Back to work

I don't really want to work, but it is one of those necessary evils in life that one simply can not avoid. So, I have started working on my websites and getting them all back up and going smoothly. We'll see just how long I can maintain them at a steady pace, but I do have high hopes for keeping up with things this time. I don't see where anyone should be able to dislodge me from my groove this time.

I have set aside the quilting I was working on, simply because when I went down to Washington for a week the start of this month I had thought someone was going to stay here taking care of the house so at the last minute I shoved all the clutter into my sewing room. Still have not got that excavated, so it will be a couple of days before I get that done. As soon as I get that all set back up, however, I will be diving right back into my sewing projects. Sewing helps my hands recover from the pain of working on the computer all day. I had not realized just how much it was helping until I have gone a couple weeks now without being able to sew for a while after a day of working at the computer.

Second Saturday Market is another bust before it was even a go

Okay, here it is, Saturday, the day before Mother's Day, the day when I should have had my best sale of the year on quilts and I am sitting at home with dad rather than being able to get up to the Saturday Market that I had planned to be able to be in my second week of selling quilts at.

To say that I am annoyed would be an understatement, since it is pure family politics crap that has curtailed things. It has also given me and dad a renewed determination to prove people wrong in their estimation of my goals. I want to make quilts to help me in paying off the mortgage on my parents house, a effort that I have been told is nothing but a fanciful daydream that is doomed to leave me disappointed in the form of my losing the house one day (soon according to those saying I can't save it).

My mom taught me that you don't give up when you see something that you really want, however, and I am not about to give up on this house.

Mom encouraged my writing over the years, and she was immensely proud of the ability I had developed to earn money by writing online. She taught me that anything worth doing is worth doing right, and that any dream was within reach if only I wanted to reach for it. I'm going to reach for this house, and I intend to grasp it with both hands and hold fast. The naysayers be damned.

So, since with nothing more than an ATV as transportation I can not haul dad up to the park in Houston at 8am every Saturday, and keep him there until after 9pm, I have decided that I am going to bypass the local Saturday Market angle and sort out other avenues for selling my quilts. I'm not sure what all I am going to do, yet, but I have the determination and drive to make this happen. Let's see if that is enough.

First Saturday Market looms

Tomorrow is my first Saturday Market and I am so far from being ready it is not even funny. To make matters worse, the water heater won't work, I'm going to have to sort that out in addition to getting everything else ready tonight. ::pounds head on desk::

The past couple of days were messed up and I lost at least one full day because of that chaotic disaster, but I won't say anything about it all here. This is about my business, so I'll keep to the topic. One SNAFU is that night before last I busted my glasses riding back home on my ATV after delivering medications for my dad to my sister's place. Dark trail, fogged 12 year old glasses, loose lens... and a rock. I found 2 small pieces of the lens. Be a while before I'll be able to afford new glasses.

Tomorrow should be interesting without glasses to see what I'm doing. At least I can see things that are close up, if I squint a lot.

Tonight I need to get together samples of my quilting (having fun finding that without being able to see), my quilting books so people can have idea sources, print up some contracts and quilt design pages, print some business cards, print "Display only, not for sale" cards for the things I take as samples... and I am not sure what all else. Thankfully the stuff is mostly made up on computer and just needs printed. Don't wanna squint at computer screen making things.

Might, if I have time, make some trifolds that people can take, dunno yet.

My plan for tomorrow is basically show what I have (but won't sell cause they're already spoken for) and see if anyone's interested in ordering things. I have a few things to sell, but am mainly on a mission to see if my plan for a "You design it, I'll build it" quilting business would work or not, so all I really need is things to show what my craftsmanship is like and some stuff for folks to use for enlisting my services to make them a quilt.

Might take some of my handbound books and stuff I've made from Polymer clay along, dunno yet though. I'll have to take it all on my ATV, since car I had been gonna use ain't here no more (long story).

Need to get back to work now, will post info on what happened when I get home tomorrow.

Almost forgot.... I can't get ahold of my sister - I have no idea if I have anyone to take care of dad while I'm at the Saturday Market or not. Her husband made it sound last night like they weren't going to be able to take him, even though she'd said a week and a half ago it was a given they take him all Saturdays this summer. :::pounds head on desk:::

Follow Along in My New Business Startup

Have you ever considered starting your own home based business but had no idea what might be involved in such a venture? I am going to be starting a new business in May, and I would like to invite everyone to come along for the ride as I weed my way through how to do it.

Some of the things I need to leap through will not apply to you, of course, and there are some that will apply to any new business venture. My goal with this business is to figure out how I can work from home in order to earn an income that will allow me to be fully self sufficient, and still let me provide the full-time in-home caregiver support that my father needs.

As a full-time caregiver I can not work outside the home, but I want to be able to be fully self sufficient and eventually be able to buy my parents home out from the mortgage company that currently holds it so I will be able to one day own the home as my mother had wanted. (That is a long story and better suited to another blog, so just know that is my goal: self sufficiency and home ownership.)

The business that I have decided to start is a Quilt and Crafts business, to allow me to tap into my passion for quilting and crafting. I have a plan to take exploratory steps in the first two weeks of May, researching market options and participating in the first Saturday Market of the year near where I live.

I have signed up to participate in a small business seminar provided by the Alaska Small Business Development Center and will be attending that on May 13th, with a start date for my business on May 14th (In honor of my mother's 75th birthday).

So, this is a formal invitation for everyone to follow along, and participate in commenting on, my new business venture as a home based quilter and crafter. Wish me luck!