Irony

Yes, it's been a long time.

I put a lot of effort into advertising the store last year, and with a(nother!) non-sleeping baby it was a hard grind. It didn't cause fights with my husband and he was completely supportive in giving me time, but it was obvious he wasn't happy and felt I was putting too much pressure on myself.

I had a great time over Christmas, I actually got some things sewn for myself and had a ball doing things like making hair clips and scrunchies for my girls. It was so relaxing and fun to sew different things for my family. So I announced that I was going to scale back - not shut everything down, but not push it either and just let it trickle off.

The next day I got an order through one of the things I pushed last year. Then another a few days later. Then someone else when we got back home. It's not a flood, but looking at that and the stats on my website I can see that things are starting to pay off.

The store is starting to look a bit bare so I was dithering about what to sew for it, and with the GDUNH coming up I'm wary of overloading myself again. So now I've been thinking again about where I go from here, and I've come up with a bit of a plan for now.

I suppose the moral of the story is it's a marathon not a sprint. So be patient and make sure you will be able to keep going.

What is success?

I've been open a bit over a year now, and I've been reflecting on what my goals were and whether I've achieved them. Trying to decide what is success?

• Financial - I haven't broken even, there were a lot more expenses than I thought, as things changed and I discovered how addictive fabric is. It hasn't been a complete disaster, although I have to admit I haven't finished the books so I'm not really sure. It keeps being put back behind other jobs such as sewing and being a Mother. I do know where everything is but I haven't finished entering it all. I didn't expect to make a profit, I know most small businesses take several years to consistently be in the black, but it's important to me that it not become a black hole. So this one is iffy. I actually thought I was a lot further down, but things have been going well since the GDUNH and some other marketing has been paying off.
• Advocacy - Definitely achieved. I have been doing markets, so have talked to lots of people about MCN. Being a small town it's got back to me, so I know people have noticed or discussed them. Plus I have answered a heap of questions and discussions online, and did the RNW afternoon tea.
• Sewing skills - Huge improvement. I'm doing some fun sewing, when I get time, and my knowledge and skills are much better. This is coming out in the side snap pattern I'm doing at the moment - it will be a much more technical pattern. With the snappi pattern the challenge was to do it in such a way that it wouldn't wick onto the tabs and decorative outer, with the new pattern I'm looking at fitting and what makes a garment work in much more depth.
• Business skills - Hmmm, some yes, some no. As mentioned I have all the receipts, but my bookwork isn't up to scratch. I have learnt a huge amount about the internet - how it works, SEO, what's out there. I have learnt some marketing tricks and how to define and look for my market. I am still hopeless at organisation and time management.
• Enjoyment - Again a yes and no. I'm enjoying sewing, although it is frustrating when I'd like to be making myself a skirt and have 6 nappies to finish. I'm enjoying getting nappies out there, especially if they're repeat customers. I'm enjoying experimenting and trying new designs. I'm a bit hard to please - if I have lots of orders, I get stressed. If I have no orders, I get stressed. If I have lots of nappies sewn, I get stressed because I haven't sold them. If I sell them, I get stressed because then I don't have much stock.

Sometimes I love it, sometimes I really regret it because life would be much easier if I didn't have any pressure on me, and I hate the thought of having spent all that money and not getting it back. On the other hand, if I didn't have it I would probably just read in my free time and get bored. And I wouldn't have thought of my future plans without this experience. To be honest most of what's keeping me going is bloody mindedness, then I get an order and I'm enjoying it again.