by Kelly from SewEndless
I have been asked to share a very useful tool in my sewing room: My white board.
On my white board is a list of my orders. I bought dry erase markers in different colors with magnets on the caps so I can hang them right on the board (if it’s not too full). My orders are in black with potential orders and orders for which I need for information in purple. In green is a “shopping list” at the bottom. It tells me how much I need of my staple fabrics so I don’t have to calculate it every time. When I get really busy I draw lines between orders to represent how many I plan to finish in a week. If there are three green lines, that means I’m 4 weeks out.
When I finish an order I erase it from the top and move everything up if I need to make room. Each order has the name of the item(s), the name of the buyer and any special measurements, colors or notes.
My white board hangs on the wall right next to my cutting desk. From anywhere in my sewing room, I can check to see how many orders I have. If someone asks about how long an order will take, I can look at my white board and give them an approximate time. Or realize I had better pick up the pace.
Next to my white board is a calendar that will soon be the home of my production schedule. Now that I have almost 3 years under my belt, I’m going to sit down and write up a production schedule to give myself deadlines since I seem to work better that way. My schedule will consist of dates for seasonal items. For example, I know that I need to have my children’s school/book bags done by the time school shopping season hits, which is from the first week of July to the second week of August. So I will write down June 30 as my deadline for school bags.
I have been asked to share a very useful tool in my sewing room: My white board.
On my white board is a list of my orders. I bought dry erase markers in different colors with magnets on the caps so I can hang them right on the board (if it’s not too full). My orders are in black with potential orders and orders for which I need for information in purple. In green is a “shopping list” at the bottom. It tells me how much I need of my staple fabrics so I don’t have to calculate it every time. When I get really busy I draw lines between orders to represent how many I plan to finish in a week. If there are three green lines, that means I’m 4 weeks out.
When I finish an order I erase it from the top and move everything up if I need to make room. Each order has the name of the item(s), the name of the buyer and any special measurements, colors or notes.
My white board hangs on the wall right next to my cutting desk. From anywhere in my sewing room, I can check to see how many orders I have. If someone asks about how long an order will take, I can look at my white board and give them an approximate time. Or realize I had better pick up the pace.
Next to my white board is a calendar that will soon be the home of my production schedule. Now that I have almost 3 years under my belt, I’m going to sit down and write up a production schedule to give myself deadlines since I seem to work better that way. My schedule will consist of dates for seasonal items. For example, I know that I need to have my children’s school/book bags done by the time school shopping season hits, which is from the first week of July to the second week of August. So I will write down June 30 as my deadline for school bags.
by Kelly from SewEndless
 |
Ruffled Handbag Purse Tropical Floral |
9:03 AM |
Category:
business topics,
order,
organization,
schedule,
tracking,
white board
|
12
comments
Comments (12)
That is a good idea! I don't have enough orders to warrant a white board but it would be useful for other reasons. Might have to get one :)
Excellent Kelly. You are so organized.
Kelly great ideas - I am going to start a couple of white boards. I do personalized horsehair pots through several horse barns (occasionally could be an ETSY order but my daughter and son train and so so they get me most of that business)the white board will work great with that. I might do another one for production requirements for shows scheduled.
Thanks for sharing!
Great ideas Kelly-I like the color coding!
Great ideas Kelly. Thanks for sharing!!
Thanks so much, Kelly!
Thank you for sharing, this is very useful. I will remember this system when the orders start pouring in!
Great idea, Kelly! Thank you for sharing this with us!!
Wow you are so organized! Hopefully I will use this practice when I get busier in my online store.
Thanks for sharing! After reading your success with using a white board, I started using 2 - one for weekly activities and another for daily tasks. Works great!
I need to do this. I tried a virtual one...through a printed list online but it is not the same. The paper gets buried under other stuff and does not stay in one place.
This is awesome. I love how organized you are!