One Year!

Today, September 1st, marks the ONE YEAR anniversary of Rustic Carvings.  Can I get a “WoOohOoo”?!

Seems like it was just yesterday that I had this vague idea of what I wanted to create…. Reclaimed wood was always a theme….but, I was only going to paint on the wood, not carve it.  And, now, the shop if full of mixed media, with the rustic reclaimed wood running as the main theme through it all.

I don’t know how many hours it took me to get descriptions, tags, and pictures “right” on Etsy.  I don’t know how many hours I photographed and re-photographed…and changed this, and changed that…and then changed it again, as my husband looked on in disbelief.  Or how many posts I read about how to do it all, and be successful on Etsy.

I think I’ve logged more hours into this business than I ever did at my regular job, and since I was a CPA working the tax side of the biz, that’s saying something!

I can remember the day when I had my very first sale, which was from a friend of mine. Then, I can remember the day I had my very first sale to someone “I didn’t even know”!  I was practically dancing around the house.  Even my husband remembers that day….apparently, my dancing leaves an impression.  I also remember the day where something I made went overseas – the day Rustic Carvings went international!

I’m no way a success, as attributed to companies like Apple or Crate and Barrel.  You can’t buy my stock on the exchange.  I don’t even have a ticker symbol.  There is no catalog.  No storefront.

But, in my heart, as this little business grows….I am successful.

I’m successful because I can balance my work life and my home life….even though I work at home.  I have the support and love of my family.  I have excellent customers.  And, I’m not just saying that because I’m biased.  It’s totally true.  And, I’ve met some great people in the Etsy community that serve as a wonderful support group.  They keep me going with a good laugh, on the days I need it the most.

There are certain moments I treasure – the emails and messages from customers that brought tears to my eyes, or put a smile across my face…  The photos of where something I made ended up…  And, the stories!  Oh, my customers have the best stories, and reasons for giving items I’ve made as gifts.

Customer service is one of the principles of my business – it’d be part of my mission statement, if I had a mission statement.  But, the best part of this business, for me, is being able to touch someone’s life, even if in a small way.  I am so blessed.

A big THANK YOU to all of y’all, that has made the first year, as “successful” as it’s been.  :)

Time sure does fly….and I’m looking forward to year two!

Man. I Hate Killing Things.

I’m out working in the garage yesterday on another “man cave” sign, and my head is all quiet.  I don’t have music playing, either.  I don’t have a lot of ruckus around me, besides the sound of the scroll saw, and various sanders.  I’m just all, “la, la, la, la, laaa….sanding is fun….  la, la, la, la, laaaa….I have to saw this part… la, la, la, la, la…..”

Then…..what do I catch myself thinking about?

“How do I run my business if the house burns down?”

Seriously.  I came up with a disaster contingency plan for my woodworking/artisan business if something serious were to happen.  Since starting the Etsy shop has been a lot of work, and I’d hate to lose the progress I’ve made, I would need an alternative site until the house was re-built, a duplicate set of equipment, and all the odds and ends like paint brushes and gloves.

Well, not gloves.  Because although my husband loves me so much that he bought me a pair to save my little hands from being worked really hard, I hate them.  Loathe the gloves. They get in my way.

Start: “Rustic Carvings Disaster Contingency Plan”.

1.) I have to carfully assess how my company functions, so I know what’s necessary to keep my business running.  I must review my business flowchart.  This is step one.

2.) I’ll have to make a business flowchart.  Because right now, it’s just me sawing, sanding, and staining, many times in my PJ’s, in the garage or the kitchen.

3.) I’d have to identify succession of the management in case I’m not able to drive the business anymore.

4.) I need to hire other people, because all the dogs sleep on the job, and that’s just not acceptable.

5.) I have to identify my suppliers, shippers, resources and other businesses I interact with on a daily basis.  Pretty sure the post office isn’t going anywhere, or Etsy, other than that, I just need people to keep dumping old wood on my driveway.

6.) Do I have a driveway for people to dump their old wood on, if my house has burned down?  (Note to self: research when writing up flowchart)

7.) I’ll have to define crisis management procedures.  That’ll be me, pretty much, freaking out.  Check!

8.) I’ll need to coordinate with others.  See #4

9.) And, when it’s all done, I’ll have to review it annually because I tend to be forgetful about things like this.

But, what would I tell the people who have already ordered custom items?  Would I tell them to wait a week or so until I was up and running again?  Is that good enough?  Maybe down time should just be one day.

Or….maybe I should just give them a full refund.  That’d be nice of me.

OOOooo.  What if there’s an apocalypse?

Now that’s a whole different ballgame.  Would I be all…  ”MUST MAKE ARTWORK…. CAN’T RUN TO SHELTER…  MUST MAKE ARTWORK…”  with some disaster contingency plan?  Do we even have a shelter to run towards?  Like the internet and Etsy would still be ongoing or something, in the event of an apocalypse.  Like we’d even have electricity!

Well, there are generators….  Hm.

Do you think there would be zombies during the apocalypse?  Cause I really don’t like zombies.  They don’t go away when the lights come on, and that’s a problem for me. Except that they are slow moving, that’s helpful.

I wonder how I could save my art from being destroyed if zombies attacked my house. I’ve put a lot of time and effort into this stuff, and for little brain eaters to come along and destroy them would just be…..well, rude.

