A Handmade Life for Me...
September - for me - has always been a month of fresh starts and new beginnings, and true to form, this year proved to be no different. Like a blur, the month raced by at record pace giving me little time to catch my breath, but it's important to pause and reflect, so here we are now...
Four weeks ago, I launched Yorkshire Bess Creates and took those tentative first steps into running my own small business. I was both excited and nervous at the same time; I had many questions and doubts. After months of planning, designing and deliberating, my website went live. I knew it was not perfect (it still isn't), and my product range was incomplete, but it was good enough - and let's face it, if I waited for perfection I would never have started in the first place!
One month on and I've learned a lot, and I'm still learning - every single day.
Here's what I learned in my first month of running a small business:
My mum, husband and my closest friends were my biggest cheerleaders (thank you!).
There are never enough hours in a day to achieve everything you want to.
Designing and making your products is a tiny part of running a whole business.
It takes forever to list and price your products in your online shop.
You will have a million new ideas, but can't do everything at once! It's a real lesson in patience.
Advertising your business feels incredibly awkward!
You will spend more money than you will make (I call it investment - fingers crossed!)
People have been really positive and encouraging, and - I made several sales!
October shows no signs of slowing down, but I plan to take what I've learned so far and to keep building my little handmade life. Yorkshire Bess Creates has been hard work, but an absolute joy and I hope that through the handmade goodies I make, I can continue to share that with the world. With the festive season fast approaching, it's full steam ahead here and there are some new designs on the horizon that I am excited to share in the coming weeks.
For now, my autumn collection is still live so don't miss out on those soft and squishy knitted pumpkins, or colourful autumn wreaths - they won't be around forever! Thank you for reading and if you're one of my beautiful customers an even bigger thank you - your support means the world to me!
