There are plenty of helpful tips and tricks out there about how to pack for a move and how to conduct a move.  If you hop on the internet you will find no shortage of blogs, articles, and posts all about organizing, ordering packaging supplies, choosing a mover, ordering packaging supplies, shipping via air or ground…did I mention ordering packaging supplies?  But what about after you move?  Does everyone just expect that you move and then you are happy because you moved?  Where are all of the helpful tips and tricks for how to adjust after a move?

Thankfully, there is some information, and the amount is growing.  Here are just a couple to help you along the way:

First of all, before we can go any further, we have to establish a positive mindset.  That might sound cliché, but it’s true.  If you want to have a healthy adjustment for your move, than you need to have a healthy mindset about the whole thing.  No, maybe you didn’t want to move, maybe it’s not ideal, and maybe you can find negative stuff all about it.  But there are definitely some positives, and the key is to put those positives first.

Now…

Be prepared.  Once you find out where you are going to be relocating to, try to learn as much as you can about that place.  It will begin to feel familiar before you even get there, and that’s the whole point.

Set up your home.  Prioritize setting up your home before you prioritize anything else.  You want your home to feel safe and inviting, so you need you to make it that.  Get fully unpacked so that you can begin to learn where everything is.  It will make you feel more at home to have all of your familiar surroundings around you, and it will be less stressful to have an uncluttered environment to go back to after you come back from exploring.

Make friends.  This is the easy part for a lot of people, and for some people this is the hardest part.  It is not cliché to introduce yourself to your neighbors.  In fact, it should set everyone at ease to become accustomed with your smiling, friendly face.  If there are work parties, or you get invited to a function by a colleague or fellow gym member, than go.

Be flexible.  A lot of this has to do with being open to new experiences.  A move is a really big change, and most of us don’t do well with change, so it helps to keep in mind that you are going to have change after change after change for quite a while after you move.  But don’t worry, it will all even out soon.  Enjoy those new experiences, but keep your favorites close, too.

Did you know that people have been packaging their products for thousands of years?  As technology has advanced the process has only gotten that much more complex…and necessary!  We now live in such a competitive business world that your packaging design and marketing strategy are what is going to set you above your competitors and bring you in sales.  This is done by brainstorming, choosing the right packaging supplies, and having a team of qualified people (whether or not that includes you.  Sometimes you just gotta let other people do what they are good at, and you stick to what you are good at).

As a matter of fact, packaging has evolved into its own industry.  The qualified people I was just talking about?  Their entire career is based on packaging and sales.  Ever seen that show Mad Men?  While I don’t know how or why the show ended the way that it did, the entire thing was based off of people in the advertising industry.

When it comes to packaging design you need to decide what kind of packaging supplies you are going to need, and how you are going to utilize them.

Have you ever seen the sandwich baggies or brown paper sacks that are covered with fake mold so that no one will want to steal your lunch?  That’s pretty stinking genius.  So the packaging supplies are pretty basic: plastic bags, paper bags.  It’s the creativity, the quirky idea of putting fake mold on the packages to deter lunch thieves, and the clever marketing campaign that calls them “anti-theft lunch bags” that makes this incredibly simple idea a huge success.

It’s not always going to be that obvious, or that easy, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be possible.  Quirky packaging ideas and clever marketing strategies can be applied to any and all products, no matter how basic or mundane they may be.

A colorful, shiny, meticulous design will speak of quality.  People want to buy something of quality.  I would sooner by a more expensive candy bar that uses muted tones, professional font, and pictures of the ingredients than I would buy one from Hershey’s.

What are some ways that you can really attract customers to your product?  The ideas you come up with don’t even necessarily have to correlate with your product, they just have to draw people in.  Like the little tubs of ice-cream that you set on a mechanism and they essentially become bobble-heads.  This is because there would be the face of a monkey painted on the side of the cup and the mechanism is the bottom of the monkey.  Neither monkeys or bobble heads have anything to do with ice-cream, but people will choose this product purely for the novelty.

The hidden “suck” of any small business is going to be shipping, whether it’s spending the money on shipping supplies or spending the time on packaging and mailing.  Thankfully, the internet has made opening and running small business easier than ever, which means that we have so many more small businesses than we did even ten years ago, which means that we are learning steps and strategies for maximizing our resources and making things work!

