Six Months Later

It may be January 2010 but I actually started my business last July. I didn't really do much research but enough to get me started, I wrote a business plan of sorts, made my crafts (the best part), and was totally overwhelmed by everything I was finding out. There was so much to do, so much to learn, so much to make, and I had a job. Starting my business was never going to happen.

One day I made a particularly nice necklace and thought "Enough is enough. You have so much around here that you have made you are running out of living space. It is time to sell or quit." I took the plunge and signed up for a store on iCraft. I needed a Paypal Account, signed up for that too. I signed up as a business so I needed a business name, went to ServiceOntario and set up a business, paid my fees and there I was, in business.

Of course, I didn't sell anything so then I had to start to learn how to sell. I found some craft shows, printed some cards and off I went.

At some point I realized that I had done everything backwards but for me it was really forwards. It can be really frightening reading and researching the topic of how to start a business, and it had stopped me. I decided to not be stopped and learn as I always do, as I go, developing my questions as I go, researching, asking for feedback, looking for how I could fit in.

I have two things going for me.
1. A full-time job
2. A burning desire to sell what I make as I have given most of what I make to my family and friends and had no further outlet.

The lesson I have learned in the last 6 months is not to let the details overwhelm me. I started small, have support from my family, and I found a craft malls to help get me started.

I now have a website (see my links), which is definitely a site still in the learning process, am much more involved in the on-line craft community and have a more definite business plan, one that I feel much more comfortable taking to the bank. Maybe I will, one day, but for now, I still have my job to support my habit.