How do you grow your business with only 24 hours in a day?

Some days I feel like a zombie… the kids are eating spaghettios for lunch (somewhere are 2 when I remember to feed them), I’m digging through dirty laundry to find a half decent pair of jeans to run a last minute package to the post office, and then trekking 40 minutes to the closest Archiver’s because I realize I’m short 2 pink envelopes and forgot to put in my paper order… I’ve completely maxed out my schedule! My question is how do you get to the next level when you are out of time? I’ve tried hiring help around the house, but we live in the sticks and so there aren’t any big name cleaning companies I can hire, and local contacts have not been promising. I haven’t been able to find a way to hire business help either, because I’m so deep in my orders that it would be impossible for anyone to be here 24/7 and know what’s going on with each client. I am always busy looking through my business forms. And what exactly is the next level I should be aiming for? Having my items mass produced just isn’t the philosophy of what I do… everything is customized, personalized, no two orders look the same.Is anyone else in this position, or been there and lived to tell about it? I would love to hear your ideas – not only on how to survive – but how to thrive and grow!

Do I know where you’re coming from! I’m dying for an answer to it all. I’ve organized my schedule the best I can and it’s still not all getting done. I am trying to leave my FT employment now to hiring help is not the best thing for me to do at this time. I have a helper for my parties but it’s only for the day of the event. I have no idea how I’m supposed to grow if I can’t find the time to do more. My baby boy is 2 and I refuse to take what little time I have with him away so all I have is early mornings and late nights and it really starts to take a toll.Unfortunately, all I can offer you is an ear and the affirmation that you’re not alone in struggling to grow your business while keeping sane. I hope that you get some actual usable advice and feedback. Your work is beautiful so I’m sure you’ll get there

Hello,You are not alone, I am in the same boat. Not only do I work 60 hours a week at my marketing job. I also have this business on the side. Believe or not my day starts off at 5:30am and usually ends around 1:30am. I wake up gets my boys ready for school, drive them to school usually I run errands in the morning then I come to work I usually get in around 9:30am work on average till 8pm everyday. go home attempt to make dinner and if not its a bowl of cereal or some fast food (which I am not a fan off). Then its shower time and bedtime for the boys. Sometimes I have to do laundry at night because the boys need uniforms. I have to pick up the house do the dishes, shower and then work on projects.I never say no to any projects or parties, aside from doing parties I am also a crafter so I make personalized b-day cards, books, scrapbooks etc. And this week for example I overbooked myself I have 3 crafting projects plus I have to prep for a hollywood themed birthday party in two weeks. I still have to even shop or decided what i am going to do for this party. The only things that saves me, its for my cousin’s daughter and she is understanding. I don’t have any hired help for the business my partner in the business is the only one that really helps me so its only us. She is good at somethings and I am good at others so in the end we both feel as we are doing the projects alone.I never have time to do anything not even on the weekends sometimes I barely have time to spend with the kids and the house cleaning and laundry forget about it that gets put on the back burner…. (yesterday my son begged me to please do laundry and give it to him to put away because he needed clothes and was tired of having to rummage through the basket of clean clothes to find one) it gets tough for me as well. The only thing that has helped me a little as that I decided to hire a cleaning lady its someone who I used to work with and she opened her own cleaning company. If it wasn’t because of her I wouldn’t know what to do.This business as with any business is always time consuming, I had to reflect on things this past week because I found myself irritable and snapping at people because I am tired or exhausted. I admit I love it that my business is thriving and I am getting as much people interested. But to be honest I have had to learn how to say NO. I know its hard but at some point if you are not going to be able to fill orders or get the help you need you may have to turn away some jobs in order to complete the projects and for peace of mind.I also can tell you that I customize parties but sometimes I do have to outsource the work otherwise I will drive myself and family crazy. So I would look into some things you can maybe outsource it will take a little stress off of you and you can still complete the project and not feel bad in the end.

I still do a lot of handmade goods (party favor, banners, etc) but recently I had to order some printables because I just didn’t have the time, and my client was very happy. I personally didn’t see an increase or decrease but I did notice that it saved me a lot of time. And to be honest I will def be doing it again because I realized it was worth every penny to outsource the printables with my schedule.

I hear you loud and clear. It is stressful and exhausting to try to juggle it all.I have considered printables, but I could never do it. My heart and soul are in the custom, handmade finished product. I am still toying with the idea of pre-made though..Possibly to sell wholesale or at cash/carry events, but I am always too busy with customs to make the premades! I have also realized, you need to define what success means to you and how you will be able to achieve that success. I know there is no way I could handle a 100 handmade orders a week, nor would I want to try. I have set goals to be the most successful & extraordinary small business I can be. Growth does not mean the same thing for every business. Ultimate success for me would be a scheduled work week of orders and to be able to clockout Friday night and spend the weekend hanging out with my family, truly being present, and not cutting and glittering in between everything else..And, Jill, I will tell you this..You are extremely talented, and your work is beautiful. I am a huge fan of your style and products. The reason you are so busy is simply because you create amazing and adorable stuff. I hope you can find the balance you are looking for and continue to design and create your products

I really do think you and I lead parallel lives! I absolutely love what I do, and it has always been my mission to create the custom items for each customer the way they want them, something special with their child’s name and all the little touches. I too have considered the printables just to relieve some of the demand for the handmade items, but I really fear that would make my situation worse – I would still all of the customers who want their items handmade, and then be adding printable customers to that list, and have to find even more time to customize the files and all the back and forth communication that entails!Your words are very encouraging! I always feel like I need to grow, like I must not have hit my peak yet because I have more requests coming in than I can handle… which I know is a good thing, but its also difficult for 2 reasons: first, because it occupies a lot of communication time explaining to customers over and over again that I can not accommodate their party (like it says in the announcement they never read… but that’s another issue and second, because I hate to disappoint anyone! And then I ultimately take on more than I can handle anyways and end up working all night… which makes me enjoy my job a little less. So if I could hire someone or find a way to be faster/more productive, then I could say yes more and get to bed at a reasonable time.So I guess even if we don’t ever find the Sphynx’s secret or the fountain of youth or the answer to this question, it is invaluable to be able to talk about it with all of you who are going through the same!!