If you know me or if you have been a reader for a while you may have noticed I have been a little quiet when it comes to talking about my shop lately. If you are new here you may not even realise that my day job is running our family business, a little sewing shop in my home town of Maidenhead called
Sew Crafty. Well today I am letting you in on a not so secret, secret. We are opening an online store!
It is a project that has been over a year in the making, you may remember a post from last year where I hinted at making some big decisions '
Never Making Mistakes is a Mistake' and the day is almost here that I can direct you all, our lovely readers from all over the globe, to shop at my little
home away from home on the interwebs. To be honest I am still finding this thought very overwhelming.
I have spoken before about how our family business came to be, how I have always been a person who wants to work for myself and how much I love what I do. But I am not going to lie to you the last year has been one of the hardest times in my life.
Sew Crafty, like many shops on our British High Streets, has been struggling to break even (to make enough money to pay our bills). Despite filling our shop, floor to ceiling, with beautiful things and sewing essentials to supply our lovely little towns every sewing whim, it has just not been enough. We are just not reaching enough people, so last year we made the decision to invest some of our family savings in setting up Sew Crafty Online.
It has been a year of lots of stress and tears, mixed with excitement and anticipation but it is almost time to reveal all our hard work to the world. I wanted to take the chance to share some advice for any of you who are at the beginning of a journey like mine. (by which I mean' things I wish I had done sooner')
- Plan, LOTS. But be prepared to alter your path. Don't be too fixated on your ideas of how you think things should be. You may find better ways of doing things, you just haven't thought of it yet.
- Don't be afraid to ask for help. Think hard about your friend's talents and skills, they are your friends and they want to help you and see you succeed. Find ways they can help you. Most importantly talk to them about it because they are on your side, and if they can help they will.
- Do your research. Find out what people expect from what you are hoping to do. Think about what you expect, what do you like and not like about existing businesses like yours.
- Work with people you trust. Make sure the people who are helping you, are people that will help you to achieve your goals.
- If you are working with a designer/supplier/estate agent or other professional, don't be afraid to ask them as many questions as you need to. Don't feel like they are going to think that you are stupid, it is their job to answer those questions for you.
- Don't be afraid to nag those professionals to do their job if you feel you are being ignored, or don't have the information you need, but do be kind and appreciate them when they go the extra mile.
- Aim high. Make whatever you do, be the best it can be.
I really hope that this may have helped some of you who are thinking of embarking on a new project or business, if you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments or find me on twitter
@sammytvr.
If you want to find out more about my little shop head over to our
website or check out some of the posts in our archives, Sammy's
home away from home,
Sew Crafty...We are TEN,
Live it. Sammy's Day Job and look out for the launch announcement very soon. Or sign up to our
Sew Crafty Newsletter (bottom of our web page) to be the first to know!
Sammy xxx
Live, Love, Make, Like, Share, Follow, Tweet, Pin, Add, Enjoy.
Autumn is by far my favourite time of year. I am a person who loves being cosy, and snuggling up at home with my hubby and our cats is my favourite thing to do in the whole world. It is a time of year when for me work gets hectic so my home is the calm, soft, warm place I can retreat to when it all gets a bit crazy. It is a time I usually get to reflect on the year that, like so many before it, has gone by way too fast and dream of the plans I can make for the last few months of the year.
