On the return trip from Renegade Brooklyn I realized that I used to have a life outside of work. When I started Pistachio Press my main goal was to have a self-sustaining career that I loved with more flexibility than other jobs...this is the reason most small businesses begin, right? Well, in the last few months I've worked 60-80 hours/week, said no when friends ask me to hang out, stopped going for walks with my dogs, started living on Mountain Dew, answer work email at midnight, ignore my husband, and let my house get to an almost irreparable state of disorganization. This was never my ultimate goal.
My very high expectations led me to work my butt off preparing for Renegade {as did my sister and husband}, only to have a severe thunderstorm overhead for much of the first day followed by a three-hour traffic jam during which I was sitting in my underwear, wrapped in a sheet because I could no longer wear my dripping jeans. To say I was disheartened would be an understatement. But, the next day turned out to be nice and I met with some of my favorite vendors {more to follow on this subject}. My spirits were especially lifted when Julie from
Etui came back smiling even though her tent blew away during the storm {see missing tent in first photo}. And it was awesome sharing a beautiful tent with
Shanna and working on our card collaboration during the last few weeks.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that although it was a bit rough, I learned a few valuable lessons. I now know where my priorities are and I'm going to try very very hard to work a 40-hour week. Organization will be the key. I'm also going to try to build in some time for myself. My masseuse gave me the suggestion to take a 15 minute break to stretch or sit quietly a few times each day {after I stopped crying during the intake before I even got the massage}. I also know why
second storie is so awesome...we always hold our events inside, we try to greet each vendor to make everyone feel welcome, and we would definitely warn our vendors if a giant thunderstorm was going to sit on top of the event. I'm also going to try to start writing my blog again...but this time it's for me. I like reading what I've done in the past year {like my very first listing on Etsy} and I really hope that weekly writing on the blog will help give me a bit of focus and time for reflection. And maybe the next time someone asks how I'm doing I can honestly answer "Great! I just got back from the park and now I'm going to make dinner with my amazing husband."
There are ups and downs to owning your own business. My major bright spot this week is that I'm working on a few new custom invite designs. This is a sneak peek of one of them, based on the lace from the bride's veil. I'm super excited with how it's turning out. The downer is that I have to raise my prices a bit to keep up with rising prices elsewhere. I knew this was coming, but I hate having to actually implement the change. But, it's officially a reality...I signed in to order more paper tonight and the prices has increased a full 25% in the last week! This seems crazy to me, especially since there was already an increase within the last year and there was no warning. Very sad, indeed.
