Dovetail Creative Consulting

Then don't fix it! Seriously! This LinkedIn Page, our blog, and our Instagram are filled with tips and tricks, however the biggest tip I have is for our readers and clients to do what works for them. Every business is different, and every person is different, and that is especially true when it comes to creatives and their businesses. Because of that, there are a myriad of cases where what works for some will not work for all. And there may be a “rule of thumb” that is a no-go, but in your case, it works. If that’s the case, keep on doing it. This is why I love working with clients individually - it gives me the chance to talk to them and collaborate with them to see what works and what doesn’t when it comes to systems and operating procedures for their business. Oftentimes, clients want me to look at the big picture for them, and while there are certainly larger problems to work on, but that doesn’t mean that the small tasks, tips and systems aren't the pieces that make up the whole. Our goal is never to give “one size fits all” advice. On our blog & instagram I am to offer a variety of options to try on for size. Our one on one consulting services are much more personalized and tailored to the needs of the creative and business that I am working with. Interested in getting more information about what we do? Please feel free to comment below, or email [email protected].

Breaks are important, even if you’ve got deadlines or are in the midst of a great #creative flow. You still need to #move your body, step back from what you’re doing and make sure you’re eating and staying hydrated while you’re working. The typical rule of thumb is the 50/10 rule - for every 50 minutes of work, you break for 10 minutes. Its so common that those Apple Watch users know the “stand up” alert they get at 10 min till the top of the hour. But, newer studies are showing that for our #health, a 30/5 rule may be more beneficial. But what constitutes a #break? Yes, walking away from your work to clear your head is great, and grabbing a coffee or a snack is also wonderful. But, the best thing you can do is to stand up, walk around and get your blood flowing for 5 minutes. Standing outside for a little or walking around on a nice day is a great way to step away and impact your well-being. And if a full 5 minute break won’t work? Can you walk around while you take a phone call? Do some chair stretches to get some movement in? Work from a standing position for a while so you’re not feeling too stagnant? This is a way to be creative, and make sure that you’re taking care of yourself.

Well, I think we all know by now that I love a #system. I also love a system that I can set up once and let do it’s thing. There are so many small pieces of #business that can be #automated today - from filters & rules within your email inbox categorizing emails instantly to software that will assist with your entire workflow. Many creatives are solo #entrepreneurs - we are wearing many, many hats and we’re just trying to get it all done. Those of us that do have teams are still quite often juggling a bit. This is why I love automating what we can - it allows for tech and the computers to take some of the load off. Anything you can do to add functionality, increase your productivity and efficiency is fabulous. Don’t be afraid to be an early adopter of such technology and to try new things. Does your accounting software allow you to sync your credit card reporting and let you sort it rather than manually entering? Great! Want to set your Gmail to automatically delete emails with the word “unsubscribe” in the body to weed out the amount of junk you’re getting? Perfect. A few additional tools that I love to use: * AI Notetaking: This is especially great if you’re in 1:1 meetings with clients without a team and need to present with your hands, but also need a record of the meeting. Calendly: Rather than spending time going back and forth over availability, sending your clients your Calendly link and letting them view your availability and schedule what is best for them makes it so easy. You can block off times that you don't want to hold meetings and/or limit your availability to certain days or blocks. Zapier: I try to integrate as many functions as I can into one ecosystem, but it doesn’t always work. Once you make a sale, sometimes you need an email sent out. Zapier allows you to set up automated workflows - once a trigger hits, it automates an action, which makes YOU look so on top of it all. Are there any other solutions that you’ve put in place to automate systems in your business? If so, let us know in the comments below! Interested in how Dovetail Creative Consulting can help you? We’d love to hear from you! Send us an email - [email protected] This is not a sponsored post, all opinions are my own.

