Update on “Do I Just Jump In?”

Hey y’all! Been a busy week, ok, yeah, aren’t they all?

Thank you to all my new readers that have come because of my last post! I had more visitors to my blog in one day after posting that recipe than I have had in total the entire 11ish months since I started this blog! So glad I could help so many others who have a adopted a healthy low carb lifestyle with one of the things that we miss the most, probably much more for convenience of meals than taste….bread! Of course as I said, I can’t take all the credit, the recipe was amazing the way I found it, I only put together the instructions for making a larger batch . We had grilled cheese and bacon sandwiches with them today along with some homemade tomato soup, and what a treat it was!

I’ve got a lot going on right now, so much that I have even given up Facebook for now! *gasp*! Ok, well Facebook has been both boring me and annoying me lately anyway, so maybe it wasn’t all that hard. Being a creature of habit though is what made it hard. When you’ve been going to a website multiple times a day for 5 or 6 years it’s a little hard to break the habit. I will still visit my Facebook page for this blog once in a while, but I’m really trying to stay away from my own personal page.

I mentioned a few weeks ago about wanting to start an online store but being a little afraid to jump in. I have decided that I definitely want to do it, not only want to, need to. The results of a local election means that the days are number before basically we start getting taxed up the, well ass for lack of a better term. Canadians are already very highly taxed, so this isn’t a good thing but we all know it’s coming. We’re already having a very hard time getting by on a single income, and everything keeps going up while hubby’s pay only goes up by a very small amount. So I really need to start bringing in some money as well, it just can’t interfere with being Mom or a Wife, those things are my life and come first no matter what. Which is why I need to start something on my own, going and working outside the home will affect too much on the household in a very negative way. Been there, done that, not going to do it again.

I can’t just jump in to starting my store though because there are some steps I need to take first and of course they require…..MONEY! Yeah, you gotta spend money to make money, right? I want to make sure I start off right. I need licenses, both at the local and federal level in order to start a business. And of course I need stock, I do not want to be one of those stores that advertises stuff for sale that I don’t have right here ready to send out.  I figure before I can start my store I need to save up at least $1,000 to cover everything I need.

So then I’m left with the question of how do I save up that kind of money when we barely have enough coming in to live off of in the first place. On my previous blog I did some of those pay per post type of things, it’s not big money but I made enough off it one year to pay for Christmas, so not complaints there. I really don’t want to get into that kind of posting on here though, I mean I’m ok doing reviews for product kind of a thing as long as I’m allowed to be 100% honest in my review. But I really don’t want to do the pay per post things on here because let’s be honest, most of the stuff you get to do a post on is not something you would even care about or have any interest in. Not once did I get to do a post on clothes, fashion or anything food that interested me. I don’t want this blog clogged up with every few posts being like that.

I’ve done a few other odd things here and there online in the past to earn money, most of them are more time consuming than they’re worth, basically you end up with pennies for hours worth of work. Besides the paid posting the only other thing I’ve ever done online that made money was designing t-shirts and stuff and selling them on Cafepress. I got lazy though and didn’t give it all the attention it deserved. I continue to get small cheques here and there from it even though I haven’t promoted my stuff at all. I’ve just been lucky enough that some of my designs still sell on their own through the Cafepress marketplace. Because of my laziness in promoting my stuff though it hasn’t been big money. I think I’ve made about $350 since doing my first design in the middle of 2008. I make very little per item sold if it sells from their marketplace, but I could make as much as double that or more per item if I promote it myself and sell via my own “store”.

I have one design especially that has done pretty well. So I started thinking that maybe I can make the money I need to start my own online store with plus size clothing if I just stopped being so lazy and started promoting my Cafepress designs and maybe even designing more stuff. It would also kind of help ease me into more of a “business mode” that I will need when I start my plus size store.

If anyone is interested in trading small adverts I’m open to it. I can make up a small advert for my Cafepress stuff, I’m going to try to link it all together through one site(each design has it’s own “store” unless you pay for an upgrade) and as soon as I do it will make it easier for me to do that. I can put up blog adverts or whatever else in exchange for you putting up one of mine. I’m thinking sidebar advert.

I need to make this work. I still have to focus on helping the kids finish up our school year and then I will have a month or two before I need to start getting ready for the next school year. I also have holidays to plan, we’re going to camp for the first time in 20 years!(yeah, only holiday we can afford LOL) I have to go through the entire house and get stuff ready for a yard sale, we have too much stuff and we could use the extra money to get it out of our way. So much to do, but I know I need to work extra hard on getting enough money to make this work. Designing t-shirts is fun, I do enjoy it. But to get to set up my plus size store will not only help with a much needed second income, it’s something I love and am passionate about. Which is why I know I can’t be scared to jump in and do it, I have to do it.

Jolene