You have decided to start working on your craft business dream. Now you need to put in the hours to get things moving. What is your situation? Are you already working in a full time job? Do you have a hectic schedule with home and family responsibilities? Where is the time for crafting?
Get disciplined with how you spend your time.
The first thing you are going to do is get disciplined. Sorry if that sounds ‘lecturous’! But there are ways to siphon off extra time from your existing busy time when you don’t have any time!
What things keep you busy?
Look at your schedule. What are the things that keep you busy? By getting disciplined about your activities you will realise that you can do things faster. If you do not have a schedule make one.
Do your tasks more systematically to save time.
If you can get done with your chores and tasks in a systematic manner you can definitely same time. Make simple adjustments like spend half an hour less on having lunch, cook dinner for an entire week, plan a day for the kids with babysitter and even skip an outing with friends for coffee.
Start with saving small increment of time for crafting work.
There is no need to try and manage long hours all at once. Just a few hours a week perhaps? An house a day? A dedicated weekend? Something like that. You get the picture.
Make crafting a habit and routine.
The word ‘discipline’ and once again crops in. It is best to make a routine out of your crafting experiments. Make a schedule and stick to it. At the time that you are trying to work, ensure that you are free from distractions as much as possible. Work towards this end. Tell your family to disturb you only really needed.
Do not overwork or exhaust yourself.
So much talk of putting in the time for your crafting. The idea here is to recover as much as extra time as possible and not exhaust yourself with overworking. Of course you will have to work extra and hard. All people staring on their own have to. But remember that your craft business should always be something to look forward to and not something you try and avoid.
Your crating time is almost your ‘zen’ time when you do what you love to do. Set goals beforehand.
It is up to you how much time you want to give to your craft. Start with small increments while you are still attempting to get a handle on your affairs. It is also up to you how you best utilise this time. Maybe it’s time to start setting up the workstation or to join that craft course you have always wanted to. Before you take the time off, set goals for that time so you know before hand what you are going to do. Otherwise you just might find yourself browsing the internet, taking a nap or having dessert.
How to take time off from a full time job.
People who work full time find it a little more difficult to find spare time. They might already be working long hours. The three common things that these people do are: take a sabbatical, take regular days off, and work on weekends.
Taking a sabbatical allows you to put in dedicated time to put key functions in place such as setting up the workspace, filing required paperwork, setting up a website, readying the first batch of crafts and so on. Make sure you have a plan ready if you are meaning to take a sabbatical.
Taking a regular day of such as once a week also works in a similar manner and allows you to get a lot of work done.
You may find this easier to manage as opposed to finding time everyday.
Avoid distraction of working from home. There are many!
Take care of the commonest hazards of working from home which is ‘distractions’. Yes, there might be children, the dog and friends who miss you all day long all vying for your attention. But you do not need people to distract you. A busy household have enough attractions that beckon!
Stay in the zone. Refrains from thinking about all the other things that need your attention but can wait for an hour. This is important too for you and everyone around you.
We will talk more about setting up a great workplace conducive to getting you in the crafting mode in the next post. The kind of work place that will draw you in and keep you there!
