Tag: small business

New beginnings

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The past month has been busy.

I’ve been to Moms twice. The first visit was for our birthdays. We had a breakfast outing and Mom tried to swim in her pool. I enjoyed it but she got overwhelmed quickly. I showed her how to use the noodle and that helped but the pool is cool and gets deep fast.

The next visit was to exchange laptops. Her screen isn’t working. She took it to the computer repair guy in the mall and he basically ripped the screen out and then told Mom she bought the wrong replacement. Gave it back to her in pieces and charged her $75… I now have it and she has my ACER.

Last weekend Vera opened her store in the market across from me. I’m so excited that she is there. We are all working together.

I set up the CNC and surfaced my spoilboard to the point that it will not be able to be surfaced again. Lol

John has moved into my booth and is doing up whips, bracelets and Keychains. He is a huge help. I know it is hard for him to be there all day but he pushes himself to do so.

Daryon has changed employers. He starts tomorrow at Pembroke Nissan. I am so excited for him. He will learn lots and grow with this experience. Canadian Tire tried to persuade him to stay. It made it really tough on him to make the change but I think this was a great move.

Steven and Rain are doing well. They went to the gym today so that is great. Much more motivated than I am lol.

School should be starting at the end of this month. Looking forward to that.

Going to visit Grandma first. We will go from Monday to Thursday.

So all new starts this month. Looking forward to the next few months to see where things are going.

Re-opening

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Today we were finally allowed to open.

Honestly, it was nice but my brain could not stay focused on anything for too long.

I did get 2 orders which was very nice. It will come together.

I have the CNC assembled and am now making sure everything is connected and setup to do my first cut. I’m excited and nervous about this.

CNC 3018 PROVER

I also received the large pyramid for Resin today. I started the first layer. Next layer will be the Dandelion head. Then a few layers for the base.

I have enough product options now that I can truly have a complete personalized custom product for each client. No product will be the same as we can choose the varied processes to create that true UNIQUE item.

We were told a week ago now that school is off for in person learning till September. So that was a relief that there was finally a decision.

Summer is so close. Hoping I will find a moment to go camping with John

I didn’t reach my weight-loss goal so no kayak yet. It is still a goal just didn’t reach it for my 50th birthday.

Progress

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This has been a busy week. Started off with an order for 6 t-shirts and a couple more orders.

Been working on some resin art pieces. Also some other orders are coming in. Feels good to have something to work with.

We are getting 2 retired breeding hedgehogs at the end of June so I’ll have them in my household again. I just love the temperaments of these fun creatures. These 2 are both 2 yrs old.

We are still in lockdown #3 till June 2. No word on when we will be going back to work. I don’t imagine we are going till September. However, that is just a possibility. Who knows with politics.

John has been doing a lot of outside work this week and his moods have improved. The warmer weather has been a huge help.

I have connected with Bounceback Ontario and waiting for a response. I have also reconnected with Community Mental Health. I am on the waiting list for a case worker.

Things are progressing in a positive at this moment. Hoping to continue the momentum.

Plans

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We are still in Covid Lockdown #3. Not sure if schools are going to open up before end of the year. Still running store as curbside pick-up.

I have ordered more molds and different stuff for the epoxy resin. I am trying new things with it. One of the other vendors in the market works with resin as well and we are doing a lot of supporting each other and helping each other grow our ideas. He is a great artist and he already had me do a transfer of his art on a shirt.

I will be getting a CNC to add to our equipment. Which is exciting as we are going to be able to do so much more.

The full focus of my shop is still going to custom personalized art. Just will have the option to add other products.

As for personal plans. I have reconnected with Community Mental Health and am going to see which programs will help me get through this bought of depression and anxiety.

John is waiting for the OT to assess him to see which programs he is eligible to help him.

You can tell we aren’t doing the best as our home is cluttered and disorganized. Having someone come in every other week to do a refresh is helpful but I’m not getting through the clutter and it is very draining.

I am going to keep focusing on building the business presence online and grow the network.

Building Jays logo for Trucker Tourettes has been draining. I think we are getting it where it needs to be.

Forward thinking and ignoring the wishy washy news of when things are going to reopen is how I am going about my days.

Business doubts

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So it has been a full year since I started to fully think of myself as a business owner and working to build it.

Since November I have been renting a booth as a full time vendor at Up-Town Market.

We are now in our second lockdown and that means no foot traffic. When school is open I am still driving bus so I have 3 hrs per day to be at the store.

I’m trying hard to utilize this extra time to make the booths more appealing. I am adding products to expand the variety.

I am struggling as I am fighting another depression due to these changes over and over.

I am struggling with my self confidence as I was building a good momentum with T-shirts and other products but one of the other booths is doing the same and I am feeling defeated. I almost want to give up completely as the other business is promoting almost daily.

I sound petty and jealous but honestly it is a fear that I am not good enough and that I am way over my head. I have support but I don’t ha6the self confidence that I had. I realize some of this is due to my mental health but it is also a lack of true support from the other store that is now directly competing with my business even though that is not what we agreed on. I’m stuck….

I really need to have our lockdown end so I can regain my mental health coping mechanisms.

Frustrated

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Building a business is hard and I’m learning. I am in a small market with other vendors and as I build my product line and focus on how to represent myself, I failed to recognize the other vendors.

I have built a quick verbal blurb to introduce my store and offer my card for the customer to come back or contact me with an idea of what they would like done, as I am focused on a custom personalized product.

One of the other vendors also does custom work but I misunderstood her products and have not promoted her properly. We do overlap in products and services which is tough. Our Market is very small and we are side by side.

She feels that I am not respectful to her business and I’ve felt that she keeps trying to limit my services. This has caused tensions.

I am expanding my products but not services. I honestly did not understand the full extent of her products as they were not brought in till after I was established.

My friends are wanting me to move to a new location but I really don’t want to move. I’m scared that if I do move it will cause a negative effect on my business as well as the Market.

So for now I will continue where I am and keep building. Hopefully we will move forward and build a positive environment that coordinates well.

Spring is here

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Thinking about spring and the next plans.

Our truck is still not repaired so it sat all winter. Hopefully it will be ready to go on the road in the next month.

Learning about printer profiles for sublimination I think I finally have it figured out. My friend helped me callobrate a monitor he gave me and I can finally get things to match. YAY!

I’m setting up the booths so they have different sections. This will help people see the different products better and have some ideas of what they want.

I am glad I am figuring it out.

Building a business with self doubt

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So since my sister passed away close to 4 yrs ago, I decided I would push myself to be more out there.

Nadene was so vibrant and loud. You could not miss the fact she was around. She was brave and would push boundaries without too much hesitation.

So with her loss and realizing that I have lived my life within so many strict boundaries causing huge issues of self doubt, feelings of not being worthy of good things.

I realized that I need to take her example and be more. See myself the way others see me. Not be responsible for everything and everyone.

I decided that I would take the plunge and go full force into my own business.

I am fighting myself doubt and self worthless feelings nearly every day. I am pushing past the idea of providing perfection.

I want to provide custom personalized products but not at the expense of my mental health so I am working on wording to put out there that helps my client to understand that my products are “imperfectly unique” with bits of character.

I am also trying to figure out my marketing as this is not MLM so no marketing tools already built and ready to use.

I have many years of Sales and Marketing but now I am also the creator/designer.

I’m so thankful for all the support and guidance I do get just wishing I had the language to put it out there.

My sister would be very proud of the progress I’ve made so far and I keep the photo collage I did up of her timeline with me at the store to push me when the self doubt stirs.