Outsourcing can be a great way to lessen the burden of running a business, whether its as a #soleproprietor or as a #founder with a bustling team. The first go-to for many #smallbusinesses is to #outsource their #accounting and #legal needs, as you’re not going to have either position on staff. But there are many, many other positions that you can outsource as well - including what this very business offers! Why outsource at all? There are three main reasons: 1- because you can bring someone in that has a greater knowledge or #expertise than you have - and that has value; 2- because it will give you more time to do the work that only you can do; 3- because there are tasks that are less consequential to the business that make sense for you to hand-off to free your time up for high value tasks. Why would you choose to outsource roles rather than hire? One benefit is that you’re paying for the professional services & experience, not the employees and benefits that they require. Oftentimes, the work that’s needed isn’t always enough to sustain a full or even a part-time position. It can be a big leap - to decide to hand off pieces of the work load, control, or to start paying for services. But, the realization that there aren’t enough hours in a day usually hits once the business hits a certain degree of growth, and that threshold is different for everyone. Its important to remember that when you choose the right partnership and embrace the change that you’re ready for, your business will thrive. #Creatives - whether #artists, #designers or anything in between, generally need the headspace and #freedom to let their #imaginations roam and allow for the creative projects to come to life. When you relieve yourself from the tasks that are nagging, and give yourself a little more breathing room, you will likely find that your creative projects reach new levels. Are you interested in hearing what Dovetail Creative Consulting can do for you? We’d love to chat! Email us at [email protected]

This tip is my #favorite so far… if not ever, all time. Ready for it? Turn off your #notifications on your phone & computer. I’ve mentioned this in a previous blog post about not getting sucked into your email inbox all day long, but there’s more of a #distraction than just emails. Texts, social media, shopping apps - and a whole host of others send notifications throughout the day to our phone and computer. And those very notifications can be truly disruptive during your workday. There are a few solutions: 1. Turn off notifications altogether. This would go beyond your workday and silence notifications permanently, which is actually quite nice. You can do this for ALL notifications, or just for select apps on your phone. I went through and chose the ones that I determined I didn’t need to hear from and turned the notifications off, and am happy to report - I don’t miss them. 2. You can set up a #focusschedule for different parts of your day or different work flows you have and screen through different notifications depending on what works for you, when. This is another practice that I use, especially as a working mom - sometimes I need texts and calls silenced, but also need the peace of mind knowing that family can get in touch in the event of an emergency. That’s possible with the focus permissions. 3. Lastly, you can go into full “do not disturb” mode whenever you need to. This is easier and takes less set up than the previous two solutions. It is all or nothing, but is a good option when you are in presentations or really need to get deep into creative work. Not only are the minimized distractions helpful during the #creative work times it can also be helpful when you really need to put your head down and work on the #business side of things too - especially if those tasks are not your favorite. The notifications can be an easy way to #procrastinate getting something done, so not having that temptation there at all is just as helpful as minimizing the distraction. Taking the constantly pinging phone - that now is also mirrored on computers & tablets - out of the equation completely can go a long way in increasing our productivity as well as keeping us from feeling distracted, frazzled and pulled in a million different directions as creative small business owners. Looking for more help with running and operating your small business? Dovetail Creative Consulting specializes in operations consulting for creatives. Please reach out via email - [email protected].

I couldn't agree more!

Everyone has those tasks that fall on the “ugh” list. The ones that get put off for a while, and then tackled with an “ugh, fine”. Then there’s usually a most hated task that gets avoided at all costs, but eventually done, because when it’s your business, that’s how it always works. Putting things off like that isn’t always the most #efficient or effective way to run a business, however. So, I always ask. Is there a way to look at things differently? Or manage them differently? * Ask yourself which tasks you dislike. Is there a way to integrate them into your schedule that makes them more tolerable? Perhaps at a coffee shop with a latte as a treat? Or alongside a creative friend while their accomplishing their hated tasks as well? * As #smallbusinessowner, there are surely ones that you NEED to be doing yourself. Are there ones that you can hand off? Perhaps it’s time to #outsource to another small business? Or make an addition to your team. * Can you #streamline these tasks? Whether through the development of a new system as part of your #businessoperations, or the addition of a new piece of software or technology, there may be a way to lessen the burden of the task itself and make it more bearable. * Lastly, is there simply a way to do the task differently? Sometimes there just isn't. Bills need to be entered the way they need to be entered. but depending on what it is, there may be a different approach or way to look at the undertaking that would allow you to change how you perform it. At the end of the day, its worth taking a step back to see how you can change the way the you do tasks that you like doing the least. With a creative approach, there may be a #solution that won't turn them into your new favorite thing to do, but will make them much more bearable and won’t cause your business to suffer or slow down in the meantime. #consulting #creatives #artist #designer #womenownedbusiness

