Week 1 – 77 days to go

The reality is setting in, it’s going to happen. There are 77 days until the Christmas One of a Kind show (an 11 day crafts show featuring over 800 artisans from across the country). In order to avoid the late night before the show panic, I’m going to document my prep for the show here in a weekly series. Accountability can work miracles.

Good grief, where do I even start? How do I turn this:

into this?

As always, you start at the beginning.

It was a tough week to get motivated to work. Our ongoing kitchen renovation demanded some time this week with decision making needed. With a brain full of kitchen counters there wasn’t much room left for thinking about Christmas. And it’s been super hot this week, it’s 30 degrees! It’s patio time! At least I’m starting early enough that I can cut myself some slack. The beauty of self employment.

My job this week was to see where I stand. This meant going over ALL my jewelry. Every single piece. See what I have. Also going over all my supplies (I started, this could take a while). What do I have? Same with packaging and marketing materials.

Next task was “make a list week” which also meant start a new notebook week! Boy do I love notebooks, the OOAK prep work deserves it’s own notebook. Choosing the notebook took a while, it’s one of those things where I can get seriously sidetracked. I thought about going notebook shopping however I have a shelf of notebooks so I picked one and that’s it.

Also on my list this week was to do a brain dump. Every single little detail I can think of gets written down. This is a continuous process, I have to remember to go over the notes once a week and see what is important. And I went over last years notebook to see what I wrote and promised myself. I already know I want new photos for the booth. And I’m out of boxes. Write it down. (yay! maybe a new pen?) Write down everything so that it frees up brain cells for new thoughts.

At the same time as all of this I made jewelry. Although I don’t know exactly what I’ll be bringing there are standard items that I know you will want. When I’m not sure what to make I just make the stock items, like my Ocean earrings. So torch time this week (and every week for the next 12) is split between production of stock items and a little experimentation for new work.

Here’s what I accomplished this week.

• notebook picked
• brain dump started
• notes from 2015 gone over
• downloaded the exhibitor kit and scheduled in deadlines for parking pass, club one of a kind form, electrical order (we pay for electricity),
• inventory started for jewelry
• inventory done for packaging
• inventory done for marketing materials (like postcards, business cards)
• 25 pairs of ocean earrings made

For the upcoming week I’m going to work out a production schedule for jewelry. Also work out packaging needs and marketing materials. And work up a giant schedule on the wall with all the deadlines.

77 days to go!