Do you work on your business or in your business? I recently started re-reading The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael Gerber.

The premise is that we cannot grow our business if we spend all our time doing the work in the business; i.e., being the technicians or doers. We have to learn and utilize management and entrepreneurial skills to build the business. Your goal should be to have your business work for you, not you working for it.

So, is all your time spent “doing” the business?

Here are four ways to strive toward working on your business:

1. Develop a clear vision about the path your company will take. This clarity is critical for you and for any people that you hire, whether full-time or on a project basis.
2. Take time to work on your business. I have heard from numerous quilters in business – longarm quilters to commission art quilters – that you need to spend two-to three hours marketing your business for every hour you spend fabricating your art. The best approach here is to set aside the time that works for you to do this. It could be three hours every morning or it could be every Monday and Tuesday. And sometimes you need to try working on your business in a different surrounding. I have a friend who goes to the local café each week to work on her business. The goal is set a time consistently to do this.
3. Look for ways to create systems in your business. This could be anything from a system to contact potential buyers to a system to process orders. Systems make a difference in how much time you don’t spend as a technician or doer.
4. Work on yourself. In addition to spending time working on your business, you need to work on yourself. The late Jim Rohn said, “Work harder on yourself than you do on your job. The major value in life is not what you get. The major value in life is what you become.” And, who you become as a person spills over into your business.

photo credit: NathanaelB via photopin cc

I’m enjoying a vacation as well as a business retreat this week and getting to both involved flying. Of course on the flight, I heard the safety warnings, including the following:

“If cabin pressure should change, panels above your seat will open revealing oxygen masks; reach up and pull a mask towards you. … The plastic bag will not fully inflate, although oxygen is flowing. Secure your own mask first before helping others.”

When I first heard this years ago, my initial thought was that it seemed selfish. Shouldn’t we take care of those who can’t take care of themselves? Of course, if I don’t take care of myself first, I’m useless to those I need to help. After all, you’re no good to anyone if you are not conscious.

I saw two good reminders in this. First, I need to take time to secure my own mask. Immediately for me that would be the vacation. I think self-care fits here for most of us. It’s easy to neglect that mask with all we have going on. For those of you who are going to Quilt Market or Quilt Festival and have booths or anyone who is getting ready for a show, I know you can relate to taking care of yourself now so you can be at your best at the show.

My second reminder was “the plastic bag will not inflate, although oxygen is flowing.” I think that is why we need to keep growing by taking classes, going to workshops, attending business retreats. While we are receiving the information, we don’t always see the impact it is having in our lives.

Please share any parallels you see in your life or business below.

Do you ever wonder if you can actually have zero emails in your in-box? Well, I do know some people who have empty in-boxes. I’ll admit I never have. I fully expect my in-box to be full when I die. If you’re trying to move in the direction of an empty in box, here are six tips that might just help.

1. Send less email. Doesn’t that seem obvious? If you send less, you’ll get less.

2. Acknowledge receipt of the email. I do this with my clients when they send in prep sheets before a call. It lets them know I got their email and they don’t need to follow up. It’s a quick “Got it. Talk with you later.” This lets the original sender off the hook.

3. If you don’t expect a reply, indicate that. I got one such email last week with NNTR, online code for No Need to Reply. It was great. I just read and deleted.

4. If you get marketing emails that you no longer read, consider getting off the mailing list. Or learn how to use “rules” in your email program and route those emails to a separate folder so you don’t see them all the time in your in-box. Then set aside time to look at them, or if you find you don’t get to them, trash them. If you rarely look at the emails, it might be time to stop getting them.

5. Don’t check email all day long. Set a routine for handling your emails. If you allow time at the beginning of the day, mid-day, and the end of the day and stick to it, you’ll do a better job at not letting the email get out of control. I’m not suggesting you do it three times a day; I’m suggesting you create a system and stick with it.

6. Follow David Allen’s “Two-Minute Rule.” Allen of Getting Things Done fame suggests that if it will take less than two minutes to handle the email, do it now, even if it’s not a high priority. (Remember you are setting aside time to do emails; you are not checking all day long.) He has lots of other good ideas for productivity in his book.

7. Get or use a spam filter. I use SpamSieve, and I can’t believe what a difference it has made. Now the spam heads right to the junk folder.I think it works better than the filter that came with my email program.

Please share your tips for handling your email in-box on the blog.

