How Etsy Sellers can use Evernote to be more Productive

As an Etsy seller, whether you have found great success and are operating full-time, or if you are like me and do it on the side (but still with your whole heart!), you probably have a lot to do.  Between listing items, filling orders, social media, research and development, and of course the fun part, creating, there is a lot to keep up with when running your own business!

I bet you've tried a day planner of some kind.  I've never been a fan of a paper day planner.  It's just something else that I have to keep track of and carry around.  And nowadays, there's an app for just about everything, so why not a day planner?

Or so you'd think.  I tried oodles of apps, both paid and free, but nothing stuck.  I was organizing with daily to-do sticky notes.  Pretty inefficient, and heaven help me if I lost a sticky!

So when a friend referred me to Evernote, I figured I'd give it a try.

Now, I'll be honest.  I didn't really commit at first.  I'd had so much failure with other apps that I just didn't have the patience to give it the chance it deserved.  When I casually mentioned that to the friend who referred me, he said, "well, you will get out of it what you put into it."

Now isn't that the motto of every successful Etsy seller?

So I jumped in and decided to give it the real college try.  And I was richly rewarded.  This app has tons of applications for an organized entrepreneur, or even just a busy mom (aren't most of us both?) With solutions to separate home and office organization, set reminders, share notes, and even clip articles to read later, you really will get out of it what you put in.  The uses are endless, but here are just a few functions the multi-platform app has to offer an Etsy seller.

1. Multiple Platforms

You can open and sync Evernote from your computer, phone, and tablet.  This is great when you're on the run, and need to check your to-do list.  But since  you can access and edit notes from your computer, it also has the flexibility of entering large amounts of information quickly.

2. Separate by Notebook

Just as you would with a pen and paper, you can separate notes by "notebook."  For example, I have a "Home" notebook where I keep things like grocery lists and personal to-do lists.  I have a notebook for Research and Design where I can jot down ideas for my latest product, and clip articles on the research I've done on an ingredient (more on that later.)  I have multiple project notebooks for my day job in which I create meeting minutes and task lists, and share those notes with co-workers.  I plan to add a notebook in the near future for Social Media so that I can organize when and where to share posts.  You can format a note with bullets, numbers, or even check boxes to check of your to-do items as they get done.

3. Search

Ever lose a list?  You feel like you'll never be able to recreate it and capture everything you've lost.  Not with Evernote.  You can run a keyword search to find old lists and notes, so you never lose anything again!

4. Reminders

I haven't fully utilized this feature yet, but I need to!  Relying on my phone alarm clock and those Outlook calendar reminders that never seem to sync is not working for me.  Evernote has the capability of quickly setting reminders to keep you on track throughout the day, so you don't get easily sidetracked and spend 4 hours researching the latest trends on Pinterest...or maybe a recipe for dinner next week...or that pretty DIY side table...

5. Go Paperless

Want to add a picture to a note?  Maybe someone handed you a receipt or a business card you know you will lose.  Just take a quick picture of it without ever having to leave the app!  You can also drag and drop files right into the app on your computer.  Read the how-to on Evernote's blog.

6. Share Notes

Need to send the hubs the grocery list?  Who am I kidding, I don't know a married man who grocery shops.  But maybe you have business partners that you would like to share things from, from an idea you had on a product, to a to-do list, to an article you want them to read.  Just hit the share button, easy as pie!

7. Clip Articles

For all of you Pinterest addicts, this might free up your time!  I don't know about you, but when I get on Pinterest to look at something I've pinned, I always get sidetracked.  Streamline your productivity by clipping it instead of pinning it.  Just hit the share button on your phone when you find an article or blog you want to save for later, and clip it to Evernote.  Now, when you go to read it later, you won't get distracted!

8. Link Notes to other Notes

I use this capability for my task lists.  After I've done the research for a new product, maybe I have an item on my to do list to make a test batch.  I wouldn't want to cut and paste an entire recipe into my to-do list, but I can create a note link to go from my to-do list right to the recipe!  Talk about efficient.

9. Evernote Email

Evernote assigns you a unique email address when you sign up.  Now you can email an invoice, a wholesale order, or a receipt right to Evernote!  Having everything in one place has so many benefits for staying productive throughout your creative day.

10. 60MB of Storage

I have not even come close to exceeding my 60 MB of storage space yet, but if and when I do, I can upgrade to the paid Premium version of Evernote for only $4.99/month or $44.99/year.  So this app has the capability of growing with your creative business.  

There are so many things a creative business owner has to do that don't involve creating.  It's daunting and sometimes demoralizing, so anything that I can do to minimize the time I spend on non-creative operations for my business is worth doing to me.  I hope that you get as much out of this app for your creative business as I do.

What tools do you use to organize your day?

***This is not a sponsored post!  I honestly love Evernote and just wanted to share it with you.  You will get a free month of Evernote Premium if you use the links in this post, which gives me some sort of points that I have no use for since I use the free version.  But I wanted you to have the benefit of the free month of Premium if you have the need for it!

Book Review: "Maxed Out: American Moms on the Brink" by Katrina Alcorn

Maxed Out: American Moms on the Brink

I'm taking a break from my 31 Days today to share a book with you that I have just finished.  The Rogue Mom loves to read almost as much as she loves referring to herself in the third person.

