What I actually get up to.

Let’s start at the top.

My typical work month has a few ‘must-do’ activities scheduled.

1. Build 10-12 pairs of boots.
2. Prepare social media posts for the next month.
3. Plan out social media storyboards for posts needed in 2 months time.
4. Post a new set of ad creative on IG every 3-4 weeks.

My typical work week has more or less the following ‘normal’ bootmaking activities.

1. Build 2-3 pairs of boots.

Clicking leather, closing uppers, lasting, bottoming, midsoling stitching and outsole cementing.

I typically have the boot uppers to be built during the week clicked and closed the prior week, so on Monday I can immediately start the lasting process. Most boots are for customers, but when I have time, I squeeze in test builds for upcoming models or fitting boots in various sizes.

2. Drop off the boots from the previous week to my cobbler.

I have a cobbler who helps me do an initial trim and sand of the outsoles after I finish the bottoming and outsole cementing.

When I’m dropping off boots, I also pick up boots that had this step completed from the week before. The hand finishing will be done later.

Some other weekly tasks include:

3. Packing boots ready for delivery to customers.
4. Working on the creative for a few social media posts.

Socials normally consist of doing some videography and photography when I’m at the bench. Later on this content be used to create a post aligned to the planned storyboard. This is a whole topic within itself, and something I had no experience with prior to becoming a bootmaker.

I personally dislike social media, but it’s necessary to run the business.

I work at The Bench and The Office.

Normally all of my physical bootmaking work is done in the morning. My energy highest at first light and tapers off by around lunchtime.

So I plan for this accordingly, moving to The Office after lunch. What I do there can be really varied, depending on what’s going on.

Running business admin, pattern making for future releases, dealing with the supply chain, social media management etc.

There’s plenty of problem solving. Like any other job, shit just pops up unexpectedly, completely disrupting processes and wasting time.

So, I make sure I allocate time for this to a) happen and b) resolve.

In-between all of the above, people drop by to try on boots, pick up boots and make orders. This is also disruptive somehow, particularly when bootmaking in the morning.

I’ve found that getting into a flow state is really important.

The morning session.

Here’s how it pans out, beginning with the morning session.

7.15am-8.00am

Wake up naturally. Eat breakfast. I’ve been eating porridge every morning for the last 15 years. Yes, 15 years. Again, efficiency. I don’t need to think, I know it’s healthy and it doesn’t take long. The downside is that there came a point when it tasted like I was eating cardboard every morning.

Efficiency wins over taste apparently.

8.00am-9.30am

Lasting. This normally happens on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Tuesday, Thursdays and sometimes Sundays are for midsole stitching.

I’ll take the uppers that were prepared the prior week, sit at The Bench, and get to it.

9.30am-10.30am

Clicking leather for boots that need to be built next week. I’ll check my build schedule and work through the customer list. If I have a gap for whatever reason, then I can fit in a future build for testing or prototyping.

This is a good natural point for me to take stock of what leather I have, and what needs a re-order.

10.30am-12.00pm.

Usually I’m closing the uppers that I clicked earlier. If I’ve already sewn all the uppers needed for the following week, I’ll use this time to do some finishing on boots that are near the end of their build process.

Each boot takes around 30 minutes-1 hour to finish. Final sanding, edge cleanup, burnishing, waxing and polishing.

During all of the morning session activities, I’m cognisant of any videos or photos that I should be taking, based on what’s planned in the social media storyboards for the coming months.

Speaking of social media, every day around 11.00am is when I post content, check engagement, and respond to comments and enquiries. On a busy day, this can take around 1 hour, eating into the 10.30am-12.00pm work block.

I try to use the time that I’d naturally be waiting within other processes. E.g. Cement drying.

The afternoon session.

With the morning session done, I need a break.

12.00pm-1.30pm

Lunch and gym. Unlike breakfast, lunch has a bit more variety. Some kind of sandwhich, maybe some noodles, pasta or leftover dinner.

Gym is 3 times a week. Usually Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.

After a shower, the afternoon session now begins in The Office. Tasks can vary, depending on what’s happening.

1.30pm-3.30pm

Social media creation. My workflow is across the Adobe suite. Photoshop, Illustrator and After Effects. Depending on the objective of the post, content can be in the form of a still, carousel or reel.

Depending on my release cycle, I also need to create material specific for pinned posts and ad creative for upcoming products.

I post my content on IG and TikTok, with TikTok using more condensed versions of the IG content. I tend to experiment more on TikTok as I consider it my ‘secondary’ account. The IG audience in Malaysia are my primary target, the TikTok audience are potential future customers.

Other tasks in the 1.30pm-3.30pm time block could be patternmaking. This ranges from initial product development, to pattern design, to testing the master pattern with paper on the last. Or maybe I’m testing sizes that have come back from grading. It’s always iterative, until it’s not.

3.30pm-4.30pm

Time allocated for things to go wrong and for me to solve them.

If for some reason everything is (seemingly) fine, I could use this time trawling through Alibaba for materials or machinery, talking to suppliers; enquiring, ordering samples, giving feedback, placing orders.

Every day always has some administration of running the business too. Maybe some topics that need to be clarified by the company secretary, preparing regulatory paperwork, checking upcoming filing deadlines.

I could be making payments, sending invoices and receipts, resetting forgotten passwords, figuring out why Meta Ad Platform can’t put a hold on my credit card. Calling the bank, trying to find a human to speak to at Meta.

The same shit that any other job also deals with. And depending on the issue, sometimes it takes hours to resolve, or can trickle over to days.

In between all of the activities of the afternoon session in The Office, I’m usually online with the socials. If I get a free moment, I also like to read 3 news articles every day in Bahasa Melayu. It keeps my language skill up to date.

4.30pm-6.00pm

Back to The Bench, where I’ll do some midsoling. Usually taking place on days where I’ve lasted boots in the morning, I’ll cement, tack and trim the midsoles, then cement the slipsoles on. These are now ready for the next day’s morning session, where I’ll stitch it all together.

6.00pm-7.30pm

Cook dinner and eat with my partner. She usually goes to the gym after dinner, so we normally have a 30 minute overlap where she’s around and can eat dinner together.

6.30pm is my cutoff time for when I stop checking social media. Any enquiries can be answered the next day at 11.00am. I don’t use social media for anything else except the business anyway, so it’s easy for me to have a hard cutoff.

7.30pm-11.00pm

In theory this is when I sit in front of the TV and watch YouTube, the NBA or sometimes Netflix. But this is more often than not distracted by boot related topics. Searching for new techniques, browsing for inspiration, calculating costing on upcoming product releases, or simply researching a material or tool.

This is cutoff by my partner coming home from the gym, when we’ll watch or do something else. And that’s probably a good thing I think.

11.00pm-7.15am

Sleep.

Luckily, I’ve never had any problems with this. As soon as my head hits the pillow, it’s lights out.

At least, until either my cat wakes me up, or 7.15am rolls around again.

‘Imagine how much more we could do if we didn’t need to sleep?’

Thanks Mike.