Episode 178 - Building Good Business Habits

Custom Apparel Startups

Can you guess how success in your customization business is like success in a fitness, financial, or weight loss program?

• If your goal is to lose 20lbs by September 30th, you can't start working on that on the 25th and expect to be successful
• If your financial goal is to save up $20K for a down payment on house, or pay cash for a car, you're probably not going to pull that money out of that week's budget to make the purchase.

Because with your health and your finances you've got to do small things right on a regular basis - or BIG things on a regular basis - in order to succeed. You're not very likely to win the lottery OR wake up with 6-pack abs after buying a scratch off and doing sit-ups one morning.

BUT, if you save and invest over time, every day, do some ab work every day, you're very likely to end up in the place you want to be.

Let's apply that to your Business Life and talk about the habits that will help you reach your goals:

Regular Habit/Organization

Have a calendar. Use it. Live by it.

• Billing schedule
• Production calendar

Daily:

1. Machine maintenance
2. Check job schedule & checklist
   a. Product, blank and supply status
   b. Art work status
   c. ...
3. Check/Enter new orders
4. Communications - emails, calls and chats
   a. Create appt/task/call entries
5. Wrap up
   a. Machine shutdown/maintenance
   b. Adjust calendar/tasks for tomorrow

Weekly:

1. Marketing Basics
   a. Website Check - Working?
   b. Social Updates
2. Business Progress Check
3. Check your Financial Life

Monthly:

1. Review Quarterly / Annual Goals
2. Business check in
   a. How were sales?
   b. What problems did you have?
   c. What success did you have?
   d. What do you wish you did better?
3. Clean up
   a. Make sure shop is in tip-top shape
   b. Delete that 'downloads' folder on the computer
4. Inventory Check
   a. Supplies / Blanks / Tools

Tools:

• Asana Project Management / BaseCamp / Trello
• Freshbooks / Quickbooks
• Google Calendar or CRM
• Stripe / Square
• Good old Excel!