This is topic What to do when there's "nothing" to do in forum Letterhead/Pinstriper Talk at The Letterville BullBoard.


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Posted by Ricky Jackson (Member # 5082) on :
 
GENERAL HOUSEKEEPING
take out trash
vaccum or sweep up
clean the windows
pick up trash in front
put up tools and "stuff"
straighten up work area

SHOP MAINTENANCE
replace dull blades in Olfa & Exacto's
sharpen Stabillo's
change air filters in heating/cooling system
degrease silk screens
refill your Rapid Tac & Rapid Remover bottles
order materials
shred any old documents or invoices sitting around
wash the vehicles
get oil changed and tires rotated if needed
do spackling & touch up painting
organize vinyls
throw away any vinyl that's been sitting for 1 yr.

EQUIPMENT
clean gunk off plotter rollers
perform maintenance needed on Edge or large format
take inventory
make a list of needs from hardware store or
builders supply - go get it

COMPUTERS
wash keyboards, monitors, mouse, scanner & phones
organize CD's and DVD's
back-up computer files
do disk cleanup and defrag computers

MARKETING
take care of any callbacks or redo's
go over accounts receivable
return calls
update your website
call prospects
redo your phone message
write thank you cards
address Christmas cards
pull marketing reports (owner/mgr)
 

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Posted by David Harding (Member # 108) on :
 
Waste time in Letterville.
 

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Posted by Larry Ware (Member # 7352) on :
 
As for me,

-watch Youtube

-get up go to fridge (only to find nothing)

-watch Youtube some more

-go back to the fridge only to see the samething

-Myspace

-back to the kitchen again ,but this time the cupboard

-make sandwich

-eBay

-IM friends at work

-Youtube

I think I may be leaving something out...
 

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Posted by Nikki Goral (Member # 7844) on :
 
NOTHING TO DO????

Come visit my shop...I'll put you to work!

However, Letterville is a good place to spend some time!

Ricky has a great list. We should all print it out and hang it up. I do some of that while waiting for clients to show up...my computers & printers are at my house for now, so I don't do design or print at the shop, so I have a great list like that too.

I actually tear out pages of interest from the sign mags and put them in the clear page protectors and organize them by topic or method. I have quite a few 2" binders at the shop to show clients, plus my own portfolio. So that fills in a bit of time too. I love doing that. It's almost a hobby in itself, considering I have articles and projects in there since I began 17 years ago.
 

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Posted by Si Allen (Member # 420) on :
 
Me? Lol....nothing!


 

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Posted by Mike Pipes (Member # 1573) on :
 
I've been making chocolate Easter rabbits today.
 

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Posted by David Harding (Member # 108) on :
 
For once, I'll be serious.

This list is good advice and following through will help your business.

Now, I'll just print it out and...

Wait, I think I'll import it into my graphics program, change the fonts and spiff it up a bit. Then, I'll download a good photographic background. Now, I need to get some really cool bullets on that list. Drat, the publishing program messed up the formatting. Spend two hours trying to fix spacing. The computer crashed... should have bought the Mac. Oh, man. I didn’t save. Four hours of effort down the drain. I remember how I did it and the formatting work around, redo it in an hour. I'll print and laminate this list. The print heads need cleaning. I'm out of Cyan. I should have ordered the internet special last week, now I've gotta go to OfficeDEPOT and pay three times as much. Got the cyan. Where's the laminator? Found the laminator, need to go back to OfficeDEPOT for sleeves. Burned hand on laminator. Out of bandages. Go to pharmacy next door to OfficeDEPOT and buy bandages. Try to feed list through laminator left handed. Accidently destroy list. Reprint list. Just a minute here, I can do better graphics than that. Why'd I ever use that font? It just doesn't work. Buy cool font pack set for $159.95. Play with fonts for three hours. Redo list with new fonts. Print and laminate list. Proof read list after lamination to find cool font did not have complete character set and substituted random glyphs. Give up, copy to clipboard and hit "Print".

