How do you keep from getting burnt out?

[KidEssence]

I opened my shop at the beginning of the month. I have been feeling great with just making something once a week or twice a week. Especially when I have an order, I've been really enjoying creating what people have ordered. However, I have a friend that has a pretty good blog and she is hosting a review and giveaway of my custom tote bag. I'm really excited for it and actually asked to have the review published on Friday (I've known this is happening for 2 weeks) so I can stock my shop with items that aren't custom made. I must confess, I decided to wait until yesterday to really crank out products (DH is away at a business conference which gives me time to sew in the evenings- i don't like to sew during this time as it's our time together). My goodness, it's only night two and I"m starting to feel burnt out! I have 90% of my fabric cut for what I have planned to make, but I feel like after I push through these next few days, the last thing I want to do it think about sewing! I want my Etsy shop to eventually be successful, but how can I do this without getting burnt out? Any tips?

[Former_Member]

Don't procrastinate? :-) Sorry, I've never participated in a blog, so I'm not sure how much traffic that will bring you. But seriously, you need to find a way to reconcile your work with your home life. Can you realistically plan the bulk of your work for during your husband's business conference times?
My husband is in the Navy- until we moved here, he had been gone 6 months out of the year, which left lots of time for sewing time. Now that he's home all the time and we have a 3 year old, I'm taking on fewer custom orders. I have two t-shirt quilts to do (for the same customer!), and that is the complete list of pending outside work. The first is due in two weeks (no problem!), and the second is due a month after he gives me his shirt selection.
So, to sum up, pace yourself! Give yourself lots of time for custom orders. Clear communication with your customers goes a long way- "I am overwhelmed" and "I want to send you my best work" are both true and people (generally) understand.

[Former_Member]

Also try breaking it up a bit. Instead of plowing through a bunch of sewing at once, you can switch up your tasks a bit - there's lot's to do besides sewing when running a store! You can take a break and shoot some of your finished items, do some product descriptions, work on pricing or other admin, etc, design new items, etc. I think the key is to keep moving forward, so even if you're not sewing, you're still working on your business! I too suffer from "sewing fatigue" - some days I just don't want to do it - and find that switching gears helps. Good luck!