new years resolutions

I made myself a promise at the beginning of this year. Not so much a new year’s resolution*, because it isn’t a goal with which I intend to better myself, but more of a commitment to either “shit or get off the pot”.

I am a non-practicing-obsessive-crafter**… or at least, I have tons and tons of craft ideas. Whether or not I follow through with them is an entirely different story. For about three years now, I have considered the idea of starting a small business with my crafts (handmade cards and jewelry mostly). I’ve even picked a name for this business—frog’s hair—hence the name of this blog.*** I have spent the smallest amount of time researching how one goes about turning their hobby into their job, though not since I made Washington my new state of residence, so I would need to start there. The problem is that I am concerned that I might lose interest, that I wouldn’t be able to make it work, and of course, there’s the fear of rejection—what if no one wants to buy my stuff? I remind myself of something Eric once told me, “have you seen the crap that people buy?!?”. I get a lot of compliments on my crafts, and a couple of my jewelry pieces sold at an office auction we had this year for three and four times the minimum bid (which I think I fairly priced at the actual cost of parts [retail]). I guess that the answer is that I just have to take it all in stride. If the business fails, so be it. At least I tried. And it’s not like I am looking to get rich, quit my day job and retire on the profits. Honestly, I don’t need the money at all. I just like doing it, and it seems like a challenge to make a go of it.

Back to the promise I made to myself at new years: in the next two years (don’t be surprised if I bump that up to three years later on down the road) either I have to do my homework, get off my arse and get this business started, or else quit most of the crafting I do. I can keep quilting and knitting, but everything else goes. Either shit or get off the pot.

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* I have no idea why people have such a hard time dealing with new year’s resolutions. I know it sounds totally cheesy when you put it into words, but come on, once a year there’s a tradition where everyone picks something they want to improve about themselves, their environment, their loved ones, and then they spend the year trying to achieve that! Why do so many people resist that?

** I am also a non-practicing morning person/vegetarian/workaholic

** frog’s hair. I gave the name of the business to my father for Father’s Day in 2003. When I was a child, he would come home from work and I would run out to the driveway to greet him. He would ask me how my day was and I would say “fine” and he would say “fine as frog’s hair?”. To which I reply “Daddy, frogs don’t have hair!” Even before I started seriously considering starting a business with my crafts, my Dad has been encouraging me to go for it.