Whaddya mean "Nothing to do?" I'm way too far behind to spend time to do all the blankety blank stuff on this list! I've got a business to run!!!

quote:

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For once, I’ll be serious.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Kissymatina:
Scour boss' computer for porn

Isn't that the #1 item on the list for Ricky's employees?

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Kissy sweety, if they got a glimpse of the freaky stuff on Ricky's puter...they would not only quit...they would report him ( to local,national and international police)

wait a minute ...I bet thats what all the hub bub is about at the border! He didn't have a gun! he just had a box of beastality porn! Sick man Sick.....
 

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Posted by Jon Jantz (Member # 6137) on :
 
Ricky, do you have that printed out on a 24x36 and hanging in your employees lounge? That is an excellent idea to have a list like that.

Our guys will mess around here sometimes when they get back early etc. and act like there's nothing to do, when in truth there are quite a few small things that need to be done. Sometimes we're too busy to try to think of 4 or 5 of these things off the top of our head when they're lounging around, but if the list was already made..... hmmmm... like I said, good idea.
 

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Posted by Randy Campbell (Member # 2675) on :
 
I vacuum sorry Ricky.
 

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Posted by Nikki Goral (Member # 7844) on :
 
David,

you have too much time on your hands or you can type REALLY FAST!!!!!
 

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Posted by Jean Shimp (Member # 198) on :
 
Look for work in a hurry!
 

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Posted by Donna in BC (Member # 130) on :
 
Ricky, great list! Back in the day of an employee around, Kari was a wonderful organizer and she'd do all those little extras on a very regular basis. I miss that.

When I have nothing to do, I go shovel the snow that never falls here.

[ February 05, 2008, 10:55 PM: Message edited by: Donna in BC ]
 

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Posted by Jon Butterworth (Member # 227) on :
 
Good list Rick! I'm going to add to it and use it for a reference for my odd spare moments.

I keep a daily Diary ... hand written, but one of these days I might get one of those new fangled pocket note books.

Every morning with the first cup of coffee I list out things to do for the day under sperate headings:

Work in Progress
Administration ... bookwork, quotes, etc.
Home chores
Sundry: "To Dos" if time allows.

I try and allocate importance and priority. The "HAVE-TO-DOs" get an ***!

It usually gets added to with incoming stuff during the day.

If I get the *** done, and most of the rest, it's been a VERY good day.
 

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Posted by Mark M. Kottwitz (Member # 1764) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Nikki Goral:
NOTHING TO DO????

Come visit my shop...I'll put you to work!

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yeah, no kidding...I got trash to take out and floors to sweep...

No, seriously...My week just got a lot busier. I sold a set of channel letters, and the permiting just went through, so I gotta get them on order.

I just sold a Monument sign, so I gotta get that on order (as well as the HDU panel that goes in it). And they tightened the deadline from end of April to March 6 (installed).

And I have a 6 x 10 church sign that they now want a "Topper" on so I gotta get that figured up. And get that on order...

I sold more this last 2 weeks than I did all last year. (but considering I just moved from doing only sub contract work for other sign companys to a full service sign shop, I think I'm doing pretty darn good)...
 

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Posted by Ray Rheaume (Member # 3794) on :
 
Make panels
Thoroughly clean all my brushes and airbrushes
Playstation 2
 

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Posted by Ricky Jackson (Member # 5082) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Jon Jantz:
Ricky, do you have that printed out on a 24x36 and hanging in your employees lounge?

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Yes Jon, I have a 2 x 3 foot printed out in Letterheads Fonts on a beautifully designed David Butler panel, laminated and hanging in the employees lounge right between the weight room and the swimming pool.

Kris and Jake, I smell a conspiracy here. Any man that would let a woman paint his toenails PINK - with One Shot, well you just can't believe anything he says.
Behold, I give you Kris and Jake at the Dixie meet:
 

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