Have you ever felt stressed to complete a task, product, or project that needs to be done in a very short time? Have you ever wondered how to decrease the time to complete a task, a product, or a project? Have you ever felt frustrated for all the time each task, product, or project consumes? Have you ever thought that there has to be an easier way to complete a task, a product, or a project? Do you want to dedicate less time to complete a task, a product, or a project? Do you think there is only one way to complete a task, a product, or a project that you have been working on for a long time? Are you open to trying new methods? Do you feel that there is ALWAYS room for improvement? How about continuous improvement in your art business?
In all of my profiles for my Etsy shops and social media, have always included the fact that I am an Industrial Engineer (IE). I have reasons for that. One, because I am, that was the field I studied and graduated from, earning my masters in a related field. Two, because I can't let that go in my daily life, many times I find myself doing things using the skills learned as an IE. Three, because I use those skills to my benefit when evaluating each new product I create for selling.
If the product is not cost-effective I don't sell it for wholesale prices, something I have been doing for more than 20 years. Also, I can establish a reliable time standard (time required to complete a product). I know you are thinking that this is easy and it just requires a timer, which is available on any smartphone. Let me tell you this, it is NOT that simple if you really want to reduce costs and apply a fair cost to the product. The real-time, that time that you measure with the timer it is not the standard time. (Don't sweat it, I will cover all those terms in future posts.)
When I started my artist's journey I never imagined that one day I would be writing about my professional field and relating it to my art business. I am an IE almost by accident but it definitely was and still is a good fit in my life. I say by accident because when applying to college I never considered it, and applied to a different engineering field.
The reason I ended up in the IE department was as crazy as "I want to stay in this university (loved the campus) but I don't want to study chemical engineering". I dropped out of the first class in the chemical engineering department because I was bored to death. IE seemed to have it all in terms of my abilities with math and science.
I asked my brother in law, who was already an IE and he sold me the idea of pursuing that career. I don't regret it at all. I made the most wonderful friends, including professors, and learned a lot and really enjoyed the process. As a matter of fact, I graduated from that field in 1980 when most of the students were men. In my class, there were no more than 6-8 girls. Our class meets every 5 years since we graduated in 1980. We will be celebrating our 40th anniversary in 2020. Isn't that amazing?
I grew interested in writing more about this theme after I found myself desperate for tools to help me complete a task. The task had a due date that could not be possible in a short time. I was always aware of the importance of reducing costs, improve quality, and evaluating if a product is cost-effective. But for this specific project, I realized I could do more with what I know. Maybe if I write more about this theme more artists will get some benefit. I am not promising a series of posts every day or week but once in a while, I'll be back writing about it.
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Take good care of yourself and stay safe. We are in this together...
Elizabeth Claire
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