Letter from my Son, Believe it will help a lot of people

Here is my advice and some tough love, take it in the spirit that I want only the best for you.

1)      Write a spreadsheet of products.  Name, Price, size, description  I’ll add them to the site. If you can’t put a list of items together in 2 hours, AND ONLY 2 HOURS,  you can’t have a website yet, you’re not ready.  Stop, get everything else done, then worry about the website when you can put the list together in 2 hours or less.  I can help, but at this point, there isn'’t anything to help with.

2)      Learn time management. 

      Read this site: http://www.hanselman.com/blog/ProductivityVsGuiltAndSelfLoathing.aspx  When you’re reading this site, don’t have the tv on, turn your phone off, get a cup of whatever warm beverage, and sit and read for 20 minutes. 

     NO MULTITASKING         .  You’re not good at it, no one is good at it.  If you think you’re good at it, I can prove to you or anyone how you’re not (and no one is).  Other parts of time management is setting alarms on your phone.  If you have trouble setting alarms on your phone, get an iPhone already! 

c.       Stop being difficult with your phone choice and getting crappy Androids that are hard to use, that someone who is too cheap to get an iPhone told you to get Android.  Its crappy, send a long text message to someone using your Android, and then look to see what it looks like.  You’re going to be embarrassed how bad your text messages look, its hard to read, looks like gibberish.  You won’t understand until you look on someone else’s phone who received your long text message. 

d.      Check email once and only once a day, or maybe twice, just like hanselman says.   Don’t “not” check your email, set an alarm to remind you.

e.      Stop trying to remember when to do things in general, set alarms, let your phone tell you when to do things, that way your brain is freed to work on other things.

f.        Time management is the difference between success or failure for most people, take it seriously.  It will reduce your stress level, and give you a better idea of what you can accomplish or not, and if you can’t, you’ll be able to tell people you can’t.  

4)      You need to really make sure this business is even profitable, or if it even “can” be profitable.  If it can’t, walk away, or just make a deal with someone else who “is” good at running a business.  Make large batches of single products to sell to some lady with a website, and let them worry about making money, but all you have to do is to fill invoices.

5)      Don’t stop everything to make 1 product for 1 person.  Set schedules when you make stuff.  Tell everyone that your next batch of X balm is on December 15, if they don’t get their order in, they have to wait until December 22.  

There you go mom, I hope you take this advice to heart. You need to make schedules, organize your time, and everything else will become easy.