One of the things that I read recently that has stuck with me is that there is a lot of work to be done behind the scenes and that it gets to everyone at some point. It is hard to be your own boss!!! It is much easier, I have discovered, to work for someone else than it is to work for yourself. (Even though I must admit it did not appear that way until I began to work for myself after losing my job last year.) When you work for someone else, you can leave the work behind and there is someone else to pass things along to when they are no longer your responsibility or become too huge to handle. Granted, not everything or every job works that way, but when you work for someone else in my experience, there is more than just you in the boat to help paddle (whether they like it or not and whether or not they do it well....).
I love to work for myself though and having the chance to take this chance, risk, gamble, opportunity - however one views it - is a blessing!!! There are days that I would like to just be told "Task 1. Task 2. Task 3. Go home. Come back tomorrow." but I know in the long run that is not going to work for me at this particular point in my life. I have been given the opportunity to create work I love and the things I need to do that. For me to ignore that would be impossible and would not allow me to use the artistic and business skills I have been blessed with by God - or whomever your higher power is. It is so satisfying to know that at the end of a very hard task that I accomplished my goals and more!!!
I love networking at the shows and getting feedback from people who stop by, whether they purchase things or not. I love sharing what I do and hearing what other people think, always getting ideas from multiple sources. When people look at my web-site and leave feedback, I learn even more. My repeat customers bless me with more business and I love being able to create custom work. No request is too much!!! If it is something I cannot quite do, I will learn a new technique and consult the customer so I make something they will love to wear.
I have used the word love quite a bit in this post..... There is not another word that means the feeling I have for the work I CHOOSE to do now. I went to school to become an art teacher and for the 15 years that I did that job, I loved it. My former students, colleagues, parents, and anyone else I met in that situation along the way are always a special part of my memories and of my present today. It was time for that to end because teaching changed so much from my first year to last year. To continue teaching, I would have had to stifle my natural tendencies and my heart would not be in it. No, I do not belong in THAT kind of classroom.
It is time for me to expand my horizons and try something new. I have helped my brother join the vendor market network and the way that he has grabbed onto this opportunity is so cool to witness!! He has a gift of baking and presenting his baked goods in such a simple, clean way you cannot help but buy the bread. It helps that we share the same house right now and I get to smell (and sample) the breads he makes. Having someone else to talk with daily about vendor and farmers markets, as well as other ideas for expansion like wedding shows is priceless.
I am really blessed to be where I am these days!!! Some might say I have taken on a huge task and that I might want to give it up when it seems like the economy is not growing as fast as we might need it to and especially in the jewelry (or "extra fun money" as I call it) market. However, I look it at as an opportunity that has been given to me and while I have the skills, desire, and energy to do it I need to take the chance to succeed in something I love. To ignore it, would be to turn away the gifts I have been given and to accept the answer "NO" before the question is even finished.
The question? Can I find success using the skills I have been given and do the work it takes to find success? To me, the answer is "yes".
