Tag: Organization

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10 Myths About Improving Your Small Business

 

Myth 1. Read about how to improve your business.

Reading is great but simply reading won’t improve your small business. You need to apply what you read. It is pretty simple. Just pick one thing and work on that.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/120895893/miniature-book-kit-and-tutorial-makes

Myth 2. Find someone successful and watch them.

Watching someone successful will simply show you what they did to become successful. It won’t necessarily give you the answers or help you grow your business. Watching someone else might encourage you and give you some ideas or hints of what to do. It might point you in a direction and give you some ideas, but what really matters is are  you working in your business every day!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/122528488/weekly-business-planner-editable

Myth 3. Focus all your energies into one area of your business, good designs, or incredible artwork. None of this will matter if you can’t get your items shipped on time. You can only keep your business afloat by keeping people happy with your product.

Myth 4. Get Awesome Photographs

Good Photographers are just that; GOOD at what they do. They can make us look magazine worthy but make sure that  your product is as awesome as the photographs say. The flip is also worthy of mentioning. Bad photographs can make any product look shabby when it isn’t.

Myth 5. You can add Packaging costs into Shipping!

People aren’t stupid and charging more than it actually costs to ship the item is wrong. Put the packaging costs into the cost of the product.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/152476224/kraft-tissue-paper-25-sheets

Myth 6.  Emails don’t matter.

If someone takes the time to e-mail you about an item do your best to respond in a timely manner. The product happiness meter starts running when they first contact you about the product. You have to follow it all the way through to the end of the transaction- when they leave feedback. It is also just plain good manners.

Myth 7. Using Recycled Packaging is a Great Idea!

It is a great idea if your shop is all about recycling and being good to the environment then by all means recycle the packaging. If your shop isn’t into recycling and you don’t tell folks up front when they are ordering, then you probably shouldn’t recycle packaging. Keep it neat and clean looking. Who is your competition and how do they send items? Bottom Line: You need to tell people that you use recycled packaging!

Myth 8. Write your Listing and Post it Quick!

Write your listing and then wait 24 hours and then read it again, this time checking for inaccuracies. I really need to follow this piece of advice for my own shop. I tend to get in a rush to put up new items and forget to let the listing rest, so I can check my grammar, spelling, and all the tags, titles and measurements. This will get you into trouble and tends to look unprofessional.

Myth 9. Find a Great Idea and Do it Again!

Be yourself and follow your own path! Plain and simple, don’t be a copycat. If you are a seller of handmade goods, then make sure that your items are different from everyone else’s in some way. Make your shop stand out!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/127900872/be-who-you-are-awesome-printable-poster

Myth 10. Claw Your Way to the Top!

If someone goes out of their way to be nice to to you, promote your business, do a blog post about your business, give you pointers or point you in a different direction, Write them a thank  you e-mail, or do something nice.  A little kindness can go a long way and they will remember you later. Simply being a nice person goes a long, long way. At some point rising above the crowd, being a person of your word and being kind will come back to you.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/115664072/chalkboard-thank-you-card-printable

I hope these help you. It sure did help me to write these things down.

 

I am off to work my business.

See you later,

Karen

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How to Be Productive!

I recently read an interesting article on how to be productive which immediately took me back several years (cough, cough)  to Freshman orientation class at Oklahoma State University. Since I was undecided in my major at that time I was funneled into a study skills class instead of a regular Freshman orientation class. The class spoke a lot about dovetailing work or stacking things that need to be done ie do your laundry and study at the same time. I dovetail work all the time, today it was crocheting while waiting at the orthodontist office.

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You can find the article here: http://www.alibrown.com/blog/2013/02/21/%E2%80%9Cmy-1-secret-to-productivity-batching%E2%80%9D-by-ali-brown/

The article talks about batching which is a new concept for me. It reminds us to do our work in batches or groups of like items. If you are going to work on email then take make a commitment to check email twice a day instead of all day long. Which will save you time. Work on your paperwork at the same time everyday and so forth. Well, the study skills class spoke about the same kinds of things but added in another wrinkle…dovetailing. Sandwiching your work so that the washer is washing while the dryer is drying and you are doing something entirely different. Now in the crafting or handmade business this is a bit more difficult as we don’t have machines that do the work for us. So how can we dovetail or sandwich our work.

