My First Big Change

Feel free to share my projects!

I have a big announcement… Dun dun dun DUN… I closed Topsy Turvy Shop. Completely closed, no more attempt to sell anything crafty I make. At first, when someone says “that’s amazing, you could sell it” it’s flattering, but selling is hard. At the conference I attended in AZ one of the classes was about creating a successful business. One of the points was to be passionate about what your creating and selling. Another point was that your going to have to make hundreds of them, so you better not hate it!

Whenever I get an order, which isn’t often, I am excited and bummed at the same time. YES! an order, BLECH, now I have to make it. Honestly I’m too much of an ADD crafter for it. I like making something once, maybe twice, but more than that and I resent/hate it. And I wasn’t doing it for the right reasons. My husband was out of consistent work for 18 months. It was our 2nd time in two years out of work, and it was rough. He finally has a job again, a job he actually really likes, but the pay is about 1/3rd of what we were making. It would be okay if we were living off of what he makes, but we have so much debt from his 3 college degrees, and a house we can’t sell in TX that it’s just not possible. So my main reason for trying to have a shop was to make money.

I’m sure that works for most people, but it just isn’t motivating enough for me. I want to be a mother, I want to create things and I want to have fun. Honestly I don’t want a full time job on top of what I already do as a mother. Plus running a handmade business isn’t just about making product and selling it. There are tons of shops already out there, the competition to get noticed is hard. It’s a full time job just to market, and buying the supplies and paying for marketing is a huge upfront cost. I’ve already put way to much time and money into something I really don’t want to do! Plus it was dragging me down. It’s been hard to blog lately, feeling sick all the time, but even before the pregnancy it just wasn’t as fun anymore, and trying to constantly think of things I could sell to craft was getting in the way. Making it all a job and a chore instead of an escape that made my life more uplifting and fun!

A few weeks ago I actually considered quitting it all, but I thought I should wait until after the morning sickness to pass so I could have a more clear mind. And I’m so glad I did, going to the conference just solidified to me that a handmade business just isn’t for me, at least not right now. So it’s gone… Thank you to everyone who did giveaways for me and helped me try to make it work through advice and support. I’m not saying I’ll never ever try again, but certainly not in the same way, and not for quite some time. I love being a mother and I don’t want any extra time to be taken away from my family. Even if I was selling a lot a making money I don’t think I could ever charge enough for it to be worth the time away from my kids right now.

So there it is. Change number 1! I have a few more changes for this blog and the way I do things coming over the next few weeks. Now that I’m feeling better I’m focusing first on getting my REAL life and job back on schedule, you know, the mom stuff, meals, laundry, dishes, cleaning. Once that is back under control then I’ll start implementing all the fun ideas I have for you guys, so stick with me just a bit longer and I promise it will be worth it! I am so so SO excited to be excited about blogging again, and sharing with you my totally awesome ideas (because they are SO amazing, naturally!)

Feel free to share my projects!