Improving Your Etsy Shop Week 1 - Schedule It!

We all face similar trials each day. There just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to get everything we need to done for our biz and our regular every day life.

Today we're going to work on scheduling to make the most of the time we have (and hopefully find a few of those extra minutes and hours we need so desperately) 

Choosing a Schedule Location

The first thing we need to do is have a calendar to mark all of our organized goodness down on. It can be a computer calendar (such as the Google calendar) or a daily/weekly/monthly planner (you can get these from your local dollar store at a very inexpensive price and the work just as well as the more expensive ones). You can even use a regular notebook to write your daily task on. But you really do need to write it down. If it's not written down, chances are some of the tasks you want to get accomplished will get forgotten (just like when I accidentally leave my shopping list at home when I go grocery shopping...sigh)

What Needs Doing?

Next, make a list of all of the every day tasks for your biz that you want to get accomplished. Put them in order from most important, to least. Now write those into your business hours. The reason I say business hours is b/c you really should make some for your business. With home businesses it's so easy to work way more hours on your biz than on the rest of the tasks you still need to get accomplished for your home and family.

If some of them aren't daily tasks, pick a day or two each week for them. Are they monthly? Schedule a regular day in the month to get these tasks done.

Once it's written down it becomes a whole lot easier to see what needs to be accomplished and when it needs to be done by and prioritize them all so that you can get everything done on time.

Clear Your Space

Get that workspace organized! Get rid of all unnecessary junk. Not only will this help you to organize your work area, but it will also help you to focus better. When you are surrounded with clutter, completing projects can become overwhelming. Instead of paying attention to your current project, you'll begin focusing on other things.

As an example here are just a few things I have for my "work time" on my schedule:
Schedule tweets

Facebook Posts

Photography
Respond to emails/convos
Current orders

Give it a try..and don't give up. It takes 21 days to form a habit so stick with it!

One More Thing...

While we're getting our business schedules together...don't forget to organize the activities for your home and family. I had a hard time setting up a schedule that worked for me, but I found a wonderful site that maybe some of you have heard of before www.flylady.net She is an absolute lifesaver! You start at your own pace and work into having a very organized system for things.

I can't say that I follow everything on there to the letter. But it's a wonderful place to start and get ideas on what works for you. And it really makes you appreciate a shiny sink :)

 As always don't forget to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Etsy. Sign up for our Newsletter and don't miss any of our blog posts, shop updates, or exclusiveNewsletter subscriber discounts and offers.