To Don't

Photograph by Madden Photography

I've been traveling a bit recently, and one thing (the only thing?) I love about the actual traveling part is that being in an airport or airplane for any amount of time allows me to catch up on reading. I haven't done a great job of setting aside time to read in my day to day schedule, so the flights I used to dread I now look forward to because it means I have some time to get lost in a book.

On my past couple of flights I finished Drive by Daniel Pink (an interesting read), which is all about what motivates us. At the end of the book Pink shares some tools for staying on track and keeping motivated. One stood out in particular, because it is very simple yet I could instantly see how it would be an effective tool. Most of us probably have a good idea of the things that distract us, but have you ever really organized those thoughts and written them down on a to-don't list? I hadn't!

The idea of making a to-don't list (credited to Tom Peters, btw) is so simple and easy to implement, especially if you already write to-do lists. I love that it's a tangible little reminder of the things we know we shouldn't be doing that suck up our time and energy. The next time you're writing a to-do list, why not make a separate column and jot down a few things that you want to avoid that day and just say no! Staying motivated and focused can be tough. Making a to-don't list is a great way to check your distracting habits at the door so you can concentrate and get more done (e.g, stop checking Facebook so you have more time to read besides just when you're on an airplane). ;)

Time Management - 5 Minutes

Time Management seems impossible sometimes.  Especially when you are running around and working like a crazy person!

So, do you think you could carve out 5 minutes to work on Time Management? 

Tonight, just sit down and make a list of what you need to do tomorrow!

Want a cute list?  There are several really cute free printables over on mommytracked.com ... and no, they aren't just for mommies!

http://www.mommytracked.com/downloads

I'll try to come up with some cute graphic for my 5-minute tips!  But right now, I only have 5 minutes!!

Time Management - Manage Your Time, Don't Let Your Time Manage You

Happy December 1st! I've Just finished up my 4th November on Etsy and we are smack dab in the middle of holiday shopping season! I hope that you are all doing well, making sales, and getting your own holiday shopping done if you need to do any!

I can actually say that this November has been the least stressful November of all of the November's I've had on Etsy. I credit most of that to managing my time, being prepared, and setting realistic deadlines. I also made the conscious decision not to do a lot of extra craft shows and markets this year too, which has made a world of difference!

Last year and the year before, I vowed that I would start putting our Christmas tree up on November 1st, but thankfully I managed to get all of the decorations up on Thanksgiving weekend and we enjoyed a couple days off for friends and family.

So, what is my secret? I've been managing my time, and not letting time manage me. You may ask exactly what that means ... Basically, I know how much I can get done in a day and when I am pushing my expectations of myself. So, I have been scheduling projects each day and allowing lots of extra time to communicate with customers. Customer questions and requests seem to be a lot higher this time of year, so I have learned that I need at least double the amount of time each day to communicate.

I've also been careful not to over promise. So, when I tell customers how long custom orders are taking, I am sure to account for a bit of cushion to ensure that packages go out on time. Purchasing tracking on packages also seems to be more important than ever right now, so that customers can see exactly where their items are in transit.

By managing my time well, I have been able to have my most successful month on Etsy, and still fill the house with the smells and activities that come along with the season and my family.

So go forth, and manage your time!

Time Management - Procrastination ... Friend or Foe?

Hi, My name is April, and I am a procrastinator.

Do you find it odd that a person that is a self-admitted procrastinator also writes posts on time management? Well, I do!

The thing is, I generally use my procrastination to it's fullest advantage. I know that I get tons more done when I procrastinate than when I try to work steadily along. However, I trick myself ... I fake procrastination.

The way that I have found to "fake" procrastination is by saving things up and scheduling them all on the same days. This includes household tasks like cooking and cleaning, as well as work tasks like making similar things on the same days. I also tend to write due dates on my calendar at least 2 days in advance. So, if I tell a person that their order will ship in 7 days, then I write it down as due on the 5th day.

As for household tasks ... I only do laundry once per week ... as much good that I see with doing a load of laundry each day, I find it much more productive to do all of the washing, folding, and putting away at one time. The same way that I can cut a lot of wood the same size if I cut 3 pieces at one time versus cutting them one at a time.