I'm going to get serious today.  I like my blog to be witty and fun because I need fun in my life.  I'm a full-time work-outside-the-home mom.  To be exact, since I have a salaried position, I actually work quite a bit more than 40 hours a week and do not receive additional pay.  Ah, the glorious of an industrialized civilization.

But I wanted to share a topic of great importance with you, because I want you to know that you are not alone.  I started this blog because I felt alone, but I knew there must be someone out there who felt like I do.  Now I know that there are TONS of us.

If you are a working mother, you know the stress involved with balancing essentially two separate lives: your work life and your family life.

And that's pretty much what it feels like.

You're walking a tightrope of guilt.  On one side is your work life.  You may have a career or just a job, but either way, you want to be the best at what you do.  It's part of your self-worth.  It may be part of your family-worth.  Many women, like me, believe that the value they contribute to their family is partly financial.  

On the other side is your family.  You want to be the best mom you can be.  The best wife.  The best cook, maid, teacher, role model, friend, the best model of faith that you can be for your family.  The best at everything.

So you add more and more to your plate.  Maybe you make home made organic baby food.  Maybe you volunteer to be chaperone on every field trip.  Maybe you coach your kids soccer team or girl scout group.  Maybe you take on that extra project at work to impress your boss.  Maybe you coupon to save your family money.  Maybe you just do everything that you do 100% and give it your all.

And maybe that's coming at a price.

The price, girls, is you.  All that time focused on other people can drain you.  It will drain your energy, your patience, your happiness, until you feel like a shell.  You're all alone, and you don't know how to get out of the hamster wheel.

It looks a little different for each of us.  For some, you can see it written on their faces.  Others put on a brave face and pretend like nothing is wrong.  But everything is wrong.

Perhaps you're one of the five of every mother that is on some kind of upper or downer.  Antidepressants, anti-anxiety, and sleeping pills are prescribed to us like candy.  Maybe they help you cope.  Maybe they don't.

My life looks exactly like this.  I'm the brave face, the one who pretends like nothing as wrong.  Only Mr. Rogue Mom knows otherwise.  And he is the king of my world.  This man isn't afraid to do dishes, do laundry, give neck rubs, change poopy diapers, and give his all to try to ease the load.  But he can't do much about the personal guilt I feel for not being the best at everything.

For me, it didn't happen until I got pregnant with my second child.  Gaining an extra 25% of my weight and carrying it around while trying to carry a toddler and make sure everything would run smooth while I was on maternity leave.  Coming back and realizing that while I was gone I had become the scape-goat for everything that went wrong, because it's easy to blame someone who isn't around to defend themselves, and because they knew I was tough and figured I could take it.  I did too.

But then the guilt kicked in.  I felt the glass ceiling, for the first time in my life.  The glass ceiling isn't even the right analogy.  There's not much discrimination left for a single, childless career woman who gives her work everything.  But when we have kids and decide that family is first, when we hit the age that we may have to be out for maternity leave and take "3-month vacations," when we can't travel all around the country because we choose to nurse and pump in bathroom stalls or storage closets for the health of our infants, when we have to leave "early" to pick up the kids from daycare, we suddenly start getting passed over for promotions.  Our raises get smaller.  If we're lucky and can negotiate a part-time position, our pay gets disproportionately cut.  It's better to describe it as the corporate latter.  It gets damned harder to climb carrying babies on your back.

And the stress just adds up.  I found this book at a time in my life that I needed it most.  NOW.  I hope you read it.  I hope you tell your friends, your husband, your mother to read it.  I hope you secretly leave a copy in your boss's office, or maybe that single co-worker who gives you dirty looks when they see your put your precious pumped milk in the fridge, or when you leave after only 8 short hours of work (even though you accomplished twice as much.  Being a mom makes your brain more efficient, did you know that?)

Here is one of my favorite quotes from the book:  "We have this unwritten, unacknowledged, and unyielding expectation that working parents will make the accommodations necessary to do their jobs just as if they don't have children.  If you don't like it, hire someone else to raise your children.  And if you don't like that, then quit.  Except, of course, you can't quit, because you can't get by on one income.  Well, then, if it's too much work, don't have babies!  And there you have it.  America's delusion of rugged individualism, taken to its absurd conclusion: the end of the human race."

I have to warn you that her views are very liberal.  Being very conservative myself, I still agree with her that society wide changes need to take place to solve this crisis in our families.  And it starts, like everything else, with the knowledge that we do, in fact, have a problem.  You can feel it in your heart, and you are not alone.  Not even a little bit.

Working Mom Blogs or Lack Thereof

It’s always good to know you’re not alone.  It’s why most of us read blogs, to learn tips and tricks from other people in life situations similar to ours to make our lives better.  So since I’ve been back to work I’ve been desperately searching for blogs written by other working moms.  Thing is, there just aren’t that many.  I believe I can infer the why – if you work full time and you’re a mom, you’re just too busy to write a blog.  Not saying that SAH moms aren’t also busy, but I know when I get home from work, all I want to do is hang out with my baby, not work on my blog.  If I was at home with him all day, I could set aside some time for it, but as it is, I’m still feeling that guilt most first time working moms feel for every minute we are away from our babies that we don’t have to be.  That’s what I’m really looking for in another working mom’s blog, ways to cope with the guilt that’s associated with spending 40-50 hours away from your child.