The fabulous ladies at The Home Edit haven’t been saying “IT’S A SYSTEM” for years for no reason! They love their #systems, and so do I. One thing I implement in #businesses wherever I can are systems: 1. Do you have a #client #onboarding email that you send out regularly? Write that out once in your drafts, copy & paste going forward and you are done! 2. Make templates for everything - emails, documents, info sheets, social media posts - you name it. 3. If you have a team, make #flowcharts or #diagrams so they are all following the same systems and protocols for tasks & projects. Anything that you can do to take the guesswork out, reduce the labor that you are doing or the amount of work that goes into a task is going to help you spend more time on the #creative parts of the business that fuel your passion and make your business #profitable. In turn, this all creates a more efficient way of operating your business. Additionally, and speaking of a team, implementing any number of systems now will help you #scale your business as you grow. This is true whether its growing from being a sole practitioner to a duo or to increasing by much larger numbers. Do you think your creative business would benefit from implementing systems? We’d love to chat and hear more about your business and challenges! Please reach out to us via email - [email protected].

It can be tempting to race through tasks to one quickly right after another. Many creatives feel the need to rush through the #business operation tasks to move back to the #creative tasks, or to move from one creative project to the next in order to keep the income flowing and keep the business operative. I get that. However, oftentimes, its better for business in the long run to slow everything down a tick. Not enough to where it hurts business, but to a paces where you can be thorough and get tasks done right the first time. As creatives, when you rush through projects too quickly, what typically suffers is the creative process and things end up being formulaic. You compromise on research, you pull from work you did in the past with little new inspiration. At the end of the project or job, especially after you have some distance from it, there’s a greater chance you’ll look back and say, “Eh that wasn’t my best work. I wish I had time to do that differently.” Mistakes often happen more frequently when you’re rushed - something I probably don’t need to tell you twice. My creative background is in #interiordesign - a field where mistakes are often costly. I like to say there are no mistakes in art, and while that’s kinda true for the #art process, we all know that when your art is your business, mistakes aren’t something we can afford. As creatives, the margins simply are not there. So, the solution? Slow it down. Take your time. What happens when things take longer? Will the clients be mad? Will they turn away to another artist or designer? Maybe! But that can often be avoided by being upfront with them and #communicate your timeline for their project right off the bat. From there, work with them on their expectations, and stay in communication throughout the process. Also, as you are going through your creative process, it’s helpful to put into practice #timemanagement skills to help keep yourself on the timeline that you set out. Interested in hearing more about how I can help your creative business thrive? Email me! [email protected].

What is #timeoptimism? Simply put, it’s being optimistic about how long a project, job or task will take. Some #artists & #designers fall into this trap naturally & honestly, just by not being not fully aware of how long things take. Other times, we as creatives can fall prey to time optimism when trying to rush a job to completion. This can happen to please a client, rush to meet a deadline, or because we are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of work that we have on our plate at any given moment. This goes back to a previous post about being honest with ourselves about how how long tasks take. Rather than convincing yourself that you can get that painting don’t in 4 hours instead of 16, the bedroom design done in 2 days not 5, the photos edited in a 3 week time frame not 6, or that proposal out by EOD, its much better to be honest, not fall prey to time optimism. Accept that its going to take the 16 hours, the 5 days, the 6 weeks, or 2 full business days that past precedent has shown you it will take. What’s better, as #creatives who are almost always producing work for #clients, is to give them a range that you know you can deliver within, and then surprise them with an early completion. This takes honest and upfront #communication with them that their anticipated goal may be unrealistic. Many times, as long as communication is open, the interaction can be successful. And on the creative end, not feeling rushed and overwhelmed will result in a better creative process for you. #business #consulting #smallbusiness #womeninbusiness #artists #designers