Donna has been canning and selling her secret recipe spaghetti sauce for a few months on a part time basis and is running into problems. Her neighbor, Shari, made it seem so easy with her part time tax preparation business. Donna finally asked Shari for a spaghetti dinner (of course) and a chance to pick her brain. “Oh, Shari,” Donna sighed. “How do you do it? I can’t ever seem to get organized. I run out to mail bottles of sauce and then when I’m back home I remember I forgot to pick up more boxes or labels or sealing tape. I’m halfway through a batch of spaghetti sauce and I find I’m out of oregano. And it’s not just business stuff. Last week, I thought my husband, Paul, was picking the boys up from soccer practice and he thought I was picking them up. I’m out buying supplies and they finally had to get a ride home with the coach.”
She continued, “I try to get some things done at work. I’ll call in an order when I’m on break, but even that’s getting to be a headache. Last week my supplier phoned back while my boss was in my office. What a mess!”
Before Shari could offer any comments, Donna went on, “I’m keeping all my work invoices separate, but I’m not sure if I’m really making money. I’ve tried to figure out what price is best, but if I set it here, the orders drop off. If I drop it, I’ve got more orders than I can handle. And since I’ve changed prices some of my repeat customers are getting confused or angry.”
Shari smiled, “I had similar problems when I started off – as a matter of fact, many part timers do. Let me tell you about Boundaries and Exchanges.”
What advice is Shari likely to offer Donna?