Business in the Margins of Life
Crochet is something that I have been doing for the past 20 years. It’s been a comfort and stress reliever. It’s a way to show my creative side. It’s been a constant companion. But now I’m moving into a different avenue with it. An avenue that will provide income and set my life- and my families lives- in a new direction. This is why I wanted to start down this path. To have the best life I know how to have for everyone.
As I talked about before, my end goal is to be able to quit my conventional day job and make enough income to work from home on my crochet business. I would love to work on crochet while the kids are at school, and be there for them after school. To be able to go on field trips and volunteer in class. To not worry about when they have a day off or when someone gets sick. I want to be able to make my own schedule and be able to be flexible about it.
I have to remind myself constantly that this is what I’m working towards. Some days this is hard to do. The days when I ask the kids for “just a few more minutes” to finish a project. Or watch on the sidelines crocheting one more thing to add to inventory while they are playing in the yard. While I try to do most of my business stuff after they go to bed (between 8pm-10pm) I do have some things that just can’t wait. Which means I may not get to be there 100 percent for everything. But the goal is to get there one day.
While I do sometimes have some guilt about not being able to be at every function or every make believe game of my little ponies, I know that this is what needs to be done. In order to grow a business, you need to put in the time, energy and effort to make it what you want it to be. You only have so many hours in a day. And you have to pick and choose what you do with those hours. So make sure you are picking what aligns with your values and what you want your end result to be. In this season of life, I have to work more, so that I can work less later.
It takes a while to get stuff set up. Building a website, an email list, posting listings on Etsy, building a product line, taking photographs, growing social media finding new apps and websites to help you do all of it more efficiently. And not only time, but it all takes money as well.
I have learned to be creative in the ways that I get some work in. I have a crochet bag in my lunch box, so when I take a break at work I can work on inventory. I have another one in my car. This one is great and comes in handy so many times. I can pull it out when my daughter is in ballet lessons and we are only able to watch on the screen that I often can’t even tell which one is her. Or that time when I decided to stop by GoodWill thinking I could quickly drop stuff off and it was an hour wait. I try to do my computer time on the weekend while my youngest is taking a nap and my husband goes on a bike ride with the older girls. And then most of my crochet time is done in the evening while I’m hanging out with my husband watching tv. (I’ve gotten to the point where I can’t even watch tv without something in my hands!)
But it’s all about finding ways to fit in what needs to be done. To stay organize and stay ahead of all of the things that need to get done. In general I feel like I’m doing an ok job with it, but as with everything else, it can always be improved. Working more efficient will always be something that I work towards. My time is precious and valuable and I need to treat it that way. So it’s something that I will keep striving towards.
While my business is essential for my future life, and something that I will keep striving for. I know where my priorities in life are and that will always be my family. My kids are healthy and happy and in the end, that is what matters the most.
