It’s been 4 months now.
I’m 1/3 of the way through my first year.
It’s been 127 days since I started.
I can package it many
different ways, but no matter how I state it, the clock is ticking, the days
are flying by and my savings are shrinking.
It’s hard to believe actually that this much time has passed
since I started working for myself.
A lot of things have
changed and uncertainty and surprise seem to be my constant companions.
I am not where I had hoped to be, at least
not as I had originally pictured it, but I have made some positive strides - none bigger than starting to think beyond my original plan.
July and August were very good months for sales and got me
started with a lot of momentum. After that though, things began to drag. I had
this idea that if I had time to make more diploma frames and kept adding them
to my shop the sales would continue to grow.
That hasn't really happened.
I've spent a lot of time thinking about my approach to this
and what my goal actually is (was). I've come to realize that my goal is not to
sell diploma frames. My goal is to earn a living, working for myself, doing something
I enjoy.
Coming to that realization has opened me up to a much larger
pool of options.
While I will continue to sell diploma frames, I plan to add
a large selection of picture frames and will soon begin to use pre-cut molding
in addition to milling my own. I've
signed on with a wholesale picture frame molding company that provides me hundreds
of choices and opportunities to increase revenue, while becoming more efficient.
Not only will that help me increase what I offer in the way
of frames I make, I will soon start to “retail” the pre-cut molding through my
DIY picture framing web site, so DIYers
can buy nice molding at a reasonable price to make their own frames.
I have just taken on a large project with a local chapel to
make hymn book holders for their pews. Working for the Lord has to help, right?
And of course, I've been gearing up for the holiday crafts
shows. I have a table at the St. Greg's show November 28-29 and the Heim Middle
School show December 6-7.
Whether these things help or not, we'll see, but I know the odds increase as more things are tried.
One thing I said at the beginning is that faith has to play
a big part in this. I truly believed that one way or another, things would
happen and opportunities would present themselves. I wasn't sure how, and until I was forced to
think beyond my original plan, I didn't realize just how many opportunities are
missed if you don’t open your mind.
So, until the next installment, I will continue to keep my
eyes and ears open for the opportunities that are hiding, in plain sight, all
around us every day. I hope you do as well.
Al
harvestwoods.com