This is what dovetailing and batching looks like for my business ChocolateDogStudio;

While cutting out bibs I will also cut out cozies, and French press cozies. Then I arrange them by the color of thread and item and do all of the sewing requiring white thread at one time, then brown, blue etc…. I will also arrange them by the item. So all bibs requiring white thread, then all cozies needing white thread and so on. IMG_0247

Here the bibs are all arranged into thread color families. That way I finish multiple items before I need to change thread. I also sew buttons on in this way.

 

Here are the bibs and cozies all arranged according to color families before I start stitching.

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When I package orders I print packing labels and then do all of the shipping at the same time. This saves me time in the long run but also saves me some walking. IMG_0246

 

What I really like about Ali’s article is keeping your distance from Social media and being careful about how often you check your email and facebook. Yes, I am guilty as charged. It started when I was worried about every little sale on Etsy and then I got a smart phone and the bad habit got worse. I have been working on disciplining myself to only check email and so forth twice a day or at most three times a day.

So now I am thinking about batching on my blog and writing several blog posts at once and having them post during the week. That way I am reaching my goals of blogging three times a week, without having to think about it every day.

If you run an Etsy shop there are several neat programs that will allow you to schedule your tweets.  Check the Etsy apps and see which one will work for you.  What a great time saver! It is time to get those set up again and keep them running. So I could dovetail my tweets and blog posts and then I could do other things during the time that I would normally spend doing those two things every day! Whew, what a time saver and a relief!  I have felt a little stretched for time and I was wondering how to get it done this Christmas season.

Talk to you later, I’m off to write a couple of blog posts and schedule some posts!

Karen

 

 

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Set Your Goals!

It’s the beginning of November, what are your business goals for the month?

What is it you want to accomplish? I have been wondering that every month so far this year. I have been setting vague sales goals on a post it note. The post it note is a program that came with this computer when I bought it. I love the post it note program but my family hates it. (Please forgive any un-techinical terms or if I use the wrong techie vocabulary, I am not a tech geek.)  When my computer boots up all the way it looks like this….

Set Your Goals!

 

Yes, I did add some post it notes to cover up some vital information, but I usually have about 10+ post it notes up on my computer at any one time. I was keeping my sales goal on a post it note. Along with other household notes, phone numbers, home repair checklists, and a running list of completed projects for my peace of mind.

I realized this year that I needed to start setting goals or I would never really get this business of the ground. So, I started tracking sales for the past three years for each month and then setting goals based on those numbers.

I found this great short article: http://www.notredameonline.com/setting-business-goals/

“ It’s important to set clear goals; you should know exactly where you want to go and you should not waiver from your target regardless of failures along the way. Be as specific as possible, so you are able to determine when you’ve reached your goal.”

I knew this was important and back in March, when I started really tracking the sales of the business and where the sales were heading.

Here were the unspecific goals:

  • double sales for each month
  • increase items for sale to over 200
  • develop crochet patterns for sale
  • blog 3 times a week each month
  • work on improving SEO and Etsy tags.

The goals are pretty clear but still a little foggy and they leave a lot of room for interpretation. Reading this article by Notre Dame has really focused my vision. There are habits that I need to develop that will give my business a boost.

“Make sure your goal is worth your effort.”

What is the purpose of my business? Why does it exist? Tough questions to answer. My business started like most home businesses as an effort to ease the family budget in tough times. It is time, however, to decide if it is to continue as a sideline venture or does it need a re-interpretation. Since the business started in 2008 many things have changed. Our family is restructuring as kids are leaving the nest, getting married, going to college or tech school. The marketplace has changed drastically. Items that were selling are not selling as quickly, so some restructuring of the shop needs to happen. I am having more free time and less free time all at the same time. So the bottom line here is what is the purpose of my business?

