If you struggle with time management in your handmade business, my #1 crochet business productivity hack will have you starting the day with momentum while, also, crushing the overwhelm. Check it out!
Productivity Hack for Crochet CEOs
Hey, if you know me at all, you know that I run three, sometimes four, businesses at a time. Depending on what time of year it is. And I hear over and over again, people asking me the question, how the heck do you do at all? And I’m telling you, it’s a lot. And, up until now, I’ve been a one-woman show…but I do have a secret strategy for hacking productivity and getting the things done that I need to do.
[00:00:28] And I’m going to be sharing those with you today. So thank you for being here. Welcome. My name is Pam Grice, the Crochetpreneur®, and I am on a mission to help 100,000 women find financial freedom through crochet.
If you are a crocheter and you’re looking to build a business you love and build a life you love. I’m so glad you’re here.
Transcript: Maximize Your Crochet Business Productivity
[00:00:49] Be sure to subscribe and like this video so more people can see it and they can either join us live or they can join us later in the replay. If you’re watching the replay, be sure to let us know. And I think that’s it. Should we talk about this hack? First let me say good morning to those of you who are here.
[00:01:13] It’s a crazy day today. Some of you are in the sun. Some of you are in the snow. Our snow is melting and. unbeknownst to me, a great big piece of machinery just drove up into our yard and they’re going to be digging for our cistern and septic today. So there’s going to be a lot of digging and a lot of noise.
[00:01:31] And I hope he doesn’t start until our chat is over. And in the meantime, you might hear my dog barking at him because my little Jack Russell thinks that he can take on even the largest piece of equipment that shows up.
Welcome to Crochet Business Chat. I’m so glad you’re here. Let’s talk about productivity.
My Top Productivity Hack for Handmade Business Owners
[00:01:52] All right. This is our topic for today. My top productivity hack for 2022. This is something that I have done instinctively for years, but I’m going to institute more intentionally and more strategically coming in 2022. So I really wanted to share it with you. And it is called the Crochet CEO Confab.
[00:02:24] So you might be thinking, “Confad means a conversation. So we’re having a conversation? What are we doing? And so basically it’s a conversation with yourself and it’s strategy and taking action for yourself and for your business. I used the word it in this context because it starts with a C and I love alliteration. 🤷♀️
[00:02:48] So forgive me for being a big weirdo. Basically the goal of your Crochet CEO Confab, which I will go dig deeper into in just a second – the goal is to slowly build habits that move your business forward by caring for yourself, your community, your connections, and your customers, and doing it….
[00:03:11] Preferably, first thing in the morning. That’s when I do it, because that is my quiet time. Especially since we’re doing the whole RV life and Kevin is sleeping while I’m working. He sleeps late because he stays up late. So mornings are the time that I have my quiet time. Your quiet time may be at a different time.
[00:03:30] It might be after the kids go to bed or after nap time or whatever, but you can make it work for you. So before we go too much further, I just want to let you know, you can grab a copy of my Crochet CEO Confab Checklist. I will be posting a related video as an endlink, too. You can go to the description down below (or right here) to grab the Crochet CEO Confab Checklist.
[00:04:01] You’ll just go in, give your email address, get that checklist, and you’ll be good to go. But I’m going to give you a little description about it here.
A Warning About Productivity Hacks
First, here’s a warning about productivity hacks – for some people, when they hack their productivity, rather than saying, “Yes, I got more done in less time and now I can go enjoy my life.”
[00:04:27] They say, “I got more done in less time. So now I’m going to add even more to my tasks to my list.” And then they pile things on and pile things on and pile things on. They create strategies and processes and add more time and overwhelm themselves. And so that is not our goal here. Our goal is to help you create strategies, processes, and habits that free up your time to live the rest of your life.
[00:04:58] And that means spending more time with your family, spending more time with your friends, doing more of your hobbies, doing things you love – not piling on more tasks. Okay. So that is my coachie warning for you – and this comes with no judgement because that’s what I do, too. So I tend to, when I get more productive, just add more things to my list and take on new projects because now I have all this time.