So, for all of you procrastinators out there ... start channeling that energy ... it can be a good thing!

Time Management - Warning, Warning ... Approaching meltdown status

I was supposed to post this yesterday, but I am a little behind. Do you know that feeling? The kind where you feel like a cartoon character who's head is about to explode.

The biggest thing about time management is that you either feel like you are managing it well ... or you don't, and sometimes that feeling can change hour-to-hour.

So, when you see the big red lights flashing in your head it is time to stop and re-group.

Often our lists are long and stressful because of ourselves. The things that actually need to be done that day are short and manageable. If they are not, then we need to be honest about what we are committing ourselves to. So, stop, and really think about what you absolutely need to do today, and make sure eating and sleeping are on that list!

Go through the immediate list and do the things that take the shortest amount of time first. Just getting a few things off of your plate immediately will most likely boost you to get on with the rest of your day.

Now, I'm off to work on my own list ... as my head is screaming "meltdown is rapidly approaching!"

Time Management - Keeping up with Future ideas and projects

The most wonderful time of year is approaching! Rather quickly I must say!


This is the time of year when long hours of caffeine induced work sessions are upon handcrafters and artists. We are busy making things and filling orders while trying to maintaining home lives and get some sleep once in a while. However, for some of us this can also be a time of great inspiration. When those creative juices are flowing we can come up with copious amounts of new ideas and projects we would like to do in the future.

It is good practice to have a notebook or a place on your calendar to keep up with these free flowing ideas so that they don't get lost in your brain once the holidays are over.

If you keep a notebook, try to have a notebook specifically for ideas and future projects. When you jot down ideas in a notebook that also serves daily to do lists, orders, and notes the ideas get lost amongst the pages and it may take a long time to find them. Having a designated book for ideas and future projects can be good to reference when you are feeling uninspired. Try to make a list of materials needed for each idea also, so that when you are short on cash for new supplies, you can quickly see what projects you can complete with the materials you have on hand. Also, if the idea is holiday specific make notes of what time of year the project needs to be started and listed for sale so that you have some sort of plan for getting that idea off of paper and into salable form.

If you prefer to keep them on a calendar of sorts look for a generic calendar or even an outdated calendar that you can use for this specific purpose. The calendar may not be useful to figure out what day it is, but months are not going to change anytime soon and it can help to schedule out when to start projects and when to introduce new products to your customers.

I personally prefer the calendar method over the notebook method simply because I can go ahead and organize my ideas when they pop into my head with out worrying about pages in a notebook. I can also see months where I don't have new things scheduled and arrange things so that I am working on new ideas throughout the year.

It can also be helpful to remember that just because snowmen aren't prominent in August, you may choose to work on them then because you have an unrealistic amount of projects scheduled for other months already.

Time Management - Creating time

I hear all of you workaholics ... working away at a job that you love. Everyone tells you that you are lucky because you get to do something that you love, and something that makes you happy. It is a good thing, a special thing, something that seems so rare in today's world.

However, there is an ugly side to doing a job that you love. You sometimes work too late, you know that you should stop and spend time with husbands, children, family and friends, but there is just soooooooo much work to be done.

Now, if there is one thing that I have learned doing a job that I love, it is that there will ALWAYS be something to do tomorrow. Your list of things that needs to be done never ends. You have a new idea to be created, a new creation to write down, a hundred unfinished projects in the wings, and never enough hours in a day to get them done.

There is also another thing that I have learned. You NEVER get another today. Kids grow up too fast, you only get so many days in a year to tell your partner or spouse that you love them, and friendships need time and attention.

Unfortunately there is not a magic recipe on how to add any more than 24 hours to a day. The only thing that you can to is make sure that you spend time doing what you love, spend time with the people that you love, and give each the undivided attention that they deserve.

However, in the process of doing this you also need to make sure that you are taking care of yourself! Proper sleep, eating, and exercise will go a long way in making sure that you have the energy to do all the things that you want to do and also prevent getting sick.

Many people call this balance. I can tell you that I don't always achieve balance every day. I still have days where I work too much, but I also make sure that I have days where I spend plenty of time laughing and having fun with the people around me.

