The elusive planner

Are you like me? The kind of person who ooos and ahhhs over the variety of day planners every time I hit a store that sells them. They have so many colors, styles, and most of all they promise organization. As an artist, and a self employed one at that, I find that organization is essential to my success as a business owner. After years of college and workplace settings, you get accustomed to people telling you where you need to be and when, and what you need to have in hand when you get there. Sometimes that meant an assignment or a paper, other times that meant a uniform and a shiny disposition. Either way, it’s a whole different game staying on track when someone else is calling the shots.

Self employment requires a huge amount of focus and staying on task. It also requires a bit of routine when it comes to certain aspects of the day to day business operation. All of these things: focus, routine, and business make most artists (including me) want to run screaming. There are some great references, written by people with a lot of experience that will help take the fear out of combining art and commerce. Some of the blogs that address this are Create and Thrive, and Little Farm Media. If you haven’t seen these and want to know more about running a creative business, it’s a great place to start. If you enjoy listening to a podcast on this subject you can’t miss seanwes and She Percolates.  Once you have accepted the self employment challenge, you will need to enlist in any tools you can find, to help you achieve your goals.

Over the years I have bought so many planners. No really, SO many. Sadly enough, many times, I ended up having to recycle them. These pre dated and barely used tools, were promptly buried beneath art supplies. By the time they were rediscovered, they had become extinct. Believing that too much structure was the problem, I tried a free form system of to do lists, post its and blank notebooks. While fun and totally chaotic, none of this freedom provided enough help with a long term plan, goal setting, or staying on top of the day to day stuff that really keeps my business up and operating. While drooling over the beautiful planners on pintrest and instagram I realized maybe I was ready to try again.

I began looking for an alternative to the standard planner or the oh so beautiful…. but not practical ones. I want test drive a planner. Like a car, just to be sure it handles the way it should; just to be sure I will actually use it this time. The planner needs to be functional but flexible.

After searching to no avail, I have officially made my own planner that can be customized to suit my style, mood, and practical needs. In the big office supply stores there is a great 1inch, mini 3 ring binder. The one I found even has a customizable pocket on the front. The vibe can be changed anytime I have a new dose of motivation, I’ve found something inspiring, or just a general need to shake things up. It needs to have more than just pages of weekly/daily tasks like a typical planner. This needs to be an all out organizational hub for my business. There are now pockets for scrap thread, jewelry findings, and Ideas and notes scribbled on scraps of paper. One small pack of dividers helps section off and find things quickly. It is basically an foundation that I can build upon.

In the end it made sense for me to print my own task pages. It’s a great way to test and be sure you like the layout. More can be printed as needed, or you can find a style that better suits your needs. There are a ton of free printable templates online in all different configurations. Oddly enough, many of them are so beautiful it would distract me from my primary goal: daily planning (or weekly, monthly, even yearly). In the end my choice was for a clean black and white simple design. (HERE are the printables by PenGems I’m testing). There is something to be said for having a place to start and end a day other than a digital device. Old fashioned paper, pen and calendar.

Here I go again but this is on my terms. My completely customized, one of a kind, ever changing, inspiring organizer will work!  It has to because If not my mind will be free to wander. A little freedom is good, but it never hurts to have a friendly reminder to push me in the direction I need to be going. Especially when it comes to the whole “being my own boss” thing.