A Better Way for Crochet Business Owners to be Productive
[00:05:20] Again, in 2022, I’m going to try and be more intentional about getting the things done and then enjoying life and making time for friendships, making time for working on our farm, all kinds of stuff. The CEO Confab is basically a two-hour block of time that you’re going to set aside to do specific tasks that need to get done in your business, but that you might not have considered otherwise.
[00:05:54] So like social media, yes. You considered social media, but maybe you do it throughout the day. In this strategy. You do it during your block of time, and then you don’t worry about it the rest of the day, so that you can free up your day for other things. So basically choose the quietest block of time for you.
[00:06:12] For me, I choose, like I said, the block of time in the morning when my husband is sleeping and not chatting with me or not asking me to do things or make breakfast or do research or whatever. That’s my quietest time. So that’s what I do most of my work. For you, again, it might be half an hour before the kids get ready for school, then during nap time, and then after the kids go to bed, if you have that kind of life. Maybe that’s what it looks like for you.
[00:06:43] Or if you work full time and you only have a two hour block of time at night, then that’s when you do it. So the confab looks like this. And again, if you get it – if you get the checklist from the description below – it will really step all of this out for you. It gives you a lot of different things on your checklist, but I’m just going to give you an idea of what the categories are that you might think about.
Confab-time Categories
SEO Self-care
[00:07:09] So the first category is self-care. And this is the thing I want you to take care of first, because it is also the thing that you’re more likely to not take care of at all if you just get started with your work day. So this could be your workout, your yoga, you’re taking the dog for a walk, your quiet time, prayer, meditation.
[00:07:33] All of that falls under self-care time. So I want you to think of, and find stuff on the checklist that you can say, “Oh, I’m going to do that every morning.”
Outreach and Marketing
So self care comes first, then we have outreach and marketing. So those are your regular marketing tasks, social media, checking on your Facebook ads, reaching out to brands, pitching influencers, all of that kind of stuff.
[00:07:58] You can just do it during this dedicated time.
Sales
Then we have sales. This could be checking on your analytics for your Etsy shop, creating new listings, editing listings, taking photographs, that kind of stuff.
Paying it Forward
And finally paying it forward. So this is on the other end of self care. This is caring for your community.
[00:08:20] It could be caring for your team – if you have people working for you. Caring for your relationships with brands or your relationships with other crocheters, sending a kind word, or even making a donation. Those kinds of things. So how can you pay it forward? And again, the list of ideas is long and you can get that over on the checklist.
[00:08:46] So I’m going to share it with you real quickly. Let me find them here.
[00:09:05] Your Crochet CEO Confab Checklist. It gives you your CEO care, your marketing, and then on the backside, it will have your sales and your paying it forward. So again, you can go in the description (or subscribe form, below), click the link and get this for free.
[00:09:26] And then let’s put that away and here is my ideal schedule. So for me, my confab time is actually 2 1/2 hours because I can’t get all the things done that I need to do in the two hour time. Hopefully you can get it done in two hours. But again, like I said, I’m running three businesses, so I have a little bit more on my plate typically.
[00:09:57] Okay. So this is my ideal schedule. It will probably look differently, but this is how I plan to do it in 2022. So 6:30 AM is self-care time. That’s my quiet time. I have my my walk with my dog or walk around my property, check on the chickens. I also get dressed and put on makeup so that when I need to do social media, if I need to do a video quickly, I don’t have to freak out about it.
[00:10:27] This is my growing edge because I really like to stay in my PJ’s and not do my hair and makeup all day. So I’m trying to get it done first thing in the morning because it makes me feel better. So I’m just setting that up on my list. And then also setting priorities for the rest of the day.
[00:10:42] And then I’ve added this kind of ramp up time. I am a dive all-in first thing in the morning kind of person. And it’s just not good for my stress levels. So I’m trying to ease myself into the day by having my cup of coffee, because I love my cup of coffee, and then reading a chapter in a book or listening to a chapter on audible in order to always be learning.
