Does everything get in the way when you start working? Here’s how to stop distractions in your gift basket business.
Four possible causes
Business chaos appears in many forms.
- Obligations
- Disorganization
- Inconsistencies
- Poor or no planning
Anything and everything can get in the way when starting and maintaining your gift basket business. Whether at the beginning or during the growth stage, situations occur that add to your daily decisions.
Distractions can and will happen. Some must be dealt with right away while others can wait until a time when you’re not taking care of business.
Identify the source
Take a moment to write or type the distractions that occur most often. Such events may be due to your location and the way others feel they can contact you. Here are some common events.
- Neighbors dropping by your office to talk
- Family members randomly calling by phone
- Other business owners asking for favors
- Kids’ or pets’ disruptions at the home studio
- Taking time to do home chores that can wait
Ask yourself if any of the common disruptions you wrote or typed make you money or pause your ability to earn income. Then start with the top three problems and decide how to solve each. Make a rule, inform people, do whatever is necessary to organize the process and create better habits in your business.
Long-time designers have less problems in this area because they’ve learned to create barriers. A quick look at the profit and loss page in your financial software will cause your eyebrows to raise and have you recognize that changes must be made. If you’re not getting paid, you have distractions.
Phone follies
Your telephone may be a big culprit when it comes to distractions, and all of it may not be your fault. Family members don’t always respect your business hours. It may be time to remind them to call you after hours aside from emergency notifications.
The other phone problem is the overload of spam calls. Answering the phone is critical because it may be a customer calling to place an order. The solution is for you or a staff member to conduct research that results in decreasing the number of phony calls. You may not get rid of all of it, but it can be lowered. That lessens distractions and puts that valuable time back into your business.
The episode 34 podcast, 11 Ways to Avoid Distractions, provides more details on this nagging situation.
Now that you have ideas on how to stop distractions in your gift basket business, which problems will you deal with first?
