It’s frustrating to hear people talk about how sustainable craft is when you hear so many stories about makers who spend 10 hours a day making product, then come home from the studio and spend hours packaging orders, answering emails, and doing other administrative tasks. And they do this day in and day out. Is that really sustainable?
Nevermind that if this sounds like your reality, you’re probably way undercharging for your work. (That’s a rant for another post.)
Want I want to talk about today is the importance of rest, recharging, and taking care of yourself when running a creative business. It’s difficult to be creative when you’re running around like a crazy person all the time. And your creativity is what makes your business unique. I understand the impulse to work all the time. You are your business, and when you don’t work, you don’t make money. But it’s important to give yourself permission to take a break now and then to recharge your creative batteries.
So here are my suggestions for ways to take care of yourself and your creative business:
- Take field trips. Last week I went to New York to see a few exhibits at MOMA, and today I’m off to Longwood Gardens and Terrain. While weekly field trips aren’t normal for me, I do understand the importance of taking time to look at things beyond my studio walls. Whether it’s spending time in museums, gallery hopping in a nearby city, or spending time in the outdoors, chose activities that boost your creatity and schedule them regularly.
- Read. In case you couldn’t tell by now, I’m a total book addict. I tend towards non-fiction books because I have an insatiable desire for information. Chances are, there are some fantastic books out there that relate to the subjects you make work about. How much better would your work be if you took time to read on a regular basis? But don’t feel everything you read needs to relate. Any book, fiction or non, can broaden your thinking and get those creative juices flowing.
- Take vacations. There is nothing wrong with closing up shop for a week, virtual or otherwise, and taking a break. Vacations give you a chance to relax, to take a break from your usual routine, and reconnect with your family. (Remember them?)
- Take care of yourself. When was the last time you went to the eye doctor? Or the dentist? Or exercised? You are the center of your business, and if you aren’t healthy, your business can’t be either. Give yourself time to cook healthy foods, exercise on a regular basis, to rest if you’re feeling sick, and to get regular health screenings. Taking care of yourself should be your first priority, not your last.
It’s important to give yourself permission to take a break from your business to recharge, get inspired, and take care of yourself. Your business will be better because of it.
What do you do to take care of yourself and your creative business?
This is great advice. Burning out on administrative details or working too many hours in the studio can crush creativity, which can hamper an artist’s business. Working in flexible hours is important for sustaining yourself. Thanks for the post.
This is such a great post – and a lot can relate. I can be one of those people, working every hour in the day…and yes it is hard to separate yourself from what you love doing – but what’s the point if this great craft has you tied down all the time? I don’t work on weekends- that’s a rule I like to stick to. Every summer I take a 2-3 week vacation which means no work and checking email only 1-2 during the day.
Unfortunately I only do that once a year…
This is a fantastic post! I’m a big advocate of healthy food, exercise, and, of course, creative weekend trips. I agree that many people forget about those other facets of themselves in the midst of doing what they love. Thanks for reinforcing the importance of reconnecting with the people and things that make the rest of life what it is.
I’ve been running my business for a year now and have been working like a madperson. I sort of realise that people need to rest sometimes but it’s as if I can’t! Even if I think I’d work better after I’d rested / taken a break…. you know, that it would make me more efficient, it’s still hard!
Great advice! I love the idea of going on little field trips like MOMA. Does anyone have any recommendations for creative field trips in Boston, MA?
I just recently took a short vacation for 2 days, and it was the best thing I could have done.
You don’t need a full week..sometimes just a couple of days to get away helps.
This is my biggest struggle. I often work from 10 am till 2 am, and since I live in my studio, even when I’m not working, I’m surrounded by work. My favorite way to relax is to go to the National Arboretum for a walk, I just go off the path as soon as I can and tromp through the woods, I love being in the middle of the city, and not seeing any cars or other people or pavement.
I need to figure out how to make time for other important things. I rarely cook, and never healthy, I never exercise other than the Arboretum, or walking to the post office, and I haven’t been to the doctor in over a year. It’s terrible, I always says “After my big show, I’ll get to all this…” but there’s always a big show I’m working towards.
I’m starting up again at Eastern Market this weekend, so I’ll be back to working 7 days a week, for the rest of the year. I have a few trips in mind to take a break, but I need to make a better schedule for every week, to give myself permission to relax.
I would loose it if I didn’t exercise every day and enjoy the outdoors. My life doesn’t revolve around my work. I do spend many, many hours at it but I maintain a great balance of work, family and me time. Plus I have kids and they always come first. Having a supportive husband and family helps me maintain this balance, so I am very blessed too.
We actually take almost the whole summer off from shows to enjoy the beach (I live on what is essentially an island) and even though we could pick many shows to do in July and August it is much more important to us to have this special time in the summer with our family. It actually makes us more productive and inspired when we are happy and well rested to boot. This feels especially important because when September rolls around we don’t stop working in the studio and doing shows until after Christmas.
Great advice.
Oh this is perfectly timed, as I spent all day yesterday and half of today recovering from an all-nighter (can’t bounce back the way I used to!) getting my spring collection out. I got a lecture just the other day from a friend about how I don’t give myself weekends…I really have to work on that! I really love your idea of field trips, and that’s perfect for me since the Smithsonian is only a metro ride away! Thanks for this~
Thank you for this! As a new Etsy shopowner I can’t tell you how helpful your blog has been over the last few months.
This is perfectly timed for me too! I’ve been reading The Universal Traveler during my morning commute on BART (commuter train) and one important part to being fully, creatively engaged is that you have to take good care of yourself.