[00:11:06] So learning is really important to me and I typically put it off because I’m working on my business. I really want to focus on it this year. And then I empty my inbox because my inbox stresses me out. So I answer all my emails and get that done. And then I try not to look at it again until the end of the day.
[00:11:27] Finally 7:30….not finally. 7:30 AM: it’s not like just regular admin time. I have my breakfast here. I usually have breakfast an hour or so after I wake up. I get my newsletters ready to send, if I need to send newsletters that day. I do quick social media stuff and then admin things, whatever I have on my Asana to-do lists, which is usually pretty long.
[00:11:51] And so I try and do as much as I can during that half-hour block of time. Next sales and marketing. I go through and complete sales and marketing tasks from my ever-changing to-do lists. So again, I use Asana to track all of my to-dos and I have things on there that are regular, that I just know I need to do Monday.
[00:12:10] I need to do Tuesday. I need to do a Wednesday. And then I have my kind of brainstorming things where I’m like, “Oh yeah, I need to go change this, or I need to go fix that.” So I go through my Asana and I just fix things and do things as they are on the schedule. And then I leave 15 minutes at the end of my confab time for my pay it forward time.
[00:12:29] This is my favorite and it sets me up for the rest of the day with good vibes, positive energy and happy heart. Just setting that “It’s not all about me and it’s not about all of the things I need to get done” time aside. I’m reaching out to other people to say a kind word or like I said before, encouraging, sending a gift, sending a donation someplace, those kinds of things.
[00:12:57] Every day, start everyday with some sort of paying it forward. And then, the rest of my day is whatever I have scheduled. If I have coaching calls or if I have a blog post to write or a video to edit those kinds of things. I just get started on those things. But I know that because I’ve spent this concerted time working on things that are good for me…
[00:13:19] good for my business and good for my relationships that it sets up the whole day and the whole week for great productivity. And this has been so helpful to me. And I shared it with my CBA people last week, as we were doing our annual planning and have had amazing feedback from people who have just started to implement…
[00:13:39] this as a morning routine for their business and having really great results. So I hope that you will Institute this for your own business and…(comment in the chat) “That’s a lot to do and a half hour.” I know! I focus and I just get it done. So I’m also (just so you know I think we’re going to have a discussion about this later)…
[00:14:01] I’m thinking about not doing this morning video live anymore and doing it as a recording and then doing a monthly Q and A. I can’t really decide. It’s just that life is so unpredictable around here. And now that we have the construction really going and hopefully our house will be done in a couple of months and we won’t have to worry about it.
[00:14:20] I don’t know. Anyway, I am going to, at the end of this video, I’m going to say hi. And then we’re going to go because I have to go talk to the guy who’s digging. So I just want me to say hi to everyone who’s here, Botswana. Oh my gosh. You guys…Italy, Maryland, Texas. Hey, guys. UK. Hi, Alison. Good morning, Bonnie.
[00:14:44] I’m so glad to see you guys here. See, I really like to see you guys. And so that’s why I want to do this live. I’m going to have to mull this over anyway. I’m going to run so I can go talk to the digger-dude and…here (pointing to the corner of the video), I’m going to add a link to another video about productivity hacks, go and check that out.
Crochet Business Tasks to Tackle When You Have No Time
[00:15:05] If you’re interested in being more productive this year, again, I’ll link it right here for now. It’s linked down in the description. You guys, I hope you have a wonderful day and hopefully we can chat and connect again later. Be sure to join my Facebook group at Crochet Business Chat is the group name and that’s on Facebook and that’s it.
[00:15:26] I’m going to run. All right. Thank you guys for being here. I love y’all. Bye.
Grab Your Own Customizable Crochet CEO Confab Checklist
This is the exact checklist I use (well, the one I use isn’t quite so cute but I made it cute for you) to track my CEO Confab time and ensure that I accomplish at least one task from each category.
I’m sure you’ll find it helpful, too!
