Smack Hams and Cry Laughs

I'm going to have to say one thing about the store before I start into the smack hams. It's been rented to a deli so it's completely out of the equation. The lessor took two days to answer my question of lowering the cost for the first three months while we got settled and made some up dates in there. She finally answered me in an email, "we can't take anything off the rent (not what she told us in person) but we are doing a special where the first month is free however that unit has been rented." Stoopid. First month free is less money than what I suggested!

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G introduced "smack cams" into the household by way of Vine. This is where you post a video of smacking someone in the face or butt with a smear-able substance on your hand. We were trying to figure out why she and E were running around the house with flour all over their faces, hair hands and buttocks. E starts screaming, "I'm going to give YOU a smack ham!" 

While in the van last night on our way to IHOP, I brought up the smack hams. E smiled and said, "Oh, cry laugh!" And proceeded to contort her face into a terrible whiny looking grimace while making a huahuahua sound. Things are getting really hilariously weird around here and E's got to find some friends her own age.

Wishing I Could Sew Today

Browsing some of my favorite sites does not always inspire me. Sometimes they leave me with a sick sadness of jealousy and insecurities. Like today, I decided to see what one gal who blogs about fashion was up to. She makes some of the items that she blogs about but most of her blogs are about low-end fashion trends. Today she posted pictures of a week-long sewing get-away with girlfriends. There are so many things wrong with this and why I can't do something as totally awesome as a week long sewing get-away with girlfriends. 

1) I don't really have any girlfriends to do this with

2) I have a job

3) I have a lot of kids

4) So much other stuff to do....

I'll stop there. 

What really irked me was when I took a glace at her Instagram images and I found pictures of her two really cute (small) kids. I've nothing against her kids. It's her house! It was gorgeous! It was CLEAN! She had a nice shaggy rug in her living room and the tidiest play area. Oh that sort of thing makes me feel inferior. Excuses #2, 3 and 4 prevent me from keeping an immaculate house.

I don't like those insecure feelings and I might have to pay a visit to tinybudda.com to expunge them. Even though I'm dying a little inside thinking about going to work instead of heading out the door to a sewing summit with friends, I thank my lucky stars for excuses #2, 3 and 4. I can say with confidence that most of my Hierarchy of Needs are met and I can always sew when I get home (or bring my embroidery project to work).

Deadline Monday

I spent the whole weekend doing exactly what I wanted to do. It consisted of sewing, reading, spending time with family and more sewing. The only problem is that today is delivery day for a huge project that I've spent so many overtime hours on but not this past weekend and I now that Monday is here I feel guilty.

That's not fair.

So to counter the guilt, I'm cutting blogging and newspaper time down to log in to my work VPN and start throwing some code in there. An hour won't help much with the deadline but at least I'll get a handle on how much the rest of the group completed on the project this past weekend while I did what ever I felt like doing.

Business Plan

These two words on their own aren't so bad. 

Business: "Ain't nobodys business but mine and my baaby." 

Plan: oh I've got a plan. 

But together they are very scary and I don't know where to start. Or I didn't know where to start that is as of last night. 

Business Plan.

I've decided to do something that was comfortable to me in order to get the ball rolling. Now hold on! No one said anything about going into debt for this studio. I'm not planning to run off to the bank with my shiny new Business Plan and slit the throat of my dream before I even have the first workshop. Part of my needing to put together a plan is to help me determine how long I can stay afloat with "out-of-pocket" funding and I also need my other half to SEE what's in my head. I've said it before and I'll say it again, it is down right hard to extract computable information from an IT professional.

I've become a crunching numbers nerd over the last 3 years out of necessity. Dave Ramsey told me to put all my expenses down on paper to construct a budget. I did it but my ability to add numbers was not so hot so I needed a spreadsheet to do the math. I have literally tracked every $ for the last 3 years and categorized it. 

Anyway, I'm telling you this because I'm going to tell you this. My Business Plan doesn't have to be anything more than a spreadsheet to start with. I began by listing all my "start up"/one time expenses in one section and then all my re-occurring expenses in another and projected increased expenses like inventory and workshop preparations and then calculated quarterly taxes, things didn't feel so overwhelming anymore. I obviously had to make another section in order to map out the income. I might have aimed sales goals a little high for the first month or even the second but by the third or fourth I think it's pretty realistic. I believe by month number four I could break even for month number five.

What does that mean? That means that with a little love for 3 months, month 4 or 5 will pay for itself. Here's the problem...Time. Like I said. I aimed the sales a little high not because I'm fudging numbers but because I'm over allotting time spent in the store. I will need some help in that area. If I can't dedicate enough time to the store then it will definitely take longer to break even and will cost more out-of-pocket cash. More out-of-pocket means work harder and longer at my REAL job to supplement my new bills and means less and less time spent in the store.