I’ve also found that a lot of working mom blogs are politically oriented, spending most of their time touting the cruelness of the American laws regarding maternity leave.  From what I’ve read, we are far behind most developed countries in this arena.  While I agree things need to change, I’m more interested with the here and now, and dealing with what we’ve got.  So hopefully I can try to fill this hole in the blog world.  If you have a blog or know of one that fills this gap, please leave a comment, I’d love to read it!

You may ask how I have time to blog.  The truth is, shhhh…I write posts at work.  I have occasional down time and I can’t stand to sit at my computer with nothing to do, so I blog.  Since I’m in the construction industry I don’t have a lot of flexibility to work from home, so I figure I may as well make the best use of my time I can, both at work and at home.

Here are a couple blogs I love:

The Fence

Mom-101

Ha!  Yeah that’s a great big list isn’t it?  Like I said, I haven’t found many that aren’t uber-political.  I don’t like getting into that because, and I may lose some followers here, but I’m a republican.  Yes, that’s right, I’m part of the 1% of working women that is not a democrat.  Why, you ask?  I’m a southern Catholic pro-life crazy person that actually believes that the financial issues need to be addressed before the social issues.  Slander me if you will, but to each her own, I believe what I believe.  Which makes it EVEN MORE difficult for me to find something helpful to read.  Eek.  So if I haven’t lost you already, leave me a comment on your favorite working mommy blogs.  Thanks!

Couponing for the Working Mom

Couponing.  I've read tons of blogs about how much money everyone saves going nuts with coupons, going through store ads, comparing prices...but not a one was written by a working mother.  Because the truth is, if you work full time, there's no way you have time to do all that.  And the time you do have, you don't want to spend couponing, you want to spend it with your kids.  So how can you get some of that savings?  Here's what I do.  It's a very watered down version of couponing that saves you some mulah for about 15 minutes a week.

Buy you a little coupon file for a couple bucks from the notebook aisle at Walmart.

Label each tab with categories.  Try to stick with categories by aisle of the store you shop at.  Here's mine.  I use dry food, cold, frozen, toiletry, baby, grocery, and I have a couple tabs for store coupons.

Sign up for your local Sunday paper.  They will try to talk you into getting the Wednesday paper too, but all of the good coupons come on Sunday.  They charge about a dollar a paper.  You will save far more than that, so it's easy to justify the extra cost.

Now yank out the coupons and start clipping.  Now here's the tricky part.  What to clip?  If you follow a few basic rules, you won't spend too much time clipping, and you won't be the crazy coupon lady who takes 30 minutes to check out.


1.  Lose your brand loyalty.  Try the brand that has the coupon.  There are a couple of items that I absolutely have to stick with (my favorite organic milk and Huggies One & Done wipes, there's just no substitute,) but for everything else I try to use what's on sale.  Especially with toiletries.  Colgate or Crest, who cares, as long as your kids use the toothpaste!

2.   This may be the most important rule.  ONLY CLIP COUPONS FOR PRODUCTS YOU USE!!!  Folks, this is why companies do coupons.  They are trying to get you to buy their product.  If you don't already use pre-cooked boneless ham, DON'T clip it.  You'll just end up spending more, and that's what those companies hope for.

3.  Stockpile.  Not everything, don't go all Disaster Prepper, but a few extra bottles of shampoo under the sink isn't going to drive your husband nuts.  Here's why:  coupons come in cycles.  If you want to know what they are, look here.  I don't know or care what they are.  If I see that there are a ton of diaper coupons that month, it's diaper coupon season.  I clip them and stock up on diapers.  I know I'll use them.

4.  Only shop at one or two stores.  I get most of my fresh food from Publix, and I always shop their two-for-ones.  I get cleaning supplies, dry goods, and baby items from Walmart, because even with the Publix coupons, they are usually cheaper.  Make sure you know those stores' coupon policies.  Publix doubles everything $0.50 or less and you can use a Publix and manufacturer coupon for the same item!

5.  Plan ahead!  The more often you shop, the more you spend, because of those little impulse items.  I go every two weeks, and I try my very best to stick to my list.  I make meal plans and write what I've planned for on my dry-erase board.  So the fam still gets to choose dinner, but from the list of what we have, so less goes to waste because I forgot I had that bag of baby carrots at the bottom of the crisper drawer.  I also keep a running list of what we need so I don't forget anything (this also helps cut down on the grocery trips.)

6.  Last but not least, use the coupons to make your dinner list.  Take those coupons out of the file and stick them in your pocket.  So now when you check out, you just hand the cashier a little stack of coupons, they quickly scan them, and you're done!  Make sure you've read the coupon fully so you don't only grab one bag of diapers when the coupon is only good if you buy two.

And that's it!  Headache-free, quick & easy couponing, from one working, busy mom to the next.  Happy shopping!