Christmas image: sxc.hu

As the hours wind down toward Christmas Day, are you stressed out trying to meet business commitments, finish orders and get deliveries made, along with family holiday plans?  Or are you well organized so that everything is running smoothly?

If you still have much to do:

• Prioritize and decide what really needs to be done and in what order.
• Is there anything you don’t need to do until after Christmas Day…or even the holiday season?
• Can you get someone to help you with these commitments?
• Is there something else you can put off that you thought you needed to accomplish?
• Take a few minutes, here and there, to relax over a cup of tea. 
•  Even a 15 minute power nap may help revive your energy and help you see possibilities.

How do you get everything organized and accomplished?

Many people with small or home businesses work at them around another job.  They may have a full or parttime job working for someone else.  How do they combine the two efficiently and productively?

• Set down a business plan for your business.
• Decide how you can get it started parttime, utilizing the hours when you’re not at another job.
• If it’s an online business, it’s much easier to juggle your activities, fitting your business into the time slots you’re not at your “away” job.
• If you’ve opened a business in your home, decide what hours you’ll be open…in other words, when you’re not away from home, and try to stick to them.
• See if anyone in your family will help you with tasks that must be done while you’re away.

I have two parttime jobs away from home, and the schedules for these are constantly changing from week to week.  With one of them, I’m on call, so don’t always know when I’ll be working there.  My writing/blogging business is online, so my writing times can be fairly flexible.  I also help my husband with his online business and fit these hours between my other work.  It requires much juggling of time and family commitments, too.  However, life is never boring!

What suggestions do you have for juggling a business and another job?

Recycling Image: sxc.hu

Selling “green” products?  How you package them might make a statement, too.  Consider how to organize so your packaging is as green as possible, too.

My niece tells about ordering pencils that were made from recycled materials.  She wanted to see what they were like, perhaps use them for stocking stuffers, and do her bit in saving trees.

However, she wondered how much “greening” the seller believed in.  Of course, for sending something in the mail or via another delivery service, there are limitations on packaging.  However, within the mailer, the pencils were inside an attractive non-recyclable (not #1 or#2) plastic container.  This was placed within plastic bag.

She may have saved some trees, she thought, but added to the amount of non-biodegradable plastic accumulated.

Consider whether your packaging is compatable with the product(s) you’re selling and the practices you’re promoting.   Granted, some of the environmentally safe packaging costs more.  Perhaps explain to your customers this difference in cost and let them have the option of paying more for this type of packaging or going with the traditional.  Sometimes, too, you have little choice of packaging when it comes to shipping items.

How do you, or would you, solve this dilemma?

At Home Biz Notes, I wrote about, Plan an Open House to Generate Interest in Your Business, possibly between the holidays or right after the new year.  What steps do you take to organize one of these?

• Decide on a date and time.
• What will you emphasize…new services, products, reintroduction of current ones (see list on Home Biz Notes post).
• Put up notice in your place of business.
• Tuck notices into purchases.
• Send out cards/announcements which you can make on the computer.
• Possibly plan a program.
• Do you need someone to help?
• Will you have special decorations?
• Whatwill you give as door prizes or hand-outs (keeping them within a reasonable price range)?

It’s a good idea to have planned and worked ahead so you’re covered in your business for emergencies and sick days.  In most small or home businesses, there is no pay for sick days…no work, no pay.

• Try to stay ahead of deadlines for orders and writing assignents.
• Have contingency plans “in the wings.”
• Is someone else trained to do what you do, even for a short time, such as a family member?
• Work even when you’re not feeling your best.
• Be flexible and creative.

In reorganizing our multigenerational home, now that granddaughter is away at college, my daughter found she could utilize the loft area for her sewing and fabric design studio. 

Loft space image: sxc.hu

(One side will retain a bed and space for Kara.)  However, the sprawling sewing nook and storage in the living room will be moved to the loft.

