Avoid The Burnout?

[Mudruck]

So things have been going pretty well, business picking up and almost staying steady. Woot! With that though, Im starting to feel a little burn-out coming on though. Leatherwork is like my full time other job, after my day job, with the advertising, promoting, website, sales, production and all of the other little things that go along with it. Still love working with leather, but it almost seems overwhelming sometimes.

So how do you all avoid the burn out?

[Ferg]

I grow my own vegetable and flowers from seed in my greenhouse. I just finished planting the last of 2000 annuals yesterday. Have about 4000 flowers in our yard including the perennials.

That, my friend will keep you from "burning out" on leather.

ferg

1339607530[/url]' post='252410']

So things have been going pretty well, business picking up and almost staying steady. Woot! With that though, Im starting to feel a little burn-out coming on though. Leatherwork is like my full time other job, after my day job, with the advertising, promoting, website, sales, production and all of the other little things that go along with it. Still love working with leather, but it almost seems overwhelming sometimes.

So how do you all avoid the burn out?

[Spinner]

So things have been going pretty well, business picking up and almost staying steady. Woot! With that though, Im starting to feel a little burn-out coming on though. Leatherwork is like my full time other job, after my day job, with the advertising, promoting, website, sales, production and all of the other little things that go along with it. Still love working with leather, but it almost seems overwhelming sometimes.

So how do you all avoid the burn out?

1. Look at the business' bank statement.

2. Set a goal like buying a new machine, tool, etc. and think of it as working towards that goal.

3. Space your orders out move evenly.

Many times burn out comes from overbooking, taking that 'one extra job', etc. because you're thinking about the $$ and the possibility of that client going elsewhere if the wait time is too long. Get used to that feeling if you have any kind of a backlog. If your quality is high and prices are in the right range, most clients will be willing to wait, the ones that pitch a fit tend to either be impatient by nature and usually will end up with a crazy request, change, alteration mid process anyway and then can't understand why it can't be done in the same time frame.

Decide what schedule is good for you and your family and plan accordingly. I know it can be hard to resist a job when the cash in on the table but sometimes the best thing is decline a job that has the potential to set the shop back/behind thus making life crazy.

Cheers,

Chris

[Sylvia]

Ah... the ever present Work-Live debacle. The only way to do this is to decide that you must have some time off. These are days you choose to NOT work. That means no regular job AND no leather work or related things.

I recommend scheduling yourself 2 days OFF a week... and recruit others to help you so you can take the time off. If you would normally ship 6 days a week for instance. Change that to 2 times per week. Just simply say... I ship Wednesday and Friday and let it go at that. That alone will help you "find time" during the rest of the days. But remember if you make a schedule... you have to stick to it. If you have a teen in the house... train them to do the shipping part. They will gain knowledge of how it is done and you will gain a helper.

If you are the food preparer in the house.... use your crock pot more. It doesn't heat up the house and 10 minutes in the morning while you make your coffee can yield a pot roast supper in the afternoon. Also think about how you can turn this "roast" into a second meal the following day. You'll not only save time, but you'll also save money.

Use your regained time off to do something fun. Go to a movie, go for a hike.... get out and go fishing!

Good luck.

[DoubleC]

Mudruck, I just had this conversation with my VOW counselor this am. He had a friend of his, the most popular musician in this area do me a favor by taking my new guitar strap and business cards, and the man is going to wear the strap part of the time at his gigs. My counselor thinks things may soon get really busy for me.

I have a lot of leisure things I love to do which are prohibited in a lot of ways by my disability. He suggested I think about hiring someone to go places with me and get me out of the house. For leisure things if nothing else. I love what I'm doing but he reminded me it/'s soon going to become more like work and less like an addicting hobby and I'm going to need the leisure stuff. Sylvia just gave you good advice, as did everyone. Cheryl

[Northmount]

If you have 2 full time jobs, you need to drop one, or cut it back while you have your health, sanity, and your family. Would be really nice to keep all three.

