From The Studio: Monthly Update

by March 2, 2015

Another month has gone by, so here I am with my monthly business (aka life) update! If you'd like to now what my "business" is about, go to the January update for a current overview of my situation! During the last week of January I came down with a severe cold/flu mash-up and the doctor told me to stay home for 5 full days. Well. After a while I started to feel a tiny bit better and I thought I could use that time to plot world domination (in between very long naps) I've been thinking about my deadlines & planning system or the lack there off and knew it had to be fixed, like, now. So I did what I always do when I need to talk through a problem and I already consulted my dear BF. I called my mama. That's what grown up women do, isn't it?;-) Kidding, I think it would be stupid to ignore a source that has gone through 30 years of trial and error on getting organised and this thing called living and balance. My mama happens to be a highly organized person who works in the corporate bizz. This means she nows everything about organizing, putting systems in place and making sure **** gets done. No **** done, no money. Very important when you are running a small business! Let's talk about February!

My goals for February

finding a system that would give me a good overview of workflow for each project
thinking about focus and a system that would give me the time and space to actually focus on one task at a time.
make money

How did I do?

I consulted my mama + talked to the boyfriend and other friends and had a 'lightbulb' moment. You can check out how I plan my projects from now on in this post. I use it for everything from sewing projects to the e-book writing.
Focus: I did some research on theories how to stay focused since this really is a trouble area for me. I tend to think I can do everything at once, but no, I can't. This article by James Clear had that exact subject last week. The illustration belows sums it all up. Focus on one task and get it done. Your brain needs to adapt for each task, so doing the same type of tasks in batches is a great idea. I also loved the idea of a dedicated day for each project. This is something I want to implement coming next month!
I didn't get the flu last week of February, but I was feeling very much under the weather. This shows me I need to pay more attention to my stresslevels. I need to make sure I don't freak out about all the things I want to do, since I chose to do them in the first place. It shouldn't feel like a huge pile of work. It should feel like fun (and hard work too, but also fun!) As my boyfriend put it: 'you need to enjoy the process instead of rushing through it. You'll get there in the end"
I teached extra workshops and finished an order that are invoiced for February. This means that I actually made money this month apart from my day job! Yay! Now I need to finish two more orders so I can send out those invoices in March.

March Goals

Come up with a schedule: find a dedicated day for each project so I know what I need to work on when that day arrives (no more time wasted trying to figure out what to do first)
Put less on my list so I don't freak out about it. Doing more is optional. I don't need to achieve every goal I want to achieve this year in one week.
Plan 5 workshops with the new workshop venue.
Finish two client orders.
Sew something fun for myself!
Launch my newsletter. (you can subscribe in the top right corner of my blog!)

So, how was your month? Any tips on how to keep your stress levels in check? Is anyone interested in reading actual figures for income streams?