Did you know that February is National Time Management Month? One way I like to get control of my time use is by time blocking on my calendar. What is time blocking? It’s a method of allocating or pre-assigning time for specific activities throughout your day. It helps me keep my day and life more balanced. I accomplish more because I have structure to my day, I can focus on a specific task with a high value, and I’m able to manage interruptions. I’m the one in charge of my day. Here’s how to do this:

1. Review your daily and weekly activities.

• Can you determine how much time you spend on specific tasks? It might be helpful to track your time for a few days so you can see how much time you do spend on those activities. For example, do you check your e-mail every couple of hours and find that you spend at least 15 minutes each time answering them?

• Do you have like tasks that are spread through out the week, e.g., teaching every day or taking in new quilts to longarm? Can these tasks be handled on one or two days, so your energy focuses on one activity?

• Do you have tasks that need attention that don’t seem to get any? For example, dedicated marketing time is key for any business. Artists want to spend their time creating and often have trouble reconciling the need to spend so much time marketing. This task is often relegated to the leftover time when it needs to move to the front burner.

• Do you have uninterrupted time for creative work? Even though we run creative-based businesses, the time should still be dedicated to the task.

2. Consider your short- and long-term goals.

• Do you have a big project that needs to be completed? Start with a list of the tasks involved to complete it and estimate how much time is involved for each.

3. Consider your own personal work habits. When are you most effective? I’m a morning person, and I know I am more productive in the morning. For me this translates into activities that require brain-power earlier in the day.

4. Armed with answers to those questions, get out your calendar and begin to block off time for your activities. What most of us do is set appointments with others and that’s what is on our calendar. We then fill our time with items on our goals or to-do list. This system lets you set an appointment with yourself for your work. Once you’ve shifted to an “appointment” mindset, it’s often easier to accomplish tasks on your list. With your goals in mind, put the important tasks first so you’ll accomplish them. If I don’t block time for the key tasks, I can easily spend lots of time on simple tasks, like folding fabric and putting it away or reading the latest quilt magazine or checking Facebook. These items don’t move my business forward in a significant way. Here are some things you might like to time-block:

• quilt intake time on one or two afternoons or evenings a week, rather than at odd times.
• time dedicated to longarm work
• creative time to design patterns
• marketing time
• bookkeeping, if you don’t have outside help
• order fulfillment, if you don’t have outside help
• learning time
• time to work on blog posts and your communications with clients
• writing time if you are working on a book
• time to complete samples
• time to read and respond to emails (I know you will have times when you need to check for something particular. When that happens, just handle that one item and save the rest for the blocked time.)
• time to develop new classes
• breaks in your day (This can be crucial if you are standing or sitting at a machine most of your day.)

To give you an idea of how I time block my week, I have our member calls and coaching calls on Tuesdays rather than spaced throughout the week. I allot one block of several hours during the week on one day to work on my blog and ezine articles. Because I’m working on a new program, I block time during each day to work on that. It’s a goal with many smaller tasks that need to be completed. I also block out time twice a day for e-mail, so I’m not checking constantly. I have an hour each day blocked out for reading or learning something new I can apply to the business. I block out Thursday afternoons for errands. Because I know that’s the day for errands, I try to schedule doctor appointments during that time, and I’ve already scheduled my hair appointments through October. I also block out time for family and self-care, so they don’t get lost.

I’m not rigid with the time blocking, and, of course, I have other appointments to put in. This week I have my local guild meeting and a professional quilt guild meeting.

In the end the reason I think this works is because when you pre-assign the time for a specific activity, you are more focused on getting it done. In a sense, you created a deadline for yourself. And by batching like tasks together in the same block (like the quilt intake sessions), you work more efficiently.

Let me know how time blocking works for you.

The International Association of Professional Quilters offers resources and networking opportunities for you to create a success from your quilting business. This article was excerpted from The Professional Quilter, the IAPQ membership journal. Learn about all the benefits of IAPQ membership and join here.

Fall seems to be ripe with opportunities for you to donate your work, whether that’s your original artwork or your product, such as a pattern or book. We all receive letters from charitable organizations, including guilds, asking for donations. While it’s wonderful to support so many worthwhile organizations, you cannot support them all. You may not have enough stock nor time to create more. And, if you respond to all the requests, your business could take a serious financial hit. On the plus side, you may get some media coverage and gain a collector of your work. When considering such requests, here are some suggestions/guidelines:

1. Choose a few charities that you care about and give to them. I’m partial to the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative. Many quilters have given to Fiberart for a Cause. Kathy Thompson with Quilters Dream Batting has started a project for ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). The Quilts of Valor is another popular project. It will be easy to find a charity that touches your heart.

2. If you are an artist who is asked for a donation, consider asking the organization to share in the proceeds if your piece is auctioned. Ask that a reserve (or minimum) price be set for your work. This is particularly true if you are donating a one-of-a-kind piece of a great value. The organization still receives a fair return, and you should be able to recoup the costs of your materials. If you donate a great deal of artwork that sells for lower prices, this could “devalue” your artwork to your regular audience.