CTG

[katsass]

FWIW from the old grump: Well --- burnout --- been there. I spent 35 years as a LEO. At times I couldn't get home for a couple of days at a time. Then, there were times that I spent a few days in the hospital, which didn't do Ma Kat any damned good at all. Worked a lot of 12 hr shifts and couldn't come down before the next shift started. Suffered from ulcers multiple times over ten or so years. That all turns one into a grumpy old man real quick, and makes life hell for others around you. I finally learned that lesson. I slowed down and took Ma on some surprise three or four day vacations from time to time, I learned not to sweat the things I have no control over. Now I'm retired and still refuse to allow things to get that much under my skin., I will not (generally) take any project on with an absolute deadline. I give plenty of lead time, and the customer is tickled when his stuff comes in early, if it does. If I feel that things are stacking up on me, I take a day or two and do a bit of trap shooting, go fishing, or work around the old homestead. Ma Kat is doing better now, and one morning soon I'll wake her up, load her into the car and take her to a favorite little coastal village we like, just for some fresh seafood, salt air and a walk on the piers to look at the vessels.. We'll spend spend a few days there. I do have an advantage over most of you other folks though ---- nobody expects an old fart like me to do ANYTHING in a hurry. Mike

Edited June 13, 2012 by katsass

[Mudruck]

Great ideas all!

Yea, I have been doing the 'just one more' thing for a while now and while I thought that have a backlog was a good thing... (more business donchaknow!) I think I have to get out of the mindset that when I actually have free time, I should be working to finish orders that are waiting. Guess I was looking at it with a train of thought about how if I was the customer I would like my things a week or two faster then I had quoted. Although, if I burned out to the point that no work got done, then it wouldn't be good either.

Sylvia, Im taking your advice to heart, from now on, the weekends are mine. As hard as it will be for a bit to stay away from the bench, no leather on the weekends. I think the advice on using, err EMPLOYING, my teen to take on the packaging and shipping is an absolutely killer idea!

Ya know Ferg, that reminds me that it is damn near the middle of June and i haven't went on a single hike this year. Gonna change that real quick. My little one would absolutely love that.

Heh northmount, how about a full time and a 'partial full time'

Thanks again all, really helped me get a perspective on it so it doesn't do more damage to my love of leather!

[Sylvia]

Sylvia, Im taking your advice to heart, from now on, the weekends are mine. As hard as it will be for a bit to stay away from the bench, no leather on the weekends. I think the advice on using, err EMPLOYING, my teen to take on the packaging and shipping is an absolutely killer idea!

.........the middle of June and i haven't went on a single hike this year. Gonna change that real quick. My little one would absolutely love that.

You may find your Teen will balk at the idea at first, but if it becomes a chore that he or she does on Tuesday and Thursday evenings... it won't interfere too much with their social life and if they get a small wage for their efforts they will be more amenable to the idea. If you choose to do this, the first few shipments will require your overseeing the process, print your shipping labels and packing lists, show them how to set up their work area and to check off the items as they go in the box. (when it comes time for them to have a real job in the real world... they will have something to put on their resume. :D )

You can recruit your little one too. He or she can help with some things like sweeping up the shop, emptying garbage, sorting scraps, etc. Make sure they know that the more they help dad during the week, the more time you'll be able to spend with them doing something fun on the weekends. Be sure you let them know they are doing a great job... that little bit of praise will go a long way toward their self esteem.

[Mudruck]

Sylvia,

That's a wonderful way to do it! It would kind of be like how having my own business has added to my resume with all of the things that I do for it! I never knew that I was in 'inventory management' or 'marketing and advertising' hehehe. I set him up an area in the 'shop' for him to package things and changed my shipping to three days a week. Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He was actually pretty excited to be able to take part in the process and the added bonus to his allowance for packaging properly and on time was just gravy to him.

[/b]

You may find your Teen will balk at the idea at first, but if it becomes a chore that he or she does on Tuesday and Thursday evenings... it won't interfere too much with their social life and if they get a small wage for their efforts they will be more amenable to the idea. If you choose to do this, the first few shipments will require your overseeing the process, print your shipping labels and packing lists, show them how to set up their work area and to check off the items as they go in the box. (when it comes time for them to have a real job in the real world... they will have something to put on their resume. :D )

You can recruit your little one too. He or she can help with some things like sweeping up the shop, emptying garbage, sorting scraps, etc. Make sure they know that the more they help dad during the week, the more time you'll be able to spend with them doing something fun on the weekends. Be sure you let them know they are doing a great job... that little bit of praise will go a long way toward their self esteem.

[Northmount]

My youngest son worked with me from the time he was 12. Then he did a 2 year engineering technology diploma in a closely related field to the work we were doing. After graduation, he did some work for me for a couple months, then decided it was time to send out resumes. Sent out 3, had 3 offers. The company he went to work for gave him credit for 7 years industry experience (since he included his related work as a teenager on his resume) and started him off at a much higher pay grade than his peers.

So any work you can set up for your teenagers, it is a great boost for their resume, getting their first full time job, and a much better pay rate due to their experience. Even volunteer work for local organizations can be a big help. Experience plus references from them helps. Same applies for unemployed while while job hunting. Shows you don't just sit on your backside waiting for a handout.

CTG