• Ever heard of a thermal printer? This is the first thing that I would suggest you get for your small business.  How many of you realize that printer ink, toner, and ribbon all belong to your list of shipping supplies?  Seeing as they are what print out your shipping labels it should be obvious, and yet it’s not.  You probably spend a ton of money on these items, but if you buy a thermal printer, which essentially burns the surface of the paper, you avoid the need to constantly buy them.  They don’t cost more than any other kind of printer, but even if they did I would say that the savings are surely worth the expense.
• While a thermal printer will save you money, printing your shipping labels in batches will save your time. Your shipping software should allow this function.  (Check out ShipStation if you don’t already have one.)
• I would also suggest including a return label along with your shipment, which might sound like the opposite of saving on shipping supplies, but the point is to promote customer satisfaction, which should result in less returns, which should reduce the amount of time and resources you spend on dealing with returns.
• You can save yourself a bunch of time (and gas money) if you set your small business up with pickup services from the USPS, UPS and FedEx. They all offer different options, so the fees will vary, with some of them even being free.
• I’ve already pointed out that technology is on the side of the small business owner in this day and age. Shipping software makes product shipping just about as easy as possible, and there is nothing so tedious in the shipping process as determining how each product should be shipped. This depends on the weight and location, to name only a couple.  Thankfully, shipping software can automatically do the work of figuring all that out, resulting in less errors and saving you the time.

BONUS:  All of this is good to know, but it’s also equally as important to make sure that your shipping station is set up for maximum efficiency.  Having your shipping supplies constantly stocked and organized will make the whole process go that much smoother.

Don’t underestimate the importance of packaging!  How cool would it be to walk by some shelves at the store and see your very own product sitting on the shelves?  However, just having a clever and creative idea for packaging supplies isn’t good enough.

The product needs to be marketed well and handled effectively or it’s not going to make it.  Here are 10 tips to help you get there:

1. Work smart by having a good cutter guide. What makes a good cutter guide?  A good cutter guide will have the right size, all the folds, the trim and bleed will be specified, areas that need glue or sealant will be clearly marked, and the location of the barcode will be indicated.
2. If you are designing your own cutter guide, don’t make promises before you find out if it’s even possible.
3. Use 3D computer programs to help you visualize the finished packaging supplies before you spend and money on making them and having them turn out poorly due to poor and ineffective design.
4. Use symbols so that you don’t have to constantly recreate the same paths and designs all the time. You can share your symbols library with other designers or reload it whenever you want to.
5. Once again, find out how your symbols are going to look by using your 3D computer program. This quick preview is a very good idea for label design!
6. Designing packaging supplies has been revolutionized by 3D programs! I’ve already mentioned a 3D visual of the finished product, a 3D visual of what your symbols are going to look like on the product, and there are even 3D programs where you can indicate the cut and fold lines and see a 3D version of your folded and unfolded packaging.
7. Using artboards helps in the process of designing cutter guides and will allow you to save your artwork to files on your computer.
8. Ever heard of Esko and DeskPack? Esko is a manufacturer that specializes in packaging supplies, and DeskPack is a collection of tools, consisting of many different plug-ins, that a packaging designer is going to appreciate.
9. Creating bleed is necessary but not necessarily easy, especially depending on the shape you are trying to work with. The offset path in your program helps by simplifying this process.
10. There is a specific Package command in certain Illustrator programs, and it will make your life a whole lot simpler. This makes sense since it is specific to packaging design.

Everyone loves to get something in the mail.  Of course I’m referring to something fun, and not the un-fun stuff like bills and spam.  That should go without saying, of course… I was talking to my neighbor the other day and she was saying that even when she orders something for herself she still feels excited waiting for it.  When she gets home from work and sees that the box has arrived her heart skips a beat.  There’s just something about it.  Tearing the heavy, outer layer.  Needing special tools to do so (and I’m talking about scissors, of course).  You’ve gotta work for it!  You see your name on it.  Then you get to the inside packaging.  This can be a let-down, or it can be another step to prolong the delicious process.  It all depends on the packaging supplies you use.

Like buttoned!  Yes, I said buttons.  Buttons look just like candy.  A bright, thick pop of color that you really want to take a bite out of but you know you shouldn’t (but you still might try anyway).  After you’ve boxed up your precious cargo, whatever it may be, use some white string to wrap around it, threading it through the button with each pass, and then tie a bow right above the button at the end.  There are tutorials on-line for how to do this, so don’t write it off immediately.  Even if you are using a simple paper bag to wrap something, make small dots on it with a silver Sharpie, and then use the string and button trick.  You will find yourself adding these simple do-dads to your packaging supplies list!

The longer you can drag out the unboxing experience, the better.  I’m not talking about a Christmas present prank, where you have a box in a box in a box in a box, or an entire roll of tape wrapped around a gift card.  I’m talking about clean lines and bright colors and thoughtfulness.  It’s all about the thoughtfulness.

Like tissue paper!  Is tissue paper a necessary part of packaging supplies?  Not at all.  But it is a thoughtful one.  Wrap what you are sending in some tissue paper and you will be simultaneously sending the message that you want the recipient to look at this like a gift.  “Here you go, unwrap this.”  It’s like saying, what’s inside?  Even though you already know.