I am grateful, God knows that I am, really. I feel horrible because all I have done today is complain about my fate. Well, mostly I have complained about my jewelry business fate.
I know that we ALL have days like this but I hate feeling so ungrateful.
I am putting so much time and effort into this business because I really want it to succeed. I know that things will take time, I do know that. I am feeling a bit of pressure to get everything off the ground and that is taking some of the joy out of making my jewelry.
I really cannot complain! I have always wanted to try my hand at developing, owning and operating my own business. And now, the Internet has made that more possible for so many people. I never thought that I would be doing so at 50 years old! Gosh, I feel so old some days.
Rexie is only 5 yrs old but he ACTS older…he has his priorities all worked out:
Anyhow, starting a new business takes a LOT of hard work, long hours, determination and dedication. Not many people around me are business owners, so they don’t really understand what goes into developing and operating a business. I try not to be bothersome but I talk about Ambient Venice Jewelry ALL THE TIME to anyone who will listen.
I’ll just talk to my Tigger…he’s a GOOD listener:
It’s incredible to think about how far the world has come in just a couple of decades. I remember how badly I wanted to try my hand at owning my own business when I was married to my first husband from 1987 through 1994. Tom and I looked into a couple of options…a greenhouse, a florist shop…a card store…an ice cream shop…but none of those options seemed to be a good fit for me. Additionally, both he & I were very caught up back then in the “business” of being YUPPIES~~young, upwardly mobile, urban professionals. Both Tom and I were skeptical about buying a “turn key business” without having any business sense or knowing if it would be something that I wanted to do for quite sometime. Of course, here I am…so obviously my desire and determination to own a business outlasted my marriage to Tom.
Nonetheless, Internet or not, having a successful and satisfying business is still all about developing, marketing and managing products and such. It still takes a tremendous amount of knowledge, patience, understanding, energy, endurance and money!
There is so much information to learn, sort and gather! The hardest parts have been understanding how to navigate and program my website (which lends itself to the marketing piece) and TAKING DECENT PHOTOS of my jewelry for my website (which also lends itself to marketing). Sounds silly but it’s the truth. The website piece has been very challenging and quite frustrating at times.
Even Rudy is feeling my frustrations:
I think I have made a decision today, though. I believe with all my heart that I can make this work because I think my jewelry is high quality and very special. The next step has to be retaining or hiring someone to market my website, maximize my exposure to search engines and stuff, get me out there and GET ME NOTICED!!!!
I went to a yard sale today that John spotted while he was running some errands. The lady who was running the sale happened to be a bead jewelry maker. John suggested that I go and visit with her, so I could get an idea about what she thought about my work.
Well, long story short…this gal, Barbara and her friend LOVED my stuff. Barbara couldn’t believe how lovely it all was…how it glistened and sparkled in the sunshine! Barbara’s input gave me a bit of a much needed boost. But her friend, Carolyn said, “I guess it doesn’t feel so great when your sitting on a box full of jewelry and there’s no one to sell it to.” BINGO, I thought!
I started to look into making application to The Heritage Festival today, which is a three day, 100,000 attended Arts & Crafts show in Ypsilanti Michigan in August. But I started to feel as if I was spreading myself too thin once again. I truly feel as though I want my initial business goal, at least for the first year of owning the business, to be having an e-commerce business that is up and running with a few monthly sales (say, $300-$500 monthly, that would be nice) on the World Wide Web!
I’ll get there, I know that I will. I just have to give some thought about the best ways to pursue a marketing person without going broke.
It just has to get better than this…I think it will!
My beautiful home…a blessing that I MUST remain grateful for:
