Let's Get Serious

I'm getting serious - seriously serious about the stuff I make and the interest I have to turn this hobby into a small business that I will grow until I can retire and turn it into my full time second career.

What the heck?

Yes.  I'm going to do it.  How - I am asking myself- really this post is for my own edification but if you would like to ramble down this road with me, I'm fine with it if you are.  *How's that for a run-on sentence?*

I have made some significant investments of a crafty nature in the past decade.  I've blogged about a few of them.  The 1" button maker.  The laminator.  The brewing equipment.  But I've also added a few more weapons to my crafting arsenal.  A spinning wheel, an embroidery machine, a paper/vinyl cutter and many leatherworking tools.  I also have a knitting machine that's been collecting dust for 16 years that I need to bust out and oil and determine if its still working.

What that equipment does for me and my crafty business idea is to give me the wherewithal to make bespoke nerd objects for folks.  There's a market for this stuff and I need to figure out how to break into it in a way that is reasonable and legal.  I'm not a sweatshop worker.  I'm also not a person who really wants to be breaking copyright law.  So I guess this means I either get really good at coaxing permissions out of nerd companies/franchise owners or I get good at creating my own nerd art.

Some things I've done:

In process, a leather Hydra patch

Nearly completed Hydra patch

An embroidered patch for a heroic librarian

Team Valor Pokemon GO patches

A Paradigm Shift

I - on the advice of my very smart spouse - have undergone a paradigm shift. Now the horribly neglected Constantly Creating will be more dynamic and the focus of the stuff I'm doing.

I was trying to make a business out of my hobby - making things. I had a skewed idea that I was going to make some money out of this. I got a tax id number, a business license and I even signed up to have tables at conventions and craft shows. The success of this - monetarily - was a spectacular failure. I have had a net loss in this area two years running. But I have paid my taxes and kept my paperwork.

What has been successful, for me, has been the satisfaction of making things and seeing other people wear and enjoy them. Figuring out what to make and how to make it is a pleasure for me. It is a puzzle to solve and the satisfaction of that is...what makes me want to do it again and again.

What don't I like? Sweatshop work. I don't like to do the same thing again and again.

What does this have to do with this silly blog? The paradigm shift. If you follow along, you'll get a glimpse into my creative process as I chronicle it. You'll learn a little something with me when I succeed and get a chuckle from my failed attempts.

So if you care to - read on...