runlikejoy

Displaced Stay At Home Californian in rural N. Carolina

The Many Faces of Joy

The Many Faces of Joy

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Business


I've been trying to start my own business. I've been wanting to find something to do with all my free time. (insert hysterical laughter here) Seriously, I know that someday very soon I will have all my cubs out of the cave and this mama bear will need to do something with her free time that is profitable and that contributes and I also know that I cannot be a stay at home genius forever.

I sat and thought about what I did before I had children and I was no longer passionate about management. I thought about managing adults and what it involved and I realized that after raising children, the thought of managing adults would probably make me crazy. I mean no disrespect to those of you that used to work for me but telling adults when to return to work, how to follow a schedule, coaching them on professionalism, corrective action, performance reviews etc, would be so irritating to me that I am willing to hang up my management hat and try on other hats. I also have to admit that after having worked with children and seeing what goes into raising children, I cannot work in an environment where adults act like children and as a person who worked for many years in management, there is a group of employees that display some very childish behavior. You know who you are.

So my sister makes this beautiful beaded jewelry. And she has sent me a considerable amount of this jewelry hoping I can do something with it. I didn't want to be the Mom at the park with a coat full of necklaces or the Mom asked to leave a playgroup for turning it into one of those parties where you are told you won't have to buy anything but then the pressure is so great that you end up buying a candle for $65 dollars because you didn't know how to say no. I have been sitting on this jewelry for a while now and it has been using up valuable real estate in my bedroom.

So here is what I've done over the last 3 weeks:

Made business cards
Found a shop in San Mateo that will let me rent out a space to display and sell these baubles
Bought display items
Priced the items
Photographed all the items
Inventoried all the trinkets
Purchased packaging for when they sell
Written and a bio and had it framed along with a picture of my sister to sit next to the items


Finally I am ready to launch my little venture this week. I still have a few things left to take care of, for example I need to register a website and get working on creating some kind of online presence but the exciting news is that I have an appointment to go and write up a contract with the shop owner and put out my sister's trinkets and sit back and see if someone loves them and buys them. If you get a chance, check out the store and buy a trinket. If you can't, soon you will be able to visit the website and see what I've done. And finally, wish me luck, whether this grows to something bigger or not, it is exciting to know that I'm in business!

2 comments:

NYBrowers said...

Did you consider an Etsy shop as well?

Runlikejoy said...

I have considered Etsy but I have to get a better camera first - their pictures are so professional. And also then I have to pay for shipping/handling and that is a lot of extra cost. Have you ever tried Etsy?