Comments on: This Self-Employed Life: Comfort Zones

By: modernemotive: ecofriendly paper goods + design » Blog Archive » 4 and half months

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 12:11:24 +0000

[...] over the next 4.5 months is to give it my everything. To walk new paths and venture outside of my comfort zone. It’s pointless for me to look back on 2010 so far and see it as a failure. I don’t talk about [...]

By: modernemotive: eco-friendly paper goods » Blog Archive » This Self-Employed Life: Sorry We’re Closed

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 19:26:09 +0000

[...] finalizing new products I have on the back burner, setting up some admin documents, that darned wholesale stuff, finishing up my .com…seriously, the list just goes on and [...]

By: Amy O'Kane

Amy O'Kane — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 15:31:49 +0000

wonderful feedback and ideas. i have sooo found the piece of wanting everything to be just so- then missing out to be so true. go for it!

By: Huey

Huey — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 15:21:40 +0000

This year – well, actually it started since last year – my boyfriend quit his day-job so he could spend time learning and improving our products. In the meantime, I accepted a day-job offer that could give me flexible working hours so I could pick up marketing and networking, both on and offline. The plan was initially to run for at least a year until I too quit my day-job and work for our business. But I quit earlier, just beginning of this month. We haven’t saved enough yet (well it’s never going to be enough anyway) but I’ve had the strong feeling that it’s just the right time to move out from what we were. So here we are. :)

By: kaboogie

kaboogie — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 15:02:54 +0000

RT @modernemotive Still getting comments on this post… http://bit.ly/4F4ZBq So happy to see it resonated with so many. – Well done!

By: Adele

Adele — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 14:57:02 +0000

Still getting comments on this post… http://bit.ly/4F4ZBq So happy to see it resonated with so many.

By: Jen

Jen — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 03:40:18 +0000

Hello, I just found your blog through Becka (bliss in a teacup) and this is such a great post! I am in the same boat with my clothing line, and I just finally admitted to myself that fear is the biggest thing holding me back from doing this and that, and that it’s time to get over it. You have a gorgeous product, good luck with your wholesaling, I have a feeling it will go very well.

By: Tara (Boutique Karma)

Tara (Boutique Karma) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:23:45 +0000

Great posting Adele – I love what you’ve done with your blog. I look forward to reading how the wholesale venture goes.

By: Bess | English Muffin

Bess | English Muffin — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:36:44 +0000

This is a great post and obviously there are lots of other designers in the same boat. Wholesaling is also one of my goals for this year. I had one order last year and managed to fill it but felt totally unprepared and unsure about what I was doing. Can’t wait to hear how it goes – best of luck :)

By: linda

linda — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:00:41 +0000

This will be my 6th (or 7th?) year of doing wholesale, and my goal for 2010 is to use my knowledge and experience as an artist to engage others. I’m going to teach a class about creative problem solving at the local Adult school, and I’ve added a link to my website that describes my ambition to share what I know. I had a phone consultation with @sarahjbray (I met her on Twitter) on Wednesday, and she’s got me rethinking my blog and how I need to communicate my design knowledge through my website [she was impressed by my commitment to make changes-- I was flattered!]

2009 was a productive year, but I realized that I won’t be satisfied if my success is built solely on product sales. I feel compelled to share what I know, and I’ve got a feeling that this is my year to make that happen.

Thanks for sharing, Adele. I really appreciate your candor and the way you engage us, your readers, in your work. I’m such a huge fan.

By: Becka (Bliss in a Teacup)

Becka (Bliss in a Teacup) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:00:06 +0000

Such an excellent post, I totally hear you! It’s something I’ve been thinking about this week actually, that perhaps I’ve been complacent and kind of resting on the success of the year/holidays. Really, now is the time to get some momentum going, and I am right there with you wholesale! That is my biggest goal this year, and I just have to DO it. I am all to familiar with the same excuses you made, and the reality is that I could keep making those excuses forever and nothing would ever get done (and then as you say, why am I even doing this?).

I think for us, it was partly the fact that our success came as a bit of a shock to us. Only opening in May, and then doing fairly well on etsy and having a few wholesale orders took us a bit by suprise so I hadn’t anticipated having to think about this kind of stuff this early on and weird as it may sound, I sometimes have to remind myself that this is (selling lots, wholesale requests, custom orders, etc) is actually a good thing! Not another stress or burden, but an indicator that we are doing something right. Why not take that and run with it?

Thanks for sharing this post, haha from my giant comment I’m sure you can tell that I really enjoyed it!

By: Katherine

Katherine — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 17:31:42 +0000

Congrats on putting your foot down and going for what you believe in (yourself and your product)! That second quote by Jan really says a lot about me and how much time I spend worrying about “nothing”. I think I will add it to my 2010 business goals. Thanks for the post, it was great!