Weekly Roundup - 27 September

Happy Friday everyone! This week's roundup is very close to my heart. I am part of an amazing group through Etsy of talented artists from around the world called Elite16. I was approached to join this Etsy team last November. Now, never being a part of a team before I wasn't really sure what it meant. The requirements were pretty simple, 12 treasuries featuring at least 6 team members each month. Sounded simple enough, 3 treasuries a week, easy! But little did I know what it really meant to be part of a team. This group of artists have been an amazing support team for me. You can always count on them to seek support when you find yourself in hard times and they are also there for long a distance high five when celebrating achievements. The forum has provided me with an immeasurable amount of advice, support, and knowledge. Because we are all small business owners, some full-time, some doing their craft on the side, we all benefit from each other. The latest advice I received from my team is how to deal with stress, workload and saying 'no'. We all want our businesses to succeed and grow - which usually goes hand and hand with stress. Over the last few weeks there is no denying that the Toodles Noodles workload has increased exponentially and it's extremely exciting to see this business taking off. But with another full-time graphic design job (yup, for those who didn't know, I have a full-time job apart from Toodles!), and wanting to look after myself, things can get tricky. Here are some great words of wisdom from my fellow team members with stress and tackling a growing workload:

• Do you have anyone helping you? That would be the first step ( if it's feasible) to have someone help out with shipping, etc.
• Price increase is the next step. If people are buying it might be time for a price increase and reward yourself for all your hard work.
• Don't over commit yourself. It's exciting to get lots of orders, but if you can't or don't have help you will just wear yourself out.
• Extend your lead time with custom orders.
• Take a day off.  It's probably one of the hardest things to do....but when you work for yourself and/or from home it's hard to "turn off." It's hard to do but that you come back reinvigorated, more organised and with a clear idea of what needs to be done in an orderly fashion.
• Sit down at the end of each work day day and write down everything about the business that you've worked on that day & what your next steps are. It's different from a To-Do list because you write down future tentative plans and try to decide if they are practical or not.

In this week's roundup I've selected some items from some of my amazing teammates.

1. karoArt - home of quirky and creative ceramics handmade in Ireland.
2. A Quiet Curiosity Award Ribbon Brooch, Stamped Polymer Clay Ribbon Brooch handmade in Arkansas.
3. Handmade healing lip balms from LittleFlowerSoapCo in Michigan.
4. Hailing from Brooklyn, NY woven Jute bags great for everyday use by IndependentReign.
5. Made to order linen towel from bonnbonn in Illinois.
6. Hand-hammered silver nailheads adorn this natural linen pillow cover in a sleek polka dot pattern by JillianReneDecor in Virginia.
7. Beautiful art blocks, perfect for any home, by redtilestudio in the big hearted state of Texas.

I hope this post brought you some helpful tips. Have a great weekend everyone!

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