5 Steps to Plan your Week and Organize your Craft Business

In order to be successful in business, you must plan.

Plan your year, plan your months and plan all the days in your weeks.

Going into a workday without a plan is like walking down a busy street, trying to find your destination with your head down.

You’re going to bump into people, miss your turns, and probably arrive late, if at all. You’re constantly reacting to situations instead of being proactive.

When you keep your head up you can plan for what’s to come, react to situations quickly and avoid timely and costly mistakes.

Let’s figure out how to keep your head up in business and plan ahead so your days are productive and you’re always working towards making money.

 

1) Start with your goal

You’re in business to make money, so start with your monetary goal.

How much money do you need to earn to reach your monthly goal? 

Keep in mind, most of the work you do this week won’t result in immediate sales. So you need to think about projects you can start working on this week, that will generate revenue next week, or in two weeks.

Often, when we think about what to work on, based on our goal of making money, we jump to ideas we think will result in an immediate sale. 

For example, post a link to my latest product listing on my social media platforms. 

But rarely are those types of posts effective. 

It’s better to plan an effective strategy to generate sales. 

Then you can think about the projects that will help get you there.

 

2) List money-making projects

With your (money) goal in mind, list the projects you can work on that will help get you to that goal.

These are not projects that will be completed this week, but rather, they’re projects you’ll work on over several weeks and may be completed within the month.

For example, projects that can help generate revenue might be:

• Sell at a craft show
• Launch a new (Summer) collection
• Get a retailer to place an order

 

3) Break down project steps

Take this month’s project (you don’t want too many big projects on the go at once) and break down the steps required to complete the project.

For example, if I want to sell at a craft show next month, the steps to get there might be:

1. Apply to craft show(s)
2. Determine stock required to hit profit goals
3. Create stock
4. Sell at craft show

You don’t have to get too detailed with the steps. 

And if it helps, work backwards. 

If the goal is to sell at a craft show, imagine…you’re at the craft show, what did you have to do to set up?

That might be pack your bins of stock.

To pack bins of stock, what needed to be completed?

That would be creating all your stock.

Before you create all your stock, you need to plan what to make and how much.

Keep going until you have your steps.

 

4) Break steps into tasks

Now you can get more detailed and outline tasks that can be completed in a workday or less to help you complete a step.

For example, to complete the step of applying to craft shows, I need to:

• Research local craft shows that fit with my schedule
• Take photos of my recent work to apply with
• Apply to the desired craft shows

Write a list of tasks for each step.

 

5) Schedule tasks

Once you’ve broken your steps down, you have tasks that can be completed within a workday, so you can put them on your schedule.

This ensures you’re filling your schedule with high-value tasks first, which are going to move you towards your revenue goals. 

After the important tasks are scheduled, so they keep you on track to complete your projects in time, then you can fill in other lower-value tasks. 

Your lower-value tasks will be work that needs to be done, but doesn’t necessarily help you earn more money. 

For example, you need to answer emails, but typically, answering emails won’t result in a sale (in some cases it may). So don’t let tasks like that derail your day. 

 

When you look at the bigger picture (big projects that will make money) you can start to plan ahead and determine what to work on today that will move you closer to your goals. 

You’ll stop working in a panic, trying to find a task for today that will make a sale.