collaging with fabric,

and combining that annoying curling ribbon we all use with yarn to make a knit basket that actually stands up straight and a market bag that won’t stretch down to your knees after a few uses.

I’m so excited and thrilled and relieved and filled with joy to birth this beast out into the world. It was of course about triple the work either of us anticipated with many bumps, bruises and swearing (at least on my end) to get it finished. And I’m so happy we did! Because. It. Is. Awesome!

I’m going to be totally conceded here and say that this is the sweetest ebook ever…. okay I can’t be that conceded because I totally loved Knitting Game by Lee and Diane’s Craft Blog series of ebooks. How about I say that this is just one more awesome ebook in a long line of awesome ebooks put out by the newly annointed authority on crafty ebooks: CraftyPod Publishing!

It was so wonderful working with Diane, she was great to throw ideas around with, she was a great editor, she’s a wonderful friend and inspiration!

You can pick up this awesome beast of a craft ebook in the CraftyPod Publishing Shop starting now!

And if you order it between now and Friday 12th, 11:59pm – you will get a pretty sweet chance at winning one of these DecoArt paint sets.

Hooray! The first Craft Leftovers Ebook Card.Paper.Ribbon. is now out Today!

Happy Crafting and making and being creative!

Kristin Roach

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I’m happy to tell you that despite an ice storm, Craft Leftovers Monthly is in the shop!

You can get this months issue here or sign up for a subscription here.

This month is full of great tutorials, articles, and of course, illustrations! Fanie of Art vs Craft is now a regular contributor of Craft Leftovers Monthly. Check out her great Crafty Life comic in this month’s issue! It made Jason and I laugh out loud.

Craft Leftovers Monthly is printed on 100% recycled paper. It is 36 pages of crafty goodness. Two guests grace each issue’s pages and the Crafty Life Comic is a regular feature. Craft Leftovers Monthly is all about making with what you have on hand. Living life creatively!

Happy Crafting!
Kristin

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When I showed my friend Linda the new embroidery set, she started laughing and said “It’s Jack the Ripper”. So I painted this one up just for her. I Wasn’t originally intending to do painted illustrations of all the Crafty Buddies, but now I think I will. You can get the first embroidery set in the Kro Studio Shop or the Craft Leftovers Shop.

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October is such a great month to write a zine for – fall is so close, a touch of halloween, and the last bit of running around outside. Learn about halloweens past, my mom’s adventure making costumes for me and my sister, folk lore, fairy houses, paper leaf garlands, and even stamp projects using out door found objects! And more. Of course more!

October Craft Leftovers Monthly {artfire; etsy}

October Zine + Kit Bundle {artfire; etsy}

2 Months of Zine + Kit Bundle starting with the October issue {artfire; etsy}

This month’s kit is so fun! Bringing the Outdoors in with Weaving! It’s a mini book about weaving with the outdoors + yarn + warp + mat board to weave on.

There are only 30 kit+zine bundles available this month so make sure you pick one (or two) up while the getting is good They will be on sale until the 20th and then all orders will be sent out on the 22nd.

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Before we get into today’s topic of setting a work day, I just want to be very clear that I’m not an expert. I’m not even successful at some the topics I will be covering. In fact, I’m writing about them because they ARE a struggle for me. But I’m great at research and I will tell you my story and point you in the right direction for getting your home business on track.

It’s been very hard for me to make sure I have all my deadlines covered, classes prepped, and shops updated. I’m slowing getting better about it and I feel like I finally have things under control. I had a few false starts over the last month and the cutting of the finger really threw me, but I think I’ve perfected my plan because of those “learning experiences”.

A lot of my issues are about time management when I have “the whole day to work on this, I’ll get it done no problem”. And it seems as if there are no set tasks or times for the most part. I don’t have to go to bed or get up at any particular time. Or eat at any particular time. I’m always home, so I can even clean and do laundry any time. No one is telling me I have to do X Y and Z.

I’ve realized over the past 2 months that this has lead to projects taking much longer than they should. I always feel like I have “so much!” to do. And yet never seem to get ahead. I have to say, when I cut my finger, I couldn’t do much and so I read a whole lot on this topic. And that helped me learn from my previous set backs. Last week was really great, I got everything done I planned out – even with a surprise birthday party to plan and attend. And you know what? I actually took Sunday off and it was okay. And I wasn’t behind today. In fact. I was right on track.

The first thing I did was take note of when my productive times are. What makes me feel like I’ve done a good job getting things done? What makes me feel anxious and like I haven’t gotten enough done even when I have? These questions are all very personal and I can’t begin to tell you what will work best for you. But for me, I know exactly the answers.

