Organizational KEY, part 1

Organization for a business is KEY, but for so many it becomes a forgotten thought or a last minute scramble. There are many reasons why you should take a moment and rethink your organization, first and foremost it is much easier to stay on top of things when you know where they are and how they are progressing. Second, and just as important, it will help you keep your sanity! Instead of scrambling to put together an order or to know what bills are do when or what you need to follow up on you can keep it all organized and be less stressed. Yes, less stressed! Now I am not talking OCD type organizing (not to offend anyone) just some simple tools that you can implement in your day to day work to put your ying and yang back into it's place, at least for this part of your life.

Now, I took the liberty of asking some of my fellow artists on Etsy to help me compile a list of their favorite ways to stay organized. And after 13 pages of answers and more still coming in, here are just a few of my favorites.

Overall I think the most popular answers were drawers, boxes, bookcases, some sort of object to place all the chaos in. While this is all well and good, most of the time it just becomes a contained chaos. Of course there were some that answered me with their whole system like TheWorldsDresser who wrote me a dissertation on how she kept organized. Amazingly organized! But I am not sure that we all have to go to her extreme. Please don't get me wrong, my goal in life is to be that organized, but I know I will never achieve do to lack of concentration. So I think somewhere between just drawers and queen of organization is where we will aim.

Our first stop is the drawers, boxes and bookcases. One way to keep them from becoming chaos is labels. Use the labels on the outside to let you know what's in each drawer; paper, tools, beads, etc. Then when you open the drawer have it sectioned as well. Do it by what's easiest for you to remember. Color, style, size, type. And the biggest thing to remember is to put things back when you are done! Don't let them get piled on top of each other, you will forget what you have out, lose something, spill something...well you get the idea, chaos.

I guess where we should have started is where you do your work. Have a designated place, even if you are in tight corners you can still have a place to work, it just might be more work on your end to stay organized so you can put things out of the way when you are done. I myself, have an office upstairs, but I don't use it. I now have a 6 month old son getting ready to start crawling at any moment so being confided to my office is not practical at the moment. So I moved everything to my dining room downstairs for the time being. That way I am close to him if he is playing and I can still get some work done. In this space I have my computer, since that is what I use the most, along with my printer, scanner, and a small flat file for papers, greeting cards and other things that I am using at that moment, but that I can change out as I need to. I almost always have a sketchbook as well that I am using to keep my latest ideas and custom orders in. I also have a small card table set up to actually do the physical parts of my work; the painting, cutting, gluing, etc. When it comes to this type of stuff get things that you are able to work around. I got my tables at Ikea, which is a great place to get organized cheap and still keep your style! But for some like kateisgreat80 they buy a fancier cabinet that holds everything and stores it out of the way. Great for small spaces and if you have small children. You could do the same thing with a repurposed Armour or TV cabinet.

If you are working with something that has several steps to it, you might want to think about having different areas set up to hold the items as you work on them. inediblejewelry says that each of the different areas set up for making their charms also has the tools they will need to complete that task. Another great idea, so you are not running around trying to find something especially if you are working with time sensitive materials.

StarletTwinkie had a great idea if you are working with something that needed multiple pieces to it. Use a clear pocketed shoe hanger bag that hangs over a door. Easy access to all your pieces and you can see what's inside them. If you can't find a clear one, just tape one of the pieces to the outside of the pocket so you know what in there.

TheWorldsDresser also recommended photographing every single one of your creations to make a catalog in a power point document separated by medium. Great for these reasons
-When you have a juried show you have a place to pull pics from without looking too hard
-If you have electricity at your show, bring a laptop and have the images rotate - it brings folks over
-If you do home shows it allows people to get a good grasp of your work and helps them decide on custom orders
-If you intend to sell to shops, you have a portfolio of your work all ready to go (have it professionally printed and bound at an office supply store) without lugging every piece over.
Like I said she gave me a dissertation. Amazing!

Design4u says that flower pots are great for holding paint brushes, markers, decorative scissors, etc. I have found that this coffee mug organizer works great too!

That should give you a good start on you product organization, next time we will cover paperwork, final products and scheduling. Hope this helps and a big thanks to all who supplied me with answers.

Below is a list of stores to look at when trying to get organized:
Ikea
Duluth Trading Co
The Container Store
Target
Any office supply store and ebay