Being your own boss is great, but some days are hard. When I go to my part time job at a retirement community I get my schedule of activities I'm leading, a list of daily tasks, and a list of what to work on if I have free time. I know what I need to do and what is expected of me. At home, it's a different story, I don't have anyone telling me what I need to do or how to get where I want to go. I have to figure everything out more or less on my own. While that comes with a lot of freedom, it also comes with a lot more responsibility. The success or failure of my business rests on my shoulders. I have days where I get up and have absolutely no motivation to do anything jewelry related.
A lot of my everyday tasks are tedious, repetitive, and annoying. Every time I make a new piece there is a long list of things I must do to get it up for sale; I have to photograph it, edit those photos, price the item, enter it into my inventory system, create an Etsy listing that includes a description and tags, then I have to post that listing to various sites. Sometimes it really drives me crazy. This process can take hours, even days if I have several new pieces, which I usually do.
I wouldn't give it up though. Some days I can't wait to get started, either I'm bursting with new design ideas or I have an incredible new piece I can't wait to show everyone There are days when everything I'm doing comes out right. Today was one of those days.
A really good friend of mine took on the role of mother just a few weeks ago! She gave birth to an adorable baby girl. While she was still pregnant, she asked if I could make her and her daughter matching pearl bracelets for their newborn pictures. I happily agreed and made the bracelets. The pictures came out amazing!
|
| Photo by Natalia Bishop, Chocolate Box Photography |
So I decided to make another set to sell on Etsy. I made them along with another bracelet with some new small champagne colored pearls paired with a dusty rose colored agate crystal. All three bracelets turned out amazing!
Today was meant to be a tedious day of photographing, pricing and listing these items. When I started taking the photos it was different. The sun was shining in the window creating nearly perfect lighting, and few of the shots came out so well that I started getting more excited about my new bracelets! As I was writing my description on Etsy I found I had no trouble at all talking up my pieces and coming up with tags. I was finished before lunch!
|
| Champagne Pearl and Rose Agate Bracelet |
Using an upside down crystal wine glass as a bracelet prop is one of the best ideas I've ever had! I didn't even have to go to a fancy store to get this, I found it at a yard sale! Here are some other bracelets that have graced the stem of my wine glasses:
|
| Silver Biwa Pearl and Blue Agate Cuff Bracelet |
|
| White Rice Pearl and Black Onyx Triple Strand Bracelet |
|
| Champagne Pearl and Rose Agate Bracelet |
I'm particularly happy with these pictures because of that lacy thing! That is a favorite shirt of mine, I bought it for my sisters wedding and it is a beautiful soft, off white lace. I've been trying to successfully include it in my product photos for a while, especially after reading that when doing product photography subtle texture is your friend! I feel like I
finally got it right! Or maybe that bracelet just looks so good with it...it is a really good bracelet, and I'm not one to brag on myself!
|
| Mother and Daughter Matching Pink Pearl Bracelets |
|
| Mother and Daughter Matching Pink Pearl Bracelets |
This picture is my favorite of the day. When I look at it I see a little baby girl snuggled up next to her mother the way this tiny bracelet is snuggled up to the adult size one. It helps that these are just really great pearls! They match each other so well in color and the small pearls are just the right size to be a perfect miniature version. Also, I got to use that lace shirt again, and the sun was providing the perfect lighting for the shot.
I don't brag on myself a lot, but I'm feeling really great today! It's days like this one that make me happy with my work, even the horrible tedious parts of it. When I started doing this, I had no idea it would be this hard, but I wanted it, so I went after it.
I'll close by saying if you want to start your own business, be prepared for a lot of hard work and a lot of disappointing days, but do it anyway. Chase your dreams and do what makes you happy, if you truly love what you do it'll all be worth it, I promise.
