One of the biggest challenges in running a handmade or maker business is that you have to fulfil two roles at the same time. You’re both the person doing the work and the person deciding what work needs doing. The worker and the boss.
And if you’re like most makers, you’re probably much more comfortable as the worker.
Making products, answering messages, packing orders, posting on Instagram. The stuff that has to get done today.
Stepping into your role as the one who shapes what gets worked on is much more difficult.
That’s because most of us have never done it before. We don’t have any experience being the person who notices patterns, analyses results, and makes decisions – the person responsible for working out what’s actually going on in your business and what to do about it.
We don’t know what to do, or where to get started. So we struggle to set aside time for it.
But when we don’t set the agenda for how our business is going to run, someone else does.
Or more accurately, everyone else does. We end up following whatever happens to land in our inbox today.
So, how do we go about doing the “boss work” when we don’t even know what it is or where to start?
If you know me, you know that I love a routine for doing work that you find difficult, boring or just hard to pin down.
Devoting a set block of time to this type of work, even if you’re not sure what you should be doing, means that you actually think about it instead of just being constantly pulled away by work that is more urgent and more easy to understand.
It can be as small as a checklist of three tasks, and you can customise it as you learn more and get more comfortable assessing your business.
To get you started, I’m going to give you my monthly “CEO Day” routine to help you think about what is happening in your business, whether things are going in the right direction, and what you can change or improve.
Follow this routine and you’ll know what’s working, what isn’t, and what needs your attention for the next month.
And when you do this regularly, you’ll soon start to spot the patterns and you’ll be able to make faster and better decisions about what to do next.
So set aside anywhere from 2-4 hours to work on this and let’s dive in.
Step 1: Look at Your Money
This is where most makers feel uncomfortable, but it’s also where you get the clearest signal about what’s actually working in your business.
Open your sales records for the last month. Look at your bank account. Pull up whatever system you use to track income and expenses.
Which products sold well this month, and which didn’t?
Look for patterns. Is there one product that consistently outsells everything else? Is there something you thought would be popular that nobody’s buying? What price ranges are performing best?
What did you spend money on this month?
If you haven’t already got a list of your expenses, it’s time to start tracking this. Materials, obviously. But also software subscriptions, advertising, packaging, petrol for market trips, that course you bought. The recurring charges and the one time stuff too. Write it all down. Then you can start analysing it.
Can you cut anything?
Look at that list and be honest. Is there a subscription you’re paying for but not using? A supplier whose prices have gone up so much it’s eating your margin? An item you only need for one product that’s not even selling well? A marketing channel that’s not bringing you sales?
Are you in profit?
For a quick and dirty profit calculation, subtract what you spent from what you earned. Is there anything left? Is it enough to pay you?
(Side note: If you’re a fan of Mike Michalowicz’s Profit First system, like I am, you’ll know that this is not the only way to calculate profit – this is just to give us a rough idea of the difference between your spending and your revenue)
Are you paying yourself?
This isn’t “could you theoretically afford to pay yourself?” This is about whether you are actually taking money out of the business and putting it in your personal account? If not, why not?
A lot of people use “I’m reinvesting in the business” as cover for overspending so this needs to be considered alongside your previous analysis of your spending.
Does your business only work if you don’t get paid?
That’s a problem because it means you are subsidising your business with money from elsewhere (that you are using to live on). If you’re doing it, you need to work out how to change it over time.
These aren’t comfortable questions, but if you don’t know the answers, you will find it very hard to make your business profitable enough to pay you.
Step 2: Review Your Marketing
Marketing is how people find out you exist and remember you exist. You need to be constantly putting your work in front of new people, so marketing should take up a lot of your time.
Doing a monthly review means you can make sure that you’re doing enough marketing, and that you’re using your marketing time in the most effective way.
How many email subscribers do you have, and how did that change this month?
Write down the number. Did it go up? Down? Stay the same? If it went up, what do you think caused that? If it went down or stayed flat, what could you do differently?
How many social media followers do you have?
Same question. Are the numbers moving in the right direction? And more importantly, are you getting any engagement? Because 1,000 followers who never see your posts is worth a lot less than 100 who actually pay attention.
