Slammed with orders

Now that Older Daughter is entirely in charge of the woodcraft business, she finds herself slammed with orders.

Traditionally in this business, late summer and early autumn are the busiest times of year because so many of the large shows her wholesale customers do fall in September and October. To cope with the workload, she's calendaring her days very carefully: Today she'll do this; tomorrow she'll do that; next week she'll do such-and-such. Each day has its tasks outlined.

This means the house is stacked with simultaneous production runs in various stages of completion. It's been this way in our home for over thirty years. It beats the alternative, as we always remind ourselves.

Older Daughter is also building herself in some days off here and there so she doesn't burn out.

While there are specific tasks that are irksome for her (sanding is top of the list), overall she's pleased with the amount of business she has. 

Her next planning step is to get ahead during her slow season and start to build inventory. In the past, this has been a surprisingly hard thing to do. It's impossible during the busy season, and often too cold to work in the shop during the slow season. (Our new shop is smaller and easier to heat than our old one, so temperature shouldn't be as big an issue.)

It's nice to see the family business handed down to the next generation. Older Daughter has new design ideas she wants to implement as well as different marketing strategies she wants to try. It's fun to watch her business grow. Onward!