This has become an extensive  project as the family:

• Repainted the walls, which involved looking at many paint chips.
• Finished the floor (there was only a subfloor before)
• Built permanent railings on either side of the chimney for the portion overlooking the living room.
• Decided to paint the remainder of the upper half floor which contains a bedroom, bath and hallway.
• Moved and reorganized

However, this will be a delightful studio for our daughter and give her the sewing and design space she’s desired, even though it’s not huge.  This also gives Kara her place when she’s home from school.

How have you reorganized to have a studio, office or work place?

(Of course, the loft space pictured is much larger than ours!)

The challenge – organizing your work so you’re productive when the weather outside lures you away from the keyboard, sewing machine, easel, billing, bookkeeping…or other necessary tasks to keep your business on track.

Image: sxc.hu

How can you take advantage of everything?

• Get up extra early so that you can get the absolutely necessary work done before breakfast.
• Organize your “to do” list so that the priority items are on top.  When those are done, you can play, then get to the not so important items afterward.
• Before being lured away from work, make a commitment to stay up later that evening to make sure everything is done.  Then stick to it.
• If it’s an “at home” business, get family members to help you wherever possible so you all can…get the Christmas tree, go shopping, attend a party, wrap gifts, make the caramel corn.
• Work efficiently and don’t permit distractions when you are working, so your tasks will be accomplished faster.

(I must leave for the day at noon.  Thus, I’m up earlier than usual on my “sleep in” morning, so I can get this post written, along with others.)

How do you organize to get your necessary work done and have the rest of the day to do other things…with family, with colleagues, by yourself…on a lovely day?

What

The organization of offices and work space will vary, depending on the person, the business, and the amount of space available.  Also, what works for one person doesn’t work so well for another.

Home Office Desk Image: sxc.hu

Ideally, I like an efficient office and work space with everything at my fingertips and space just for ME.  However, that  generally hasn’t been my lot since I began writing, was sewing, painting, or working at an Internet based business. 

• I’ve worked in apartments, duplex homes, a larger house with room for myself, a multigenerational home with everyone vying for space.
• I’ve written in motel rooms and airports when traveling.
• I often have to share office space with my husband.
• Sometimes our living quarters are small enough that I use the dining table. 
• Where I have work and office space in the summer sometimes has been unusable in the winter because of the heating situation.  So I’ve had to move to a corner of the living room.

I’ve discovered that you can get your work done, even when the locations aren’t the most ideal if you’re determined.  Yes, there are some places that aren’t condusive  to certain activities.  For instance, I can’t take my painting with me, although I can take sketching and planning when I travel.  My daughter can only carry along certain types of her fabric art.

But you often need to be creative when working on your projects and products and organizing your office/work space.

How have you organized when situations aren’t the most ideal?

When storms rage outside (a blizzard this time of year) and people can’t get to your doyor (if you have a walk-in shop) or deliveries may be delayed (if you have an online business), how can you keep your business organized and productive.

Snowy Day image: sxc.hu

• Do some of those office tasks you’ve put off but are necessary.  You may be uninterrupted today.
• Check your computer for incoming orders.
• Process orders so they go out in a timely fashion.  You won’t be interrupted by other matters (unless it’s shoveling snow or kids home from school).
• Brainstorm on how you can develop a more effective marketing strategy.
• Check out ideas others are using for promotion…thus browsing on the Internet can be productive.
• Inventory your stock and see what you need in the way of supplies or new items.

What do you do to further your business on a snowy day?

Jessica, who provided some organizational tips about posting from the library or Internet cafe when one’s own Internet connection is down, has some more ideas to offer.  Thanks, Jessica.

Library/Internet Cafe image: sxc.hu

Even if you don’t have a “real” word processor, your computer probably comes with a basic text editor that can save text files on your computer ahead of time (eg: look for Notepad on windows, TextEdit on Mac). You may have to go back and do the formatting online later when you get to the library, but if you already have the body text written that can save even more time sometimes! And if the library you go to doesn’t have wireless so you can use your own laptop, bringing a USB thumb-drive with your posts and pictures that you need to upload will make it go even faster. But then again, if you get everything done twice as fast when you’re working at the library (you know that’s why we all used to go to the library to study and write term papers back in college…) use that to your advantage!