Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Clean House!


 I received an email from a reader yesterday which caught my interest immediately, especially at the start of the New Year. She expressed great surprise that I would be willing to admit we’d had a tough year and that some of it had to do with choices I’d deliberately made. I don’t know whether my candor is so unusual – maybe it is – but if we are going to get real about this business in which we find ourselves then honesty either prevails, or else there’s no point in this torrent of words I spill every other day (yes, I’m back on schedule!). I don’t have a problem talking about problems because sooner, or later, we’re all going to hit bumps in the road. Some will be boulders, some pebbles which cause our ankles to bend, or our feet to slide out from under us, but they’re all as inevitable as postal rate increases. No business operates over a long cycle unscathed and  I’ve had a damn good run for thirteen of my fourteen years. So now it’s time for me to lay the cards on the table and make some corrections, which I am in the process of doing.

At the risk of sounding simplistic, I do believe that an attitude of hopefulness, creativity and joy in the work can do wonders. All summer and fall I worried, fretted, gnashed my teeth and rent my garments, and for what? It didn’t change anything and it made me more stressed than I already was. Things didn’t take a turn for the better until I took action. Two of the best late year things I did were take the Dayton trip and opening the booth at the antiques mall. Now with the New Year I feel clearer and more positive to begin making other changes.

Yet another simplistic, but very real, way to attack problems is by cleaning house – both literally and metaphorically. As I mentioned, I am going to be gradually decommissioning  dead stock, a process  which is already proving to be a fine idea. Yesterday at the antiques mall I sold two books I’ve had in stock for more than ten years and both netted their original listed price in just three weeks and one week, respectively. I’m also cleaning out two storage closets filled with books that need to either be listed, or be gone. With this busyness comes a sense of order and peace, as well as freed-up room for all the new acquisitions I will make in the coming year. The cleaning process feels to me like an act of faith – in myself and in the future..

The other thing I’m doing is cleaning up my basement wrapping area which looked like a tornado had blown through it leaving half of Kansas in its wake. No wonder I can’t find  my black Sharpie, or the box cutter. No wonder little bits of sandpaper and Absorbine pads turn up in the stack of credit card receipts and pepper the surface of the counter. Everything is now in its place though – priority boxes in the bottom cupboard along with mylar shelved by size, and everything else is either on the workbench top, stored on the shelves above, or on the bookcase on the opposite wall. With the phone, credit card machine, heat sealer, radio, and book press all being necessary bench-top accoutrements there’s no room for extraneous stuff when you’re trying to wrap orders or repair books. The pictures may not be pretty, but they depict an area dedicated to bookselling’s messier aspects



Yesterday I did all of the jobs listed above, listed 14 new books, and designed a new invoice. It was  a great day too, both in terms of making order out of chaos and in both online and antiques mall sales. We sold some nice books in both venues, as well as some lower end glad-to-be-rid-of items at the mall. Of course every day will not be that perfect, but I remain optimistic, excited, and ready to clean house. Make that CLEAN HOUSE!

3 comments:

Saturday Evening Post said...

Tess, those pictures ARE pretty. A well used and orderly workplace is a thing of beauty that calls one to DO something, and the joy of making and fixing is no small thing. Bravo.

tess said...

I agree. It's just more industrial looking, but I like it too. In fact, I kept running down to have a look at it all day. It's
so nice to find what you're looking for when you need it! A great time-saver. Makes me want to get back to my art at some time over the winter too.

Anonymous said...

Tess, what a great and organized workspace. In your line of work it seems that everything needs to be at your fingertips, and it looks marvelous.
Cleaning House...I did a bit yesterday...spent the day finding ALL my receipts from the holidays and deciding what papers to keep and what papers NOT to keep.
This was part of mental Cleaning House as you say. Dr. told me to find a wayt to relieve the stress and getting organized feels like it might help. Thanks for the push forward. Great job on the mall and keeping the businesses doing so well all year.
ginger at gettingafoothold.blogspot.com