Sept 10: When Life Takes a Turn
Tuesday, September 10: Describe a distinct moment when your life took a turn.
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| Some goodies on my desk lately: The Watercolour Flower Artist's Bible, happy birthday cards in the works, seeing one of my baby announcement digital pieces in real life, and cute little fox card from my friend Alex (see her etsy here!) |
I remember the night, the moment that my life took a turn. January 13th, 2013. Around 2am. It was the moment that I listed my first item in my Etsy shop. I knew I was taking a risk, wanting to start this new business adventure, with the support of my husband. I figured that I was only going to lose a little bit of money if nothing ever was purchased, and that it wouldn't be too much of a big deal. I went to bed after that long, late night, thinking maybe after a little while I'll get my first purchase. Or maybe I'd wake up, and Josh will have sneakily purchased a piece from my shop, so that I could be excited when I woke up in the morning.
It was a scary night, totally putting myself out there, putting my art out in the world. I felt totally vulnerable, and pretty freaked out. But for some reason, I totally jumped in. I had been thinking about leading up to Christmas, a couple months before, as I was starting to make my own wrapping paper, gift tags, and Christmas cards. I was enjoying making all this stuff so much, and thought back to Etsy, and wondered if other people would be interested in the stuff I'm making too. Josh told me to go for it, and so did my friends and family. At Christmas when people opened their gifts and cards and loved them, I decided that in the new year, I would make a few things, and photo them, and finally open my shop. I spent the first week on the new year on a last minute trip to North Carolina, and my shop opening was dangling in the back of my head the whole time. When we came home, I was in a mad rush to get stock finished, and photographed, and finally listed in the shop. Then on that late night in January, I finally published all my listings, made a little note about it on facebook, and shut down the computer for the night.
In the morning, I had my first three orders! I was over the moon! It was totally not what I was expecting. The first sale was a friend of a friend, the second was from my dad, and third was from a stranger. A stranger!! I felt that what I did the night before was a good idea. Opening my shop, has been a great adventure, and I'm so glad that I took that leap. I feel like my style has definitely developed, and my skill has increased. I've been getting so many custom orders from people who like my work, which is really exciting. I can't wait until I can see what the next months bring.
If you've supported me in my shop, I was to say a huge THANK YOU! It's been amazing and exciting and challenging in the best of ways.