggs Tool and File Sharpening Co. in California (www.boggstool.com). Re-sharpened rasps generally run around $7 each.

2 Recycle And Earn. Make money recycling your copper rivets. In an old plastic bottle, save all your new copper rivet pieces and old rivets pulled out of shoes until the bottle is full then take the bottle down to your local metal/scrap/junk recycling facility. Used copper runs around $3.50 per pound.

3 Save On Postage And Paperwork. Save money immediately on computer paperwork. Email your receipts to customers instead of purchasing a truck printer and paper. Free programs such as Cute PDF Writer (www.cutepdf.com/products/cutepdf/writer.asp) can be downloaded that allow you to easily send any paper work via PDF format. And you’ll save on postage.

4 Get Organized! Save time and money by organizing. Go through and completely organize your farrier rig, your workshop and your office space. Lost time is money lost. Being organized is one way to manage your time better. Label items, if needed.

5 Cut Your Tax Pain. Get ready for tax season by using the down time to prepare your tax files. If you’re owed a tax rebate, then file your taxes immediately (online is even better). If you’re going to have to pay, preparing your taxes in advance will let you know exactly how much you will need by April 15.

6 Crunch Your Numbers. Figure out how much you make. Take you total income minus expenses to figure your net profit. Now divide by 52 weeks a year to get your weekly pay rate, then by 40 hours a week to get your hourly rate.  Substitute your own number of weeks and hours as needed. Once you’ve figured your hourly rate, determine how much to raise your prices.

7 Tune Up Your Brain. Expand your knowledge. Many farriers complain of little time to study so take advantage of any slow time to attend free local business and educational classes as well as read farrier business related papers and books. Don’t let your brain atrophy.

8 Use Some Personal Time. Get some personal chores done. Slow business times are ideal to schedule your annual medical exams, visit family and friends, fix broken items around the house and clean out the attic, garage or basement. Remember, a strong personal foundation helps to propel your farrier business forward.

9 Get Busy Online. Work on making or updating your website and social media sites. Update your portfolio, write a new tagline, refresh your bio and get a new photo taken. These are just a few things that can be done.

10 Network, Network, Network. Instead of waiting for the work to come to you, put yourself out there and make it happen. As a Christmas present, volunteer one morning or evening helping muck out stalls and doing other chores for some of your better clients. Face-to-face networking is the single most effective thing you can do to promote your business.

Ride along with one of your local veterinarians to get to know him or her better.

During your farrier business slow times, use your time productively to prepare yourself and your business for a better and healthier future.

Take time for yourself but do not procrastinate or park yourself in front of the television or game box.  Use the slowdown times to build a better you and business.