I better keep the gloves on the “Rustic Carvings Disaster Contingency” list, just in case I have to kill some zombies.

Man….  (sigh)  I hate killing things.

I wonder if the zombies would try to eat my brains.  Or maybe that of my dogs?  You know, trying to eat my brains would be one thing, but they cross the line if they go after my dogs.  Cross.  A.  Line.

Making a contingency plan just seems like too much work.  I haven’t even thought about what to do in the event vampires start wandering around…  There’s just too many variables.

End: “Rustic Carvings Disaster Contingency Plan”.

Start: Project, “Fly by the Seat of Yo’ Pants”.

Backbone, Boundaries, Acceptance

A friend of mine texts me today, and she is all full of self doubt.  Wondering if she has what it takes to do her job, and get to the place in her career that she wants to be.  (If you know me personally, please don’t text me and ask me who this was.  I won’t tell you.)

I think we have the tendency to look at others, in higher positions, and think they never sweat bullets, or did anything wrong, or doubt themselves.

I wager that they have their bad days.  We tend to be more forgiving of other’s mistakes than we are our own.

I’ve lost a little bit of the fire, myself, lately.  This new direction in life is pretty hard.

Running your own business, pretty much by yourself, is tough work.  You have to have an incredible backbone.  Be able to balance your life, especially if you work at home, so that it doesn’t take up every minute.  Draw the boundaries.  Accept the failures and disappointments along the way.  Find creative ways to market, but keep up with the demand that you already have.

I am not good at many of those things.

Marketing?  I didn’t like marketing when I was an accountant, and I sure don’t like it now. Granted, I’m better at it now.  I don’t mind sticking my head out there and saying, “Hey.” You never know what will drive business.  But, I’m doing it for me, and my family, now, so it’s different, I guess.

I’m still not 100% comfortable with it, and sometimes I don’t think I’ll ever be comfortable enough, to brag on all this stuff I’ve created over the past several months, in front of someone.

“Look,” I say pointing at something, “How great am I?!”

I do it, anyway, though.  I find if I laugh and have fun, it’s so much easier.

Backbone?  If we’re talking: standing up to someone, yep, I’ve got one.  Hard.  Core.  If we’re talking: someone negatively commenting on something I created….  Ouch.

Balance?  I had this one in the proverbial bag when I was a CPA in an accounting firm.  The line was easy – if I’m in the office, I’m working.  At home, I’m me at home, with very few deviations from that logic.

Now that I work at home – I don’t think I ever stop working.  I’m posting something, reading an article, finding out a new way to do this or that, thinking up a new idea, sending an email, etc.  There is always something to do, and since I don’t have minions to do it…  I keep going…

(I’ll pause here to say that my wonderful husband does help me out, and I wouldn’t be where I am today, without his assistance, and everything he’s taught me.  His support is unwavering.)

Accepting failures and disappointments?  Oh, I suuuuck at this.  Capital S. Capital U. Capital C.  Capital K.  They’ll take me down for a week!  I don’t want to be all egotistic here and say, “I’m not used to failure”, because I’ve had my fair share of it in my lifetime.  But, normally, when I do put in my all, and give it that 150%, I do end up on the success side of the bar.

This weekend I realized, through very wise council, that I needed to stop seeing it as little failures.  I’m learning.  Nothing has failed yet, in fact, for a start up, it’s doing quite well.

Hearing the doubts of a good friend of mine, today, helped me realize that we doubt ourselves no matter what we do.  I think it’s just human nature.  I have doubts now, but they are just different than the ones I had when I was managing.

The advice was the same, though – You aren’t going to get everything right, but you have what it takes to make it better when it goes wrong.  If you don’t believe in what you’re doing, who will?

She has doubts now, but she just needed a friendly reminder, very much like I did, that she has what it takes to make it to wherever she wants to go.

And, she does.

So do the rest of us.

Hello World!

So, one day I’m sitting in an office with my cushy job, great pay, great benefits…and then the very next day, I’m at home wondering what the heck I did.  I’m thinking, quit my job, cause I was crying every, single, Monday morning.  I suppose, by your 30′s, you should probably quit AFTER you find a new job, right?

Yeah, I didn’t do that.  In a flight of impulsiveness and trust and faith, I took the leap, hoping that somewhere, a net would appear and keep me from splattering all over the ground.  And, here I am.  Not sure I’m on the ground, safely, yet, but I’m enjoying the ride.

Some things I thought would work out, well, they didn’t.  Other things that I couldn’t have even imagined became a reality.

I’ve updated the “about” page on this website, and have added a storefront where you can buy all my stuff through Etsy.  I’ve had a lot of fun creating things again, and using a part of my brain that has been dormant for so many years now.  I’ve enjoyed spending time with my future husband, while we brainstorm ideas, or he teaches me how to use things like scroll saws.  And, I appreciate all the support of my great and wonderful family and friends. It doesn’t feel like work.  That’s the best part.

The blog?  Oh, well, it’s because I like to write.  And, hey, it’s pretty much free advertising. I think that’s what they call, win-win.

What will I write about?  Oh, who knows?  Everything?  My dogs.  The weather.  Trips. Love.  Life.  And everything else in between.

Life may not always follow the path I wish it would, but I’ve found that letting go, and letting God drive, takes me to better places than I can imagine.

So, yeah, “Hello world”….let’s do this.