What makes me feel like I’ve done a good job getting things done?
1. Getting up by 10am – seriously, if I sleep in past 10 I feel like crap the rest of the day.
2. Having orders packed up and emails replied to first thing in the morning.
3. Finishing the post for Craft Leftovers by the early afternoon (today I felt okay about posting later because I filled in for someone at the chocolate shop)
4. Working a little bit on etsy stuff each day.
5. Regularly submitting new proposals and working on commissioned articles each day.
6. Working in the studio each day – whether it’s making kits, painting, or doing drawings for clm, it’s important to have creative time each and every day.

What makes me feel anxious and like I haven’t gotten enough done even when I have?
1. Waking up late – I start off the day feeling “behind”.
2. Having emails that I need to reply to looming over my head all day.
3. Waiting until the evening to start work on blog posts – it may not even be logical, but that’s the way I feel about it.
4. Not having the shop up to date – a back log of kits made with no pictures taken, or lots of yarn laying around that’s not yet in the shop – it won’t sell if no one knows it exists, haha.
5. Not having any proposals out there waiting for responses.
6. Not having enough time to work in the studio.

I know, these answers are pretty much the same with a Not in front of the ones that make me feel anxious, but once I nailed them down it was much easier to set up a schedule.

I felt like a lot of things would get pushed to the side and before I knew it a month had passed since the last time I listed something new in the shop, updated my accounting, or sent out proposals.

The next scheduling issue was my daily productivity cycle:

For me I’m most productive right in the morning – before noon really. I feel more motivated to do things I’ve been putting off for awhile. In the afternoon I tend to want to do something mindless – especially after 2pm. And then after dinner I kick into high gear creative mode. Hence all the late night posts I was doing for quite some time.

I made a list of all the things I needed to do each and every day, no matter what:
1. reply to all emails.
2. pack up orders and set out for the mail man (I’ve always been really good about this).
3. exercise (oh yes, this is key to each and every day, but more on that in a different post).
4. Post on Craft Leftovers.
5. Work on etsy shop stuff.
6. Work on any commissions in progress.
7. Prepare for any upcoming classes.
8. Work on CLM for the upcoming month.

And then I made a list of things that I wanted to work in every week, but that tended to get lost in the mix of the daily stuff.
1. Book Keeping – accounting, taxes, etc.
2. Marketing/Advertising – working on graphics for ads (I have an ad for green prairie fibers on ravelry) or business cards or fliers around town for classes and such.
3. New work proposals – finding new places to propose work, working on proposals, grant writing, anything like that.
4. Research and Development – researching possible topics of interest to either write about or make works about – right now I’m researching donuts shops and food chain disconnection for a new series of paintings.
5. Studio Play Time. Once a week a big chunk of time to do whatever I want in the studio – this is so important because it usually leads to many new ideas and learning of new skills.

I decided that if I really feel best getting up before 10am that’s what I should do. I also decided that I want to start working 9 hour days instead of just randomly working all day from the time I stumble out of bed to the time I stumble back in again. It was important to me to have “work time” and “home time” since they share the same space – that is a whole huge topic too and will be an upcoming post.

I know a lot of people work best on something like 9-5, but for me, I just don’t function that way. My peak times of operation are from 10-3 and 8-11! I know, it’s weird, but it’s just the way I am. And while I worked at old navy my manager once told me that people are the most productive when working 3-4 hour shifts, but after 5 hours they tend to drop in productivity. I’ve decided to apply that principle to myself.

Here is what I came up with:
9-10am :Wake up and Breakfast: – things like showering, breakfast, coffee, picking up around the apartment, reading a book, yoga, meditation. That all falls into before 10, if I want to do a bunch of those things, I need to get up earlier.
10am :: Answer all emails and pack up orders. After typing for an hour I get a little stir crazy and Jason usually starts his day around 11am so I break for:
11am :: workout – our free weight are in the bedroom so I can’t work out until Jason wakes up anyway.
12am :: lunch – I need the protein after the work out and usually am getting pretty hungry by now.
1pm :: Craft Leftovers post – after lunch I really start feeling like getting down to work. I’m comfortable, I’m full, I feel good. The perfect time to write and make and document and post.
3pm :: Daily work – I keep this open to work in whatever order I want to but I spend 1 hour on each of the following things: etsy, clm, commissions/patterns/classes (depending on what’s due when). It’s kind of mindless plugging away at it type of things – like copying notes, doing illustrations, listing new things in the shops.
6pm :: Dinner – Jason is trying to come home for dinner and this time seems to work well for both of us and then we clean up for a bit together after wards (usually – sometimes we play xbox together instead, haha).
7pm :: Finish up any daily work projects.
8pm to 11pm:: Weekly task :: Book Keeping (monday), new proposals (tuesday), marketing (wednesday), research (thursday), studio play (friday).

And then from 11pm to 1am I do whatever I want – read, clean, yoga, paint, weave, go out to a local pub. Whatever I feel like. And then I make sure to get to bed by 1:30am.

