SMALL HOME-BASED BUSINESS - WHAT HAPPENS IN THE BACK OFFICE - PART 2: Prepping my orders (cut-sheets) before I take them to the cutting table

RUNNING MY HOME-BASED BUSINESS (how I handle my incoming orders)

So you should now have a stack of order sheets and your packing lists are stashed away in a designated place to await your order's completion.  This next step is more understandable if you have an order with multiple items.  If not, no worries, you will just have the 1 page to deal with.

The next step I take to prepare my order sheets is to circle or highlight the item I will be making using that sheet.  This is not necessary if there is only 1 item ordered.

Now it’s time to create labels.  The first set of labels I create are the ones that go on the backs of my hang-tags.  These are just descriptions of the item on the order with the size info.  This is really helpful when I make multiple of the same item in different sizes for my customer.  You don’t have to use hang-tags, it’s a personal preference and an extra expense, but I find that it adds to my branding and makes my items more professional-looking.  Some people even use their business cards as hang tags.  For me, it’s part of my branding process and I love them.  Also, I do this step now so when my item is ready to ship, I don’t have to spend extra time at my desk creating these labels. 

The next 2 labels I print are important to me because they save me tons of extra time.  The first one is my “cut info.”  I used to have this info in a spiral notebook and I would have to look up each item and transfer the info onto every order sheet.  To save time, I took the extra step to put this info on a label that only takes a few seconds to print out and slap on my order sheet.  This info allows me to sit down at my cutting table and prep my order much more efficiently.  It also stays on that sheet as it goes through other parts of my “system” and saves lots of time overall, especially when that completed order makes it all the way into my “Quickbooks” inbox.

The second label is pricing info.  I have these saved by the fabric name then the item/size and all of the pricing info for every item I use for that item is on that label.  [There will be a separate series all about these labels and what’s on them included in my accounting series that’s coming in the future.]  The sole purpose of these labels is for bookkeeping purposes.  When I sit down at my desk to post this sale in Quickbooks, everything I need to know is on that cut sheet and I don’t have to spend any time looking it up because I took the time in advance to do the work.  Here is an order and what it looks like when it lands on my cutting table...and this is when my order sheet becomes a cut sheet.

 Although you only see 2 items listed, this customer ordered double of one of the items so each item has a single cut sheet just for that item.  If you enlarge the picture above, you will be able to see my letterhead.  The top right corner has my ship date in red and towards the bottom, just above the footer, you will see my "strip" of places to enter shipping info.  The 3 pages would normally be clipped together with the hang tag labels on top.  Next comes calendaring and we will talk about that in Part 3!

Please feel free to ask any questions in the comments or click here to send me an email.

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