Chasing My Dream

Just do it. Good suggestions below. Love Suzanne's line: "If the house gets a little dusty so what? The dust will still be there but the dream may not." So very true.

p.s. It might be worth getting a cleaning person in once a month.

If you buy a space at a flea market, find a girlfriend to sit with you there. You may even clear a little space for her to sell some of her crafts, too. Share the cost of the booth. It will best the boredom and you can motivate each other to create more products. Good luck.

I think when you are 100% ready, you will be motivated to do it.

As for starting something new, it is scary. There is a fear of the unknown.

On a personal note, my husband and I always wanted to be our own boss. I have been a stay at home mom (ex corporate Marketing for a major salty snack food company) since 1992 when we built our first house.

He has always been in outside sales with raw materials and his employers were usually in the NE. He didn't have customer service support, etc so while I was home with my daughter, I would act as his customer service rep. All of his customers knew that I knew just about what mile marker he would be on or about where he'd be in the air! I managed all of his travel. This worked well for us because I was home with daughter for everything and I didn't spend a ton of time on hubby's work. However, we both built solid relationships with customers.

Fast forward to 6 yrs ago, the opportunity fell in our lap to start our own company in the same industry. Talk about scary.... we relied on our savings because we chose not to take a salary the first year. We relied on our investing and knowledge to personally fund our company. We didn't want a bank involved... we wanted to be sole owners. That meant we were solely responsible.

There were some tough times in the beginning but each year we have steadily increased, we secured warehousing and now we are looking at the possibility of hiring a sales rep and a someone to manage the traffic coordination between our suppliers and customers. We are up over 25% from last year which was a record year and each month is breaking record sales. It is unbelievable, very successful and a thriving business.

Our daughter just started college and moved into her own condo. She is on my payroll. She studies business, marketing and entrepreneurship, therefore she is shadowing my job of overseeing all of the financials, observing her dad with negotiating, and sales and it is helping her greatly with her business classes because she has an example to use when she is studying. By the time she is out of college and she plans a graduate degree, she will be primed to take over our company if she so chooses.

SO...I know where you are coming from... it is scary and sometimes is it much easier to just go run the sweeper then sit down and plan a business.

We started with a business plan, hired good tax and legal counsel and took the plunge. It has been SO worth it.

You don't have to spend 8 hours a day on it. Just put in a couple hours here and there and build up your confidence in running your own business. You CAN do it.

As for Etsy... I think my daughter is keeping someone there very busy. She loves the site. She is very crafty and she loves getting the unusual one of a kind items off Etsy for her personal use and for decorating her condo. She made most of the artwork that is in her condo and she could do pretty well selling it I am sure.

You CAN do this. Start with your plan, get the proper documents from the IRS, start slowly and work your way up.

Best wishes to you and let us know how you do!

I started out by first finding a hobby that I could be passionate about. Then I just did my hobby (stained glass) for fun and decorated my house with my glass work. (I was lucky that I have many transom windows in my home). Years later, I started making mosaics. My dad took pictures of my work to a gallery and they said they would love to sell my work so my work has been in a gallery for about 2 years now. Just 2 wks ago, I entered my first juried art show and my piece won an honorable mention award. So exciting!

My advice is to find something that you love to do and start doing it. Take a continuing education class at a local school. Have fun with it. Give your creations away to family members and friends at the holidays. Don't put preasure on yourself for now. Take baby steps and you will get there.

(FYI...before I found stained glass, I took various painting classes and a photography class. I also tried swimming, roller blading and ice skating. Although I enjoyed those activities I was not passionate about any of them except rollerblading. (Then I had a knee injury). Once I took my first stained glass class though, I was hooked. It then took me 10 more years before I discovered the art of mosaics. (I am self taught). This has brought more joy into my life than I ever could have imagined.

Yes and you can do it.
Actualize your dream.
Open the shop on Etsy & sell your wares.
How to start?
Set aside an hour block to start with every morning.
Pick a time that is good for you.
Don't do any housework during this time.
Just turn a blind eye to it. Tell yourself this is like going into the office for
an hour from 10-11am, let's say.
You can then return to your normal housework duties afterward.
You can later extend the amount of time as necessary.
Good luck! Do it!

Great answers already. All that I can suggest is getting your family on-board. I was recently faced with the opportunity of coaching my child's soccer team. I sat her down first to see how she would feel about it. She became my cheerleader. Even though I knew very little about soccer I made it through the season and had fun doing it. My kids also love to see me paint and sew. They just can't believe that their mom has talents! Sometimes our kids can help motivate us and they also enjoy seeing us pursue our goals.

You would have to put a time and date to it. You want to start a business on X and you will open an etsy on Y and you will work Z hours each day to build up your business.

Make a schedule of daily duties and include this business as part of your daily chores. Once you get in the swing of things it will be easier to continue your work.

As a writer they say that you have to write every day for your craft. As a crafter you have to craft every day in order to make it go. So sit down and figure out how to do it and then "Just do it!" Every business starts with an idea and then you go from there and make it go.

Good luck to you.

the other S.

PS If the house gets a little dusty so what? The dust will still be there but the dream may not.

Find a space apart from your endless housework, and spend 2 hours a day there, working on your ETSY shop. It need be nothing more than a clear desk, the shed, the basement, a coffee shop etc. Set a timer, don't do anything but ETSY/ or daydreaming for those 2 hours.

Make your ETSY time like a job which you report to for at least the first 3 months, suppose after you do drop off, house cleaning, errands, a light work out, and lunch, you pour yourself a cup of coffee and do ETSY from 1-3pm until you pick up the kids.

The point being, once you carve out the time for the ETSY, you will learn how to compress all the other tasks into your remaining time.

Working parents manage to keep house, tend to the kids, and go to work, so can you. We build in efficiencies, we work quickly, we have the kids pitch in, we compress errands, doing several stores at once, or doing only weekly shopping trips, we use slow cookers, buy in bulk, prep food and snacks en masse.

Best to you and yours,
F. B.

Best,
F. B.

PS- take a look at the flylady webpage for tips on building in efficiencies in your housekeeping. Decluttering and delgating responsibility help too.

I started my business in an hour. I was asked if I knew anyone that new how to do certain tasks.. I said "yes, me!" They "said send me a proposal.."

I jumped in the car, went and paid a fee for the name and got on the state tax rolls.

I then called the client with the proposal with my brand new business name.. and I have not looked back. I was so busy this week, I had to turn down one client..

I suggest you sit down and write out what crafts or product you are going to make. How much money you need to invest.. then make 12 items. Open the etsy shop, you can sell the actual items if they are one of a kind or you can take orders a and make them as requested.

To show at fairs, consider finding someone that has a spot and split the cost of the booth.

If you make jewelry, find a person that makes something different but looks great together like hats, sweaters, handbags..

If you make Aprons, they maybe sell Mixes with a recipe.

You make Christmas ornaments, they make Christmas Cards.

You just have to do it. Set a small goal and log your hours, your costs and "best practices".

Just Do It!

So much great advice below!
I love this story: A fellow employee where my husband works was telling him about a new catering company he and his girlfriend recently started. During a pause in the conversation, my husband asked him how often he paid his sales tax - monthly, quarterly, or semi annually? The guy told him they didn't pay taxes on their sales. My husband responded, "Well, then you're not really a business owner. You're just pretending."

Keep it in perspective, running a business can be very rewarding, but it is a lot of responsibility. Keep good records, pay your taxes, keep all of your receipts. Look online for info on how to do those things. Make a work schedule, include both time to do the crafting and time to do the paperwork.

Good luck!

Great advice below. I started a "craft" business of selling candles I made when I was pregnant. I started selling them at farmer's markets and craft fairs and did very well. Through exposure I got accounts at retail stores and even at a garden shop in Disneyland.

Then, listening to my customers, I morphed the business into making wedding favors and unity candle sets for weddings. I could sell hundreds of favors to just one bride directly and make much more money without the middle man. After doing that for a while I started reselling other companies wedding products, even more lucrative with less effort and I could carry a wider range of products. I did this all through my kids early years, worked nights when my husband was home, hired Mom's helpers to play with the kids while I worked and hired other mom's to make some of the products.

I now do online resell only as we also have a vacation rental business that keeps me busy. But that extra income I bring in on the side really enriches our lives. It's not a ton but it takes little effort at this point and allows us to travel, eat out and have more fun as a family.

You just START. Find places to sell where you're face to face with customers and LISTEN to them. When you work hard and put yourself out there things just happen.

My only warning is watch your expenses. For years people would say "Wouldn't it be great if you had a store?" That would have killed the whole thing, cost me thousands more per month and tied me to hours in a retail environment. The whole point was to be flexible for my kids. Keep it small and home based to start and always know your target market. The universe will talk to you as you grow, listen and follow your instinct. Good luck!

If it's something you really want to do then you need to treat it like a business. Block out time specifically to make your items, take pictures (this is hard because you have to get the lighting correct so that the pictures are good and show detail and colors), list them, respond to email, package, label, and ship.

Set up an area in your house that is for your crafting only because if you have to haul things out and use a common space (like the kitchen table) that must be cleaned up after then it'll be too easy not to treat it like a business.

Before you jump in do your research to see what sells and what it sells for. Make sure your craft isn't ripping off something already there. And make sure you price things realistically. I'm a knitter but won't open an etsy shop because in order to make money for my time I'd have to sell a pair of wool child size socks for $80.00 a pair.

Hi there - I have the same dream as you, but I am doing it. I just want to say you are setting up hurdles in your mind. They are only in your mind. You can start any time you want. Just start small. My first art fair I shared a booth with a friend. I made a total of 15 things to sell! (That is really pitiful now..but at the time I was so excited!). I sold them all and kept doing that same art fair each year...expanding more and more each year with how much I had to sell and the variety of things I made. Then I applied for and got in to a juried art co-op gallery. I had my spot there for many years till we moved and I started taking orders. Each year things got a little better and I got more well known. Now I sell in a gallery shop in our new home and I take orders. I just do it part time and it's so enjoyable! I make and sell prints, ceramics, and tile murals. So...start small. Just start making things. Take 3 hours each Saturday while your husband takes the kids to the pool or park or something. See if you can finish one item each time. Stock these up and when you are ready sign up for an art fair...maybe aim for one that is right before Christmas next year. As far as knowing what you want to create...I can't advise you there. You could do a once a month women's crafting group (start it yourself) with a couple friends and each time making something different. Maybe you'll find something you LOVE to make. Jewelry, if the right kind, often sells really well. But make sure it is affordable AND something people want to buy.

Perhaps you're throwing up mental hurdles because you're afraid of failure. If you don't actually try it, you can keep the dream and not worry about the outcome, you know? In reality, the only failure is in not trying.

Get busy, right this very second.

Well, think really hard on this. If you truly cannot motivate yourself to start this business, then is it really your dream? This should be something that you just cannot wait to do...the thought of doing this should excite and invigorate you. Commit to doing this or don't....just put your whole heart into whatever you decide.

If you work outside of your home it stays cleaner. Truly. No one is at home to make messes so it stays cleaner over all.

I would go take some classes at a local Jr. College or some sort of community classes where it would be totally affordable and you could make contacts.

There may even be a small office out there that you can rent on a month to month basis where you can keep ALL your craft items. This will get you out of the house and focused on what you're doing.

Filling orders is demanding. They want it now, exactly how they want it, it will be the wrong color or the wrong size or something and they'll be mad, want you to replace it for free.

Having an online business is hard work and it takes all your time. Sometimes you'll be up at 2am working to fill an order and drop it at the last second. Then you'll have to start over.

Working for someone else isn't always a bad thing...lol. I found when I sewed for people that I began to hate sewing. I have sewn my whole life and totally enjoyed the end results. Now I hate even thinking about starting a garment, even something for myself.

I refuse to iron a shirt for my husband. I always ironed everything. When I had a home business ironing for customers I began hating every aspect of it.

Suddenly I couldn't do it because I enjoyed it but I "had" to do it on a time constraint and my time was not mine anymore. I'd rather work for someone else and make a paycheck, enjoy that time at that place then come home.

I hope you can get some classes to spark your creativity. It would be fun for you, for a little while anyway, to do this sort of business.