Three Part To-Do List

As you know from my last blog post here, Miss O and I are two-week entrepreneurs.  Technically, we are down to one week, so make that one-week entrepreneurs.  To help us create products, launch our shop and reach our goal of becoming small business owners, we used a three part to-do list that was suggested by my new Zappos friend, Jennifer.  Jennifer is the goals queen!  Literally, it's what she does for a living - teaches others how to create goals groups, set goals, and accomplish them.  How's that for an amazing niche?  I think every business, school, and college needs her (probably every family, too).

Jennifer recommend a three part to-do list.  She may have called it something differently when we were in Las Vegas, but I am calling it this very fancy name, The Three Part To-do List.  Though, you can name each part whatever you'd like, Miss O and I went with....

To-do:  This included all of the micro-steps to accomplishing our big goal of running a successful small business....

In Progress:  Once a to-do item was in progress, we moved it to this portion of the three part list. There was something REALLY gratifying about seeing each micro-step in action and moving along the completion journey. And really, can my business partner's hair be any shinier or straighter?  I foresee Pantene commercials in her future.

High Five:  This last part of our three part list was full of celebrations.  Miss O and I literally high fived each other each time a new sticky note made it to the end of the journey.  Using sticky notes, by the way, was another Jennifer suggestion.

Now, as you can see below, we are in the final two sticky notes of our three part list.  The only items left for us to do in the progress section is "create thank you cards" and "ship necklaces," which we will be doing for one more week before we close up for the summer (PS - we plan to re-open at some point in the fall).

I asked Miss O what she thought of the three part to-do list and she said she really liked it.  Her favorite part was moving the stickies along the journey and realizing how much we needed to accomplish and how much we did.  High five!  What do you think of the three part to-do list?

See you at our Etsy shop, OJCreates.  We close around June 7th, so go now!  Big thanks to Jennifer for suggesting the three part to-do list.  And good luck, Jennifer, on the release of your book, Goallaboration, this summer!  Goallaboration!?  What a fun word!

Off I go, dear friends - life is full as a small business owner, college professor, mom and blogger. Lest not forget I am writing a book, too!

#haveilostmymind

#nay

Cheers,

Jen

Two Week Entrepreneurs

Miss O and I are embarking on something new.  We are two week entrepreneurs.  If you've been following along on Instagram, you know we've been in the planning stages for almost two weeks now. Today is showtime!  Welcome to our new Etsy shop - OJCreates.  We are only open for two weeks, so go shop now.  Really, go!  We close in 14 days and our inventory is made up of 17 special editions.

This small business project is actually quite overdue.  Last summer, Miss O and I researched opening a business. We even bought a domain name, learned about logo design, and a whole bunch of other good businessy things.  However, my (awesome) sabbatical in the fall kind of got in the way.

Now, with just a few weeks before our summer kicks into full gear, we are finally living the dream - making pleasing and useful products, selling them to customers (like you!) and learning about small business.  I can't think of a better skill set for Miss O to possess than to learn the ins and outs of owning a business.

Our first items for sale are 17 different necklaces.  The necklaces are all one-of-a-kind, hand-knotted, and feature the coolest color & bead combinations on the planet.  Miss O designed 75% of them as she has a fantastic eye for color and style.  I designed or we co-designed the other 25%.  I am the master beader.  Miss O is the master necklace namer.  You can see examples below.   Miss O literally has a story to go with each necklace she's designed and named.  You can read more when you click on an individual necklace in our shop.  Miss O is also our lead shipper who writes all of our hand-written thank you notes.  Just wait until you see her old-school cursive handwriting in person!

Want to peek at the necklaces?

This necklace, Cupcake, is one of our color favorites.  Miss O wanted to design something with soft and fun colors.  I love how this necklace really is simple yet sooooo pretty with all those gorgeous freshwater pearls.

Lilypad, I designed.  I enjoy necklaces that incorporate eclectic beads and colors.  I feel like this necklace would match just about any outfit for summer and beyond.  I also like the uneven spacing between beads.  Sometimes we unevenly space and sometimes we don't.  It all depends on the design and look we are going for.

Cooper is named after Mini Cooper.  I won't give it all away, but you can read more about how Miss O designed and named this necklace in our shop.  Cooper's color palette is amazing to me!  I have no idea how she came up with this combination, but I love it.

Ok, enough of me talking.  I'm sure you are ready to get on over to OJCreates and shop.  Just a few quick things....

• Our necklaces make great end-of-the-year gifts for your favorite teacher(s). And really, you can't beat the price for a teacher gift.  Plus, each necklace is sooooo pretty.
• If you spend $70 or more, use this code to get free shipping:  HIGH5 (which is because Miss O and I are high-fiving ourselves that we are shop owners.  I'm thinking we could have used Pinchme or Pinchus as the code, too :)
• I've been wearing necklaces I've made like these for years now.  The necklaces are very strong and durable, but I usually don't shower or swim in mine.  You could, but I think they will last longer if they stay more dry.

Please go shop, tell a friend, and share this blog post with as many people as you can.  We'd love to sell out of our necklaces and create more (or a new product) when we re-open in the fall.

Hurrah for OJCreates and learning new skills,

Jen (and my business partner, Miss O)

https://www.etsy.com/shop/OJCreates