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Today, I'm working on four projects at once. I had such organized ideas about what I was going to do this year 
I've already entered my shows for the year and I have planned advertising. I have new designs I want to explore. But THEN, I get this wonderful group of photos from a customer, with the most beautiful cat and I'm off 
"I just have to create a likeness of this cat." How to keep on track? Or is it better to go with the flow? I know there has to be balance if I'm going to keep running my studio as a business. How do you decide, set limits?
Karen
KJ Lyons Design
Happy Little SoulsHow do you decide
This is the golden question for me, it always seems as though I'm rushing from project to project, but I am trying to be determined this year.
I'm trying to finish each before moving onto the next - that way (I'm hoping) I'll actually finish something instead of leaving lots of half dones that I'm "over" when I try to go back and finish them off.
Let's see how long it will last!!!
Mel
I know exactly what you mean, I have all these new ideas in my head, that keep having to take a back seat, because orders have to come first.
I work part time for my husband's family business too, as well as a gym junkie, run a household (with no kids though, just furry ones) as well as run our own business, and of course, trying to build my bear business in my spare time. It can send your mind all over the place, I've found the easiest way is to go with the flow, make your orders your priority and then go from there, the only thing I'm finding is that competitions are also starting to take the back seat also, which may be a good thing, it really cuts down the anxiety of waiting for the results!!!!
Excellent topic Karen!!! I have started taking on some custom orders again, but still want to do my weekly eBay auctions....but am finding the custom work I have so far is just so exciting and I can't wait to dive into it, but have promised myself one week for eBay one week for custom....but the custom work is calling me!!!! I would love to hear responses to this topic....I have never tried having more than one thing on the go at a time start to finish so am curious to hear ideas on how to do this and still get things finished??? any suggestions.
Hugs,
Krista
Laurie Lou BearsWhen I have orders I do try to do them first so I don't keep customers waiting but when I make bears I keep trying to do just one bear at a time but it never ends up that way.I always end up with between 5 -8 bears on the go and then I have to be really strict with myself to finish these otherwise nothing will ever get finished.You have to spend time doing what you want to do too otherwise there will be no fun in making bears (or cats).The only way I can be strict with myself is not to lift the lid up on my box of mohair otherwise the temptation to create something new is too great 
What can you do though when something is just crying out to be created 
Laurie :hug:
Bears by EdieI'm not the organized type at all and it just doesn't seem to work if I force myself to do something I don't want to do. But at the same time I hate having things hanging over my head so taking orders isn't my favourite thing to do! If I do have orders I try to intersperse them with creating what I want to create - or taking part in one of the challenges here. I do feel badly if I make people wait too long for a custom piece but I do always tell them that it will take me a while. It seems sometimes like I have to let ideas for custom orders percolate for a while and then one day it will just seem like I am ready to do it! Not very business like I know - but the "business" part of this business is the part that I don't like! :crackup:
I do most often have several bears on the go at once - I take bear pieces (like legs and arms) to sew and stuff while travelling and then when I have a lots of time for making the bear up it is easier with some of the more boring parts done. Occasionally it will backfire and I will have something started and totally forget what my train of thought for it was and what direction I was planning to take but that's okay - I end up going in some direction!! 
Some days I have plans to work on specific things and then the mood to do something else strikes and I just go with it!
As far as entering contests - other than themed ones attached to shows - I don't think I have ever made a bear specifically for one of the big contests - I just enter something I have made in the right time frame that I have good photos of!
Back Road BearsThe only limit is set is 4....... 4 projects or bears going at a time. I used to do one bear start to finish but then found it could take me a week..... because I wasn't in the mood for the next step so did nothing. Now if I have 3-4 bears going at once in different stages I can almost always be in the mood for working on one of them. So I'm actually getting things done now. :dance: More than 4 and it's too overwhelming, I can't focus and thus I stay out of my studio altogether.
I'll never like custom orders... I've decided that... probably a bad attitude, eh? But they get done... again... when I'm in the mood. Now, when I was running a district of retail stores and a manager wasn't getting things done the reason "because I wasn't in the mood" would not float well with me! So why do I let myself do it with my own business? I guess because a creative business is different than the mechanics of running a retail store. Seriously.. "mechanics".. paper work, redisplays, cleaning, hiring, training, firing, budgets, forecasts, deposits, employee schedules... it doesn't matter where you work.... retail is retail. Art is not mechanical and mood/attitude/focus etc. have a lot to do with it so we can't expect ourselves to operate in a methodical, efficient way, can we? We truly do have to be in the mood or nothing 'works' right.