Are you a procrastinator? Well, who isn’t at times? I think I felt in a procrastinating mood as I started to write this ezine. Then as I was thinking about what to write about, I looked down and saw the little stickie on my computer screen. It reads “DING. Do It Now Girl.” Isn’t that a great acronym, too? DING. As in the door bell is ringing, and you are going to answer it. As in the work is calling, and you are going to do it.

Here are some tips to help you DING.

1. Have a schedule or deadline. Nothing like a deadline to spur you on to action.
2. Remove the distractions. That would be all the bright shiny objects in your field of vision or the latest issue of your favorite art publication. You’ll have time
   for them later.
3. Get clear about what you are accomplishing and why.
4. Break the task down into manageable bits if it’s really large. You don’t have  to do it all, you just have to start.
5. Set a timer. If you promise yourself to work for 15 minutes, odds are that you will keep going once you are into the project.And, if Do It Now Girl doesn’t resonate with you, try Do It Now, Go!

Please share your thoughts on how you handle procrastination on below.

Over the past few years I’ve talked with several clients about a lack of support or encouragement from their friends and even family members. Actually, it’s more that their friends don’t really understand why they want to have a business when they can just quilt or make art. Or, why they should expect to make a living from something others can share. Or, why they don’t just enjoy retirement instead of starting up that new business.

It’s a difficult place to be. We want our friends and family to support us. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always happen. I read a quote from the late motivational speaker Jim Rohn: “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” If the five people we spend the most time with are those that don’t support us, what does that do to our business? It certainly doesn’t help us grow our business easily.

What can you do to change the situation? First, identify who is not in your camp, support-wise. Then make a decision that you need to remove them from your life or limit the time you spend with them. I get that this is not always easy, particularly if it’s a family member. Hopefully, some of these people will get on board when they experience your passion at what you are doing. Next, look for people you can add to your circle that will be supportive. Of course, you may first need to identify what you actually need from people. Look for ways that you can be around these supportive people.

If we really are the average of those five people, don’t you want to be average with people who support you?

Here’s another quote to remember if you struggle with this,

Your Best Year Yet! by Jinny Ditzler

Grand Central Publishing; $13.95

Yes, I’ve reviewed this book in the past. It’s that good that I think it deserves another look. It’s one of my favorite planning resources. I’ve been using this little book for years and recommend it widely, and I often hear from those who end up getting it about how valuable it is. The book offers a framework to define your personal values, identify the various roles you play and create goals for those roles. Here are some of Jinny’s questions plus a couple of my own:

1.    What did I accomplish?
2.    What were my biggest disappointments?
3.    What did I learn?
4.    How do I limit myself and how can I stop?
5.    What are my goals for next year?
6.    Where do I need to find education or support to get there?
7.    How can I make sure I achieve my top goals?

I find one of the most empowering aspects of Jinny’s system is the look at the successes of the year. It let’s you focus on your successes and not get weighed down by what didn’t work. It also lets you get off the treadmill of working on your business to see if you really are on course.Here’s a quote from the book I particularly like: “We must prepare our soil before we’re ready to plant the seeds we want to grow in the new year.”Look for the book at your favorite quilt or book retailer. Here’s a link to Amazon if you would like to learn more about the book.

2013 Quilt Engagement Calendar 
Klaudeen Hanson
American Quilter’s Society; $13.95

Have you started thinking about your plans for 2013? I know it’s mid-November, and we still have more than 45 days left this year. You still have enough time left to make an impact on your results for 2012. I like to do some looking back at the year, seeing where I am currently, and some looking ahead. Of course, I still have to be engaged in the tasks I have at hand if I want to finish the year in a good place.

One of the recommendations I made to my private clients in the past couple of weeks was to start planning 2013 now. Many of them had plans for the first quarter, maybe as far as May and Spring Quilt Market. Most also had big picture ideas, only they didn’t really know where the projects fit in. That’s why I like using a very, very large calendar of the entire year. You can get one like this from an office supply store. It’s erasable and has really big spaces for writing.

If you want to be more creative, here’s another idea. A couple of years ago, one of my clients covered cork boards with batik fabric to complement her office. She then printed off letter-size sheets of each calendar month from a calendar program on her computer. Here are the boards before she added the calendars. The beauty of this system is she can take down each month as it ends, move the calendars and then add another for the next year. The system is a perpetual 12-month calendar.

And, if your studio space is limited, go ahead and print out the individual calendar pages and keep them in a binder where you can take them out and look at the whole year at one time. The idea is that you can get this bigger look at your year.

I’m sure you have goals that you want to accomplish next year. Here are some steps to take to put them onto the calendar.

