When Reality Bites.
After the euphoria of a successful Trade Fair comes the reality of actually making and dispatching the goods.It seems to be some kind of unwritten rule that the first order you send to a customer is "Pro Forma", that is to say the client pays for the goods prior to receiving them. Thereafter, the account becomes "thirty day terms" which literally means that when the goods and invoice are dispatched to the customer, they have thirty days to pay for them.
Obviously, some pay early, some pay late. I was lucky as I always got paid on time, but I know of some real horror stories from other makers who have had all sorts of problems with finance. I have been lucky enough to only work with nice people.😇
Whilst taking orders I always kept a monthly planner handy, this was invaluable to schedule dates for orders to be made and dispatched.This helped me give the customer some idea of a delivery date, after all, there are only so many items that can be made in any given day and you have to be honest with youself and your customer.
I left the weekends free and tried to base my day on a typical 9 to 5 as far as life (kids) allowed. Once you are back home you MUST try to stick to your planner schedule come hell or high water. Unforseen events will conspire to eat into your day, from unexpected visitors to a child needing to come home from school. When this happens (and it will!) you need a new strategy. If you have to, get up early, work late, even work those sacred weekends but never fall behind - If you do, believe me, you will never catch up
You have to be very realistic about what you can achieve in an hour, a day a week, a month. And plan your workload accordingly.
I did this and thought about what I could comfortably achieve in any given day and it's worked out pretty well for me. I use the word "comfortably" because there is no point pushing yourself and your stress level up every day.
Obviously you need to make a living, but there's no point making youself ill doing it - it takes the fun out of life.
Whatever happens,
