Breaking it down to build it up
November 4th, 2007
Little snippets of time. Everything in my life, and business, now happens in increments of time – specifically the amount of time between “events”. We had a cash-n-carry shopping event three weeks ago, which left us two weeks until Halloween events with the kids, which left us with a week and a half until the next shopping event. It’s been this way for a few months, since the ABC Show. I think I had a whole month of nothing before the ABC Show, but since then – one thing or another is looming on the horizon.
My daughter started kindergarten (Spanish immersion no less), and so now there are two schools worth of events and stuff to manage. And somehow, having so much “scheduled” is increasing our productivity and, dare I say, our sanity?
The semester that I made the Dean’s list in college was the semester that I was also working two jobs. Both almost full-time. Because the busier you are, the more time-crunched you are, and that’s just the right amount of pressure to kick you in gear. Knowing that I only had an hour between jobs made that hour precious.
This is also exactly why I have to get better at setting incremental deadlines for the business. Instead of just end-of-the-line pipe dream goals. In corporate life, I had to do the project schedules, breaking months and months worth of a project into biweekly deadlines. We can do this for ourselves too. It will help us to hold ourselves accountable and it will help me know where to ask for help more!!!
The more we can break down our project schedules, our business cycles, our to-do lists, the more we’re going to build up our business. Which is good, because our new BIG BROAD focus is taking it to the next level…
Entry Filed under: Design Project Schedules,Planning beyond the collection
No Comments yet Add your own
1. Amber - RuffleButts&hellip | November 4th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
Great advice! This is my goal for the week – breaking down each project into weekly increments. I did this in the very beginning and not only did it help me stay on track, but it also held my vendors more accountable for deadlines, as I shared these breakdowns with them as well.
Thanks for your comment on our weather challenges. My prayers are with all of the CA families as well, as I can not imagine what it would be like to be surrounded by fire! It was definitely a reminder that I need to be more proactive than reactive in this business. I was so focused on getting this first production run out to our customers, that I never really even considered a back-up plan for any kind of disaster.
Thanks for the advice – have a great week!
2. Jamie Lentzner&hellip | November 4th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
small goals – that is what I do. I would reccomend keeping that silver ring at the end of the merry go round always in your sight, but small goals each day. I have so many lists, so many events, and so wear so many hats that if I do a list and at least cross SOMETHING off it – it has been a good day. Don’t be too hard on yourself either – you have done soooo much more than I ever did my first year in business!! Step back and pat yourself on the back every once in awhile – Rome was not built in a day.
3. London&hellip | November 12th, 2007 at 8:37 pm
tradeshows have a way of throwing off your schedule. It will get better. I did the Atlanta show in July and I’m JUST now getting caught up. That was the longest recovery period after I show that I’ve ever had, but business has also grown and my lists are getting longer too. Just keep the end goal in sight to keep you going through the busy, hectic and rough times. It all pays off! Isnt’ that what we have to keep telling ourselves?
4. amber&hellip | November 14th, 2007 at 7:45 am
Well, we’ve managed to accomplish a lot by designating certain hours of the day to certain tasks. we’re getting good at the ‘to-do’ lists, I update it every night and cross stuff off throughout the day.
But we’re still struggling to define a project schedule. We figure a good place to start is by tracking how long various tasks are really taking us.
robin, I have to laugh about the “just getting caught up” – are we ever? Everytime I get some black cloud off my shoulder there is a new one on the horizon – send this, email so and so, call this company, drop this off, order this, pick that up, and don’t forget the kids!! LOL
And yet, we love it.
I guess I prefer to deal with my own insanity vs. someone else’s.
Leave a Comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed