Ha!
What's easier than starting a business in a new city, with three small children and a very, very small budget? Many things, obviously! But I have to say that building my Etsy shop and ThreadAbell business from virtually nothing has been probably the most important aspect of success. It was either work hard or fail. And it still is every day.
If this was *easy*, I probably wouldn't be as motivated. I may not be ready to sell my brand to Martha Stewart crafts - but I am busier than I was a year ago. I am growing all of the time and each finished project is a new skill, new marketable item and one more notch in my confidence belt (weird analogy?). We all weird confidence belts, right?
So, yes, I spend many hours challenging my skills in the sewing room. I read frustrating patterns and use many a Youtube video to figure out sewing terms that are simply easier to SEE than to read. But I also have other resources and support that have helped make ThreadAbell what it is!
(1) Now I know this isn't a resource you can find at Home Depot (someday maybe!) - but I have read that your spouse is often the most important factor in a successful career. For women, that is. A man that supports his wife... even when she has a sewing machine in three different rooms, curtains laid out on the living room floor and life-threatening cutting tools very near to children... makes all the difference. Gregory has been patient enough to let me gradually take over the house with crafts. From the kitchen table, to an upstairs closet and finally, kicking our youngest out of the nursery.
And while my kids have less of a choice in the matter, they are pretty cool about it. I may not be "at the ready" for every game they want to play and I drag them to Joann's four days a week - they have to be understanding that a Mom that "works from home" has no way to balance it all. If I throw in a project for them, they start to like this whole sewing thing.
(2) Follow your passion. And one of my life-long passions is the Muppets. How did I not see that my happiest work would involve singing frogs, tap dancing bears and Sesame Street? I am not the first to spout this advice: but doing something you love while making money is the BEST. I know it's going to be a big seller when I can't stop laughing while I make it.
(3) Learn to be inspired instead of frustrated. When I was first perusing Etsy and wishing that I could somehow create a shop for myself... I let myself get overwhelmed. Quilters with 10,000 sales! Handbags that sell for $85! How would I ever compete with that? And yet, I have, one sale at a time. I still look at other artists with awe... but I don't let it discourage me anymore.
(4) Talk about your craft A LOT. Tell everyone you know about it. Pay for some advertising. This is an area where I need to improve: at the moment, I ran out of business cards and have never re-ordered them. In a business sense, that's pretty dumb! Many of my customers have led to an inner circle of other customers that were all looking for custom quilts, or cloth diapers, or what have you. So as I give the advice to brag a little, I will try my best to do the same for myself.
(5) Have amazing and talented friends. I enlisted the help of a graphic designer for my logo - and she was kind enough to accept wall hangings as payment. I have paid debts with couch pillows. :) Friends sent me their mending and ideas for t-shirt pillows before I was really "proven" to be talented. Their trust in me (and many shares on Facebook) changed everything! I have been inspired so many times with great project ideas. I have the skills to turn those ideas into reality - but wouldn't have anywhere to start if all you great people weren't sending me old t-shirts in the mail!
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