2.  “Define your end goal and create a road map for exactly how you’re going to reach your goal. “

I am still working on defining this goal and I have it in mind. You will forgive me if I am not quite ready to share that goal with the world. I need to make a more focused goal listing and probably not put it on post it notes on my laptop. I need a written quantifiable business plan. This means that I need to be able to measure my success at following the plan. Like a runner tracks his time for the mile, I need to be able to see that I am making progress.

Here is a goal that I’ve me in the past three days!

Set Your Goals!

“3. Commit to your Goals

  1. Make a commitment and stick with it. Once you’ve set your plan in motion, stay motivated to see your goals through to the end. Don’t procrastinate or second-guess your decisions, as this will only delay the process. Don’t forget to enjoy the process and reward yourself for staying focused.”

Seeing the progress written down on paper will help me to realize when I am off track. Flylady.com does this with her cleaning methods. You have a daily to do list that varies by the day of the week that rotates some chores daily, weekly and monthly. She also has blessing days where you take care of yourself. I need to set some rewards at the end of my goals. Simply saying “I will pay more down on such and such bill” isn’t much of a reward. Knowing how I work, I will need a daily, weekly and month goal to keep myself on track. I am wearing (like all women) about 7 different hats. Four of these hats are more important than any job, career or goal that I might have. These are my faith, my husband, my family and keeping the house running. Letting any of these  slip lower on my priority list affects my creativity and also my productivity. These four things are more important to me than making money or creating anything.

Action: I will set 12 rewards for myself and my business for reaching goals. One goal for each month. I will also set faith, family and house goals. This will help me keep work in its place, though inspiration waits for no one.

Set Your Goals!

 

Maybe some new styles and colors of yarn!

4.Make your Goals Public 

An extremely effective technique for achieving business goals is making them public. Invite a team or even a single person into your plan; you’ll face accountability which can be very motivating. Once you share your goals with someone, you can determine what sort of involvement they will have with your plan. Will you ask them to check in with you every so often or not? What their role entails is up to you.

I share my business goals with my husband. He has a good business head and we are opposites. He is not emotionally invested in my business like I am and will give good, truthful advice. I also often get advice from my Mom. She gives great construction and sewing advice that I don’t always want to hear. She is an expert seamstress  with many years of experience. I also get good business advice from a close high school friend that is personally involved in the sewing industry and has been since college.

Set Your Goals!

Writing a pattern for this blanket is one of my goals this week.

5. Set deadlines for your goals.

This I haven’t been doing at all. My goals tend to be too emotional and totally dependent on everything from the weather (photography, arthritis), health (running errands etc..) and everything else. So I need to set a daily schedule and treat work like work and home like home but maybe not for 8 hours a day. We are still homeschooling so I need to break my day down into smaller time bites and there is nothing wrong with setting an alternate goal for the “in case of” situations that happen. When I was teaching art I had a folder of a weeks worth of work that any substitute could assign. I need a list of things to do for the “in case of” times.

Action:

1. Make a list of things for the “in case of ” situations that happen for business and home.

2. Make Freezer meals as it frees up valuable time and makes life easier for everyone and keeps us on budget.

Somehow, I think these two things will free up valuable time.

Reward Yourself

I need to remember to have fun! I need to do things that are fun as a family, as a couple, with friends and by myself. I tend to get rather driven and forget to have fun. This is a sure way of burning out in all areas of our lives. Do the things that add a sparkle to your life! When I figure what this is, I will let you know!

Talk to you later,

Karen

 

 

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I Deserve Better…

Ok, I recently read this article that was on my facebook feed. I am a bit ambivalent about this article after all it hits pretty close to home, cough…cough. I miss the dates on being born in the 70’s by just a bit. So, some of it applies to my generation.

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Here is a direct quote from the article and the article links in case you would like to know why a large proportion of us are unhappy!

