Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Spinning Plates: Small Business To-Do List

In the distant past while working as a realtor, my favorite broker kept telling me "Work on your business, not in it." I'll never forget this advice because it is an ongoing problem for me to run around hugging trees and to miss the view of the whole forest.

There are so many things to do as a sole proprietor. It's easy to get sidetracked on the things that we like to do or the things that are most demanding attention at the moment. It's easy to forget the whole important list of tasks that have to be kept in motion like spinning plates.

For my business the to-do list is something like this (in alphabetical order)

Blog photography
Blog writing
Bookkeeping
Cleaning the studio
Direct selling
Education
Etsy store listings
Goal setting
Inventory records maintenance
Marketing & promotion
Networking
Pattern design & swatching
Pattern writing & editing
Planning & scheduling
Product photography
Production & product testing
Research
Sample making
Shipping
Sourcing of materials

This list needs my constant attention so that some vital things are not forgotten. It's always a challenge. For you new entrepreneurs, make a list for your business, sort the list in a meaningful order, and post it in some prominent place. Feel free to add other to-do items in the comments!

A picture is worth a thousand words, but a video is always better:



Enjoy!

2 comments:

cabin + cub said...

i always make lists too... it always feels so good to cross off something that has been completed off of a list! ;)

Guzzisue said...

unfortunately my lists never seems to be completely crossed off, usually sidetracked before I reach the bottom!!