Remember to make time for the other things in your life besides work!

Time Management - Setting Up a Schedule

Having a regular schedule to work by can be a very powerful time management tool. This is probably not earth-shattering news to you, and it is probably something that you have tried to do in the past, perhaps many times.

Usually the first thing that comes to mind when making a schedule is mapping out what you are going to do each day during specific times. This works great for a lot of people, and many planners are set up to work with this method. By all means, if this works for you then go for it.

However, there is another way. Lots of creative people have a hard time working within this rigidity and may find it easier to set up a schedule that maintains flexibility and spontaneity. A more flexible schedule may also work for small business owners as their daily tasks change from day to day and sometimes hour to hour.

In order to set up a flexible schedule that still focuses you and allows you to use your time wisely, you need to think about what tasks you do best at what times of the day. For instance, if part of your work includes writing and you do that best during the morning, then writing needs to be part of your morning routine. If you write better at the end of the day, then it needs to be included in your later time block.

You may wish to think of your schedule more as a routine for getting things done, and maximizing what you do best when. My routine consists of 4 daily time blocks, and my transition times are when I eat meals. I have a list of possible things to do during those times depending on what I am motivated to do each day. Here is what my routine looks like:

Early Morning:
- Kids ready for school
- Coffee
- Email
- Writing
- Correspondence

Transition: Breakfast

Late Morning:
Package orders
Work on outstanding orders
Clean work spaces
Inventory supplies
Order supplies
Outside cutting and other outside work (spring/summer)

Transition: Lunch
Early Afternoon:
Create new product
Prep materials for product
Outside cutting and other outside work (fall/winter)

Transition: afternoon snack, children arriving home

Evening:
Correspondence
News
Networking
New product brainstorming
Sourcing new supplies

As you can see, there are not specific activities in my routine. However, most activities that I do will fall into one of these time frames, so on a daily basis I can extend the times I work in each block if needed. There are also times when naturally one activity will require more time and I allow myself to adjust as necessary.

Because my transitions are around things that are done daily, no matter what, it is easy for me to follow the cues of when it is time to change directions so that days are not too heavy in one area versus another.

If you are still having a hard time being productive, then make a list of general things that you can do and which category they fit in. This will help prevent the feeling of "I don't really feel like doing that today ... what else can I do?"

My secondary list looks something like this:
Early Morning
Tweet
Facebook
Pinterest
Visit groups

Late Morning/Afternoon
Create target for readiness for shows/shop
Work on things already prepped
Cut fabric and felt
Photograph
when all else fails - clean house

Afternoon/Evening
Look for advertising opportunities
paper folding
meal planning
shopping lists

Please note that I may not do everything on my routine each day, and it changes based on upcoming events and outstanding orders. However, by writing down and mapping out my days I have allowed myself to think about what I do best at what time of day. I have also been able to get ahead with things that I was behind on. Especially writing, because since it isn't usually the most pressing thing on my list, then I would put it off to get the more pressing things done first. Which usually left me writing at the end of the day when I felt drained and not inspired. By giving myself permission to write early in the morning I am able to maximize the time of day when I do it best and that usually motivates me to perform the tasks later in my day even better.

I'm not sure what I will talk about next week! Please leave a comment to tell me what time management issues you are having!

Time Management - Working in Batches, Small Runs, and one at a time

Most of you know that your business runs more efficiently when you work in batches. By focusing on one or a few tasks you can reduce the amount of time it takes to complete a project since you are not wasting time looking for tools, switching areas, cleaning off work spaces in order to make room for a different task. You also may save money by preventing the wasting of glues, paints, paper, and inks. However, you do need to know your limits before going assembly line crazy!

This is especially important when you are building up stock for a show or busy season. You don't want the show to come along and have a bunch of half-finished product, and you also don't want your holiday rush to hit and not have time to finish products. So know how long it takes you to make items by working on them one at a time, and also how quickly you can make items in batches.

If you only make one type of item, then get real and know exactly how many items you can make in a 1 week time frame. Remember, that photographing them, listing them for sale, and preparing them to be shipped is also part of this time!

