Back in Feb. I posted an entry about traveling being on hold due to getting a new job. Boy was a wrong. I've been to Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Myrtle Beach, Lake Lure and Baltimore twice. Even though they are work related trips, I still managed to get in a bit of site seeing during our down time. Entries on Baltimore and Lake Lure to come.

Thanks for reading,

*image courtesy of The Black Traveler

Read More

I start work Monday!

I've been living out of my suitcase for a past days since we arrived in Pittsburgh. I only brought Hubert, my clothes, and ready to ship bags and some shipping supplies. Everything else is in my POD.

Good news: My POD comes in on Monday the 22nd and I will finally get my computer, sewing machine, leather, fabric, hardware, tools, and tables back so that I can catch up on orders that need to be shipped on the 28th.

Meanwhile, The Boy and I have been staying at his parent's place until our loft is available for move-in on December 4th. Until then, we've been enjoying lots of Indian food and I've been working from my iPhone --which is really difficult.

I can't wait for Monday! All I can think about is work, and being separated from the tools that I need to be productive have made me really antsy and I've found that the best thing to do to keep me preoccupied is to go shopping.

Just kidding! My mom probably just had a heart attack after reading that. I haven't done any shopping. And by any I mean I haven't done a lot. :)

Image: The Boy and I hosted a little wine tasting party with his brother and sister-in-law last night. It was fun!

Read More

Around the World Pt. II

I made my first sales to Portugal and Sweden this week! And that reminded me to update my Map of Sales that I started last year to track where all my bags are going. Unfortunately, I'm very behind, so I only updated the last two weeks. :( But it includes some new international locations! :)



The color coding is pretty much obsolete now. The purple was to signify 2+ sales, blue is 5+ sales, red is 10+ sales, but I haven't been changing those as orders were made.  I guess this is why people hire people to take care of all these things. Or write programs to automate this. 

I also checked back on the first Around the World post, and I think my little business has improved quite a ways since seven months ago. I've made 290 Etsy sales since and have added some new destinations of Jenny N. bag deliveries! 

I can't believe I've made and shipped that many bags. It's really crazy to think back on some weeks where I was just sewing, installing hardware, printing shipping labels and taping packages non-stop. I really neglected my life during those times and I hope to manage my time better so that I will always absolutely LOVE what I'm doing every minute I'm creating.

The first thing I did to better manage my time? Extend my turnaround time and not allow rush deliveries. Giving myself more time to make the perfect product always has a better turnout than rushing on making a bag and sending something that is less than the quality I expect coming out of my shop. 

If you're a designer and maker, I highly recommend doing this. Customers will appreciate the craftsmanship.

Read More

Lacking Conversation

I'm in the last stretch of the six month mark of working full-time for my business, and I finally feel the loneliness of being the only employee in the shop.

In the view of my friends, this is the life. I get to work on my own terms -- no manager breathing down my neck, no morning meetings to discuss data analysis of the previous day, no presentations to give to the director, etc.

But in reality, I experience a lot of those things in a different way. I don't have a manager, but I have my own conscience that is constantly thinking about when I need to ship bags and whether I should skip lunch or dinner so I can get bags made in time for shipment.

No morning meetings, but instead I spend the first 1.5 hours of my morning answering Etsy convos, e-mails, and I analyze the data from Google Analytics to see how I can improve my web presence and sales.

I don't give presentations to any directors, but I do have craft sales where I feel like I'm giving a presentation (to potential customers) in hopes of receiving some positive feedback on my progress.

Running a business is tough because you're playing so many roles from administrative work, customer service, manufacturing, photography, modeling, marketing, selling, and packaging for shipping. All done by one person. With no one else to talk to and bounce ideas off of to improve work efficiency (though I do get a lot of feedback from The Boy on ways to improve the business work flow).

I will admit, it is nice working from home, though it does get lonely as my only conversations are to my pug Hubert, and to my Facebook/Twitter friends. It's good, but not nearly as fun as talking face to face with a human being. Plus, I think this is slowly degrading my verbal communication skills.

The times I look forward to most are when The Boy comes home for lunch. That's when I get to see and speak to a person, and it feels really great to have an hour or more to have that needed conversation to get me through the rest of my day. It's when The Boy has lunch with his co-workers when my workday is the worst. It's a full 9-12 hours of no human interaction. Fortunately, those are rare.

But I won't ramble on too long about working alone at home. It started snowing here just a couple hours ago, and it was just the break I needed to stop sewing, put on my winter boots and coat and take some pictures. I hope you enjoy!

Read More

Briefcase in Black Leather!

I had a custom order requesting the briefcase in black leather. Not sure why I never thought of this ingenious idea! I want one for myself, now. Thanks, Chad, for your wonderful suggestion to make the briefcase in black!

If you'd like one of these babies for yourself, message me for a custom order!

Read More