Protagonists of the Cozy World Unite!

I'm thinking today about entrepreneurs. In our cozy mysteries, our protagonists are small business owners. Amanda Tucker owns Designs on You, a retro fashion boutique where she designs and creates clothing based on vintage patterns.

Katie Bonner has her fingers in several different entrepreneurial pies: Artisans Alley, a consortium of vendors; Tealicious, a tea shop; and the Victoria Square Merchants Association Partnership, which buys and leases buildings on the Square.

Amy Flowers owns and operates the Down South Cafe. The cafe is one of only two restaurants in rural Winter Garden Virginia, and Amy also makes sides and desserts her patrons can buy and take home.

Marcy Singer owns and operates an embroidery specialty shop on the Oregon Coast, and Daphne Martin operates a cake decorating business out of her home in Brea Ridge Virginia.

In addition to the businesses our protagonists own and operate, we authors must operate our own businesses. It's funny sometimes how I must figure out how my characters do their day-to-day operations while I'm going about my own. For example, for the Ghostly Fashionista series, I have no hands-on experience in fashion design and dressmaking. I had to learn that new customers get muslin patterns done and how many fittings they must have. I weave these details into Amanda's story as I'm meeting deadlines and determining the best way to market the book once it's finished.

Other tasks creep in, biting into my writing time: logging expenses and receipts, bill paying, creating ads, social media, managing giveaways, maintaining my websites. If I'm not careful, I can spend far too much time on chores that take away from my writing. That's why I'm currently designating Fridays as "admin day." It's the day I try to take care of the little things that build up throughout the week.

What about you? Are you a business owner? How do you handle time-management?