Time budgeting question for full time Etsians

[Former_Member]

So my store has been getting a lot more business (yay!) and I've been invited to display my jewelry in an upscale gallery located in a prominent location this summer (double yay!). I'm very excited of course, but am a little concerned that I won't have time to complete orders, packed them up, mail them out, etc with a summer job I'll be starting in June. Or, if I do have time, how to budget that time.

For those of you who are making enough money from Etsy to consider quitting their day job (or have already turned Etsy into a full time job) how do you budget your time? Are there certain days of the week you set aside for time off? Do you work in your studios (or wherever you do your work) at a certain time each day? I'd love to hear your stories.

[JaxtonandJill]

Maybe its time to raise your prices. I'm a full time mommy and that alone is almost to much for me, I closed my shop to catch up and wont reopen until summer. I will only be making ready to ship items from now on. I hope this helps you a little!!

[PaperPlanePrints]

This is my full time job. I quit my 10+ year career about 2 years ago, and honestly I still can't figure out time management!! I've heard many people say that the first couple/few years at a new business have extremely long hours. I've read a lot of forum comments that many successful Etsians work insane hours.

During busy times, like now, I work over 12 hours a day, easy. (I'm just responsible for myself and my furbaby, so that makes it more feasible than some others). I try to give myself a little time on the weekend or when I'm just going to explode, but honestly not enough to be considered healthy!

Right now I feel like I'm building a foundation, learning new skills, and growing. This is my number one focus right now, as I have to have a strong foundation. That being said, I know that I can't sustain the kind of hours that I put in now, so I'm figuring out things here and there to expedite my workflow.

[Former_Member]

Thanks breedingfancy. :) I know I have much fewer sales than you, but I've also felt so busy sometimes that my head is spinning. I've gone from maybe having 1 or 2 sales a month to about 20 sales this past month. And it has taken A LOT of energy making sure my supplies are stocked, making sure I have enough packing material, envelopes, etc, and just putting everything together and sending it out. While I'm not complaining, I'm kinda dazed and trying to figure out some sort of rhythm to manage my store and other obligations. I know that for the most part sales ebb and flow, but I wish I knew how to better strike a balance. Maybe that just comes with time and experience. :) Thanks again.

[Plektra]

I don't have a day off as such. When I'm out and about or meeting friends this is what I consider time off. I don't talk about work, I don't check the internet and I don't keep trying to promote myself. Except when there is an excellent opportunity or when someone wants to talk about an order.

I've always liked keeping private and work life separate. This is how I manage my time effectively and get energy to focus on everything I need to do. More specifically, I try to do most of my work in the mornings as I'm productive then. I keep on top of my record keeping and accounting so I don't spend time later or close to tax season looking for information and receipts.

[SageNThymeDesigns]

This is my full time job, but I also have two little ones that go to different schools and have different breaks and they never seem to be in school....

Time management is always tricky, but it helps to know the general flow of work throughout the year/month/day. My busiest times are before Halloween and Easter, but summer weddings and Xmas pretty busy too. We don't go on vacations in March or Sept/Oct and that's when I try to streamline as best I can. I try to make sure I have all my supplies in stock so I'm not frantically trying to find more pink fabric in October, or my shipping supplies in December. Having a really efficient studio space, with a packing station, has been tremendously helpful- the very best thing I've ever done for myself and my business. I may need extra help this fall....

My busiest day of the week is Monday when I have to respond to everything from the weekend (I try not to email over the weekend unless it's really urgent or a huge sale, but I always check because I'm OCD about that...) and deal with all the rush orders that MUST go out that day or the next.

In general I try to check email in the morning, before and after lunch and again right ~5:00 when I try to close up shop for the evening. Checking in on teams is a big time suck for me (Pinterest too!) so I try to be conscience of that.

I recently started making multiples of the items that are super popular- especially during costume season. Someone orders a size 6 pirate costume, I make 2 of them so one is ready to ship. I try to keep at least one of each popular size of the more popular items in stock so I can streamline my production.

I probably need to spend more time dealing with the business side of my biz. My goal is to spend the first or last day of the month dealing with financials, etc. putting away receipts and generally clearing up the office. I now get to pay quarterly taxes, so that will be a new motivation to have my stuff in order...

It's always evolving....

[Former_Member]

Thanks for all the great advice, everyone! I definitely need to get better with my record keeping and I love the idea of a packing station. I have all my packing supplies in 1 general area, but it would be great to have a surface seperate of my crafting surface just to pack on. So far I've been doing a little bit of work on my store every day (at least recently), but I think I do need to put aside 1 or 2 days a week to not answer emails or try to work on orders, etc. I can also be a little OCD about that though - checking and rechecking and rechecking emails again and agin. And I totally agree with teams and pinterest taking up a lot of time. I have that problem too.

And I for sure need to be on top of supplies this Christmas! Last year I ran out a couple of days before my last shipping day and boy was that a disaster. But I never expected to have my sales jump so much around Christmas so how was I to know? I have a much better understanding for this year and I'm sure all the advice I get from sellers such as you guys has and will continue to help a lot. :)