It recently occurred to me that it has been a really long time since I sat down and put an update out there for you guys to let you know about our progress. So many things have happened it's hard to pick a point to begin.
Let's go with the small things first. My studio area is finally organized. (yay!) I know, it sounds so silly to put it down as an accomplishment, but for me, it really is. Its kind of a signal to my subconscious self that things have changed. There are a lot more people than myself involved on a regular basis in making these amazing creatures so setting up areas for everything so others can jump in and not have to find me to ask me where something is, is a huge change.
Along with this change, is the extremely difficult task of getting used to coordinating other people. OK, let me just say, business was NOT my field of study. Personality-wise I have always been the type of person who worked alone and pretty much did what I wanted to when I wanted to do it. A wee bit of an anarchist deep inside...come on, that cannot REALLY be a surprise to anyone :o)
I don't think I need to say that having a regular crew around makes it necessary to begin doing all kinds of things I never liked to do. Things like, planning ahead...this took a great deal of retraining my brain to stop working in the here and now and move into the week or two out mode...my ladies and family can tell you this has not been easy. Lots of talking to myself like a crazy person, writing things down and forgetting where I put them and the inevitable dropped ball (by yours truly) :o)
Deadlines...learning to be ok working within the confines of a tight schedule is NOT as easy as it seems. I now have a lot of respect for all of you who do this on a regular basis. I still bristle a bit when I realize that I am now on a tight schedule where certain things MUST be done at certain times. There is always that little voice inside whispering to cut and run. Just go and play for the day or the next several days...or a few months...you get the idea.
Learning to work from a business mindset. I can tell you this was and is the MOST painful part of the whole process. Did I mention I am NOT a business type person? Balancing budgets and planning material purchases so that we always have enough materials around to continue working along, is a lot of work. Thankfully, hubby is real good at that, so he does most of that for me. Which is good because to be honest, I would rather be doing ANYTHING else. This is his handy work :o) he's so organized
Yep, that is the whole gang from this past Thursday night's upload :o)
Having a crew who depends on this business for income changes everything. Its kinda like that transition we all went thru from single person to parent. You were plugging along, taking care of your own needs, living your own life and all of a sudden, you have this person who is dependent on you to make sure their needs are met as well. It is your responsibility to give them the tools they need to accomplish the basic things they need to. In doing so, they end up having the freedom to live the lives they want. Every one of our DFH mamas depend on this little business. They all work from their homes on their schedules. I get to see their sweet little kiddos when their mamas come by to drop off and pick up each week...I LOVE this part :o) They depend on their incomes to help their families. We depend on the work they all do to help our little business grow. And all of us depend on your support so we can continue to do this. It's kinda cool if you think about it :o)
Starting out, I never had the mindset that we would end up here. Never intended to start a business that would be such a huge part of the daily lives of myself and my family...not to mention such a huge part of the daily lives of so many other folks. When I stop to think about it, its kinda cool to have this little group of work at home mamas, working away. Looking back, I honestly cannot say how we got here. Looking ahead, I am pretty excited about what is still to come. To use one metaphor, its like a roller coaster ride...kinda scary at times but a whole lot of fun.
Now, let's talk about dolls :o). We are up to 20 dolls each week and sometime in the next week or two we will be up to making 22-25, plus 3-4 Critters. This is huge guys. I used to think I never wanted to get to this point but here we are.
It's funny how things change like that. I can honestly say that this particular change is solely due to the super awesome sewing mamas I have around me (as well as my oh-so-amazing family) who work their creative fingers away each week helping to pull all this together for you all. These folks are wonderful..I cannot tell you enough how fantastic they are. I will introduce you all to them one by one next week in a group of daily blog posts that will take you thru our week one day at a time. I am pretty excited about introducing you to the whole gang. Seriously, they are all some pretty awesome folks.
OK, that's it for this post. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart, it's been such an awesome ride so far, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for this whole experience so far. Have a great weekend.
Peace & Love
Nancy