It’s pretty straightforward — when the reality of someone’s life is better than they had expected, they’re happy. When reality turns out to be worse than the expectations, they’re unhappy.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wait-but-why/generation-y-unhappy_b_3930620.html

I get this article, really I do. It states (unless I misunderstood it) that generations of people born after 1970 expect to have life easy. They expect to not have to work as hard to achieve their ideal job. I kind of agree. I was born right on the end of that baby boom wave in 1966. So I received some of the self esteem training in school that later blossomed into everyone deserves an award no matter how they do. I remember when only the truly gifted or truly athletic received an award. We have four kids and have sat through multiple awards assemblies where kids received awards from being the brightest to being the best with the pencil sharpener…or something similar. I digress…my point is this. How does this attitude affect or infect your small business? It is a rather entitlement attitude that the first time you do anything should be  met with great applause and recognition.

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A family quilt from the depression generation. Use up waste not, want not was their motto.

 

How was your first creation received? I mean the one you created for pay that was not a custom order, not family or a friend.. Honestly, what did it look like? Was it worth the price you were asking someone to pay? Would you buy it…if you couldn’t make it…..Would you buy it? Would I have bought my first listing? Not so much, it was well made but not in my taste? Why was I making things that I didn’t like? Who knows? I really have no idea, except that I thought that they would sell. They were well made and with quality materials, so there was no reason they shouldn’t have sold. looking back now Why didn’t they sell….because of the photos, tags, descriptions and not enough items in my shop, my SEO was crummy and the whole shop was incredibly hard to find with only five items.

One of my first sales and listings and crummy photograph…

I admit I was naive and thought that simply posting it on Etsy was good enough. The world would beat a path to my door. Instead, I found myself on Regretsy for some of my photos (Another don’t ask and I won’t shock you with the really bad photos). I still struggle with photography. I pay for photos for my Etsy shop. Many people don’t but I have an in with the photographer… he is our son. I pay and feed him for his work.

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He does an incredible job.

What I am trying to say is that a business….any business is HARD work. It will take time for it to grow and provide income. My business has been around for five years. I have wanted to throw in the towel and quit at least once a year for the past five years and five years is not a very long time in the scheme of things. Most small businesses fail in the first five years. I have learned a bunch and I am still learning. Some of it is this entitlement attitude that I am overcoming and some of it is just the plain ole learning curve (as my husband calls it.) It just takes TIME to get a business off the ground and to start making $$. I make mistakes and learn from them and sometimes they are expensive mistakes (like the time I shipped a card to Malaysia for $35, don’t ask why) and sometimes they aren’t.

What advice would you give a new online shop? What mistakes have made that you learned from? What would you do different?

Talk to you later,

Karen

p.s.

I am going to step off my soap box and say this about that article. I don’t think that many kids born between 1990 and present have had it quite as easy as the article states. Many have seen their parents loose their jobs, homes, cars and possessions. I think many of them have learned to work hard and that hard work pays. I have great hope for the future generations as I see our kids and their friends work hard to achieve what they want in life. I do not see the entitlement attitude as much as I did in my post college years. We expected to have everything all at once. I see them starting savings accounts and waiting to buy what they want. So, maybe they did learn from our mistakes. If they did then it was almost worth it.

 

 

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Un-complicate Your Crafty Business Life

Yes, it is something that I have been trying to do this summer. I have felt overloaded for years, home schooling the kids, running the house, running a home business, being taxi driver for the kids. I am sure that your life is just as equally busy. I ran across this blog post http://www.marcandangel.com/2012/03/08/11-easy-ways-to-uncomplicate-your-life/ and decided that I can come up with a list of  ways to un-complicate my crafty/Etsy life.

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Here are the 11 things to un-complicate your life adapted and changed to apply to your crafty/Etsy life.

Learn from the past, and then get the heck out of there!

Learn from your mistakes and then MOVE on. Remove items from your shop that cause less than positive feedback or gives you excessive stress to create it. I am no longer going to carry these egg cozies!

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Focus on what’s truly important

Why do you create? Is it a good reason? Do you really need to be able to do this? My big thing that I don’t do is fancy  decorated cakes. Everyone assumes that since I am a creative person that I can decorate cakes and make them really cool. NOPE…I do not do cakes. I also do not do rubber stamping, yes, I have tried and NO I prefer not to rubber stamp. I am never pleased with the result.

