How To Run A Sticker Shop While Working Your Day Job
Running a sticker shop can be a fulfilling and creative endeavor, but it can also be quite challenging when you're trying to balance work or school, and other life responsibilities. In Season 2 Episode 2 of the Big Plans Podcast, we share our insights and strategies for how to manage your time and grow your business effectively. Read on to discover our tips for staying organized, maintaining consistency, and avoiding burnout.
We were both students during the first couple years of Sticker Guru and we had to juggle school while also working on the business. Our shop performance was significantly affected during Finals, which is evident in our shop analytics at the time. This highlights the importance of finding ways to effectively manage time and maintain consistent sales even during stressful periods in our lives. Our tips for running a sticker shop during busy times: prepare inventory in advance, enlist help, and plan ahead with a release schedule.
To improve our sticker shop performance and maintain a healthy work-life balance, we implemented the following strategies:
Create a “New Releases” Schedule or Calendar:
Planning and having a consistent release schedule helps keep customers engaged and informed about upcoming releases. This can even be planned out quarterly. A calendar can be as simple as planning for a monthly or bi-weekly release and posting a graphic of your release schedule, but it should be done consistently to build trust with customers.
Develop a Personal Schedule:
Creating a personal schedule allows you to balance work, school, and other responsibilities effectively. You know you have certain times that you need to be at work or school. Take the rest of the time and figure out how much of it you can realistically devote to your shop. By allocating specific time blocks for each task, you can avoid feeling overwhelmed and stay on top of your commitments.
Make Time For Sleep, Self-Care, and Overall Health:
It's crucial to factor in sleep, self-care, and overall health when planning your schedule. Avoiding all-nighters and maintaining a healthy lifestyle can help you stay focused, efficient, and prevent burnout in the long run. All-nighters are not sustainable and it is important to be realistic with how you allocate your time when balancing your shop with your day job or school.
Hold Weekly Meetings:
Whether you run your shop alone or with a partner, holding weekly meetings regularly can help you stay organized, work more efficiently, and keep track of your progress. Even if you have a meeting with yourself, you can document what is coming up, what you are planning to work on for the week, sale details, etc. Documenting these meetings (for example in a Google Doc) allows you to keep track of projects and refer back to past decisions to learn from them and improve your workflow.
Balancing a sticker shop with work or school can be challenging, but with the right strategies in place, it's possible to manage time effectively and keep your business running smoothly. By implementing a “new releases” calendar, creating a personal schedule, prioritizing self-care, and holding weekly meetings, you can improve your shop's performance and achieve success without sacrificing your well-being.
Be sure to listen to the full episode for all the details!
How to subscribe + review:
Want to be the first to know when new episodes are released?
If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a review on iTunes and five stars on Spotify. Your five stars mean everything to us.
Share on social?
Did this episode help you? Help us get the message in front of more people by sharing it on social media. If you do, tag @stickerguru and @bigplanspodcast so we can repost you! :)
Thank you SO much for being here. See you in the next episode!
xo, Lisa & Lucy
Hey!