If you make several types of items try to find efficiencies between those items. Perhaps you use the same tool in both items - so try to coordinate your time so that you are using that tool for both types of items at one time. You may also find that you can prep items for multiple items at the same time that are made from the same materials.

You may also try to make your work space more efficient. You may set up stations for doing certain tasks - have all of your supplies and tools stored that you use for each task and store them at that station. If you only have limited space try to arrange your tools and supplies in the order that you use them.

Discovering your limits is very important, and can also be very helpful when pricing your items too. The best way to test your limits is to have an idea of how many items that you think that you would be able to make in 1 week, or 2 weeks and then do it. However, not only do you need to make the items, you also need to photograph them, list them for sale, and package them up. It is only when you pretend that you are selling that many items that you actually know how many you can sell in a given period of time.

Be mindful of how many of a particular item that you sell also. You need to spend more time making the things that you sell regularly, but don't forget that a small amount of stock of the items you don't frequently sell could be the reason that you don't frequently sell them!

Next week I will be talking about setting up your schedule.

Time Management - Creating Expectations

Now, you may think this is an odd topic for a time management post, but keep reading and you may understand.

I used to go to a restaurant once a week for really good Chinese food. I would always take my son, because he loved the food and trying to eat with chopsticks. Now, it was a little pricey, but the helpings were large so I was always sure to have enough left over for lunch the next day. One week we went there for dinner, and the helpings were really small. I commented to the person serving me that normally they gave us a much bigger scoop. The server commented back that they had been making a mistake before, and these were the correct proportions. I was very disappointed, and after that experience my son and I found a recipe, bought some chopsticks, and started eating our weekly Chinese dinner at home instead of at the restaurant. We have gone back a couple times in the last year, but we are no longer regular weekly customers and we have also turned the rest of the family onto our yummy homemade Chinese dinner.

My point here is that this restaurant created an expectation for me, and then changed. My opinion isn't a bad one of the restaurant, but because of their drastic change in portion sizes I no longer visit the store as a weekly customer.

From a business and time management perspective, I am here to tell you that YOU create expectations for your customers. You create these expectations in your descriptions, prices, policies, words and actions. You have the ultimate control over how your customers perceive your customer service and product. You need to set your business up with systems that are manageable for the long term and account for busy times, slow times, growth, and rising supply costs. You don't want your regular customers to visit your shop not knowing what to expect this time. You want your regular customers to know exactly what they can expect based on their experiences with you, and you want to set up systems that you can maintain.

From a time management perspective this means setting up times to respond to customers - will you respond to them in 2 hours, 6 hours, 12 hours, 24 hours, 48 hours? Set a schedule that you can conform to on your busy times, however perhaps not your extremely busy times. You may state that you will respond to people in 24-48 hours and the 24 hour mark is what you do in normal and busy times, but the 48 hours is what you do when you are extremely busy. Put these times in your policies, and also tell people when you will respond back to the with answers to questions and quotes that are not immediately available. Then - stick to it! If you are constantly late, then consider extending the time that you give yourself. However, you also don't want to be consistently very early either. You don't want your customers used to you responding to them in breakneck speed and then all of a sudden they don't hear from you for 2 days without some sort of announcement that you are out of town.

Set up appropriate times to complete orders and shipping ready-made orders. When you do this give yourself a buffer to account for bad weather, a sick day now and then, and also things that come up in life. You don't want to be cutting it so close to deadlines that you are constantly having to tell your customer that you missed a deadline that you ultimately set for yourself. You also don't want to be always sending orders days ahead of schedule and it to feel like you are late when an order is sent out on time.

Scheduling realistic times and deadlines for yourself can help you plan custom orders into your regular order routine, save time by consolidating like tasks, and to give you and your customers a solid system to expect for the long term. So, be nice to yourself, give yourself the time that you need to complete your orders and communications without being in a time crunch constantly.

Next week I will be writing about working in batches, small runs, and one at a time.

Time Management - Business is taking over my life!

