Just Another Monday in Jersey - except this time we are having a birthday bash and breaking all the rules

Happpy Columbus Day Everyone!

(you know we love our postal holidays)

And happy 10/10/10 birthday to my daughter Kella - we had a great dinner out last night just the four of us and tonight is the big roller derby bash- which is kind of like regular roller skating except without all those pesky rules for safety - hope no one breaks their coccyx - thanks for reminding me of this Tori!

And speaking of "rules", this weekend I was checking out some holiday gifts I want to buy from Etsy's amazing handcrafters and artists and I noticed a few shops with some rather strange policies for shoppers.

Things like - if you don't buy insurance and this doesn't reach you - it is your problem or lists of places they will not ship or they only ship out of the country with expensive priority shipping (not expensive or one of a kind items) and I am thinking that likely something has gone wrong, probably once - maybe twice- and the seller has created a policy around it.

This is how bureaucracies are created - one little policy at a time. My advice - policies are meant for situations that come up again and again and for things that there are no other ways around.

(and this is not one of those customers are always right things ... because, well, they're not)

If you are not going to replace something that is lost in the mail (I do and I ship alot of stuff and it very rarely happens) then include the insurance in your shipping charge. Don't require the customer to search out your policies and then request it.

If you are in the U.S. and are not shipping to Canada or the UK or Australia or are using expensive priority shipping to ship there when your items are inexpensive, you might want to rethink it.

I shipped 168 packages to Canada last year (1 was lost). Imagine if I had overreacted when that shipment to Canada never showed up and stopped shipping to Canada - I would have lost out on dozens of other sales.

I also shipped 1 package to Nebraska (1 was lost). Imagine if I had overreacted when that shipment to Nebraska never showed up and stopped shipping to Nebraska - I would have lost out on ... well... wait a minute ...

actually maybe I should stop shipping to Nebraska- it seems no one likes me there anyway ...
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Friday Finds - some stuff I'm lovin' - have a wonderful weekend everyone!

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Working Smarter and Not Harder (Part 1) and why this advice has always pissed me off

I come from a long line of hard workers - people who worked hard for other people and usually didn't get the credit or the rewards their hard work merited.

I used to be a hard worker who worked for other people, too, and now that I am a hard worker who works for herself I have been struggling to translate my hard work situation into a smart work situation.

When a friend of mine advised me that I needed to spend more time working "on" my business rather than working "in" my business

(although I knew she was right)

it majorly irked me because what I heard was that I was not doing enough and the truth is that I cannot do anymore. I am already doing all that I can do.

(or at least this is what I told myself as I threw myself directly into that bag of Oreos while she told me exactly what I needed to hear but didn't want to listen to)

This is all alot of work and being the hard worker that I was raised to be - I do it.

But, I'm tired. I need a nap.

I am now ready to work smarter and not harder, but have an uneasy feeling that this work smarter thing is either a bunch of bull or something that could work for other people, but will not work for me.

The conversation with my annoying smart friend got me thinking about how I offer things in my business - I make 100% of my money creating things with my own two hands and selling them.

Every piece I make is made one at a time. There is no option to make something once and then replicate it in any way that is easier than producing it the first time (like a photographer can do with their photos, for example). So how will this work for me?

I once had a job where I was expected to manage people without knowing much about the jobs those people were performing - the idea behind this was that managers could not be doing non-manager work if they didn't know how to do it, since many managers, who had been "promoted through the ranks" from other positions spent a great deal of their time doing their employees work for them, putting out fires and basically "doing" the processes they were hired to manage.

At the time this seemed like a bad business model to me, although I now think there are things that can be learned from this mindset as a business owner.

So, how does this work smarter, not harder model fit into my handmade business? Are there ways to reduce my workload through better prioritizing and delegation,

(of course, this would require someone to delegate to, since Olive is about to go into winter - dangle from the arm of a chair over the heater - hibernation mode)

changing my pricing structure, creating passive income, creating recurring income, etc. These are all the things I am thinking about and going to post about over the next couple weeks. Hopefully, there will be strategies and systems that you can use to work smarter in your own business.

So, instead of getting annoyed when we are advised to work "on" our business, instead of "in" our business (this could just be me, though), we can develop the tools to shift our thinking about all of this, creating a new kind of work that creates a new kind of business - the kind of business where we get to work smarter and not harder or at the very least find some time to dangle over the heater ourselves once in a while.

Part II - The Strategy (next week)
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Wordless Wednesday but with actual words

... so anyhoo, I had nothing to report today and was thinking I would go wordless again when I picked up my local newspaper and was so excited to see my favorite seasonal section Community Education Programs - these are little evening workshops where you can learn some amazing life skills and I try to take one every once in a while:
Searching the Internet for Seniors (Ages 50+) - now I don't know why you would want to search the internet for seniors, but live and let live, I always say (and uh, if 50 is a senior that would make people seniors for about 1/3 of their lives)

Getting Paid for Caring for Your Loved Ones - CHECK - SIGN ME UP FOR THIS ONE

Seeing Your Past Lives - although I am pretty sure I was Cleopatra, Marie Curie and Amelia Earhardt (wait, I think they were alive at the same time), there is a very slight chance I was actually a bag lady or bucket lady or some other type of homeless drifter carrying precious piles of junk from town to town - or maybe this is my future I am seeing

The Lipstick, The Handshake and The Wardrobe - this one scares me

Ukulele Workshop - .... hmmm ....

Harmonica Workshop - .... hmmm ....

Dog Massage and Energy Workshop - CHECK - wait, I didn't check this one, it looks like Olive has been reading the paper before me again - I already have her signed up for a little beagle bed bug sniffing training, so she can start paying for these expensive little Caesar dinners she has become obsessed with

Embraced by Angels ("The Crossing Over Workshop") - uh, not quite ready to cross over just yet thank you very much

How to Explore a Cemetery - this is only something you would see in New Jersey where bodies are buried everywhere and yes, I will definitely be signing up for this one DOUBLE CHECK

Mother/Daughter French Hair Braiding - would have to drag my daughter kicking and screaming to this one- but maybe I can find a little replacement daughter for the afternoon- I did always want to learn how to create those gigantic polygamy sister braids, I think this might be next Tuesday's trend ...

I should mention the ukulele, dog training and french hair braiding are being taught by the same person and I totally need this kind of talent in my life and am hoping to be her new bff.
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