Here’s a quick tip post that will help you save office time so you can make more beads!
1. Get pre-printed stickers. You know those ‘junk mail’ packets you get all the time trying to sell you greeting cards and return address labels? Well, they’re cheap and they can make your life a lot easier. I use the return address labels for actual mailing labels. Do you find yourself making deposits by mail a lot? Or addressing an envelopes to the same address consistently (like for filing your sales tax forms?) I’m lazy and I hate addressing envelopes or even putting them through my printer. So I had return address labels printed with the address of my bank and the AZ Dept. of Revenue. What can you use these labels for? Here is a link where you can order for yourself:
Current Catalog Return Address Labels. (I don’t get anything for this…I just like them.)
2. Get a name and address rubber stamp. They’re sold at the link above too. I can’t tell you how much I use my stamp. If you don’t have return address stickers you can use them for mailings. I use them at the top of each page in my carbon sales book so people know where their receipt is from. I even take it to shows with me and have used them when buying charity raffle tickets so I don’t have to fill out my information on a bunch of tickets. Get creative!
3. Get a Bank Deposit Stamp. Of course, it goes along with numbers one and two above. Especially if you do shows where you take in checks or get commissions, etc. Stamp the bank information and put it into your envelope prepared with the sticker that has your bank address on it and it’s good to go. Fast.
4. Get Your Own Return Address Labels. That might seem obvious but they can be used in a multitude of ways too. Do you have something you’re wrapping with tissue paper and need something to seal it? Why not your contact information? Do you ship internationally? Use two stickers. One on the envelope for a return address and one on the customs form so you don’t have to write the info out. You can use these on those raffle tickets too.
Do you use labels or stamps in a creative way? Leave a comment below!
I hope you’ve been working on your goals for the coming year. If so, you should have the list of what you are going to accomplish and also, you should have your daily schedule worked up. If you are new to this series, it’s not too late to be ready to start with us on January 1st. Work through parts 1-4 in this series and then meet us back here.
I have been going along with you as I write the series and I have to tell you, I am getting excited for the new year! I’ve even named my list of goals with the intention I am setting for the year: Art for Art’s Sake. What is your intention for the next year? What does your goal list look like? Name it and tape it in front of your work station for a constant reminder. Now it’s time to get down to the nitty gritty. The details. The minutia. The drudgery. Wait. I went one too far.
It’s time to jot some guiding notes onto our goals list. This is where we brainstorm, and maybe even commit to, what it takes to accomplish our goals. Time frames and deadlines help here, if you are so inclined. You can even add specific tasks if that makes you feel better when you cross them off.
For example: I have a writing project (with accompanying art piece) that needs to be done by June. Next to that goal I would jot down what I think it will take to get that done. Right now I have listed,
March – Prepare Art Piece
April – Prepare Essay
Simple enough. You can get as detailed as you need to be. For me, that mental note, transferred to a list gives me a glance at what is upcoming. I can better plan other tasks if I have a loose yearly ‘calendar’ laid out that way.
There are other places in this process that you might want to be more detailed. Such as, for the writing project above, if I hadn’t already done it I might have jotted down to be thinking about a concept for the piece, in January and February. While this may sound silly, (of course I would be thinking about what to do for the project), there is something that happens when I commit to paper. (And now for a little side trip into my creative process…) When I write something down, it works as if an impression of that note is seared into my brain, or put out to the universe, or call-it-whatever-you-want-to-call-it…it is put into motion subconsciously.
Regardless of what that process is, my brain starts to work on it and when it comes time to actually prepare the piece, it is already formed in my head. All I have to do is sit down and make it. So, don’t discount notes and messages to yourself. Put them on your goals list, look over them frequently, and let the process marinate in your brain.
In all of this, you know how you work best. You know what motivates you and what it takes for you to accomplish goals. Find what works for you and use it. Think back to a time when you completed a project successfully and on time and use the tools that helped you then.
Everything I have written in this series comes from books that I’ve read and techniques that have worked for me. I encourage you to modify what you have read here to your advantage. Share with us what works for you. I’d love to add new tools to my own arsenal!
If you have found this series helpful, why not subscribe to this blog? You can even have entries delivered to your email box. C’mon. It’s free!
