A free method

Write how the shop will run before the first order

For people starting a shop, and for shops that still run only in one person’s head. This is the critical part of a new business start that nobody writes down.

Most new shops wait until something breaks, then try to write it down. By then the only person who knows receiving is you, and you are also packing, answering buyers, and chasing the vendor.

Write three ways of working while the shop is still quiet. Monday can be 20 minutes even if every number is NA.

What this is not

This will not form an LLC, get you a loan, or write a business plan. It will give the shop a way to run when you hire the first helper, so the work does not live only in your head.

Publish three pages

One page each. One owner. One done line.

• How a carton comes in. Match the purchase order, count, photograph a mismatch.
• How an order goes out. Pick, pack, and what you do when the label is wrong.
• What you do when a buyer sends something back. A reason code before it hits the bin.

If a page takes more than two minutes to explain out loud, shorten it. A helper will not read a binder.

Run Monday anyway

Twenty minutes before noon. Write NA on every number you do not have. Pick the one page you will finish this week. Then stand up.

The meeting is the habit. The numbers can wait for the first real week. Canceling Monday because you have not shipped yet is how the pile starts on week one.

Log the problems you expect

You do not need five real fires. Write the three you already know are coming: a late vendor, a listing that is wrong, and a return with no reason. Those rows tell you which page to write first.

Why this is the right time

After the first rush, you will tell yourself you will write it this weekend. You will not. The quiet week is the only cheap week. Use it.