Which posts or emails got the best response this month?
Go back through what you posted and look at the numbers. Which posts got saves, shares, comments? Which led to either subscriber growth or sales? Can you tell? Which emails got the most opens or clicks? Is there a pattern?
How are you trying to get your work seen by new people, and is it working?
Are you doing markets? Collaborations? Advertising? SEO? Word of mouth? Whatever you’re doing, is it actually adding to your followers and subscribers or are you just talking to the same small group over and over?
What else could you do to get in front of NEW people?
Is there anything you want to stop doing?
This is important. If you’ve been trying something for three months and it’s not working, you’re allowed to stop. You don’t have to advertise on Etsy if it’s not working for you. You don’t have to keep doing that market if you always lose money and no one joins your email list.
Give yourself permission to quit things that aren’t paying off – but always with a strategy about what else you could try instead
Step 3: Read What Your Customers Are Saying
This is where you find out what people actually think about your work. What they’re actually saying. Because what people like and how they see our work is often quite different to what we think.
Go through your messages from the last month. Read your reviews. Look at comments on your posts. Open any emails where customers have given you feedback.
What have customers said about your work this month?
Write down the good stuff and the critical stuff. What are people praising? What are they asking for? What are they complaining about? What
What questions are people asking?
If three people asked the same question this month, that’s useful information. It might mean your product descriptions aren’t clear enough. Or that you should make a FAQ. Or that there’s something people want that you’re not currently offering.
Are people telling you why they bought?
Sometimes customers volunteer this information. “I bought this for my mum’s birthday.” “I’ve been looking for something like this for ages.” “I saw your post about how you make these and had to have one.” When they tell you why they bought, write it down. That’s gold for your marketing.
Remember: Not all feedback is equal
Someone who’s bought from you three times and is leaving a glowing review? Listen to them. Someone who’s never bought anything but has opinions about your prices in the comments? You can probably ignore them. Buyers’ opinions carry more weight than random people on the internet.
Step 4: Look for opportunities for improvement
This is where you take inventory of the little things that you could make slightly better, so they take less time or cause less stress going forward. There’s often not time to do this when you’re in the middle of your day to day work, but making a couple of these small changes can make a big difference.
What took longer than it should have this month?
Did you spend ages looking for that one image file you needed? Did packing orders take twice as long as usual because you ran out of tissue paper and had to improvise? Did you waste an hour trying to remember how to do that thing in Canva that you figured out last month?
What kept going wrong?
Did you forget to include your business card in three different orders? Did you have to answer the same customer question five times because it’s not in your FAQ? Did you have two weeks of the month where you didn’t manage to post anything?
What’s one small thing you could make better?
Maybe it’s creating a folder on your phone for the product photos you use most often. Maybe it’s writing a proper FAQ so you can just send people a link. Maybe it’s making a checklist for packing orders so you stop forgetting steps. Maybe it’s setting up a template for commission enquiries.
Write a list and aim to make one or two of them a little better by next month.
How to Make This a Habit
Pick a day. First Monday of the month. Last Friday. Doesn’t matter, just pick a time and stick to it.
Protect it. Put it in your calendar and treat it like an appointment. Block out the time and show up, even if you’re busy.
Start small if you need to. If a full morning feels impossible, split it into four CEO hours. One per week. Or just cut it back into a couple of questions that you can complete in ten minutes. Something is better than nothing, and it’s more important to establish the routine. You can always add to it later.
Follow the same process each month. Ask yourself the same questions or review the same metrics. Not having to reinvent this routine each time just makes it a lot more likely that you’ll actually do it. Download the CEO day worksheet so that you’ve got all of the questions ready to fill in.
You won’t feel like the boss of your business right away, but if you start regularly asking yourself questions about how the important metrics are shaping up and what you’re doing to improve them, you’ll soon see the patterns emerging. And you’ll have more ideas and make better decisions because of it.
That’s what working on your business actually looks like. Regular, honest check-ins with your own numbers, and constant small improvements as a result. It doesn’t sound exciting, but it’s what being a boss is all about
Want to be a better boss in your business? Stress Busting Work Routines is a one-hour workshop with three simple systems you can set up today to make the repeating work in your business faster and less annoying
