Juggling home life while running a business can be a big task. How do you manage to make it all run smoothly without all the stress?
Running an online shop while balancing home life is a balancing act but doable. Learn the top productivity hacks from successful sellers that make blending home-life and work a breeze.
Achieving a work-life balance is hard anyway. But, it’s even harder when you live where you work. You’ve probably sat at your desk at least once a day and thought, “can I really do this? Where does my work stop and my home life begin?”. Don’t worry, it happens to all of us. We’re here to help you do just that.
Are you ready? Let’s jump right in!
1. Planning Is Your New Best Friend / Write Up Your Plan
Yup, it all starts with planning. For some of you, this is one of your favorite parts of your day, but for others, it can be a real drag. Regardless, you need to do it. Acquiring that all-important work-life balance starts and ends with your planner.
Etsy business owners tend to skip this step. They just try to cram their entire to-do list into one day. This is exactly the thing that will make you unhappy and over-tired. You won’t ever reach your goal for the day, as you’re always aspiring for more.
It’s time for that to change. Start by setting quarterly goals for your business. Then, note down smaller steps that will get you there. Finally, make sure they are quantifiable so that when you’re done, you’re done. Use a day planner and stick with it daily. You may be surprise how much you can get done in one day.
2. Put The Planner in Action
Now that you have your planner in place lets use it!
As an Etsy seller there is a lot to do. Ordering material and shipping supplies, creating products, posting your items, and so much more. We live and breathe by our planners. Be sure to put a schedule in place for various tasks throughout the week. We sometimes find it’s useful to assign blocks of time to one particular task and repeat it weekly. Start by making a list of all the actions you need to perform to make your shop a success. Next, assign a time span and day of the week for each task for clarity.
By assigning the same time and day to a task it soon becomes a habit and things start getting done.
Here is an example of our schedule:
| Monday | Inventory Items / 9:00am-10am |
| Tuesday | Product Photography / 10:00am-11am |
| Wednesday | Listing Day / 9-10am |
| Thursday | Order Material (shipping and or product) / 9-10am |
| Friday | Ship Out Pending Orders / 9:00am 11am |
| Saturday | Product Creation 1:00pm to 3:00pm |
| Sunday | Social Media promotion / 9am to 10am |
3. Boundary Setting Comes Next / You Time
Okay, so you’ve got your goals and the smaller “wins” that will help you reach them. What next? Boundary setting! Here, you’ll be filling in the blanks.
Everything business-related is now in your planner. This takes the guesswork out of your daily routine. Now, set aside time for you.
In a recent study by Psychology Today revels that breaks increase productivity.
Studies Show
Breaks increase productivity and creativity. Working for long stretches without breaks leads to stress and exhaustion. Taking breaks refreshes the mind, replenishes your mental resources, and helps you become more creative. “Aha moments” came more often to those who took breaks, according to research. Other evidence suggests also that taking regular breaks raises workers’ level of engagement which, in turn, is highly correlated with productivity.
Psychology Today: How Do Work Breaks Help Your Brain? By Meg Selig
Whether it’s exercise, reading, taking a spa-like bath, or spending quality time with your family, you need time to do this. Yes, every single day.
To begin with, it will feel like you’re not doing enough to help your business grow. But over time, you will see just the benefits of setting boundaries. Happiness, fulfillment, and all the positive emotions in life come from knowing when to stop and chill out.
4. Prioritize Taking It Easy
Granted, this is so much easier said than done, but important nonetheless.
Just remember that you are a human being. Are humans perfect? Nope. Are you always going to have that perfect work-life balance? No. And that is completely fine! No one is expecting you to have it all figured out every step of the way. There will be bumps along the way. That’s just part of the process. Your job is to just sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. As long as you keep moving forward, you’re on the right track.
5. Set One Important Goal For Each Day
We all think we can multitask but can we? keep your mind from juggling many projects and focus on a single task. Each day you must try and take a look at your to-do list. Choose one important task and add it to your planner for that day.
This one task system is widely known as the “One Task Method”. When you are stressed with many tasks at hand your productivity level goes down. By focusing on one task it allows you to complete the task and move on. The “One Tasks Method” can also help to break down your to-do’s into smaller tasks. You don’t want your one task to be overwhelming like “photograph all new shop items that need to be listed”. Try bringing the task down into something manageable like “photograph products for 1 hour today” or “photograph 5 new items for my shop”. The feeling of getting a solid task done each day is empowering. Open your planner now and create your one goal for today.
You’ve Got This!
The last step is to just know that you’ve got this. Being your own boss can be difficult — there aren’t any promotions or someone to tell you how great you’re doing. You have to be your own motivator and cheerleader.
So, if no one’s told you this today, you’re amazing. You’re doing fantastically. Just keep pushing!