SMALL HOME-BASED BUSINESS - WHAT HAPPENS IN THE BACK OFFICE - PART 1: Printing My Orders (bet you though I just print them, right?

HOW I RUN MY HOME-BASED BUSINESS - MY WAY (and your way is okay, too)

The way we run our businesses is as different as the products we sell…the little variations in both of these subjects is what makes our business OUR business.  For the most part, there are no right or wrong ways and we can organize any way we want.  Some of us are great working in the digital world and others are very visual and hands-on and need to SEE it to feel in control.  Most of us, however, are a combination of both. 

For me, I need the combination.  I can organize like nobody’s business, but if all of my organization is inside of my computer, it might as well not be done.  I at least need the visual reminder to go look at a list or calendar so I can see what needs to be done at any given time.

Since I am a one-person operation, I also need ways to hold myself accountable for everything I plan to do.  Creating this series is my way of doing just that.  Some of the processes I am going to show you have been in place for a few years and others will be new ones that I have had in my head for awhile that I will now be forced to be put into play so I can keep up with this blog series (my accountability).

First, a little about me and how I work.  So you already know that I am a visual person.  I am also a thinker – I come up with all kinds of great and wonderful ideas, but since I am also a procrastinator, a lot of those ideas just stay in my head, just kind of bouncing around in there until I have a crisis that requires me to finally sit down and do something about it.  I also do not focus well…I think it’s probably a mild case of AOADD, so I often listen to vlogs, audio books, or music while I work.  This occupies my “back” brain (go check out my blog titled HOW I FOCUS WHEN WORKING FROM HOME to see what my back brain is and what that crazy self-diagnosis is).

Now that you know that little bit about my crazy brain, you also need to know that I HATE wasting time.  When it comes right down to it, time is our life…you can’t get it back when it’s gone.  Some people think that I am lazy, but I just really hate wasting time doing repetitive things that should have a short-cut.  That being said, I will spend hours and hours working on a process that will save me just a little bit of time every time I have to do it again.

This series has been created for people like me; people who want to work faster that don’t have a problem doing extra work in advance to save time going forward.

This is the first part of the way I run the business side of Devonchey Creations.  I am going to share the way I handle the paperwork and desk work that goes in to running my business.  Do you have to follow what I do?  Of course not!  But for anyone who thinks like me, you might just find these ideas to be right up your alley.


Part 1 of Printing My Orders)

Every morning I have a list of “desk work” I absolutely have to do in order to keep up with the business side of my shop.  Included in that list is printing orders.



  


Etsy provides us with a packing list for customers that includes a nice little thank you note at the top.  I print this on a plain piece of paper and put it in a file pocket on my wall to wait for shipping.



  


Next, I print out the order sheet (page 2) and I print one copy for each item on the order.  I have created a special letterhead with notes that I need to see or items to check-off as I prep the order for sewing. and those notes print in the top and bottom margins.


So now I have all of my customer packing lists in my file pocket next to my desk and I also have a stack of orders that I need to prepare further.  There should be 1 order sheet for every item…if your customer ordered 3 items, there should be 3 duplicate sheets.

So that's it for this week.  If you do not wish to create letterhead at this time, be ready for part 2 next week by printing your orders as referenced above using plain paper.

See you next week! 

-Denise


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QUESTIONS:

1.  Why did I create this letterhead?

 I use my order sheets to keep notes on.  Some of these notes are repetitive and I want to have a place to write them.  I thought of having a stamp made so I could use that on each order sheet, but stamps are expensive and my info needs change a lot, so this was actually free and changeable (I have already changed it about 3 times to add other items).

 2.  What is on the letterhead and what is it used for?

 On pages 1 and 2 of the letterhead, in the top right corner I have spaces where I write the day and date I plan to ship the order out.  Below that I have 2 checkboxes – one says “pre-cut” which means that the amount of fabric I need for that order has been pre-cut but the pattern has not yet been cut out of it.  The other box says “prep complete” so I will know all notions and items have been prepared, the pattern is cut out, and the order is ready to move to the sewing room.  This may not seem like much to some people, but when you have 20 or 30 items in different stages of preparation, it really helps.

 Page 1 also has shipping info along the bottom.  It contains the date shipped, weight of the entire package, and the cost of shipping.  This is part of my bookkeeping process that will be explained later in another series. 

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