Less Time on Website = More Time on Bears!!

Although I have fun "playing" with my bears website - it is very time consuming. Right now I need all the time I can find to make bears!

Last night I figured out another way to cut down on the time it takes to add new bears to my website. (Originally it would take over an hour to add a bear to my site!)

I have added a "Flickr Badge" of the available bears to my Bears for Adoption page.

A "Flickr Badge" automatically displays photos that you have chosen from your Flickr account. Since I upload my photos to Flickr anyways, it made good sense to me.

I just had to make the badge code one time, it adjusts the photos as I add them. I do my website myself - and I do it by writing code by hand. I don't use a program. Less time "coding" means more time for bears!

If you want to give it a try making your own Flickr Badge - you can find the free tool here:
http://www.flickr.com/badge.gne

You NEED an End to Your Work Day!

I've been getting ready for shows for several weeks now - which meant working ALL the time. Hubby had made a few "funny" remarks about it and I thought he really was making jokes.

Well, my last show was last weekend and I'm finally getting back to my version of normal. That's when I realized that I don't think the funny remarks were just jokes.... although they were said in a playful manner!

My "workday" ends at 4pm - normally. That's when it's time to feed my whippet Girls, take them out and start dinner. These last few weeks I've been feeding them and taking them out real quick in the back yard.... and then squeezing in some more work time -- then jumping in on dinner prep - eat - dishes - and back to work.

Yesterday I finally stopped at 4pm, fed the Girls and took each of them for a walk on our block. It was WONDERFUL!!! When you work away from home, you have your commute home (be it driving, train, bus) to kind of unwind for the day. When you work at home - we often jump right from working on work to working on house stuff - ie: dinner.

Now after dinner I did some more things that were business related - but it was because I wanted to - and it was more relaxing.

It is VERY important to remember to have an "end" to your regular work day and to have SOME way to wind down. If you don't, you may find yourself in burnout someday -- or having some unhappy family members who say all you do is work!

Multi-Tasking - Not Always Your Best Option

In this day and age, seems like everyone talks about multi tasking. Why just do one thing when you can get 2 things done in the same time? Sound reasonable....

A few months ago, however, I read an article that was on Yahoo's homepage. It mentioned that multi-tasking may not always be the best idea. It said that sometimes when we try to do more than one thing at a time, we get distracted and don't always do our best work.

Today I tried it out. I had housecleaning to do. Often, I'll work on laundry as I do the housecleaning. This time, though - I decided the laundry could wait. By concentrating ONLY on the housework - I got it done in 1/2 the time!

I realized that when I try to do both the laundry and housework at the same time, I am not focused on just one thing... and then I tend to wander off and do other things too.

I'll keep this little test in mind when I'm bear making.... if it worked for housecleaning - it may also work for my bear making!

Always Trying to Find More Time

If you read my regular teddy bear blog, you will find this is a repeat from there. But I felt it was important to post it here too as I am hoping I found a way to save myself some time!

Although I do appear to keep adding more and more things to my "to do" list... I really do try to see where I can save some time.

Adding new bears to the website takes up LOTS of time. I think I've found a way to cut down a little on that - which makes for more time to actually make the bears!

I am a member of Bearpile.com. It's a neat site where you can browse for bears and adopt them. No bidding and no membership is required to buy a bear from artists on Bearpile.

I found that I was duplicating a lot of tasks when listing a bear. First, I'd list him or her on my site, and then I'd put the same information on Bearpile. Once I realized this, I decided to try out a little something new.

On my Bears for Adoption page you will now find buttons for "More Photos" (as Bearpile only allows 2 photos) "Details" which takes you to the bear's Bearpile page and has all the "Bear Facts" about the bear, and "Order" which takes you to that bear's secure order form.

One feature I particularly like about Bearpile is their secure order form. If the artist accepts credit cards, you can enter in all the information on the order form there as it is secure. The artist is the only one who has access to that information. Of course, if you wish to pay via check or Paypal, those options are available in the drop down menu.

We'll see how this goes. If my collector friends don't like the change, I will definitely change it back. But I'm hoping they won't mind as it will free up some bearmaking time!

Working From Home - Neat Interview on Craftzine Blog

One of the things I do in the morning before starting my day is to read thru my favorite blogs. I have quite a few, but I try not to let it take up too much time by using Google's Reader

This morning I read an entry on the Craftzine Blog. It was an interview with a craft business woman - Nicole of Queen Puff Puff.

It was a great interview and I got some good tips and reminders. You can read the whole interview here.

Develop a Routine

I am finding that for me, the best way to make the most of my time is to develop a daily routine.

That routine will be different for each person depending on their best time to create and other factors that can affect them.

For me - if I start working on the business side of the biz first - or household things that need to be done -- I never seem to get around to working on the bears! I'm not sure why.... maybe because I feel I need to "finish the work" first before "playing". But if I don't get any bears created (play) I don't get paid! It's just that I really enjoy working on the bears so my mind thinks it is "play" and must wait till my chores are done LOL!

Then... there are my whippet girls :) They are much more sleepy in the morning... so it's also easier to work on bears then.

So what I'm trying out is to work on bears till noon -- then if other things need to be done, they can be done then (after the whippets go out anyways!) And if nothing else needs to be done... it's back to bears! At least some bear work gets done.

Also... it's OK if at first when you are trying to figure out the best routine for you -- that it doesn't quite work! Just keep tweaking it until you find what works best for YOU!

Making the Most of Your Time

Time management.... I don't know about you, but this is my main problem. I get distracted easily. I think part of it is that I do enjoy making bears so much that I feel a little guilty when I'm working on bears instead of working on something else. And I can't kid myself... I spend too much time on the internet!

We are all given 24 hours in a day. No one can cheat on this and sneak in a few extra hours. Yes, some of us are VERY fortunate in that we don't have to spend 10 of these hours at a day job. But managing our time is still very important... to those who work from home both full time or part time!

The first step in time management is knowing how we are currently "spending" our time. I mean REALLY knowing! I bought myself a couple of timers.... and next week I'll be tracking how I spend my hours. Only after I know how I am spending those precious hours and minutes will I know how I can improve!

I'm keeping track of the time in different catagories: Making Bears, Bear Biz, Housework, Family Time, Fun for me.

And yes, I'll be keeping a timer next to the computer for fun internet time. If I'm answering emails or updating the website though.. that counts as Bear Biz time! :)

Have a great weekend!