I heard from many of you that you really need help shutting your work off and spending time with friends, family, or just doing personal things. I am here to tell you that it is not easy. The good news is that it means that you really love what you do, or that you are super busy with a booming business. Now, if you are super busy with a booming business then it is time for you to think about hiring a person or a service to do some things to free up some of your time. This might mean getting a housekeeper, bookkeeper/accountant, someone to help with shipping, or even hiring a company to take over some of your online presence and social networking. However, if financially you just can't bring yourself to hire someone or your busy but your sales aren't busy, then you need to get real about what you are doing and how much time you are spending on it.

It could be that you are spending a lot of time avoiding the things that you should be doing, and indulging in the freedom that you are giving yourself. So, if you are the boss, would you hire yourself? Are you being a good employee? If not, then you really are going to have to step things up and take your business seriously. Playtime is over, and it is time to get to work ... so that you can have playtime later!!

It could also be that you are spending a lot of time doing a lot of things that really don't have a big or meaningful impact on your business. Lots of social networking activities and sites are a great way to meet up with people and find a lot of information, but you need to make sure these things are bringing value to your business for the time that you spend doing them. If you think this is the case, then try to evaluate them using the following matrix.

You really want to avoid the things that fall in the lots of time/little impact. These are things that you spend a lot of time doing, but you really don't have any measurable results from doing them. You also want to be careful with the things that are little time/little impact - these things can add up to be a big time suck. All of those 5 minute activities add up to hours at the end of a week, and you can lose valuable time without knowing it. Your focus should be on the things that have a big impact on your business, and you want to make sure that the things that fall into the little time/big impact are incorporated into your daily routine. The items that fall into your lots of time/big impact can be increased and reduced to control your workflow - so you would do them more when you aren't very busy, and do them less when you are very busy.

I wish that I could tell you what these things are or will be for you, but unfortunately these are all different for each person and each business. This is when it comes down to who and what you know. Some sellers spend an enormous amount of time making treasuries on Etsy, and that translates into big sales and big exposure, others spend enormous amounts of time making treasuries but the results are only lots of exposure but not so many sales. There are also sellers that have the same experiences with twitter, facebook, blogging, etc. So, you really need to be honest with yourself and your business about what things you are doing that are worth your time doing them.

In my own business the little time/big impact items are purchasing ads on blogs. I spend time each month looking for blogs to advertise on, and when I purchase ads I don't always get sales, but through experimentation I have been able to find blogs that work for me and my business. So, basically this activity has moved around in my matrix so that now it is in the best category. The activity that I find to be the lots of time/big impact is creating and listing new things. This is the one activity that I if I give up my business slows down and if I spend more time on it my business picks up.

All other activities fall into the low impact areas on the matrix - All facebooking, tweeting, blogging, etc have fallen into these areas. Now, I have not stopped doing these things completely as I think they are important for my business presence, but I do not put them at the top of the list of things I need to do in a day. These are fillers that I do when I have a few extra minutes during the day, when I have coffee in the morning, or when it is rainy outside and I don't have other things going on.

I have also recently found a good way of incorporating these social internet sites into the other business and social activities that I enjoy doing. I have recently discovered some business minded groups on twitter that have a bi-weekly meeting and I try to attend that meeting. This activity keeps me on track with my business, I meet great folks on twitter when I am there, and I am also being active on twitter for social networking time. All of that in 1 hour twice a month! Groups like this are also popping up on facebook and other social networking sites. Consider talking to groups you are already involved in and see if you can take some of your chatting to a social internet site so that you can essentially accomplish two things at one time - a nice chat with friends as well as maintaining that social network presence.

Once you have done the matrix exercise and really identified the things that are big impact items and little impact items, try to re-focus your workday. Make sure you are doing those big impact items, and don't put so much importance on the little impact items. Leave work at an appropriate time and remember to do some of those big impact items in your personal life! Also remember, that just because you love your business doesn't mean that the people you love, love your business. Making time for yourself, friends and family does have a positive impact on your business, and prevents that dreaded thing called BURN OUT.

Next week I will be talking about expectations from a time management perspective.

Time Management Series - The LIST

So, I have tried to write this article on time management so many times by now that my deadline for getting it done has sufficiently passed! You may be able to relate to this - that you are over scheduled, and so much so, that even the things and maybe especially the things that you like to do get shuffled to the bottom of the list ... doomed to never be finished!

