This week feels divided into two halves and I have done so much that when I think about certain things I think "but it must have been last week?" but no everything has been squeezed in within 5 working days :)
The half week has only consisted of admin jobs, numbers and meetings like this at the beginning of a new month. The second part has been incredibly creative with film editing, successful meetings and inspiring development opportunities!
Film editing and 30 million viewers in China
As I mentioned last time Business Week post so I work a lot as a consultant for the company Disruptive Materials which is developing beauty products with the new material upsalite which has extreme moisture and fat absorption ability. It's so fun! :) I have so much personal experience of oily skin so I have very good feedback to give.
I have also made a film to show the debilitating effect of the material that was shown to 30 million people in China in one day! Do you understand how sick it is? There are about three pieces of Sweden!
This week I had a meeting with Disruptive Materials again for new assignments, and last Friday I filmed two films for one of the products that has now been launched in China.
The first film was for the Swedish company that owns the material, but these new films are for the company in China who liked my film so much and asked Disruptive Materials in Sweden if their makeup artist could make two films for them and among other things said " she has much better equipment ”. Haha I can not stand, they think I have good equipment because they think I have it. I sit at home with my usual old system camera and edit in iMovie haha. But I just thank and accept more work yes! :)
Here is the product launched in China! It is a multi-spray with powder that can be sprayed anywhere you want to absorb fat or moisture, on the face, in the hair, under the arms, in the shoes! So funny :) The movies I have made show how I use it on the face, as well as in the hair as a dry shampoo.
I do not have the best hair in the world but luckily my sister was able to help me with a little quick curls and the oiliness was not a problem to fix - do not shower my hair in 3 days so it was clear;)
Speaking of China, I want to clarify at once (because I know what the majority is thinking now) and the answer to your question is no thankfully the product has not been tested on animals! That law applies to all finished products that are exported to China, but you can get around that law when you manufacture the product directly in China, then it is much milder laws. Disruptive Materials is very careful that upsalite cosmetics are not tested on animals, I have talked a lot about it with them.
I have not had time to edit the movies yet but started to cut a little and sent this on snapchat haha.
Better work structure for my own work
Over the past year, we have worked hard at the salon to build structure and routines in the company for an effective way of working together. But it is not easy to make a work structure for myself when I do such different tasks every day, but I have at least started with two improvements!
One of my problems is lack of time / the days go by too fast hehe. And after a bit of analyzing, I realized that everything is based on is that I get interrupted regularly, which makes me less efficient. Not because people come and disturb, but mainly because other tasks get in the way.
I work best if I can sit completely undisturbed with a task until it is finished and I heard in a podcast (source unclear) that every time you are interrupted, it takes about 25 minutes to resume focus. Worth considering!
My two solutions to the problem are:
- Bookings only Mondays & Thursdays
I do not take much bookings at the salon but the ones I have are scattered throughout my schedule. So instead of having everyone together "today I'm in the makeup studio all morning then I'm sitting in the office again" so I have bookings a little here and there and then do not have time to resume the focus in between. To only take bookings on Mondays and Thursdays also results in me always having the opportunity to work from home on Tuesday, Wednesday or Friday every week. Which is great for film and photo projects as I have the photo studio at home :) - Mail at the beginning & end of the working day
This is a point I have been thinking about for a long time but did not want to implement as I love people who respond super fast to emails and want to be so myself! When it rings in the mail inbox, I always interrupt what I do and go in and read. But in practice it has the opposite effect because I usually realize that I do not have time to respond at once, flag-mark the email and continue working and then there is always lots of other things done before I respond to the email which suddenly can will be 1-2 days later. So there will be no quick response to emails and I just interrupt myself down the block. before I go home. And in between I do not open the email at all. How has it gone? Not good at all actually haha, I have answered emails in the middle of the day exactly every single day this week anyway. Sharpening Helena, how difficult will it be! :)
New month - A lot of admin work
In one of my first posts (you will find it here!) I wrote about all admin jobs such as salaries, reports and stuff that I do every time it becomes a new month. After that post, I got this question:
”I am thinking of starting my own but have such a hard time understanding what admin jobs mean in practice. You write that at the beginning of each month you work with "salaries, reports and figures", but what exactly do you do?”
It's a little different from company to company but here is a brief list of things I do every time the month ends:
- Budget - Enter the figures in a comparison column in our budget. We have set a budget, but then you have to check regularly if you follow it - so if you do not, you can do something about it before it is too late. This week I have also made a completely new budget that is valid until the summer.
- Salaries - Holidays, overtime, some have hourly wages, maternity days, etc. and all these details are compiled and sent to our finance person so that everyone gets the right salary on the 25th.
- Statistics - We have various statistics documents that I enter the month's results in. It's everything from how many working hours Ida had permanent makeup customers (she does makeup and lashes and eyebrows as well) to how many gift cards we sold and that we went profit on each person. There's probably nothing we do not have statistics on haha, real statistics nerds and it's so nice with order in the documents when you have to check things out quickly then.
- Key figures - Some things we measure extra (do not always have to be numbers but can be compliance with certain routines and such as well) and all such results are also compiled. Both in documents and in a diagram that I show at the next staff meeting.
- Financial data - All receipts and invoices of the month are collected in the correct order and handed over to our finance person who handles the accounting.
We print our monthly report as a super long receipt at checkout! This little strip of paper has been my company a lot in the office this week :)
Now I will continue to enjoy Sunday! Dad and Miska are building a roof in our sauna and I fix lots in the house that we are renovating and trying to create some order and livable areas when my sister Linda who lives in Finland comes and visits next week!
Wishing everyone a continued fantastic Sunday ♥
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