Start my own business

Until I have a complete store front on the web (definitely phase 2, so it won’t be happening right away), I wanted a way to make my online shop more personal and friendly.

So, I started a simple blog about the shop to keep people interested (and, let’s face it, I want to have a little fun with this project!)

I have finally gotten around to opening my online Etsy shop! There are only two pieces listed for now, for a couple of reasons. One, I’ve read that it’s best to space out submissions in order to utilize new submission showcases to their fullest and two, because I don’t want to fully circle my business around jewelry and instead want to add some art in the mix to give the shop a little flavor.

Etsy Shop

I’ve got my business plan in my hands and I’m ready to put it into motion… i.e. the hard part!

I have sooo much nervous energy right now. I shouldn’t, because my business plan starts off comparatively slowly. I just want to keep my creative juices flowing.

Every time I start to slow down and think that I should back off and keep my hobbies as hobbies, something new happens that pushes me right back into starting my own business.

Most recently, I made a lot of jewelry samples to give as gifts (‘tis almost the season) and have heard “you should sell these!” so much that it’s given me the bug. I was really excited when my dad wanted to help out and make some stuff to sell in my shop as well, my boyfriend volunteered to master my website, and my mom offered to help “man the booth” at art/craft fairs.

I pulled out the business plan monster again and, even though I’m drowning in a sea of photocopies and accounting sheets, I’m excited all over again.

Sometimes I feel like I’m just breezing through the planning process, and other times I feel like I’m just spinning my wheels!

Because I want everything to run as smoothly as possible, I’m getting a LOT of planning out of the way beforehand. Right now I’m writing my SOP booklets for everything that I do, so that in the future I can easily have someone with little training help me out.

One of these days…

Planning, planning, and more planning. Because I’m not going to use my business as my sole source of income (more like a super-complex hobby that takes all of my spare time and more… did I mention that I’m a serious workaholic??), I’m not going to invest too much capital and I’m not focusing on how to expand.

Ironically, my mother and I had a business back in Texas that we were unable to keep because it was TOO successful; it grew so much and so quickly that we could hardly keep up. I don’t want that happening to me so I’m trying to take extra efforts to keep it all mild.

My biggest hump to get over? Setting up a tax formula BEFORE I start because I HATE having to drudge through the accounting every fiscal term.

After way too much coffee, accounting, and hassling of marketing groups, I finally have a rough draft of my businss plan in my hands (or hard drive, whatever).

Maybe in a decade when I get up the motivation (or next week, whichever comes first), I’ll revise and finalize my plan.