Thursday, April 19, 2012

How to Stay Organized!

Our business is quickly growing and we are always thinking of new ways to keep organized! We technically have two offices (Momma Reina's House & Momma Rachel's House). So naturally, this is one of our biggest sources of chaos: What stuff is at which house?!?!

I See Double
So far we have been just trying to double up most things such as Cricut Machines, Laptops, Paper, glues, and other accessories so most big things are at both "offices".  However it never fails that we forget or need something when an order comes in and its never at the right house!

Our "Cloud"
We created a shared email account: EtsyRandRCreations@gmail.com. So if I am working on a project that Reina has done already I can look into our  Google Docs where we have uploaded a spreadsheet of sizing, fonts, cartridges we use on each project. We also have our price list, and printables so our info is available anywhere we are! (We also use this email to speak with customers!)

Management
Another thing to do is to try and create a system for who does what and when. For example, Momma Reina stays up later than I do and I just recently got an iPhone so she is usually in charge of our timely and cheery responses when people message us on Etsy!  She is also in charge of supplying the yummy smoothies that recharge us in the middle of the day! I do most of the printing and invite wording as well as OCD-ishly trimming any paper than did not cut perfectly.

Open Items
Every time we break after a long day of creating we make a list of open items for each person to work on until we meet again (which is usually no long than 12 hours later!) This usually included deciding who works on a specific part of a project, running to Michaels, making Thank You notes for our orders, creating new ideas, doing paperwork etc....

The Mula
Lastly, we had to figure out a system for getting paid! At first we were just using our own money and spending much more than we were actually making. But eventually R&R Creations started getting busy  and we decided we needed to get serious! So Mamma Reina (a retired accountant) created a P&L spreadsheet for us and we began keeping track of what we spent and what we got paid from Etsy. This was helpful but using our own money was still confusing, so we went to the bank and opened a joint account! Now when we run to Michaels or the Dollar store or anywhere for our business we pay with our joint credit card. We also linked our PayPal account to it so money comes in and money goes our of one place!

Our work spaces are getting crowded and the more we get the less space we have. We would love to hear any suggestions you have for staying organized! Thanks!
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