Focus on being productive, not being busy

Time in the studio for me is precious. I want to be able to get things done when I am actually having time to sew. It is easier to be productive if I keep a running list of what needs to be done. I also will spend time cutting out a bunch of bibs or cozies one day so that I can sew a bunch when I get the chance. I sew all of the items that take the same color thread at one time. That way I don’t change thread color all day long.

Give what you want to receive.

If you would not want to receive some product of  yours as a gift then do not sell it, except as de-stash! If you want happy customers than make them happy. Give refunds when you need to.

Stop trying to be everything to everyone.

You need to make what you are best at creating. Create what makes you happy and causes you joy. If you are selling something that is more hassle than it is worth, stop creating it! Do not accept custom orders to create items that you don’t have the skills or time to make. Evaluate each custom order request; do you have the time, energy, desire, does it take skills you don’t have?

These give me the most joy!

 

Do what you know in your heart is right.

Price your product so that you make profit not sales! You do not want to be the Dollar mart of the arts and crafts world. Sell quality handmade work for a fair price. You are an expert, you do have experience, charge a reasonable amount for the work you do. Everyone comes out better in the end. Along the same line of thought; if you are run off your feet from sales and don’t have enough profit; you might need to raise prices a bit to slow down the sales.

Organize your space.

Keeping your supplies orderly will save you time, money and heartache. Knowing where your products and shipping supplies are, make it easier to ship your product. If you have to stop and find scissors every time you need to pack a box then you are adding frustration to your day.

Be efficient.

Learn new ways of doing things. Research how to be better at your business, follow trends, customer requests. Order your supplies wholesale instead of from the neighborhood crafts store. You spend less time in the car, you don’t pay sales tax and you don’t over buy.

You need to have a routine. It makes it easier to find time to do the little things that need doing.  Plan to spend times developing new ideas, cleaning, paperwork, new products, restocking your shop, creating old favorites or just thinking about making new things.

Let go of needless drama and those who create it.

Do your best that you can do at the time and let go of any sales drama that comes your way.

Forget what everyone else thinks and wants for you.

People have told me for years to open another online shop front so that I have one kind of product in each shop. I know my limits. I only have time to promote, stock and keep up with one shop.

What would you add to this list?

Karen

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Start Where You Are!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/103937992/quote-pillow-hand-stamped-linen

This is my theme for this year. I really don’t have a better way of saying it than this. No matter what you are trying to do. You can get some part of it done! Is it organizing? Then use the boxes your food comes in or roll newspapers and make newspaper baskets. You don’t have to wait to go to the store to get all pinteresty on it. YOU don’t have to have a beautiful pantry. IF it is organized for you and you can find what you want then it is beautiful. Do you need a new planner? Then print one down off the internet and get on with life. Are you wanting to start crocheting a granny square blanket but think it is going to take too long? It surely won’t take 20 years which is how long I have been working on the cross stitch from the post before this one. Just start. NIKE: just do it. Life is too short to wait for the perfect moment or when you have lost enough weight for family photos or a beach vacation! DO it anyway….unless you have debt and it means putting it all on the credit card and Dave Ramsey has your phone number. Then by all means wait until the right time and when you actually have money to do it, But plan it and start saving. There is never going to be a more perfect time to tell someone you love them or write that letter or finish that project. Do not put things off that are important to you. Learn to speak another language, knit, or paint if you have always wanted to know how. Don’t wait, life is too short!

What have you been waiting to do?

Karen

 

P.s. I featured the pillow cover above from Casa and Co. You can find the Etsy shop here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/CasaAndCo

I have never bought from their shop nor are they paying me for this feature.

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How I Finish Crochet Projects Quickly.

I will be honest, it seems like I finish up crochet projects super quick.I really don’t finish them up that quickly but I do have different things I do that help me finish several projects at a time.

To start with I will lay out all of the yarn within a brand on my table…or the couch or …. well you get the idea.

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I sort them into color groups like the one shown above. I am playing with the colors to figure out color combinations that work well.

I also dovetail my work and work on several projects at a time.  Usually, I have at least three  projects in process at a time. One is in the portable phase and goes with me where ever I go that I might have to wait; orthodontist/doctor appointments or music lessons are usually where they get the most work. One I will work on during the evenings when the family is watching tv. The last one to three projects might be waiting on yarn, an uninterrupted block of time when I can concentrate, or simply inspiration to finish it up.

