10 things you can do for your business, when you can’t create

There comes a time when a crafter is unable to create due to health or other reasons. I recently experienced this and had to limit my designs and production of new items to a bare minimum. To say that I was extremely frustrated (apart from being in a lot of pain) is an understatement, however I realised very quickly that I had to pace myself and avoid certain activities like anything that involves bending over at the bench and long stretches in front of the laptop. At the same time I also realised that I had to use my time simply for other areas of my business. I’d like to share with you the 10 things you can do when you can’t create your craft items.

1. Improve your website – If you have your own website you might want to re-evaluate how well it performs in terms of visitors and which pages get the most clicks. Maybe you find you need to work on your SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) or you find that your website could do with a complete revamp. And if you don’t have a website you might consider building one. If you can’t do this yourself – hook up with a trusted web designer who specialises in SEO. That’s what I have done last year in September and since my new website’s online presence has improved.
2. Start a blog – or improve your existing blog – If you don’t have a blog yet, why not start one now as an add-on to your business website? Starting a blog is fairly easy – you need a host, a name for your blog and a free blogging platform such as blogger or WordPress. I use WordPress.org which offers plenty of free templates, plugins and widgets. There is also tons of advice out on effective blogging – just type successful blogging into Google and see what it comes up with. I only recently revamped my blog and you can read about this here.
3. Discover social networking sites you haven’t used before or very little – I am mostly using Facebook, but have recently read a guide about Twitter and am now making more use of it as well as LinkedIn. I also plan to pay more attention to Google+.
4. Ditch some of your social media – If you feel overwhelmed with it all and don’t want to be on all of them – simply choose to stick to those that work best for your business and ditch the rest. It can be liberating.
5. Meet up with real people – Working from home can make you  feel very isolated and no social media network can replace a real person. So pick up your phone, ring some friends or join groups in your local community.
6. Prepare your tax return – Ok, I admit this is very dull and not something I like doing! But if you can’t afford your own accountant you’ve got to find a system that works and makes it a painless affair. So why not start now? If you already have a system, that’s great. I am one of these people who leave it fairly late and then spend at least one day sorting it all out, instead of just filing each receipt as it comes in. So note to self – better practice what I just “preached”.
7. Prepare a marketing plan – Now is a good time to sit down and create a marketing plan for your wares. Re-evaluate your marketing efforts – what has worked well, what hasn’t, where can you make improvements?  For example – if you attended craft fairs only, but have had little returns for your effort and more costs, it’s time to move away from these fairs and try something new. Instead consider approaching galleries or shops. Do some research – what’s available in your own area, find out what they sell or show and how much they are willing to pay you, i.e. what’s their commission rate? Often it is 50% and unfortunately most galleries operate on a sale or return base. You can find a lot of free info about marketing online. Search Google or Amazon.
8. Make a list of all those projects you want to work on – Catch those ideas for designs, jot them down or if you do a lot of sketching – sketch your ideas. Once you feel better you’ll be grateful as you will have a  valuable source of ideas – for those moments when you hit a creative block.
9. Read more books – If your health isn’t affecting your reading ability – start reading all those books that you keep putting off. I love reading, so I don’t see it as a chore – not even non-fiction how-to books. You can learn so much from them – even from badly written ones. 🙂
10. Take a break from it all – Yes, you’re reading correctly. Sometimes the best thing is to take a cue from your body and see it as a sign to just rest and take a break to recover.

As you can see there are plenty of things you can do that will help your business when you’re too unwell to actually make things.

I am sure I can think of even more things.

I hope this was useful to you – let me know by leaving a comment below.

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