I am a happy entrepreneur, small business owner and designer. I find it such an interesting question of why we do what we do. How do we end up in our places in life? Do we have friends to mentor us? Do we wing it? I started on the kitchen table as a young mom. Legos next to lampshades.
At this point in my life I have enough years to look back on and enjoy reflecting on the evolution of my business. It takes lots of drive. It takes being humble. It takes making lots of mistakes and pulling our selves up again and regrouping. I always say I am happy not to be a perfectionist otherwise I never would have gotten as far as I have. And heavens knows it has taken me all this time to figure it all out. And must say I learn something new most days. I just realized for 12 bucks I can sharpen all of my own scissors... this cracks me up. Why did it take me so long to know this?
If you have your own business --- problem solving is a number one skill to master.
But what drives us to own our own business. Is it CONTROL? Most likely. I think that might be a very good reason to own your own business. You need to like calling the shots. Be the decider. Every minute of the day decisions are made. Which boxes to buy, which color tissue paper to order, what ribbon to use. Which orders to accept and ones to pass on. Which trim to use a lampshade. Which vintage fabrics and embroideries to buy. How much to spend of fabric. What hours to work, should I work a long weekend, which days to take off.
I often say it's worth $100,000 just to make all these decisions and be your own boss! It only takes a few dead end jobs to want to be your own boss. I started my business with very little money. And it has grown slowly putting earnings back into the business at a steady pace year after year. I am starting to see an exit plan in the coming years, but heck I can do it just as slowly as it started. I see a few more years in my Pawlet Village shop and then a move back up to my house where I started on the kitchen table, well maybe not the kitchen table but our little office--- I might not fit there.... but not quite ready to think about that even though it is in the back of my mind. Etsy is about 90% of my business and my village shop 10% of sales. Amazing isn't it. Though the percentage flips a bit seasonally as winter is slow at my shop and very busy online. Summer can be slow on line and busy in my shop; it actually works quite well.
I do love my shop work space. It's full to over flowing with fabrics, lampshade frames, shipping boxes and all the materials in between. And of course my shop garden is a cherished space to stretch a bit after lunch and pull a few weeds or plant seedlings.
Do you have the drive or do you prefer to follow. Leadership is a skill even if it's only a one lady business. We grow into our roles. I was very shy when I started my business. Selling at craft shows helped me gain confidence in myself. It's damn hard to put yourself out there with your wares! It's a vulnerable position as well as rewarding. A good selling show always puts a smile on any sellers face. Which leads to confidence which can leave just as fast as it comes. Are we good enough or does our product suck, just keep evolving and growing to make a better product-- persistence carries the day, always.
Does our product meet the sellers needs and desires? In the beginning of my business I did one small show in Vermont and quickly realized at the time I was not in the right neighborhood. I picked up and did 6-7 shows a year in Westport, Wilton, New Cannan and Weston CT where the money flowed like water. And that was the right neighborhood for my product. Then I jumped on Etsy in 2010 and did only The Brimfield Flea Market a couple times a year for quite a few years. Brimfield was fun until it wasn't and the decision was that it was time to take a break on that. These days I stay put in my shop and find my time best spent staying put. I had my years of doing a fair amount of community projects which actually worked well while making lampshades. I always needed something else to keep my mind busy though it did take away time from MAKING. Now all I do is MAKE. I've done my community do good-er time and have learned well to say NO. It's really quite easy to say no; I feel good about the civic duties done.
The past 3 Covid years have brought many into finding their inner businesses. I love this positive piece of the last few stressful years. Many have questioned their values and daily work. Our businesses are what we make them. Energy in energy out. Life is short and time goes by fast. I feel fortunate to have been able to have my little pink cottage and work hard as hell. I have to laugh at some of my days. It's kind of nutty. A day usually starts with boxing up orders, today I have 4 boxes to pack, fortunately they were all small 9x9x8 boxes; the best to box up. Then time for another cup of tea and settle in for a few busy projects to figure out the flow of the day. It is down right busy now and it takes a focus to stay on pace and track to balance filling orders as well as making inventory. Yes, it's always more fun to make inventory. This morning I had a few things ready to trim with my tea while I listened to the radio. Then onto the custom orders. The end of the day was prepping orders that I'd been putting off. Finishing up a cool large drum shade for my friend Ellen; it's a vintage embroidery drum shade, 16" across. I couldn't do it till I'd cleared off all the projects on my ironing board. I needed a lot of space. Lastly I banged it together, clipping wires into place with glue and clothes pins. Quite pleasing way to end the day. Funny how much gets done in one day. I got a fun call from a free lance writer today for an article for our local newspaper; we are setting that up for next week. Good timing for the holidays, we have lots of new Vermonters in our area that do not know about my shop.
Time for get to bed early for a busy day tomorrow. There's an estate sale across from my shop tomorrow and will bring in the perfect customers. Hope they do estate sales there more often. Sure parking will be a mess but not much happens in our little village so this is exciting!
enough rambling....haha, start your own business or support small businesses!
xo
judy