Sunday Coffee

My husband and I have this ritual. Each Sunday we will sit at the dining room table and drink coffee and just talk and talk. About anything, really. Business, friends, stuff we'd like to put into our Bucket List (and find a way to accomplish them).

This morning most of our conversation was about TV....TV!!! Not so much about shows we watch but the time we waste sitting in front of that glowing black box. Watching chefs "Chop" and cake artists make cakes, the daily news (close my eyes tight and get just the essential stuff and then turn the channel.) Oh and movies...lots of movies. Now, I enjoy TV and movies as much as anyone but.....I'm wasting my life sitting there. I have journal entries to do, I have soap to make, I have bread to bake. I have lots and lots of jewelry to make. And, I have a lifetime of reading to do. Where do I begin. First step...UNPLUG that animal!!!

As we sat there discussing all of these things we should be doing instead of not doing them, we decided a daily calendar might be worth a shot. So I got some paper and drew some crude "days" on it. Then we started talking about how to use all this new precious and freeing time. Of course, you have to add your work time to this scenario.

We normally get up at about 5:00 am -- I know, insane, huh? Getting up this early does give you a running start on the day. We get our coffee in, a little bit of visiting and then it's breakfast and getting ready for work. No....I do not sit around in my jammies all day working in the office. I actually do my hair, make-up and put on acceptable casual clothing. The people who tell you they sit around in pajamas and spend an entire day getting their mail ready for the post office should probably look for a more regimented job especially if they want to make a living at their "craft." You must have discipline if you work from your home. You'll never get anything done.

By 7:00 am, we are well within our work schedule. We get orders pulled from the computer and get them bagged and ready to ship. We do processing of raw brass which might have come in, we answer correspondence -- your normal work day. By 4:00 pm, we usually call it a day unless we are swamped.

I know I got a bit off track with the calendar/doing more with leisure time. The reason I am telling you this is not to try to impress you with how I run my business but rather to tell you how well someone can and should run their business if they really want to break the chains of the 9-5 business world. It can be done. It takes time, discipline and commitment. It took me a good number of years to get here. And I am still learning, learning, learning. I gobble up any article I see about self-employment and try to get anything out of the article I can use.

Have a dream of being a famous??? "fill in the blank." Get a piece of paper out and start looking at time you actually own but are not using wisely. You might find out you can do it!!

Until next time,
Jill (www.brassbouquet.com)