Friday, September 26, 2014

Home mixed tea and oil burnt evenings...

Its a night before a market usual.

Saddlewood and chamomile oils burning.  Our own tea mix freshly prepared.
Cat sleeping over the whole workroom couch and anime on the laptop.

We're doing final prep for a small village market at the Henley-on-Klip Apostolic church tomorrow.
Then we go into preparing for a Friday night amd Saturday at The Shed on R59 for their Beerfest weekend.

There HAS been alot to update on the blog about, but I just haven't been able to get to it all.

The night market at The Shed
What a good evening! We really did so well on the sales front, and we got such a varied bunch of people passing and supporting the vendors. After all, we're there to supply you with a fix of awesome goodies ;)

The Medieval Market
It was a blast amd a huge success, we ended the evening watching firedancers amd watching a pretty cool band perform.
It was also great having so many of you coming to say hi and get our details.
You all made the day really worth it.

Since then, we have had the AMAZING John from Nuclear Design revamping our online branding.
We've been working on some new ideas.
Sorting out the workroom (its not 100%, but the difference is already noticeable).
And well, all the freelance jobs are keeping things busy here.

We have lots and lots and LOTS of great items still in stock, as well as adding a few new oddities.
So its generally never boring here.
One thing has slowed things down though is the crazy Post Office strikes. It has basically put a halt on just about everyones online sales, which is disappointing.
We're looking for affordable alternatives to offer.

We have also started looking for brick and mortar shops to stock with our items, one of those shops being a newly opened tattoo parlour, Silver Dream Tattoos in Boksburg.
More stores will hopefully be interested and we'll send the addresses so you can go get your fix, pretty much 90% of the week amd month.

So yeah,  September dragged us into crazy again, but at least the lost feeling doesn't linger ;)

Have a happy Friday and a brilliant weekend! ★★★★★★★

Monday, September 1, 2014

Burnout and soulful wellbeing...

Beginning of this year, I started collecting reading material from marketing gurus and social media entrepreneurs,  with the intention of getting time to self study (still trying)... and I've joined many pages that give daily snapshots of ideas and advice.

Several times, crafty online sellers have repeated the term "burnout" in my social media timelines.
I kept thinking, burnout? Doing something I enjoy this much? Really?

Well...when its part of what you need to do to earn a living (or part of it), yea, burnout is real.
I have been on a downward spiral over the last 3 - 4 months (if I take an honest look at thigs).
Everything feels like its going wrong, the business' budget feels limited (and you keep getting the urge to splurge), running out of basics that seemed like you had just restocked on mere days before. And sleep...erratic,  nearly nonexistent patterns of "rest".

I am sure, very much so, that I am not the only self supporting crafty that feels any of this.
So I reached out on email to one of the social media entrepreneurs whose page I'm on and she waved a virtual finger at the list I sent.
There were no defined work hours (in a crafty business? Yes).
When I had a day job, Wonder Struck Inc had enforced work hours. And off days.

But how do you grow your business when you're defined by hours and days of work?
The answer I got was: How do you run and grow a business successfully when you cannot function to the best of your ability?
As humans we need sleep, we need rest, we need sunlight and air and healthy food and exercise.
No matter how many hours you work, if you're burnt out....nothing is going to go right.
If you're elastic about the systems and bidgets you've put inplace, nothing will go right.
When you pull at the threads of sanity and process, something is bound to give in.

So...with more experienced mentors that social media has made available to me (and others), I go back to the drawing board, go back to what I outlined amd work again from there.
Define my work hours, rest hours, off hours...

And all this in a run up to our first 2 markets of Spring! After a rather renewed soulfilled weekend, yup, I can handle it woth a fair amount of sanity.

How many other crafties don't allow themselves some off time, all in the self inflicted pressure that comes with having your own business? No matter how small, I think we all do.

So the word burnout is now officially in my work vocabulary,  and I felt what it was... and its not what I wanted Wonder Struck Inc to be about.
So, now to get back on track!

Go out and have a fantastic week crafties and handmade enthisiasts!