Prevent Overwhelm

Running a solo jewelry business can be a lot of, well, everything. You have bills to pay, sales to make, a website to update, products to develop, and emails to respond to. On top of this, a lot of the popular social media business advice is to “hustle” and “be productive” often without a good strategy or structure, and without a really solid “why” for us to latch onto.

Productivity isn’t just a way for me to make more jewelry in a shorter amount of time.

It’s a way of creating more space to do what I want to do with my business and my life. It is a form of kindness and fairness to myself.

Productivity gives me more time back in my life.

Because what we as jewelry makers do is enjoyable (bending metal! Using fire! Hammers hammers hammers!) it is easy to think of what we do as “not work”, but is there anything else in your life that you’d like to make space for? Friendships? Family? Social lives? Travel? Exercise? Time to sit and stare out of a window?

Tools and tips to help you

I’ve got a short list of tools and tips that have helped me create more space for myself in my business. Some you may have tried, some might be new ideas to you, but you can test them out to see how they work for you.

• Automate everything. Everything? Yes. Automate everything that you can

  • Set up auto-pay for rent and mortgage checks

  • Use a scheduler for your social media posts – I like Canva Pro, but there are lots of others – Planoly, Tailwind, HootSuite, Sprout and so many more can help you plan out your social media posts in advance.

  • Email blasts – Set up a welcome sequence so that you aren’t scrambling to send emails every week to folks who sign up for your list – lots of email service providers have easy sequences and flows to help you – Klaviyo, Mailer Lite, and ConvertKit all offer this feature.

  • Accounting and bookkeeping – Set up systems that work together. Use Quickbooks or Xero to automatically import your sales into your accounting software, or use tools like Square or Shopify so that you can automatically track your web and in-person sales.

  • For managing your business, I use the project management software Asana. I find this more flexible than paper and pen, but you can use what works best for you- Click up, Airtable, and Notion all help you stay on track.

  • Use Google Forms or a form collection from your website Squarespace and Shopify both have ways that you can collect basic info like metal type, ring size, wedding date/proposal date, etc.

This last tip is actually one of my favorite productivity tips. Frequently, we as jewelry designers and business owners get asked the same questions or receive the same or similar inquiries. You can save yourself a lot of time by having a standardized response. Pay attention to these common questions and:

• Incorporate them into the FAQ on your website

• Incorporate them into the product copy on your site

• Create an email response template that allows you to quickly and easily respond to customer inquiries. 

For instance, a few years ago I stopped making custom jewelry, but still received inquiries about custom work. Rather than reinvent the wheel each time I received this kind of request, I set up a stock response that included referrals to two other local jewelry designers who take on custom work.

This allowed me to quickly move on from an email that was taking up my time, while also taking care of the customer’s concerns, namely, finding a custom jeweler that comes with a personal recommendation. I made the email template friendly, concise and made sure to include contact information for both jewelers.

All of this newfound productivity will help you create more time and space to do what you want to do with your business and with your life. Maybe you’ll have more time to work on strategies and dreams, or more time to take care of yourself.

Give yourself a reward.

A reward in this case could be anything – a walk outside, a meditation, a leisurely cup of tea, a phone call with a friend – this reward system will help remind you why you’re being productive in the first place.

What are your favorite tips and tools for productivity and what are your favorite rewards? Drop them in the comments below!