The Business Chat - How to succeed in 10 minutes

ARGH! There are just not enough hours in a day! If only we could shut the door and focus for a whole day on getting our little crafty endeavours up and running all would be well. Too bad life just doesn’t cooperate. What’s a craftista to do? 

If we wait until we have a large chunk of uninterrupted time in order to do those little business tasks that need to be done, well, you know what is going to happen. 

Nothing.

Grab 10 minutes twice a day and get small things done. Small things add up to big things. One step at a time gets you a lot of places over time so stop making the excuse that you just don’t have the time. You can find 10 minutes. 

Here’s a list of what to do with your 10 minutes. 

• Spiffy up your product descriptions. The better and more inviting your online descriptions are the more likely people are to fall in love with your work. Take 10 minutes and redo just one description..
• Write a little story about how you create your work.
• Read a couple of your favourite blogs and leave a comment on each one. (how fun is this business “chore”?)
• Add a couple of pins to your boards in Pinterest.
• Find some groups to join on Flickr. Join them. Upload some photos if possible. Leave comments on other peoples photos.
• Brainstorm some ideas for blog posts. You can flesh these out later. With 10 minutes just come up with the bones.
• Research some craft shows you have been thinking about.
• Update your status on Facebook or Twitter. Leave comments for others too!
• Learn something new. Technology changes so fast it’s hard to keep up. If you don’t know what something is, spend 10 minutes learning it.
• Research supplies. Maybe you could save some money by looking around. If you don’t yet have postcards, go and find out how much they cost. Need new business cards? Check out the prices.
• Want some publicity? Make a list of blogs or magazines you’d like to see your work featured in. Now go and find out a name to contact.
• Catch up on some of the craft forums you follow, read new messages and respond! Responses are about building relationships.
• Doodle. Seriously, if you don’t have online access then grab a pencil and paper and doodle ideas or sketches. Draw a new design. Play with your logo.

Sometimes we don’t get started on little things because we know we’ll just get carried away and lose track of time. The idea here is that you just use 10 minutes. If you’re afraid of losing yourself, use a timer. When your 10 minutes are up, put this away and go back to whatever. 

Remember little steps add up to giant leaps.