Putting these numbers down on paper (spreadsheet) has helped me to realize a dollar amount for expenses and has nether increased my excitability nor concluded demise of my dream. I think there is wiggle room. I've now know that this won't be easy. It's going to take hustle. I think I will refer to this adventure as double dutch. I'll stand near the ropes, lunging and rocking in place to "feel" the rhythm of ropes turns. Then once confidence is high enough, and I've siked myself up enough, and I think the timing is precise, I'll make the leap! 

Vintage Lingerie Patterns are Romantic

Okay not vintage lingerie, that's gross, but patterns, that's awesome. I found another inspirational site today at http://www.etsy.com/shop/Mrsdepew a woman named Anna Depew's shop on Etsy. 

She has a website as well and a blog: http://afewthreadsloose.blogspot.com/ where the first entry I read opened my eyes to darts-made-easy. I wondered about this and without and technical training I would have never known.

I'm just gaga over the talent people possess in ways I've never dreamed of. The idea of slipping on an article of clothing that was trendy in an era that I didn't not experience is so romantic to me. I am such a sucker for nostalgic. Is this a learned behavior or innate?

My mom and dad both love vintage. My mom has her thing for pottery, accessories and furniture. She recently purchased a lovely vintage crocheted collar and can spot a McCoy from across the room. My dad supplemented his income in the 80's and 90's during the recession by refinishing antique furniture. His romantic draw to the design and quality lead him to re-create several pieces and either sold them or kept them. He also just purchased an 1890's - 1910 era shot gun that he's refinishing. I begged him not to try to shoot it. He said he wouldn't because he would have to use a special type of gun powder or something or it would blowup in his face if he did. AHHHHHHHH!

So my point is, did I learn this from them or is it in the genes? Both my mom and dad love to "make" things. That must be a gene I was lucky enough to receive and I'll be doing a little shopping on the above Etsy site over the next couple of days I presume.

Being Realistic About the Present

I'm reading Start by Jon Acuff as of last night. I think I have the momentum and enthusiasm it takes to make a career move or as I'd like to put it, a career addition but I don't think I have enough knowledge at this point to make it successful.

Over a year ago I started reading Entreleadership by Dave Ramsey who referred me to Jon Acuffs previously published book Quitter. LOL. Don't do that in the middle of your book. That's when I jumped into Quitter but didn't quite get all the way through it so that's 2 unfinished books. Hear me out, I don't want to quit my day job. 1) I need it. Which Jon suggests in his book and 2) I love it. Dave's book Entreleadership does not apply to only entrepreneurs. Anyone can benefit from his leadership teachings if they are a volunteer, a boss, a parent. These are all leaders where others benefit from your success. So  now that I'm sure that I don't want to quit my day job I think it would be wise to hold off on reading how to run a business until I read how to "start" a business. 

Enough of this "starting" business (pun intended), let's finish something, want-to? So Jon Acuff says in the first 50 something pages about being realistic about the present and be wildly unrealistic about the future. There is a balance that should happen when starting a business or in my case, a craft studio. I must evaluate the risks involved to gauge how successful or damaging the venture will be. 

Money. This is a HUGE risk for me. I have a ton of things I could more appropriately spend money on. I won't go into detail but lets be realistic. Putting "pause" on other things that deserve funding so I can have a second career/glorified hobby is selfish and irresponsible.

Time. This is not free. This comes at a higher price than $ itself. I spend 50+ hours a week in an office 50 hours give or take for sleep which leaves 68 hours left. Minus an hour and a half a day for getting ready for work and driving and another hour for blogging and reading the news paper and or budgeting. Minus cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping etc. This calculation proves that dedicating time to my family is limited. Dipping into that wouldn't be fair to them or me. Cutting back somewhere else though...now that would be ideal but not realistic.

As awesome as the whole thing sounds, lets face it, I don't know how to start a business and it is not a good idea to rush into it. Jon points this idea out when he suggests that there are two ways to fail at a business 1) is to never start and 2) is to jump in all the way immediately. The now-or-never idea will sink the ship. The boat can take on water and sustain for a while or even forever but too much too fast will not end well. So to counter this effect I'm signed up for a workshop to cover the basics of getting started though Seminole State College. I hope to get a few of my questions answered there and then figure out what I don't know so that I can either research those aspects or work with SSC's business consulting program to fill in the gaps. 

I'm still going to take a look at the store today with W but my new thoughts of being realist about my present are weighing heavy. On the flip side of that coin, if I am overly realistic then I cannot be wildly unrealistic about my future. I will be too afraid to dream so I'm not giving up yet. I'm just saying I'm going into this with a little more careful footing than yesterday.

Two New Inspirational Finds

Yes, I made these! and Sky Turtle

great descriptions of sewing processes, lovely outcome and lots of inspiration.