How to make time to start a lingerie brand

Over the years I have tried out different methods of working, and whilst I can tell you what works for me, it may not work for you however if you are at a point whilst you try and fit everything in it might give you an idea to implement some things into your working day. So if you find yourself running out of time in the day to start/run/launch your lingerie brand, then read on.

Now whilst this method is not rocket science and I’m definitely not the first to coin this way of working, it has worked for me in many different situations, running my own brand, working for big companies and working with kids at home.

I started Vanjo (my lingerie brand) whilst working part time in a shop and then I had another part time job as a waitress which would be irregular hours. When I got my first order for Vanjo, (nearly 500 pieces) I literally spent all my time making the order and three months went by and it was the realisation that I hadn’t spent any time doing much else, I hadn’t make relationships with other buyers and I hadn’t sold much of the next collection. So I landed three months forward feeling way behind.

It was then I realised for me to stay in business I had to alter my working day, I called it my ‘future hour’ where by I only concentrated of one thing for an hour that would propel my business forward, that would bring in money, that would allow future me to sort. This was often new designs, contacting buyers, sorting out press. I did this before I started anything else. It was to future proof my business.

Next thing I worked on was what I called the present, task that need doing to keep the business going, that could be making products for orders, sorting out the website, etc.

Then I would work on what I called the past, things that had happened that I needed to sort, answering emails, doing admin things like parcels disappearing, booking models for photoshoots, invoices to be paid.

If I didn’t start the day with the future tasks, because they weren’t urgent, unless I prioritised them they wouldn’t get done, they are the most easy thing to put off as its not screaming at you to get it done. Then you become overwhelmed as you have loads to do in a small amount of time as well as your other day to day tasks.

I took this method of how I worked when I went to work for a company after Vanjo, I could arrive in the morning to over seventy emails, they were mainly from overseas factories and they all needed answering. If I started with them first I could spend the whole day answering them, but by doing the future tasks like starting to design a collection for the next season, sorting out the samples for buyers to see I felt like I was moving needle on my work and didn’t end up staying late after work, catching up.

Until recently I’ve run my business with children at home, back in 2016 I wrote an article on how I work with two kids at home it involved a lot lists (it still does) so I knew exactly what I was doing when I sat at my desk and I broke everything up so all I needed to was complete 3-5 things each day. If you have kids at home and are in the depths of juggling or work and only have your evenings or weekends, note that direction is more important than speed, do you future thing first even if it’s you starting to do this a 7pm at night.

How I work today

Today there is more fluidity, I still start with the futures task but It may be more than an hour I spend on it. I do this task after I’ve dropped the kids off at school before anything, but I make sure there is an end point in time, so I concentrate and go all in. Future things could be writing books, making patterns, writing e-courses etc.

Currently as I write this I’m on my second batch of time, then after this I’m off to answer emails. It is up to you how much time you spend on each section, as you know how much time you have got in the day, it may only being able to spend 15 minutes on your future self.

Further resources

I’m not the first person to come up with this method, since starting it I have heard of a book called ‘Eat the frog’ all about how you do the hardest task first. I’ve listened to podcasts from Mel Robbins stating she has something similar in her morning routine and recently I’ve stumbled upon Dan Koe who does something similar that he split his day up into section.

So, let me know how you get on if you give it a go.