1. Block time to work on your calendar planning. If your goals are important, it’s important to have time to plan when you’ll accomplish them.

2. You might want to create some kind of color coding system that works for you. For example, if your activity involves travel away from the studio, you might want to mark that in red.

3. Start by adding the commitments you already have, the teaching gigs, the shows, etc.

4. Go back and look at the big goals that don’t have dates, for example, the book you want to write.  Then look at the calendar and plan backwards. If your book is due Sept. 15, look at the steps involved and mark due dates for each. You might want to have the outline of the book done on Feb. 15, Chapter One done on March 15, quilts for Chapter Two done on April 30, etc. You are more likely to accomplish this if you assign deadlines and won’t be stressed by having to rush to get the job done. Deadlines lead to commitments.

5. Include vacation. It might be marked in blue. We all need to recharge, and if you don’t put it in the calendar, it’s likely not to happen.

6. Include planning time. I’ve read that the time spent planning pays back 10 to 1 in time executing. I’m not sure about the accuracy of that estimate; I do know it saves you lots of time.

7. Once you have a good look at your year, where are the holes in your calendar? Use this opportunity to see where you can market more to bring in income. This could be adding a new class or developing a new pattern for example.

What ideas do you have for planning next year?

Please share them below.

In the past month, I’ve had several conversations with quilters and fiber artists about how they view their “businesses.” Several really don’t think of themselves as business people. They are happy to share their work/skills and don’t think about the money beyond meeting their expenses. Is this running a business? Not really; it’s supporting your hobby. And, if that’s what you want, that’s perfect for you. If, however, you really want a business, here are some tips:

1. Start to think about how you view your business and work on your mindset if needed. Do you buy into the starving artist mentality? Why? A business is supposed to make a profit. It’s not a bad thing. Is your business structured to do that? And, are you ready, willing and able to do that?

2. Consider how others view your business. Do people think you are running a successful business? Or do they think you make quilts or art for fun and sell it on the side? You might look at how other business people view you vs. how your family and close friends view you, too. Do you have established routines and discipline or do you invoke the solopreneur’s version of “writers’ block” to run an errand or go shopping? Do you want other people and your family to view you as a business person? And, if they don’t, does this affect how your view yourself?

3. Do you know your numbers? It’s critical that you know how much money is coming in and how much is going out. You need to track these numbers and use the information to make decisions about your business. If you don’t understand your numbers, The Professional Quilter is currently running a terrific series by Sue Tucker, who is the CFO at Studio 180 Design.

4. How do you structure your day? Remember back when you had that corporate job. You had tasks to complete. Your role had a place in the company and its profit structure. Now that you are on your own, the freedom is great. That freedom, however, imposes a requirement for discipline. If you used a planner/calendar at your corporate job, consider adapting the same or similar system now that you run your own business. Committing the appropriate time to your business will make a difference.

Running your business is much harder work than pursuing your hobby. It’s just as much fun. And, in the end, it has the possibility of being much more rewarding.

Please share your thoughts below.

You know that idea that comes to you from who knows where? What are you doing with it? Do you cast it aside? Do you mull it over? Do you write it down so you don’t lose it? Do you take action because of it?

Some years back I read The Attractor Factor by Joe Vitale, and he wrote about inspired action. He said it was “any action that you take based on an inside nudge.” In a sense, it’s acting on your intuition or that little voice inside that’s talking to you. We all have those experiences.

So where do you find these inspired ideas? One of my sisters says she gets hers on her daily run. I often come up with ideas – great and not so great – during my morning walk or when I take a break in the afternoon with a cup of tea away from my office or when I walk to the mailbox and back. (It’s a very long driveway!) You might find yours soaking in the tub after a long day or hiking in the woods or gardening, in other words, someplace that’s not your office or studio. I think Julia Cameron’s artist date can do this for you, too. It takes you outside your normal surroundings.

One tip, here, keep a pad or a digital recorder handy, if possible. You might also use the notepad on your phone. I find I often need to make a quick note of the idea, in case I’m distracted. I can’t count the numbers of great ideas that disappeared.

When the idea comes to you, what do you do with it? Sometimes you just move forward, trusting it’s the right the thing to do. Other times it’s important to ask if the idea will move your toward your goal or vision or intention. If the answer is yes, then get to work – take inspired action.

As I said, we all have those “inside nudges” prompting us to take action. Problem is we can talk ourselves out of them – too little time, too little money, too little whatever. I call it self-sabotage. I think we need to learn to trust that inner voice a bit more.

Please share your thoughts below.