When I started stamping jewelry a couple of years ago, I built my business on customizing and personalizing pieces for other people. Namely, I did washer necklaces with kids/grandkids names and things of that sort. I also did quite a healthy amount of memorial pieces. The business model was not the most conducive to sustaining itself and I actually found myself several hundred dollars in the red by the end of the fiscal year. That's when I decided that it was no longer necessary to keep myself up at night worrying that a piece wouldn't be exactly what someone had wanted. I still cannot tell you how many dozens of custom pieces I still have, that people just never picked up or got back to me about. I was pretty disheartened by the entire process during that first year of stamping. I realized that, even though I was selling my designs at a heavily discounted rate in comparison to other similar items, people were happy to take advantage of my generosity and willingness to order specific items to customize their orders. The worst trap I fell into, however, was making multiple styles of one item so that my customer could pick their favorite style (I cannot tell you how much of my own inventory I ruined by doing this). Running a business solely through Facebook is a terrible, terrible idea that I would never suggest to anyone ever.
During the Christmas rush of 2013 (a time when I do double the amount of my normal business), I was reasonably sure that I would quit stamping altogether. The nights seemed endless, and my perfectionism did not help at all. Add worrying about people not paying for their orders and you have one very disgruntled, stressed Karee. When the last of my orders had been shipped, I put up a status saying that I was taking time off from stamping until further notice. And I didn't look at my stamping supplies for weeks. I was not necesssarily sad about it, but I missed the process. I was focused on spending time with Jo, learning new watercolor techniques, yoga, cooking Greek food. But there's a part of my personality that just isn't content unless I'm making and selling things. After quite a bit of thought, I decided to restructure my little business and upload it to Etsy. I completely revamped my inventory and reduced my handstamped pieces to only a few styles. I was determined to make the Etsy experience a good one.
To shorten a very lengthy story, my husband lost his job shortly after the Etsy shop opened and we were reduced to moving back to our hometown to rebuild our lives. So, I went to work and basically ignored the Etsy shop for 6-8 months while my family found its way back onto its feet. I filled the orders as they were placed, but did very little to cross promote my once-promising business venture. Fast forward to September: we found out we were expecting after trying for over a year. Josh had secured stable employment by this point and we felt that it was in our family's best interest for me to quit my uselessly stressful day job to stay home and care for our pregnancy and focus on our family unit again. It was the most positive change I could have ever imagined. After a bit of prompting, Josh convinced me to give the Etsy shop my full attention and focus more of my time on recapturing the creativity that had once flowed so freely from my soul. It was perhaps the best decision that we've ever made as a team. That basically brings you up to speed on my rocky creative journey (the big chunks anyway).
Occasionally I still receive Facebook requests for custom pieces, though. I take on a few of these projects, but I'm very selective about it. Last week, I had an acquaintance from undergrad ask me to stamp a special piece for her with the word Mindful on it. She explained that this would be her mantra for the year and she wanted to wear the word as a daily reminder of the change she had willingly adopted into her life. I obliged and thought about the presentation of this pendant for awhile. I played with stuffy designs and finally decided that something simple would more accurately reflect the sheer weight of the word. Stamping that one word spiraled my thoughts into a wormhole of personal reflection. What a simple thought to propel you forward in daily life! The concept of having a word of the week or month or year is not completely lost on me; I'd just never thought about it in depth before.
The basic process of stamping that one little word provided hours of introspection that resulted in a new appreciation for where my life has taken me, and for the point that I'm currently working. The mantra "I am burdened with glorious purpose" has new life when echoed throughout my thought processes. I have been completely inspired by one woman with the desire to wear one little, completely significant, word around her neck as a personal reminder to not stop growing, to never stop reaching for your purpose. And she's right. We should be reminded of that daily. So, thank you, Shawna. Thank you for prompting this reflection where I have completely reconsidered the meaning of the word mindful, of purpose, of intent. The journey is often more miraculous than the destination. The destination scarcely holds hardships, but it reflects a multitude of them. It is truly a beautiful thing to realize that the daily dance of life reflects the movements that we choose and we can either acknowledge ourselves as the choreographers or simply memorize the steps.
xo, Karee
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