Marcia's Six Month Journey

July 01, 2018

In December of 2017, I started to think about where I was in my business because 60 was approaching fast. When I retired from my full-time position as a Programmer/Analyst, my existing jewelry business was going to be my full-time job. However, fast forward five years and I am not where I want to be. I made the decision, 2018 is the year I am going to grow my business. I don't want to end up wondering what could I have done if I had really tried.

A couple of weeks later, I saw this posting on Facebook for a free four-week boot camp for small jewelry businesses. I signed up for the boot camp from Flourish and Thrive and completed it. I consumed myself with the class, barely keeping my head above water. There were times I thought, this isn't worth it, but I didn't quit. I finished the boot camp and won a $300 certificate for being the most engaging student for writing postings and comments on the facebook group. After I completed boot camp, I finally came to the realization I needed to sign up for their Laying the Foundation (LTF) class that cost $1000. After the free boot camp, my task at hand was to rewrite my mission statement, about page, redo my branding (logo, business card, signs), redo my booth display for art fairs, create a website, learn how to take professional looking photos of my jewelry, start writing blogs, improve my postings on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, etc. etc. After listening to interviews from past LTF students, I knew if I took the class I would have a much better chance of accomplishing all the tasks at hand. I signed up for the eight-week class and completed it. For eight weeks I spent the majority of my time on the computer rather than in my bead studio where I wanted to be. There were times I wanted to throw in the towel and go back to my old ways. Every time I felt that way, I told myself you haven't spent $1000 and worked so hard to give up. After completing the class, we had one free month of the Diamond Insiders (DI) group where there are coaches to answer questions, access to free master classes and accountability meetings. I have stayed part of the group for a monthly fee and love being part of a bigger community where I can get help on any of my questions and input from others.

Now the real work began. I had to start implementing everything I had learned. After doing some research I decided to use Shopify for my website. After months of working on it, my website is live. I am glad I did it myself because now I can make changes as needed. I did many rewrites, but I now have a Mission Statement, About Page, and Giving Back page as part of my website. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what my new color scheme and logo would be. This was a major decision for me because it would determine the color scheme of my booth setup for art fairs. After I designed my logo, then I could move forward with designing and ordering new business cards and signs that are used in my booth for art fairs.

With all the changes I was making in my business, I decided I wanted to choose a local organization to donate part of my profits. I have always been grateful for what I have and this is a way of giving back to the community. I decided to choose New Horizons. You can read more about that on my Giving Back Page as to why I chose them.

Now everything is done, right? No, Now I am working on a new collection of jewelry that I will have live on my website by August 1. It is time to get back to work.

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