I didn’t mean to disappear from blog life but I have been very busy.
Yes, homeschooling two teens through high school keeps me on my toes. For a year an a half I also had a job I loved working for ‘Senior Home Care by Angles” which balanced perfectly with our homeschool schedule and allowed me a bit of time out in the world too.
But since I injured my knee (multiple meniscal tears) in May I have struggled to find a way to add some additional income to our household while doing rehab. Unfortunately, the first surgeon I saw was very discouraging. She basically said that I could not return to my job but wasn’t prepared to offer any meaningful help other that get a $2,000 brace and keep doing physio. I admit that this left me pretty down in the dumps and feeling sorry for myself. Not a hard place to find when you hurt all the time, don’t sleep well at night and worry about how to earn some money to help out with expenses.
In the past I had made and sold greeting cards as a fundraiser for our church. It had the benefit of letting me be creative and covered the cost of my supplies so that I could keep on making cards. This sparked an idea to sell my cards as a business venture and Cameron Creations was born. I had a blog where I posted pictures of my cards for church and I started a Facebook page. I started out by contacting a number of retirement homes in the community and suddenly I had bookings. I even have repeat bookings now.
Wow! This is exciting. I thought that perhaps I needed to get serious about getting organized now and do some proper record keeping. I looked at many different books out there about starting your own business but they didn’t really seem to fit with what I wanted to do. Today at the library I picked up “The Handmade Marketplace” by Kari Chapin. At a quick glance ~ I think I have managed to speed read through about half of the book ~ I have found the right reference book for me. I have already noted some of the things I need to do differently. I need to get proper business cards and do a better job of photographing my cards. I need to do a better job of marketing. When someone asks me about what my business is I tend to mumble about the fact that I make handmade cards. I have joined a local group “Guelph Mom Preneurs.” Through this group of amazing ladies I have already gleaned some great ideas and contacts.
If you are interested in following me on my adventure you can check out my blog:
