Day in the Life of a Small Jewellery Business
What is an average day like for a small jewellery business in St Albans? There is no average day really, there are lots of spinning plates, lots of things to do and I get to do them all! There are the odd tasks I hate like taxes, hates a strong word, but I mean it, its over complicated and an absolute brain buster! But who wouldn't love making and playing with sparkly things all day and it 100% makes up for the tax returns.
I do try to keep a 9-5 Mon-Fri and take the weekends off, but being a small business it isn't always possible or sometimes I am on a roll with an idea and I just keep going past 5. I am super lucky I do all my business activities from home in my little conservatory workshop and I love it.
How do I plan my days?
I try my best to be organised and I have a structure that I follow: I plan out my quarters with goals I want to achieve, I then write a list of tasks I need to complete to achieve these goals. There are inevitably things that pop up which I will do outside of this, but on the whole I follow the plan. At the beginning of each week I refer back to my quarter plan where I am up to and where I need to be and write a list of activities I need to do and I literally tick them off as I go.
Morning
First things first once I have got ready is to commute to the kitchen, this is where the most important task of the day happens, I make my first cup of tea. Without this cup of tea, that is rich tea biscuit coloured nothing will happen. If I am being honest nothing much might happen until I have had that second cup.
I should be working by 9am, but I will be honest sometimes it just doesn't happen, but that's the joy of being self employed right!? The top task of the day is to check all social media channels and emails and try to reply to everyone, or I'll let you know that I've seen your email and I will tell you when I will come back with an answer.
Next is to check all orders that have come in, work out what can be sent out straight away and what needs to be made to order. If I have the item I will get these ready for dispatch straight away.
There are several things I could move on to, but most often I will check the website and stock levels after orders have come in. From this I will create a list of things that need to be restocked, most items are made to order, but my hoop collections are popular so I do try to hold some pieces in stock.
If I have any bespoke inquiries, I will look into these, which means I need to create a design based on the brief I have been given or discussed with you. I will then have to research current stone and metal prices to quote an accurate price for the item being created. Sometimes I will have to start this and come back to it, designing a new item can take a lot of time and I'll be honest sometimes you need to walk away and find inspiration and that can take an hour, a day or a few, you don't want me to rush this bit, I promise.
Noon
I always make sure I take a lunch and it always involves a walk with Monty, we usually use this time to go to the post office, which if you didn't know already, is dog friendly, which is super handy! Rain or shine we will be there to get your jewellery to you on time. Once I get back I will update you to let you know that I have dispatched the item.
Afternoon
I try to reserve the afternoons for the more fun things like photography, design and making. This tends to be where I get my hands dirty; filing, firing, sawing, melting and just generally making a complete mess to create something beautiful. This is my true happy place, because I know how delighted you will be to get the end result.
Night
Once I have decided to pack up for the day, I'll try to pop everything away and then its out for another walk with Monty to mark the end of the day. If I don't do that then it feels like the day never ends, it sort of bleeds into my evening. I try to switch off completely, but sometimes I will be active on social media, as is the nature of it, but I do try to avoid this, same with the weekends.
It's all going on
My days can vary wildly, I also need to fit in some time to do my taxes, marketing emails, creating display, applying for markets, communicating with suppliers and ordering new packaging, not to mention all the research that happens before these tasks. If I am also honest Christmas time is a whole different kettle of fish, its full on happy madness and I get a real buzz off it!
Is this what you imagined? Most people are surprised when I tell them that actually most of my time in taken up by admin tasks rather than making jewellery and even I was surprised at first, mainly because its time consuming!