I also use my scraps as I go…

So I love crocheting Granny square blankets. They are usually scrap busters and are always so pretty. It helps me use up bits and pieces of yarn. I simply crochet the center rounds of the granny squares or even the second row on a square until I have used up the bits of yarn to short to keep. I  stored them all in a bowl until I was ready to start on this crochet afghan. It is crocheted out of a dk weight yarn and there were others that are vanna’s choice mixed into the bunch. So I pulled out the other vanna choice and wool, and just use the dk yarn centers I have been collecting centers since January of last year.  So when I started on this blanket on Tuesday I already had all of the centers and some had a second or third row on them. When I started on Tuesday the bowl was full and it now looks like this.

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This current red bordered Granny square blanket started out as small granny square centers from left over bits and pieces of yarn.  I have used most of them but the blanket has 36 granny squares now.

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The next part of the blanket will be the longest but I am inspired by it and will keep working on it every night until it is done. It is jump started and will move along quickly and finish up before the month is over.

One other thing that I do is to… buy only a couple of brands or weights of yarn so that a majority of them go together for scrap granny blankets.

So in a nutshell.

  •  I keep several projects working at the same time.
  •  I take crochet work with me if I expect to wait anywhere for any time.
  •  I have a set time to work on my projects.  I usually work on them in the evenings. I take a break several times a week.
  •  I also work on several different size projects at a time. I tend to get discouraged working on long crochet blanket projects so I work on little fun things in between. I am still finishing up work here and there and I get to look at something else for a change of pace.
  • Just frog the things that you don’t like and don’t want to finish. Roll that yarn up in a ball and put it aside. Another day you will have fresh inspiration.

Like this blanket that has changed from this

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To this…

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and I am still not sure if I like it enough to finish it. So it is waiting until I decide!

I am crocheting as a business and I try to keep my spending on a cash basis. I refuse to spend money on yarn for a blanket with credit. I will start several different crochet blankets even if I don’t have all of the yarn I need to finish it.

(I know that our grandmothers’ and mother’s didn’t start a project unless they had all of the yarn for a project. I work mainly with synthetic fibers and have never had a problem with dye lots being different, at least in the past ten years. I think dyes and  yarns are much more stable now than they were. IF you are using natural fibers or hand dyed specialty yarns then you need to be careful to buy enough of the yarn  in the beginning as the colors among dye lots may vary. When I crochet a custom blanket I try my best to order more than enough yarn at the beginning of the project to cover any dye lot inconsistencies.)

Talk to you later…

Karen

Do you work on more than one thing at a time?

 

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What are you going to do different?

If what we are doing in our business isn’t bringing us the results we want and if Insanity is defined as this (see below)?

http://www.etsy.com/listing/47911287/wall-decals-definition-of-insanity-vinyl

Then why do we keep doing the same things over and over in our business and expect different results. So my question to you is WHAT are YOU going to do DIFFERENTLY this year? How are you going to change the status quo? This has been the question that has occupied my mind the last five weeks. Yes, this question was going through my mind during the Christmas rush. It was a good Christmas season for the shop. Not as good as I had hoped for but quite good anyway. There were some things that I had done differently in the shop and it did pay off.

Since I have been mulling this thought over and over in my mind and the start of a new year is a time for reflection. I was getting frustrated with my inability to come to some decisions. It seemed like the year started with a huge rush of activity; getting kids back to school, kids getting sick, getting some appointments made, updating some paperwork, insurance paperwork, and house keeping stuff. All of it was keeping me from really working on the shop. I felt behind the curve already and we hadn’t even really started the year.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/85132427/wall-clock-retro-black-red-and-gray

I even worked on this questionnaire  from Etsy and was going to do a great big blog article on it.  http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2013/reflect-on-2012-t/ It was a great place to start but it built in some frustrations as well. I may still do the blog article but really you have no desire to read about my goals unless it is a bullet list and you can scan it quickly.  I am not sure I can condense it down to a bullet list. I even tried to photograph the studio and motivate myself to clean it up because cleaning always has the ability to start a rush of ideas. I did indeed clean up the studio, but then we found some boxes downstairs that had studio items in them… and you can guess the rest.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/110369861/2013-desk-calendar-little-owls