I use iCal and block out each section of time as “general studio” or “home”. iCal (on Macs) is a great program for setting up a schedule and keeping track of deadlines. The night before I close up shop I make a To Do list for each block of time. Like today’s Daily to do list was:
Maker’s Fair Application
Add Yarn to Green Prairie Fibers
Type up Market Bag Pattern
Outline May CLM

And then I made a list of emails to send out/reply to in my “email/pack orders section”.

I’ve found that if I stick to this it’s flexible enough to allow me to get everything done I need to, only work 9 hours a day AND take the weekend off (except when I have a workshop on a Saturday or Sunday) and that in and of itself is amazing! And wonderful! It’s kind of like a second shift schedule really. Like 2-11pm pretty much (except the hour block for emails and orders before noon).

There are so many reasons why having a schedule is a good idea even if you don’t “Have” to have one. For me it helps me to keep work and home separate. It helps me to make sure that I get done everything I need to and not fall behind on deadlines. And it helps me feel better health wise – let’s face it, as humans a regular sleeping and eating pattern is a great idea. There is a lot of anxiety involved in running your own business and if I make sure to get these things done each week I feel much more secure. And once I finish what I need to for the day, I feel good “going home” and relaxing before going to bed.

So to recap:
++Find what makes you feel productive
++Find what makes you have anxiety – and how to prevent that
++What are your peak productivity hours
++Keep your sleep and meals regular
++Make sure to have a day or two off every week
++Take breaks every few hours (or even after each project is finished)
++Keep it flexible but regulated
++Make sure to get all your short term (daily) and long term (weekly/monthly) tasks accounted for in your schedule
++Don’t get discouraged if it takes a few times to find the right schedule for you (and your family)

I will most likely revisit this topic and let you know how it’s going – if I’m actually able to stick to a schedule or any new things I’ve learned that might help out.

Here are some general articles on having a home based business:

Top Tips for Working at Home
Working From Home: The Readers Respond
Advice for Setting up a Home Office – Group Interview
Some Thoughts on Working from Home – One Year Later
The Habit of Lateness

What works best for your daily schedule? How did you figure out what worked best? What are your favorite articles that you have read that apply to this topic? Leave comments! I would love to get your feedback on this!

Have a great night and happy crafting!
Kristin

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Then there is the day to day issues. Without any kind of structure – even just working at the chocolate shop was its own kind of imposed structure on my day – I’m having a hard time getting my daily things done, not because of lack of time, but because of lack of time constraints. That mythical “well I have ALL day to get it done, surely it will be fine if I work on laundry for the next 3 hours”. Well, it’s not fine and more than likely 3 hours stretches out and just doing the laundry turns into cleaning the ferret cage and the kitchen and the bathroom and petting the cat and watching “my favorite” show – which is funny because I really don’t even care for TV. So scheduling is another big topic. How do I set up my day so I feel free to be creative and exploratory but at the same time get everything done I need to so I meet all my deadlines. That can be a huge dilemma.

And what happens if you get sick, like I did last week, or even with something like the flu. It’s so hard to “call in sick” when you are working from home, even if you say you are taking the day off, you generally work on things anyway. And the larger issue there is keeping Home and Work separate when they share the same physical space. Not to mention the issue of always feeling like there is more work always needing to be done.

Keeping on top of the books is a hard issue for me and facing paying taxes in just 3 weeks (less than 3 weeks) is horribly overwhelming at this point. So some great ways to keep on top of the books and taxes in order.

In general making the transition from “hobbiest” to “craft business” is a hard one because it can sometimes be so easy you don’t notice the change was made until it’s made. When you buy a business or start a retail store you have to make a business plan, you have to get your ducks in a row. And thankfully in some ways and unfortuntately in others, that is not the case when declaring yourself a business. I think a great topic for me personally to cover would be to write up a business plan and how to set some long term goals for myself and my crafty business when everything is so undefined and up to me.

These are just some of the topics I want to cover right now today, but I’m sure as I look more into the specifics of each topic I will discover more issues worth exploring with you. And then there are also topics that you are interested. What craft business topic are you most interested in? What dilemma are you facing while being self employed or thinking about being self employed?

So to recap the articles to come:
Health Insurance – navigating the paper trail to find what you need to keep you from going bankrupt
Scheduling – Setting up Your Workday so you work Every Day
Home Sweet Home – Keeping Home and Work Separate when they share the same space
Keeping the Books – Not having a melt down when tax time comes around
Transitions – From Hobbiest to Business and all the transitions inbetween that throw a curve in the road
Planning – Looking to the future – business plans, goals, projections, and dreams

Dilemmas – Tell me what issues you are struggling with and let me see if I can dig up some solutions for you – email me at kristin@craftleftovers.com

I’ll be double posting some select articles on these topics over at Craft Leftovers, but I’m also going to be posting some shorter write ups on issues here on KroStudio – not every day, but maybe like 2 times a week? We will see how it goes.

Have fun in the studio!
Kristin

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