We’ve all gone through something in life when we tried a couple of times but didn’t get it. Whether it be a new job, love, or business. Take myself, for example, my dream is to have a storefront for my jewelry/accessories business within the next 5 years. I’ve had my own online store since 2014; that’s 4 years and I’ve only sold 14 things, online. As much as I get compliments on my jewelry, my sales are low. Selling 14 items in 4 years is nothing to brag about nor does it look 5-star good to potential buyers. Of the 14 sales I received about 6 of them left, positive, 5 star reviews. So, as of now, I have a 5-star online business. I love the fact that my customers enjoy their items however, I still need more customers.
There was a point in 2016 when I just gave up. I stopped updating my store with new items. I stopped renewing my listings and let them all expire. I stopped updating all of my social media accounts relating to my business and just disappeared for a little while. I became frustrated cause I felt like I wasn’t getting the attention that I deserved. I’d worked hard on making my jewelry and I marketed a lot but, I wasn’t seeing a return on what I had done. We can agree that the market is flooded with jewelry artisans but, that doesn’t mean everyone doesn’t deserve a chance.
So, late last year I decided to get back in again. I wasn’t getting the attention that I needed to grow so I needed to take action. I started looking into doing craft shows in the area. I came across a couple, some big, some small, but I knew I had to start small; get my feet wet. So, in December of 2017, I decided to do my 1st craft show. It was scary at first but, if you want to get something done, you got to suck it up and get it done. This meant spending 6 hours on Sunday (one of my days off) working or spending money to be a vendor with no guarantee of anyone buying anything. “Without risk, there is no reward.” You just have to make sacrifices for the things that you really want. You have to keep working at it. It’s ok to take a little break when it gets too exhausting but, you have to keep fighting in order to achieve your goals. You only fail when you stop trying.