3. Remember that you are only permitted to write off on your taxes the costs of your materials. You are not permitted to write off the value of your art and your time. Perhaps you’ll find a better option is to make a monetary donation that you can deduct fully.

4. Consider offering prints or giclees of your work in lieu of the original artwork. Check our blog for the post on giclees or refer to Issue 112 of The Professional Quilter for the full article.

5. Consider who receives your donation. I regularly receive requests from guilds across the country to donate something for their annual show or shop hop. Since our audience is limited to professionals, I have no way of knowing if a professional will win the prize. If I choose to make a donation, I do it as a gift certificate and include information about IAPQ. Hopefully a professional will take me up on the gift.

6. Sending a gift certificate, as I do, is an option for many, particularly with the requests for guild shows. Pattern designers can send a pattern – either new or one that is no longer being produced – or a gift certificate with a catalog. Longarm quilters, already so generous with their time, can offer to quilt a top for someone who is making a charitable donation.

What are you guidelines or suggestions for donations?

The International Association of Professional Quilters offers resources and networking opportunities for you to create a success from your quilting business. Learn about all the benefits of IAPQ membership and join here.

Do you know what your customers want or need? Do you know what you’re doing right or what you can do better? I’ve been asking myself these questions, and I want to know more about my customers, what they need and how I can help them build and grow their businesses. And the only way I’m going to learn more is to ask them. So, that’s what I’m doing this week.

Please take a few minutes to answer some questions that will help me help you. I’ve put together a survey that I think will give me some great insights into what you are looking for, what information you value, and how you like to receive that information.  As a thank you for completing the survey, I’ll give you a 10% discount on your IAPQ membership.

Click here to begin the survey.

Over the weekend I stopped into Bath and Body Works to purchase some hand cream, and it was packaged in a nice paper bag with the company name in large letters. What struck me was below the name was “Shop 24/7 at www.bathandbodyworks.com.” Great idea. Of course I knew the company would have an Internet presence, but I loved the not-so-subtle way they reminded me I could find them after the sale.

This also reminded me of an experience I had many years ago vending at a major regional show near my home. I knew lots of the area quilters, and they stopped by the booth excited to show me all their new finds. One product in particular – and I can’t remember now exactly what it was – was a new notion. Everyone who saw it wanted to know where to get it. The receipt had the company’s name and nothing else. The show catalog listed the vendors, only not their locations. I didn’t know where they were, and the only option was for someone to go up and down all the aisles until she found this particular vendor. As I recall, the vendor ended up being in my aisle, though I didn’t know it at the time. I suspect this vendor missed a lot of follow-up sales during the show.

How can you put my experiences to use? When I did that regional show, as well as other larger shows, including Quilt Market and Festival, I had a stamp made with my booth number on it. I think the stamp cost less than $5. Since I used handwritten receipts, I pre-stamped that booth number on the customer copies in my receipt book. I hoped that when all those quilters went back to their hotel rooms and shared their purchases, anyone who wanted to purchase from me would be able to easily find my booth.

Today many people use computerized or printed receipts, and you have the ability to print a message on those receipts. You can add your booth number if at a show, your website, or some other message to encourage repeat sales. One idea that came to mind for a shop was to advertise an upcoming sale or even to offer a small discount for a return visit with the receipt.

As for the shopping bag idea, this would be easy to accomplish when you need to reorder bags. Another option would be to print adhesive labels with the additional info and add them to the bag.

I’m sure you have other ideas to let your customers know how to find you after the sale. Please share them here.

I’m always on the lookout for different ways to market a business, and I discovered something really cool at my ophthalmologist’s office recently. One of doctors had created a PowerPoint featuring optical illusions, fun quizzes, etc., that plays on the wall of the lobby in the office building. The idea was expanded, and now each exam room includes a picture frame that has several hundred slides encompassing not just the fun things but also testimonials about the practice. This got me thinking about ways we could adapt this idea to quilt businesses. Here are some:

1. The first thought that comes to mind is with product demos in booths at shows. You could have several frames running at the sides of your booth. Of course, that’s in addition to your own demo to draw customers into the booth.

2. If you are a pattern designer and don’t demo in your booth, you could have the frame running with pictures of quilts made by your customers from your patterns. Nothing spurs a purchase like seeing how your quilt pattern can be made in multiple colorways, especially your favorite. I’d love to see this with bag patterns.

3. As my friend and longarm quilter Erin says, quilters travel in packs, so she always has extra chairs in the studio for the friends traveling with her clients. She could create a slide show of herself at work on her longarm and include shots of quilts that she has completed and any ribbons she has won, along with customer testimonials.

