Last week we talked about simplifying your recipe for
consistency. This week, we will focus on
simplifying your stock and your organization methods.
When you are a creative person, you have so many ideas that are
constantly running through your head. You
see something on pinterest of social media and think to yourself that you want
to replicate this idea. Then, you go out
of your way to make sure you can get your hands on whatever it is that you
saw. Perhaps it was a magazine
organizer, or a certain type of container for your cones, or an organizer for
your essential oils. You may even go out
of your way to make this thing yourself, thereby spending your precious time on
something that really is not that necessary.
This is where we come in and say STOP!
Let’s take a few minutes here to see why it’s important to simplify your
stock and your organization methods.
First of all, you don’t want to spend precious time and money on
things that really are not needed. Yes,
that elephant pencil case holder you saw on pinterest is super cute to look at
and wouldn’t it be amazing to have it on your desk, decorated with henna
designs? It would be, but can you afford
to spend time and money on that item?
Instead of splurging and spending money on things that you saw someone
else do, you should focus on your own methods.
You can easily simplify your stock and organization methods with
the following tips:
1—go through and get rid of the things that are not helping you
stay organized with your henna business.
This might be things like desk organizers, planners or notebooks, pens
and pencils, stamps and ink sets, containers, Tupperware, bags or boxes,
etc. You don’t have to throw these out
right away, but just consider putting them away for a few weeks. And if after a few weeks you find that you
didn’t need to resort to using these items, then you don’t need them to stay
organized.
2—keep the things that work for organizing. Things like zipper bags, freezer bags, or Tupperware
containers are great to have. HOWEVER,
with containers, you want to try to keep the sizes the same, so that your henna
paste is easy to spot in the fridge/freezer.
For henna powders, get shoe boxes or small totes/bins and store your
henna powder in that. Yes a cute bag for
your henna powder would be so adorable, but it’s just not practical.
3—get a set of blank labels and label everything! It’s important to make sure you label
everything with what it is, the ingredients the date it was made, and perhaps
the date it expires. For example, if you
made a large batch of henna paste today, you want to make sure you put down the
ingredients on the bag or box along with the date so that you know what batch
the paste is from.
4—keep a log. Make it a
habit to keep a log of your henna batches, the powders you have, and essential
oils you have. Every month do an
inventory of what you have in stock. This
will keep you organized and you will never get to the point of being completely
dry of henna.
5—keep overstock and emergency stock. A portion of the revenues you collect should
go towards product purchase. Whether you
are buying ready to use cones or mixing your own paste, you always want to make
sure you have a batch’s worth hidden or tucked away someplace. This is VERY IMPORTANT! If you are running a business, you should
ALWAYS be prepared with your inventory!
The good thing about henna is that it is a pretty low cost item so not having
overstock should not be an excuse.
6—Upgrade your organization methods as your business grows and
expands. It’s important to keep a
portion of your revenues exclusively for improving your business (business
development). When you get to a certain amount,
you can use those funds to improve your organization methods if you need
to. For example, we had plastic drawer
organizers to store our powders and essential oils, but when business started
growing and we ran out of room in the organizers for our stock, we had to
upgrade to bigger bins and shelves.
7—make your organization electronic. With modern technology and so many apps, it’s
so easy to keep your organization electronic, with automated reminders. For example, set a reminder on your calender
every 1st of the month to count your inventory—then make sure you
have an inventory list prepared. Include
ALL of your important, business related items on that inventory list—for example,
henna powder, essential oils and cones are important things to have on the
inventory list, but don’t forget to add sugar, tape, paper towels, aftercare
spray/cards/balms, etc.
Hopefully these 7 tips will help keep your organization and stock
simple. The last thing you want is to be
stranded for henna!
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