So I've tossed the limits, boundaries, tight deadlines and excessive pressures out the window..... I try to stay one step ahead of the calendar... not wait until two weeks before a show to start sewing bears for it.. that sort of thing. I'm trying not to over extend myself.... "setting myself up to succeed" is I guess the way I look at it.
Mind you, when there are external factors like a very sick father, days on end at hospitals, etc. all theories and plans are blown to smitherines.... and when "life" happens we have to be prepared for that too.....
Roll with the punches! Go with the flow! Best advice ever!
Little Bear GuyOH Boy Karen this is a tough one. Well we could never work on any one thing at any given time. I have been sewing like a mad man over the past month and a bit. So right now I think I have about 30 bears and bunnies sewn , half of those have their arms and legs stuffed. I cut out another 5 last weekend and I am currently working on them as well speak (oh did I mention that I'm hand sewing all of these bears at the moment). Steve has been busy helping his sister with her business, she designs and makes competitive dance costumes, so since Steve has a degree in costume design guess who she calls on when it gets really busy. So majority of my weekends I am alone so I trace and cut out and sew and stuff (I get all of the glamours jobs of teddy bear artistry lol)
So there really is no organizing of stuff, we have shop orders that we are working on and basically we set our deadline for those and we intermingle those with the other stuff we are working on. As for new designs, I have lots of them in my head and have actually completed a couple of them.
So basically Karen just go with the flow, as long as you get your orders done on time , and make some time for playing around with new designs then all is good. I'm working hard so I can get us ahead somewhat , cause once the show season starts then we are go go go, and the summer is our time to relax and go camping each weekend.
Just enjoy and do what you feel like doing, it's so much better than living by a schedule (ok you have to have a bit of a schedule lol)
big hugs
Shane
I have always worked on a few things at once..it's just been second nature ..in fact apart from my very first bears I have done that since I started out.
I don't take orders any more..I did when I started but it very quickly made me depressed and uninterested because usually customers would ask for a bear I made a year ago and it was like a record that was stuck and I couldn't move on. I ended up with a long waiting list and it just had the worst effect on me..I felt so blank in the head as I had no sparky inspirational stuff going on ....no prospect of new designs. I just can't work like that...not even for the money.
So, now, at any one time I will have 3 or 4 plates spinning, projects on the go..and things might get put aside while I do the one that fires me up the most. But how I manage my time is that I do work on bears every day, every week. I make that my rule.
I go shopping n Monday mornings and after that I make bears every day, in no particular orderly way but I do it all day, every day. At the moment I am working on Hugglets bears and can't wait to finish them as I have ideas bubbling around in my head !!
I'm like Jenny in that I very rarely take on orders these days. I did for years, making limited edition bears and there were times when it made me feel very pressured and extremely bored. So, I took the plunge a while ago and decided to just make what I wanted to make, not repeating anything - I'm pleased to say this has worked really well for me! I'm now enjoying the process again! Unlike many of you, I don't tend to work on several bears at a time, I prefer to work on one design from start to finish and then, to complete the process I also market each completed bear utilising my website, show promos, blog, magazines and so on. Once all that's done, I'll start work on my next project.
I tend to organise my week by knowing in advance what I want to achieve that week and making sure I stick to that. I also give myself enough time to do other necessary things in the morning because over the years, I've come to terms with the fact that I make best use of my day this way ... shopping once a week, daily housework and most particularly, my business admin, all get done before lunch. I really enjoy making the bears through the afternoon to evening, so most days, that's how I structure things.
I do think you have to plan ahead to keep focused, so to that effect, I schedule everything on my 'Microsoft Office' planner ... it's a very useful tool! That way I can see when I'm supposed to be working towards a show, a competition, website bears, customers' commissions, etc etc and I don't deviate from it.
Waggle BearsThe only limit is set is 4....... 4 projects or bears going at a time. I used to do one bear start to finish but then found it could take me a week..... because I wasn't in the mood for the next step so did nothing. Now if I have 3-4 bears going at once in different stages I can almost always be in the mood for working on one of them. So I'm actually getting things done now. More than 4 and it's too overwhelming, I can't focus and thus I stay out of my studio altogether.
This is exactly me too, Daphne. I used to do one at a time start to finish, but lately I find working on three or four makes me feel more productive.
I'm new at selling my bears and so I'm not qualified to even suggest how you should work. But, Karen, you are so very talented and creative with your cats, I can't imagine that structuring you day in anyway. I think you probably need to go with the flow and just follow wherever your creative nature leads you.