I’ve also been thinking that to be a business truly about sustainability, I offer sustainable products AND I treat the growth of my business in a sustainable way: I hire consultants when I need insight, PT employees when I need production help, and I say no to projects and shows until I’m ready for that level of growth. Feels good and the right thing to do.
This is so, so true. For me, it’s hard because I work full-time, so when I’m home I find myself feeling guilty if I’m not working on my own business, since I want it to grow to the point where I can quit my day job. But I try to remind myself that I still have to take the time to relax, be with my boyfriend, friends and family, and do fun things too, otherwise all of the work I do isn’t worth it.
I particularly have a tough time once I’ve started working, making myself get up to take breaks and get some exercise. This is not good! I don’t want blood clots for goodness sake. I need to figure out a better way to remind myself to get up… maybe setting some sort of schedule for myself that at X time I have to go take a bike ride, walk the dog, hula hoop or play on the Wii for a little while.
Thank you for the reminder! This has been a huge struggle for me since I signed up to participate in my first trade show. Wow there is just so much to do for a one person company. How do you do it all on your own?
Great post — we are no good if we are burnt out!
I find that keeping a schedule helps me to remember to take breaks, to relax, and to exercise. Okay, I realize how silly it sounds to schedule my relaxation time, but it really works for me. Writing “take a break” on my to-do list even assuages my guilt about being non-productive, if you can believe that. hehe.
Hey everyone – thanks for your comments! I’m glad this post was helpful- I want us all to run wildly successful businesses but have extremely balanced lives!
Emily – I think as a one-person business it’s important to understand that your growth will be slower than you ideally want it to be. There is only so much you can do as one person, and when you start to understand your own limitations, it can really take the stress off. With that said, if you want to grow faster than your current rate, that’s when its time to take a look at outsourcing and hiring independent contractors or employees.
Jonna – I don’t know any places in Boston in particular, but I’m sure there are fantastic museums, perhaps a botanical garden, and probably a great gallery district.
Thank goodness for my dog! A walk first thing in the morning and one in the evening – always mind clearing and recharging. Especially on the evening walk, I force myself to just stop thinking about the stuff that’s been spinning about in my brain all day, and enjoy the walk, the weather, or some daydreaming.
This is something I have to remind myself of. My parents are self-employed, too, and I see them struggling to fit down time into their lives. As they get older and really have to, slow down it is apparent that they have created a crazy busy business structure for themselves. I learn from them that it is worth the effort to integrate R+R into my life and business now. I find I am more productive in the long run! Also, I am taking an exciting vacation later this year. Not only to relax, but also to get inspired by another culture and a different kind of life. I’m sure I will come back reinvigorated!
A helpful hint: if you are worried about taking time off and losing income, find a trusted friend who can take over some part of your business while you are away. I ask a friend of mine to answer customer service emails while I am away and send packages. I limit my inventory to something reasonable by taking down listings, etc, and make sure to let people know that delivery time may be slower. It’s worked!
Thank you so much for posting this! That 80 hours a week person is definitely me — I feel guilty if I take time off since there’s always work to be done. Plus, trying to find a way to make it all come together by the end of the month to pay all my bills is always difficult. However, I’m beginning to realize that if I don’t take breaks, I start slowly going insane. Plus, what good is being alive if you don’t go out and enjoy everything this world has to offer?
I discovered craftMBA a few weeks ago and really love your posts — thanks again!
So true!! I work in my “shop” 7 days a week from breakfast until midnight (I am a lousy sleeper!) trying to do the customer service, administration, constant CLEANING, sewing repair jobs AND EVENTUALLY some creative craft work! I only survive with the help of good friends and family members that take on a lot of the little jobs to free my hands for other work. This summer I joined an exercise class once a week and closed the shop for the hour and noticed getting some exercise has made an amazing difference to my health, my stamina AND my productivity! Now that we are coming into our cooler weather my family have kidnapped me and closed the shop on Saturday afternoons for bike riding and picnics with the grand-kids!!!
Megan – I have borrowed your “post” for my other website where I chatter on about my shop and local goings on – your article is so relevant for so many of my friends that I wanted them all to read it… I have included your http reference so they can find their way to this site also!
see me at http://www.memoriesandmayhem.com
This is a great post, and it’s good to get an insight into how everyone deals with taking time off. Yoga is an important one for me, as is reading – but these are both done in the house where I work. I find getting away for a walk, or into the city to browse round a gallery, shop or just people watch is a great way to recharge my batteries.
I too only discovered you a few weeks ago, but am finding posts invaluable, so THANK YOU!
I’ve decided to hire two people to help me with my business. It’s such a huge step, but it is necessary if I want to keep up with making orders, customer service, and shipping on time. It was a hard decision since I started out as a artist and maker from my home studio who handles every aspect of the business from start to finish. Hopefully this will give me some free time to relax and enjoy life a little more. It’s a strange feeling going from artist to artist + boss. Now I can spread out some of the customer service, marketing, sales, and packaging/shipping. I’m excited about this huge step! Thank you for your post to remind me that I need some time to myself. I had forgotten what that was like. 🙂 I’d love to see a future post about letting other people help you and your business and about growing a business with employees.
I don’t own a business but I work in a factory full time and I average 84 Hours a week. 12 Hours a day,7 days a week.
I’ve worked close to 80 hours aweek for the last 5 months. I work at Ross dress for less from 7am till 4 pm monday through thursday, then at arbys from 5 till 12:30 am, and till 1:30 on fridays, monday trough friday and looking for a 3rd job for the weekend, Whats the big deal? Plus I do my yearly physical check up at my family physician and im taking my yearly one week paid vacation this coming aprill. and I party hard every weekend. Hard working people do exist 🙂 and they party hard too…….. no offense