How to be more efficient / time saving tips?

[kirkland]

I'm finding that a huge limiting factor in scaling my business is the limited amounts of time I have. Especially in the world of stealth, which often means that ordinary tasks have to become more complicated just for the sake of risk management

What steps have you guys taken to save time, 'cut corners', and improve efficiency? Things like thermal printers, virtual machines (as opposed to user accounts), shipping software, etc.

Thanks!

[ebaystealth1974]

Where are your hangups, and maybe we can help with a specific issue.

[yankee]

if you dont use shipstation(or similar) and a thermal printer you are wasting half your day.

If you are having a hard time focusing on one task, start using a timer. Do nothing but that one task for 20 minutes.

[phaz0rz]

Originally Posted by kirkland

Things like thermal printers, virtual machines (as opposed to user accounts), shipping software, etc.

All of the above. Once you have all 3 of those things in place start focusing on finding someone you can pay to help with some/all of your shipping.

[Gladiator]

Thermal printers are a must, so is proper shipping software to bulk print your job so you are doing it in minutes vs hours.

There’s add ons for browsers so you can monitor your time and block access to other things until you have done your tasks if you find yourself wandering.

Opening up a VPN, tethering, logging into your user accounts or virtual machines should take 1-2 minutes total at most. Log your IP and get to work on your task and basic things shouldn’t be a time suck.

[newjerseymax]

Mifi, multiple computers, thermal printing, having someone else pack (this huge time saver), proper spreadsheets and ignoring stupid customers...

[kirkland]

I don't think wasting time is a concern for me, Gladiator, my focus is pretty good. It's just that I can't seem to fit all my obligations within a regular day using current management practices.

Originally Posted by newjerseymax

Mifi, multiple computers, thermal printing, having someone else pack (this huge time saver), proper spreadsheets and ignoring stupid customers...

Multiple computers? To what end?

I haven't invested in a thermal printer yet because I hadn't previously realized the value in one. Will be looking to purchase one this weekend. And then will look into software solutions and VMs.

Keep em coming guys!

[kirkland]

Originally Posted by ebaystealth1974

Where are your hangups, and maybe we can help with a specific issue.

Packing is a 6 hr/day thing for me, so that's a big one. Hiring is the obvious solution, but before I get there, I'd like to investigate ways to cut time within my general business/stealth management practices.

[newjerseymax]

Originally Posted by kirkland

I don't think wasting time is a concern for me, Gladiator, my focus is pretty good. It's just that I can't seem to fit all my obligations within a regular day using current management practices.



Multiple computers? To what end?

I haven't invested in a thermal printer yet because I hadn't previously realized the value in one. Will be looking to purchase one this weekend. And then will look into software solutions and VMs.

Keep em coming guys!

I multi-task and work on couple computers at same time. While one updating, loading, etc I turn chair and work on other. I don't like the idle time of waiting even a few minutes.

[ebaystealth1974]

Originally Posted by kirkland

Packing is a 6 hr/day thing for me, so that's a big one. Hiring is the obvious solution, but before I get there, I'd like to investigate ways to cut time within my general business/stealth management practices.

Oh gosh. You definitely need to hire a packer! I don't see how you even have time to think about the rest of your business lol

[newjerseymax]

Originally Posted by ebaystealth1974

Oh gosh. You definitely need to hire a packer! I don't see how you even have time to think about the rest of your business lol

This really allowed me to expand a lot.... So much time wasted in past packing. You can 5x your income with all that extra time.

[pirate1122]

Originally Posted by kirkland

Packing is a 6 hr/day thing for me, so that's a big one. Hiring is the obvious solution, but before I get there, I'd like to investigate ways to cut time within my general business/stealth management practices.

Jeez how many items do you sell a day?

[empirestate]

You have a very general question, you need to be specific.

Automate, automate, and automate....

[kirkland]

Originally Posted by pirate1122

Jeez how many items do you sell a day?

Nowhere near as many as some other members on this forum. But I also do QA on a lot of my items and fix the ones with issues, which adds to the time length. Im sure it would still be lengthy even with the QA component taken out though.

[SaiJin]

I keep all my info on a regular notebook (piece of paper)
and I make a schedule every morning to take care of orders and print labels and list whatever items first.

Then pack all orders.

In terms of management, I try to be manual for my stealth to be extra sure there's no error with the softwares.

Thermal printer and a shipping company are a must.

Honestly it's very straight forward and no cutting corners, what matters is the consistency and discipline.

[Yasav]

for some reason printing multiple labels at once doesn't work for me..For example, instead of the word "Williamson" it prints like this "W illia mson" . It looks like the it somehow changes fonts once I sent it to a printer. Labels are also fuzzy and not dark at all.

If anyone has a solution for a label printing on OS X - please let me know

[kirkland]

Originally Posted by Yasav

for some reason printing multiple labels at once doesn't work for me..For example, instead of the word "Williamson" it prints like this "W illia mson" . It looks like the it somehow changes fonts once I sent it to a printer. Labels are also fuzzy and not dark at all.

If anyone has a solution for a label printing on OS X - please let me know

Time to make a new thread...

[ebaystealth1974]

Throw the mac in the trash and buy a PC. Problem solved.

[kirkland]

Originally Posted by phaz0rz

kirkland is right.. you're jacking his thread.

Sounds like a driver issue though.

Haha I actually didn't mean that, I meant that I was going to make a new thread about thermal printers compatible with Mac. Which I did

[Gladiator]

Originally Posted by ebaystealth1974

Throw the mac in the trash and buy a PC. Problem solved.

I am too deep into the Apple game to change.

[ebaystealth1974]

Hahahaha!!

[kirkland]

Thermal printer - check. Virtual machines - check.

Time to look into shipping software and bulk label printing!