It is a big year ahead of us with some pretty major changes. Like all families some big things and lots of little things are ahead of us. Some of them we have advance notice of and some we don’t.  So here is…finally a short list of things I am going to do in 2013

  1. Try and blog more consistently
  2. Feature other artisans once a week….
  3. Make 12 tutorials for my blog…that is roughly one a month… This is a huge hurdle and one I am rather frightened of.
  4. Keep the studio more organized
  5. Diversify the items in the Studio shop…same style of items just different kinds of things…
  6. Read 4 good books about business… I have two titles that were reccomended by my husband. Since he usually only reads non-fiction he is a great resource.
  7. Try to find 4 brick and mortar shops to consign my items here in my region.
  8. Limit my work time to a more regular schedule which includes time off for family and other activities.
  9. Build a link up spot once a week to help others market their shop items.

Then like everyone else I also have the goals to lose weight, exercise, eat right and save money that fit into the personal list along with

  1. Do the budget thing
  2. Continue working on home improvement projects
  3. Get the veggie garden and flower gardens back looking good.
  4. At least once a week do something fun with kids….
  5. Teach DD to cook and sew…she is the last one to learn. I am on the down hill side of child rearing and she deserves to know learn as much as they did.
  6. Make time for friends.

Talk to you later…

Karen

 

 

 

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Monday: Goal Check 1!

Here we are another Monday. I am running a goal check. This helps keep me on track and remind me that I AM reaching those goals and actually doing something!

Business goals:

  • Finish three two afghans (I have two left to finish this goal. Currently I have three afghans started….

 

The zig zag chevron stripe is finished. The one on top is started….and I have a granny striped started in my new yarns, and a sampler granny square afghan started.

  • Start three more afghans
  • Sew 50+ cup cozies in new styles ( I prepare for the holiday buying season in advance, because I also home school.)
  • Sew the 30+ new items I need him to photograph
  • Make the new Christmas items….
  • Blog more consistently (I have been writing ahead and found my blog planning pages…)
  • Write a business plan

Family goals:

  • Take two summery day trips every week
  • Make some meals for the freezer for THOSE days when I just really need them (one lasagna down…)
  • Help K get her things ready for College…. (two major things marked off our list.)
  • Take T for driving practice
  • Exercise (walked and/or exercised three times last week.  YAY!)
  • Make the kitchen a better place to be, using things I already have. (It seems small and I really have to work at loving being in there.)
  • Make the curtains in the living room fit the windows better and the hems the same length (I put these curtains up super quick when I realized that the bamboo shades are see through at night with the lights on.) 

Rather lofty goals aren’t they. I also have some personal ones that I have not added to this list.

Personal goals:

  • Work through my Bible study that I stopped this Spring.
  • Have us sit at the table for dinners 5 nights a week. (Totally missed out on this one this past week, but we have another week ahead of us!)
  • Keep my kitchen and laundry caught up and ready for action. ( Frankly, got clothes washed but not folded or put away. Laundry is my most hated chore. It is never finished)
  • Have some friends over for dinner…or coffee or dessert or something.
  • Read some books about homeschooling
  • Attend the home school curriculum sale this weekend.  (Totally missed out on this. Now, I need to find inspiration in another place…)
  • Help with the Youth at church at least 2 times a month.

Well, those are my rather lofty goals. I hope that things get better and I get more organized at meeting my goals.

Things I/we accomplished that weren’t on my list of things to do!

I started cleaning and organizing my studio areas.We also moved the furniture around in this area and I need to finish organizing, pitching or donating items.  I have a lot of boxes left to go through but we are happy with the new arrangement of the room and how it is starting to come together.  I re-opened my Amazon.com shop by listing more books for sale. We did a quick check up on our budget and re-affirmed our money goals. I sat down with our calendar and checked dates and times of appointments as we missed some important things last week.

Talk to you later,

Karen