I’ve been taking your feedback to heart, and one thing that everyone seemed to agree on was that the business topics are helpful. So, with that in mind, let’s talk business today.

One thing I’ve been asked a couple times is how to fit full-time work into part-time hours. It’s a daunting thing, to be sure, trying to fit alllllllll the things you want to do into your schedule. Part-timers have to cram all of that work into shorter time periods. They may not have the luxury of spending all day in the studio. If this is you, feeling overwhelmed is a constant companion, is it not? So, how do you do it? It’s neither complicated nor groundbreaking – it comes down to time management and focus.

Here’s a few tips geared towards the part-timers out there (though really, any business owner could benefit):


Here’s why you need to learn to prioritize – it’s all about focus. Focusing on what’s important to you, focusing on the task at hand, focusing on creating and maintaining a work/life balance. In order to do that, it helps to prioritize your tasks, events, and projects.

When it comes to my business, I’m totally guilty of labeling everything “important”. But the truth is, it’s not all important to the same degree. Blogging is important to me, but it’s not more important than actually creating. Twitter is important to me, but not more important than perfecting my photos. Taxes are more important than pretty much everything five times a year. Laundry’s only important when I run out of clean clothes. My business is important, but it’s not more important than my family. Basically, I have in my head a list of priorities and how they rank against each other at all times. It helps me stay grounded and focused when life starts to get crazy. What’s more important and needs to get done first, task A, B, or C? That kind of thing.

So, if you haven’t done it before, spend an hour brainstorming what’s important to you. Write it all out, then list them in order of importance. Keep that list in your studio to remind you and help you focus.


Just like you identified your priorities for your work life, now it’s time to identify it for your business. What do you want your business to stand for? What will become key tenets? What foundation will you build your business on? Identify those, then make sure everything you do or choose in regards to your business reflects or meshes with that mission (things like advertising, sourcing materials, branding).

Why is this important? Again, it has to do with focus. The more successful shops have narrowed their focus down to a point where they are recognizable and consistent with everything they make or list. I had sales when I first started, but the number and frequency of them really took off when I started using artist lampwork beads in my work. For one thing, I was passionate about it, and I think that showed; but it also helped me get specific in the wide world of jewelry. It gave me something to focus on.

Identifying and defining what your business will be about should help you find supplies, create branding, and build up an inventory. The next step is to think of how you’re going to put all that out there. How many items are you going to list in the first month? How many items do you want to make in six months, a year? How are you going to get the word out there? Are you going to advertise? If so, when? Will you network? If so, when?

Start brainstorming what your game plan is going to be – you can do it today. Having a plan gives you lots of smaller goals to reach and achieve, and these smaller achievements will keep you motivated as time goes on. Choose concrete goals, specific things to focus on. Rather than say “I’m going to advertise next year”, say “I’m going to advertise on two or three blogs a quarter. I’ve done research and blog A, D, and G look like a good fit for my products. I’ve crunched the numbers, and my advertising budget is X.” See the difference?

And once you’ve got those ideas down, guess what – you have the makings of a business plan.


I used to think that schedules and calendars were stuffy and tedious. How can I fully unleash my artistic potential in a schedule? That’s so limiting! I huffed and turned my nose up at them when I first started my business, till one day I woke up and got over myself. I realized that in art school, I was on a schedule. Class times were fixed for four months, so I was training myself to be creative during those times. It wasn’t as unfamiliar a concept as I originally thought; so, when I started my business, I took a look at when I felt most creative, and scheduled creating time around that.

The truth is, schedules, calendars, and to-do lists are three things go hand in hand with your list of priorities, and all are so helpful when you have limited time to get your work done. I stopped looking at them as a bad thing, and started looking at them as tools – which they are. Use them; they’re not only helpful, they’re free.

If you’ve got limited hours to focus on your part-time business, these are tools to help you maximize your time. To-Do lists are incredibly helpful in helping you see what your current projects are, and what’s going to get done and when. Scheduling creating time means you’re letting yourself (and your family) know that you need these hours to get your To-Do list done. And having a calendar means you can pencil in family activities, social events, and personal things first, so you never have to feel guilty when you’re working.


I don’t just mean a self-critique, but those are helpful, too. What I mean is, do you know how you work? Do you know what your strengths and weaknesses are? What are your perfect working conditions? When are you most creative?

Knowing that about yourself can help you actually work better. I personally work better when I’m not distracted by the phone or the computer. At the same time, I have to have a movie or some music playing when I’m working; I need (unimportant, non-mind-engaging) background noise. I’m also not exactly a morning person; my mind is most active in the early afternoon or at night, so that’s when I work. Knowing these things about myself means that I don’t bring the phone or computer into the studio, I put on a movie when I’m working (I like those over music because it forces me to stop regularly to change the disc), and working in the afternoons and evenings gives me the day to tackle personal things and the other business aspects (like bookkeeping, networking, or blogging).

Do a self-analysis. What would work best for you? If you’re a morning person, maybe getting up before the rest of the household on Saturday morning to create is the way to go for you. If you’re a night owl, crafting after people have gone to bed may be the answer. Don’t try to work against yourself; not only does it lead to frustration, it wastes your valuable time.


I’ve really only touched the surface of ways to better manage your time, and I haven’t even talked about using social media sites like Facebook or Twitter. I did that on purpose; one, I don’t want to overwhelm you. Two, those extra things are extra for a reason. Joining a team is good, but do you have the time for it? Twitter and Facebook can help your business grow, but do you have time for it? Blogging can help you connect with your audience and fellow artists, but do you have time for it?

Beyond that, those sites take time to grow and build; the question for part-timers isn’t “how do you use them?”, it’s “do you have time for them?” If you do, excellent, you can read up on how best to get started and then work it into your schedule. And if you don’t, that’s okay, too.

Because at the end of the day, remember that you do not have to do it all.

Your time is finite. There are only so many hours in a day, and you may only have a handful of those to put towards your business – that’s okay. The trick is to make those hours work for you, to spend some thinking time identifying what you want, what your plans are, then only use those tools out there that will help you get it done. It takes a little bit of discipline, but hey, that’s free, too.

That covers people who are starting out, but if you’re already working as a part-time artist, take a look at what you’re doing. Be objective, but gentle. Is everything working for you? Can you handle everything you’re doing? If not, let some things go. I recently went through and took a hard look at all of the sites I signed up for. After a few months, I realized that only a handful of them worked for me; the rest were a time suck. So, I let go of the time suck sites so I could use that time to focus back on my goals and mission. It wasn’t easy; some sites I was really fond of. But if I was honest with myself, they weren’t working and spending time on them meant *I* wasn’t working. You can do the same.

So, those are my ideas on how a part-timer can maximize their time. What are some things you do?