4. Art quilters could use this concept with a gallery show. Imagine slides showing you at work, slides of your work that isn’t in the gallery, and slides showing your work hanging in happy customers’ homes with their testimonials.

5. Shops could find lots of ways to use this idea – demos of new products that have arrived, samples from the classes on the schedule, covers of new books, fabrics on order. Imagine putting together one of pictures you took at Quilt Market focusing on all the new products you ordered.

6. Those of you who do craft shows could use the ideas that I have for art quilters: a slide show of you at work, photos of quilts or other products that you’ve sold, photos of your work in your customers’ homes. It’s great to offer people a picture of how your product will look in their surroundings.

I took a quick look at digital picture frames online and found them ranging in price from $30-$300, depending on size of the frame and all the extras, including the ability to add audio. I hope some of you will add this idea to your marketing toolbox and share your experiences with us.

The International Association of Professional Quilters offers resources and networking opportunities for you to create a success from your quilting business. Learn about all the benefits of IAPQ membership and join here.

During a recent trip to Cape May Point, NJ, I went to a local crafts cooperative with some wonderful work. I remember my days as the quilt/fiber artist at a fine crafts cooperative outside Philadelphia. It’s a great place to sell your work, meet your customer and gather marketing information.

Whether you sell your work in a cooperative or in a booth at a show like Quilt Market, here are some tips to help you increase sales:

1. Set an intention or goal for the show. Is it to make a certain amount of sales, to get your patterns picked up by a distributor, to test a new product? When you are clear on your intent, you’ll be more focused, and your results will show that.

2. Establish eye contact with show visitors, smile and engage them in a conversation. Ask questions that will lead to an answer that is not yes or no. Share something of yourself and your product. Your customer is buying you as much as she is buying your product. And, I’m sure you’ve been to a show where the craftsperson sits on a chair in the corner of an empty booth. Of course it’s empty; no one feels welcome to enter! Get up and greet your customer.

3. Qualify your buyer, i.e., separate the browsers from the buyers. Quilt Market is filled with what I call “the entourage,” quilters who want to see what Market is all about. And, I love quilters who want to become involved in our industry; they keep our industry vital. However, while they may have some influence or be the buyer of the future, they are not the decision-maker today. I’m not saying to ignore them or be rude. You can engage them in a conversation, only find out who makes the buying decision and try to get to that person.

4. Have plenty of handouts and brochures. Not everyone is ready to make a decision when they first meet you. Some like to take materials back to the hotel room and compare before buying. Be sure to bring an original of your handouts in the event you need to get copies during the show.

5. Have a way for people to contact you later. At the cooperative I visited in New Jersey, all the artists had business cards; none had a web site noted on the card. Many times, I’d like to peruse the artist’s web site and see what other work she might have. Not all your buyers will purchase while they are in your booth or even at the show. Make it easy for them to see your product line.

6. Keep up your energy. If you are doing multi-day shows, it’s easy to get run-down. Have healthy snacks and water in the booth. Try to stick to your regular sleeping routine, something I find hard to do at shows. If your energy is zapped, it will show in your results.

Hope these tips add to the success of your next show. And, feel free to share your tips with our readers.

The International Association of Professional Quilters offers resources and networking opportunities for you to create a success from your quilting business. Learn about all the benefits of IAPQ membership and join here.

When we advertise our products or services, it’s often easier to talk about the features as opposed to the benefits. Features characterize the product; benefits are why we buy the product. Benefits answer the question, What’s in it for me? When you buy products, you don’t buy because of a feature, you buy because of a benefit. Features are easy to describe; benefits less so. Benefits, too, can be intangible.

The most compelling benefits are those that deliver emotional or financial rewards. This is what struck me as I looked at those magazine ads. The Twinings Tea ad that says “With my cup of Twinings, even a rainy day feels brighter” is selling an emotion. My favorite ad that pulls the emotional heartstrings is the Michelin ad with the baby sitting inside the tire. Michelin is not selling tires; it is selling safety. Good use of selling a benefit.

Looking at some quilting examples, you don’t buy a new design rotary cutter because it’s described as ergonomically correct, you buy it because the manufacturer says you will have pain-free cutting. If you are selling a pattern, instead of just saying it includes rotary-cutting instructions, say that you can save time with easy-to-follow rotary instructions. Saving time is a benefit we can all appreciate. A finished quilt isn’t just a valued piece of art, it’s a collector’s item that will increase in value. Do you think people are buying those Kinkaid prints because they are pretty? No, they think they are making an investment in something that will increase in value.

Also consider how you’ll package your product. You might find a benefit there. For example, patterns are packaged in bags with vent holes so they pack more easily. Or a kit could be in a resealable packet to keep the work clean.

One way to look at benefits is to consider your products from the consumer’s point of view. You might even survey them. What examples do you have that sells the benefits of your product or service?

The International Association of Professional Quilters offers resources and networking opportunities for you to create a success from your quilting business. Learn about all the benefits of IAPQ membership here.