2MatthewFreemanAdmin
Peak is a stamina problem, not a strategy problem
Everything you read about Q4 is tactical. List more, price better, ship faster.
Almost none of it mentions that November is the month this job stops being fun, and that the people who fall over in December mostly fell over in November without noticing.
WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS
The orders come in faster than you can pack them. The days get shorter, so you are working in the dark at both ends. The post office queue gets longer. Buyers get more anxious, and anxious buyers send more messages. And because the money is good, you do not stop.
Then somewhere around the second week of December you hit a wall, and the wall arrives on the busiest day.
THINGS THAT GENUINELY HELP
Pack at a fixed time. Not "when I get to it". Same slot every day. The decision fatigue of constantly choosing when to work is worse than the work.
Batch the post office run. One trip, not three.
Write your standard buyer replies now, while you are calm, and keep them somewhere you can copy from. At peak you will be answering the same six questions and you will answer them worse each time.
Decide in advance what you will drop. Something has to give in a 60-order week. Better to decide now that it is the photography, or the new listings, or the tidying, than to find out at midnight that it was sleep.
Eat properly. It sounds patronising. It is the single most common thing sellers say afterwards.
THE ONE THAT MATTERS MOST
Set an end date. Pick the day you stop taking orders, put it in the calendar now, and tell yourself it is real. Open-ended peak is the thing that does people in — there is no finish line, so you never allow yourself to slow down.
IF YOU ARE ALREADY STRUGGLING
Peak amplifies whatever you brought into it. If you were already running low, November will not fix that and December will not either.
Dropping to half the orders is a legitimate business decision. So is turning the shop off for a week. The stock does not go off. It will still be there in January, and so, importantly, will you.
HOW DO YOU GET THROUGH IT?
What actually works for you in November? Not the productivity stuff — the getting-through-it stuff.
Almost none of it mentions that November is the month this job stops being fun, and that the people who fall over in December mostly fell over in November without noticing.
WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS
The orders come in faster than you can pack them. The days get shorter, so you are working in the dark at both ends. The post office queue gets longer. Buyers get more anxious, and anxious buyers send more messages. And because the money is good, you do not stop.
Then somewhere around the second week of December you hit a wall, and the wall arrives on the busiest day.
THINGS THAT GENUINELY HELP
Pack at a fixed time. Not "when I get to it". Same slot every day. The decision fatigue of constantly choosing when to work is worse than the work.
Batch the post office run. One trip, not three.
Write your standard buyer replies now, while you are calm, and keep them somewhere you can copy from. At peak you will be answering the same six questions and you will answer them worse each time.
Decide in advance what you will drop. Something has to give in a 60-order week. Better to decide now that it is the photography, or the new listings, or the tidying, than to find out at midnight that it was sleep.
Eat properly. It sounds patronising. It is the single most common thing sellers say afterwards.
THE ONE THAT MATTERS MOST
Set an end date. Pick the day you stop taking orders, put it in the calendar now, and tell yourself it is real. Open-ended peak is the thing that does people in — there is no finish line, so you never allow yourself to slow down.
IF YOU ARE ALREADY STRUGGLING
Peak amplifies whatever you brought into it. If you were already running low, November will not fix that and December will not either.
Dropping to half the orders is a legitimate business decision. So is turning the shop off for a week. The stock does not go off. It will still be there in January, and so, importantly, will you.
HOW DO YOU GET THROUGH IT?
What actually works for you in November? Not the productivity stuff — the getting-through-it stuff.
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