14 hour days

[sunshineandvodka]

They're wearing on me. I quit my day job 15 months ago and wow... ALL my free time and free thoughts are sucked into my store or my studio. It's exhausting and rewarding at the same time.

how do you "walk away" every night? I'm scanning, doing paperwork, scheduling pick-ups via USPS, creating files for tomorrow and just really need to go to bed.

Other than just shutting the door on the office, how do you 'shut it off'?

HELP!
~exhausted

[heathercashart]

Hi Paulette,

I try most days (M-F) to only work 9-5. Some days I stay up later if I'm really excited about a project or really need to finish something. But other than that, I try to stick to 9-5 because I don't want to burn out.

One thing that really helps me is to make a list of things I need to do the next day. Then I don't feel like I need to stay up until 10pm doing stuff, because I know I will work on it tomorrow.

Also, if you find you really need to work 14 hr days all week, you may want to trim down the amount of projects you're working on. Last year, during November, I was exhausted because I was working on a big illustration project, a tree for the Festival of Trees, inventory for a BIG art festival, and a few other projects! In addition to teaching painting classes!

It completely burned me out, and after that I decided to limit myself to only about 3 projects at a time. If ideas or other stuff come up, I write it down so that I can work on it at a later date. But I definitely find myself much more focused, and I do a much better job, when I limit the number of projects I work on.

[Former_Member]

My day starts around 11:00am with answering emails and convos. Then its on to processing the overnight sales and doing a bit of marketing.

During the afternoon I try to get in some 'me' time and then its back to work until dinner. I work until midnight and then process the remaining orders that have come in during the day and get everything ready to ship. By 3:00am I'm in bed.

That's my 'normal' schedule. For the past three 1/2 weeks now I've also had to deal with my partner having a massive heart attack and requiring emergency open heart surgery as well as managing the business full time by myself. He's been home now for almost two weeks and cannot even begin to tackle any of the business dealings for the next couple of weeks at least.

Our business is our livelyhood so right now I'm trying to accomplish as much as I possibly can and still look after both his and my own health as well.

You will find that it can be very easy to set your priorities so that you CAN walk away from the business when you need to. Just make sure that you have a set schedule and the willingness to be flexible with it.

[sunshineandvodka]

I don't know how you both do it but I'm inspired! Thank you! I have all the lists and just can't seem to cross off enough items. I do have turned work away just because it's either not what I enjoy or I just don't have the time. I have a friend who wants me to teach her how to sew. LOVELY right? I just don't have the time and since this is my FTJob, I don't have a half day to spare either.

Thanks for listening to me vent :)

[Former_Member]

Have a set schedule. You can always deviate a bit if you need to. For a long time my jewelers bench was in my bedroom next to my bed, and I found myself working during all my awake hours. I moved my shop to a separate building and it became more like a job where I would actually 'go to work.' and this helped me turn on and off better as well.

[missvalscreations]

I am still working my full time job and doing my business on the side which is basically a second full time job. I start at 5:15am and work until 9pm at night. I am continually reevaluating the things I am doing to become more efficient.

I recently shut down my website since I felt it was taking way too much time and not paying off. Since I am gearing up to leave my full time job I am constantly thinking of ways to work smarter so I can have time down time and somewhat of a social life. I am sure this is easier said than done!

Good luck Paulette.