Most articles that I have previously written on entrepreneurship have focused on building a large sustainable company that will employ hundreds or even thousands of people. These ventures typically require substantial financial resources and are based on either intellectual property that has legal protection or an innovative product or business process that dramatically improves perceived value at a lower cost.

Most entrepreneurs who succeed in building this truly remarkable venture have previously honed their entrepreneurial skills by launching smaller and sometimes seasonal companies whose success is, not surprisingly, dependent upon the same factors as the large venture.

The major differences are that very little capital, intellectual property or innovation is required and imitation is common for the seasonal entrepreneur. Typically these enterprises are service-based rather than product-oriented. Of course there are exceptions to this rule, such as selling fireworks in early July and Christmas trees in December, but most seasonal entrepreneurs find success by providing a service.

Many seasonal entrepreneurs are high school or college students who are hoping to raise enough cash to pay their tuition or to buy a car. Others are what I call "lifestyle entrepreneurs" whose long-term objective is not to get wealthy but to simply earn enough money to fund a lifestyle that may include travel, skiing during the winter and golf or boating in the summer.

Some seasonal entrepreneurs succeed in building a substantial company by expanding their focus to include multiple products or services, with each of them having seasonal demand. Some examples are: using the same customer base to perform lawn care and landscaping in the summer and snow removal in the winter; or building swimming pools and installing solar heating in the summer and then designing and installing decorative lighting for the holidays; and selling pool tables in the winter and using the same retail floor space to sell hot tubs in the summer.

Other seasonal entrepreneurs actually do all that is possible to lengthen the season that will provide them with income. For example, consider the contract grain harvesters who begin in early summer to harvest wheat and barley in South Texas and then work their way north through Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and then to Montana and even into Canada. These people have a substantial investment in equipment and laborers, but they are able to work for as little as six months and then spend a few weeks servicing the equipment for the next year before taking several months off to do whatever they please.

It is not uncommon for a seasonal undertaking to explode into a full-blown company. For example, "Happenings" is a company that was started by two law school students in hopes of making enough money to finance their education. Their plan was to spend their summers selling half-price coupons for a variety of entertainment and dining experiences in Minneapolis.

After earning their degrees the founders continued to build this company into a multimillion-dollar business that offered coupons for restaurants, movies, travel, shopping, car rental, gasoline, golf, bowling and numerous other entertainment activities in several large metropolitan areas. Several years later they sold the company and found themselves in the enviable position of choosing between taking a well-funded early retirement or moving on to their next opportunity. You might have guessed that they moved on.

Seasonal entrepreneurs do have some unique challenges. They must exercise great discipline to manage cash during the productive season in order to sustain them the rest of the year, and they must learn to use the slower periods to prepare for the busy season. This preparation includes maintaining contact with customers, ordering product (i.e. fireworks and Christmas trees), repairing equipment and hiring and training employees.

It is remarkable that many CEOs of large corporations are able to reflect upon their success as a seasonal entrepreneur knowing that this experience introduced them to the fundamental business principles that enabled them to build their fortune as career executives.