Reflections on the Day of My First Sale

Congratulations to me! I have made my first sale on Etsy. 

I know this is similar to watching a baby take a first step. Just like a baby, my business and I have been preparing for this day for a long time. More time than would seem needed for such a tiny little step. We have been growing, developing, practicing and finally all that work has paid off in just one, tiny, itsy bitsy way. It's way exciting.

I also know that this is just the first of many, many steps and it can only grow from here. Soon steps and full on walking will seem like a huge, awesome accomplishment and then very soon after that it will just seem like the norm. And despite all this walking, don't think that I'm not prepared for some falling. It's all part of the experimentation and spontaneity of owning your own small business.

I've been wanting to write a post for awhile to talk about what it means to me to own a small business. I am still a total novice at it so don't even think I'm here to toot my horn or give advice. I'm here to simply say, owning my own small business means so much more to me than I could've ever imagined and, to put it in the most hippy way imaginable, it just flows with my vibe man!

So I think today on the day of my first sale is a good time to discuss it. From the moment I truly set forth on this adventure I have realized that despite the time and money investment that I am putting into it right now, and at a level where I'm giving more than I am getting back, that having the freedom of running my own business is something that just comes to me so naturally and feels better than any other professional endeavor I have ever taken part of. If it feels that good now, just imagine when I am seeing return on that investment. I think the reason it feels so natural is because I grew up in a household of entrepreneurs, although they weren't given such a prestigious title back then. My Mom and Dad ran their own businesses out of the home, we had a huge office that took up the whole upstairs of our house, and playing around in that office was so much fun for me. The freedom they had through owning their own businesses allowed our family to have such special and unique adventures. Like taking off for a over a month in the summer to road trip from California to Wyoming and back. So who knows? We can have the nature vs. nurture debate all we want but either I was born with my parent's entrepreneurial genes, I learned it from their lifestyle, or both. Was I born with the need to have the creative freedom of running my own business or did I learn it? Either way, it feels so good.

It's not only the freedom that feels good, it's the creativity. Of course I'm a creative person, my whole business centers around that creativity. But running your own business is such a creative endeavor on it's own. Every day you get to make creative decisions about what you are going to do, how you are going to market your stuff, how you are creatively going to manage your time.You wear so many different hats it is impossible not to stay interested. I think I was uniquely groomed to fit well into a position that wears this many hats. I have held such a plethora of different jobs for the 16 or so years that I have been a working person, and all of them have somehow given me a unique skill set that helps me do what I'm doing now. From the marketing work I did at the non-profit, to the networking skills I gained running a local non-profit event, to the organizational juggling of being a teacher, and the accounting knowledge gained from my time as an office manger, all of them are coming in handy now. It's like taking my favorite parts of each of those jobs and throwing them into one fantastic job that centers around everything I know and love most and something that truly means something to me.

It all has me feeling so empowered, I want to shout from the rooftops that everyone should go out and start their own business. But I do realize that not everyone is cut from the same cloth that I am and this is not a journey that everyone would love and enjoy as much as I seem to. For me, the constant experimentation, playing with fun crafty stuff, designing, engineering pretty décor, making connections and building new ideas everyday, ebbing and flowing amongst all the spontaneous stuff that pops up, and last but certainly not least, constantly learning new things just feeds my soul.

I love travel, I love adventures, and this, so far, has been an awesome one and I can't wait to see where it goes. This type of adventure is probably one of the best there is, the one where there is no specific destination or end point in mind, the skies the limit, so I am really here to just enjoy the journey. While so many things in my life have developed clear destination points, I can honestly say being on this journey without one is a bit meditative and cathartic. How many people can say that about their jobs? I am so happy I can say that about mine. 

A wise man once said:

I am so glad I have finally chosen a one I love.