The truth is that time management is easy for some, and downright impossible for others! Unfortunately, no one sells extra hours, a magic pill to make you super organized, or an easy button to get all of your things done. Well ... maybe a magic pill but not without horrible side effects or possible jail time! The only thing you can do is either do it yourself or pay (or bribe) someone else into doing it, and unfortunately money gets in the way of hired help for most of us.

I don't have some earth shattering system to introduce you to or some new way of completing all of those mundane things that you hate. However, I have come up with a way of doing things that actually motivates me and helps to keep me on track.

So, What is this system? A LIST

Now the way that I keep and do my list is a little different, but at the end of the day I get things accomplished and I feel good about what I have done, and any good motivator will tell you that this feeling of accomplishment really is the most important thing.

So, go make a list of everything you want to accomplish, but also include things that you want to do and get enjoyment from doing ... even things that you would otherwise consider indulgent! Things like watching your favorite TV show or spending time with family or friends are just as important as scrubbing toilets and mopping floors. These are the things that will energize you, calm your soul, and keep you going to get the less appealing things completed.

Now some people will tell you to prioritize and do the most important things first, but I am telling you to just do something on the list! You may not feel like doing the most important thing first thing in the morning. Having your coffee and reading a book or magazine might be more motivating to you first thing. Just do one thing on your list and get it checked off! Just the act of checking something off on your list will most likely help you to continue doing something else on the list.

Now go ... make that list!! Start checking things off!!

Next Tuesday I'll be talking about workaholics and making time for fun stuff!

Budgeting Time for Success

As you begin the adventure of selling full-time, one of the biggest pieces of advice I can give is this: budget your time wisely and set goals for yourself.

print from LetterHappy

Running a home arts/craft business can be an enormous challenge with great pay-off if you make sure to pace yourself wisely. Don't take on more than you can handle, but don't limit yourself either. Make sure you challenge yourself without over-doing it. This is different for every person, but it is vital to the growth of your business and yourself as an artist to know what you are capable of and what you are not.

moleskin journal from BubbyandBean

One of the most important things you can do for your fledgling business is to set some long term goals and write them down. Putting things in writing is so important; it's like signing a contract with yourself. Here you have documented evidence that on April 17th of 2011 you decided that you would double your monthly sales-intake over the next 6 months.

Full-time hit me like a runaway freight train. One minute I was happily packaging my 100th hand painted jewelry sale after 5 months of work and the next I was handling almost 10 orders a day. In less than a month I had not only met my goal, but surpassed it by quadrupling my monthly sales after making a large number of tweaks, changing how I managed my time and doubling my inventory. Where was the problem in this you ask? Each of my pieces is hand painted, so each week consisted of an enormous amount of painting. Not only did it add to my workload as far as painting went, but it increased the amount of time I had to spend packaging and changed how I had to handle my finances. Making this sustainable has been more work than getting to this point was.

From the middle of November to the middle of March I only took about 6 days off--one of which was to move to another state.

This didn't feel like the ease and work-in-your-pajamas-awesome that a home-based arts business was supposed to be. It was beginning to feel all consuming. After some close examination, I sat down to rework how I could better use my time. Where was the fat I could cut? What could I do differently in order to streamline production without cutting quality?

'The Traveler' from TuckooandMooCow

Setting a budget for time is like setting one for finances: you have to examine everything, decide what's most important and make cuts where you need to and can afford to. To keep your budding business as stress-free as possible (which it will never be 100% of the time) budget your time as wisely as you can. Every so often, go back and re-examine your time-budget the same way you would finances.

Time is the ultimate cost for any business. Everyone is allotted the same amount and no one can over-draw. How you divide it up and make use of it needs to be based on your individual business plan (how many hours does it take a day to make your business work), the goals you've set for yourself (how many more hours will you need to get to where you want to be), and the time table of you life (how much time do you need to devote to family, social obligations, taking hot bubble baths).

'The Relic' bracelet from Flowerleaf

Author: Sarah-Lambert Cook of TuckooandMooCow