February 15, 2016
Sorry I haven’t had much time to publish any posts lately. Between learning, back end maintenance and editing, I just don’t seem to have enough hours in the day to get it all done. I’m also trying to get a business started, along with caring for a home and my family. This last month I’d been at some kind of doctor’s appointment 2-3 times a week and I’m going to give physical therapy a shot again too, so that will add on a couple more a week. I wish there were a few more of me to go around….ha, ha! Preferably just one, that isn’t broken, would be awesome.
To top it off, my back has been giving me grief as well now and I never had back issues before. I cleared a couple inches of snow off the deck and the sidewalk a few days ago and then I got in my van to drive my son to school and had to stop, because my back hurt so bad I couldn’t move. I’m hoping it’s just a pulled muscle, my legs feel fine, so doubt it is nerve related. Going to baby it for a while and see what happens.
Excited
I’m really close to being able to move forward with starting something up that might give me a bit of an income. I’ve come up with one idea after another and talked myself out of each one, for one reason or another. I have come up with one idea that just fits well and may be able to work pretty good for me. I’m going to start out creating accent lights that are fun for both kids and adults. I’m also going to work on a cool floor lamp and with the same base I use I’ll then work on a patio floor lamp that I can some day acquire enough of them by investing my profits from their sales to be able to rent out to people for parties and weddings. I have made a crude prototype of my accent light with what I have on hand, that gives a good example of where I’m going. I showed 5 people and four of them said they were really cool and they want one, so it’s encouraging. I like that it is challenging, I get to be creative and it’s not physically demanding at all. I’m really hoping to be able to gain enough inventory so I can do 3-4 craft shows of flea markets this year and with any luck, I’ll sell out and have to take some orders. Next year I want to double this years sales. Not going further than that, my health dictates what I can do, might be able to hire someone if I need to, I’ll put the kids to work first.
I’ve looked high and low to come up with something that can work with my values and budget and every thing I saw and read about gave me too many risks for my tastes. This has minimal risks. If I create a light that doesn’t sell, I can break it back down and use the pieces to make something that will and if nothing else, I’ll get my money back and time will be all I have invested that will be lost.
I’m not going to stick to any one particular line of product. I want to continue to have variety and build my product line as I go. I’m sticking with US suppliers right now, except for one Item I can only get through China. I bought two, to see if I can manipulate them they way I want, then I’ll order at least 100, so I’ll have 50 pair, I think they will be best in pairs. I contacted my supplier I use for my hanging fish bowl and received some pretty bad news. They don’t ship out the bowls any longer. I’ve looked everywhere for a few days and still can’t find one yet, but I’m not giving up. I may have to get my business registered, a DBA, Tax License and Tax ID, which I wanted to wait a few months to see how it goes before I did all that. The Beta-orb has to use a glass bowl or it’s just not the same. I’d like to build a light that hangs and have a night light rig that will light up the Orb. I was also going to work on a wall mount lighted version, so this news has put quite a damper on things for me.
I can hardly wait for all the things I’ve ordered to come in, so I can begin listing my products for sale on eBay. Then nice thing is, I can assemble them to order. I’ll work on my inventory charts and invoice templates today. Again, sorry for having to neglect Notions and Needs and put it on the back burner for a bit. I really need to focus on something that can bring in some sort of income and Notions and Needs won’t do that for me without stuffing it full of ads. I refuse to do that. I’ll publish one post that will explain what’s going on that will let the readers that don’t read my personal blog posts know what’s up. The post after that will announce that I have my items up for sale and link to what I’ve done. Who knows it may just inspire someone who is in the same boat as I am in. I’ve been at it over a year now and I believe things will finally pay off. It’s been a long bumpy road and have hit many dead ends. The thing to do is to start small and build on it, reinvest and never give up on yourself. I also learned I can’t count on anyone except for myself and letting yourself down is much easier to swallow than when others do it. At least you can understand why.