Celebrating 2018

So I built myself a store and filled it with products that I love. I put my own designs on t-shirts, tote bags, and mugs. I decided to make it a store for moms because there is nothing I love being more in this world than being a mom. I love my store.

Sometimes I feel like I’m all over the place, throwing everything I can at a wall to see what sticks. I am hardly ever the one to stick to anything, especially new years resolutions. And now I’m starting to get desperate. And when I get desperate, I get serious. There are a lot of emotional head games at play here and I should probably go talk to a professional about that, but I also think it goes hand-in-hand with what I’m about to do.

Let me start at the beginning. Last August I participated in (and completed!) my second round of a Vlog Every Day challenge. In one of the videos, I outlined my goals for 2018. Basically, I want to be able to spend more time with my family and be more involved in their lives while my kids are still little. In order to do this, I need to figure out some ways to supplement our income. I’m willing to do whatever as long as I am still available for my family first.

One thing I know how to do is build websites. And at the time I had a client and I was pretty happy with the process of building their site. But I can’t imagine having to gain enough clients in order to support our family throughout the year. Not to mention, I don’t feel comfortable charging people extreme amounts of money for something that takes me a minimal amount of time just because they don’t have the time or the knowledge, etc. And I can’t make it worth it for myself if I’m not charging a going rate. OK blah blah blah, so back to the story.

At this point, I was totally confident in my ability to build a self-hosted blog or a website but I had still not faced the challenge of an e-commerce site. I knew I had the skills and the materials but I had never taken the time to learn. So I went through the process and built myself an online store. I was really proud of it and a little bit surprised by what I was capable of. I realized at that point that maybe my answer was not to build websites for other people but to build websites for myself. I could stock the website with my own designs and items and actually sell them. Is that crazy? I started researching e-commerce and learning as much as I could about what people sell online and where they get the goods to sell.

So I built myself a store and filled it with products that I love. I put my own designs on t-shirts, tote bags, and mugs. I decided to make it a store for moms because there is nothing I love being more in this world than being a mom. I love my store. I’ve been steadily adding designs to it and I’m proud of them. But it’s been sitting there online since around Thanksgiving, fully functional, just waiting for customers. Because I’ve been scared to tell anyone more than just close friends and family. I don’t know what’s got me so afraid. I spent hours and hours building the site, creating the designs and getting them to a printer. Well, for one thing as much as I think I am, I am not a marketer. I know how to create social media accounts, how to blog, how to post ads, create Facebook pages and the rest. I can talk about your thing all day. I can share your stuff and your success and promote you but I have had this mental block about sharing my stuff. I’ve kept away from posting on this blog. Kept away from posting on Facebook and Instagram. I even shied away from YouTube for a while. But all this shyness is not going to get me to my goal. And I’m terrified of not getting to my goal, so right now, terror trumps apprehension.

That’s why I’m here to Celebrate 2018. This year I will celebrate what I have built and accomplished. I will sing it from mountaintops. Or on YouTube, we’ll see. SO for the month of JANUARY… you can get 20% off in my store, Mommin’ It (https://momminitshop.com), with the coupon code CELEBRATE2018. I just added all my Valentine’s Day designs so be sure to check those out. And add your email to my newsletter list so you don’t miss any future sales or discounts!

In other 2018 news, I’ve started working on my Happy Planner Memory Keeping. I plan to add to it every day, and I can’t wait to share that with you too. XOXO