Time Passes........

Been a while, a few twists and turns, yet here I am, back again, more determined than ever to make a success of my business.

A very brief foray into the world of gainful employment just served to reinforce the notion that I should give this my best effort and try my hardest to make a go of things.

I thought, through cosmic karma, I had stumbled across the most perfect of jobs and on the face of it, it was, but........promised hours per week immediately dwindled to less and the net pay would hardly compensate for working every other weekend, an uncertain schedule with precious little notice of workhours for the following week making planning all but impossible and the general disruption for my family.

Luckily I am fortunate enough not to have to work to pay my bills; the job would have provided a comfortable cushion but with careful and frugal spending I think it is entirely possible to cut back on the household budget and match the money I would have earned.

Work from home - seriously?

People who work from home often bemoan not being taken seriously but how can they be with the attitude that laws governing business don't apply to them.

Let me explain.......

I followed a couple of discussions recently started by someone complaining their landlord had basically told them they couldn't run their admittedly successful business out of their apartment. Since this took place on a website comprising mainly of people working from home they obviously expected nothing but unqualified support and sympathy at their plight.

What they got instead was mostly a dressing down for not abiding by local laws and expecting a free pass which didn't sit very well. Several replies, as far as I could see independant of each other, pointed out you technically need a zoning variance to run a commercial business in what is considered a residential area, leaving themselves and the landlord open to legal action - that you can't just decide to start a business and have at it. Then there's the pesky little matter of business insurance and in their case, since they run a garment business, the potential of increased fire risk by storing a lot of clothes in a small confined area (i.e providing a lot of flammable material that would feed and fuel a fire). The attitude seemed to be one of 'I pay my rent, I can do what I want'...um, wrong!!!!! The landlord has every right to tell the tenant they cannot do something in the 'privacy' of their apartment when it's illegal.

It got even more entertaining and absurd when the tenant basically accused everyone of ganging up on them and personally attacking them. Wrong again...it was nothing more than individuals who had educated themselves as to the ins and outs of starting your own business and each pointing out the tenant was wrong to complain.

No wonder people don't take home based business seriously when the business owner doesn't conduct themselves professionally and adhere to laws applying to all commercial enterprises. It becomes a little easier to skirt the issues here if you own your home but when you're living in someone else's property it's important to know what you're doing. The landlord has their investment to protect as well as their other tenants and are quite entitled to tell someone they have to cease and desist operating their business.

As I say, no wonder people don't take work from home businesses very seriously.

Wondering if it's time to jump off the carousel, the merry-go-round that is acceptable and standard sales ideas and take off like a whirligig in the maelstrom of accidental marketing.

In other words......forget all the standard advice and try something just a little off center.

It's worth a shot, right?

Reconsidering

Time for a fresh start and reconsidering choices. Revisiting decisions after some time spent sitting with thoughts.

I wasn't overly impressed with the behavior of the site owner mentioned in the previous post but is it worth losing a potential source of customers over?

Her vision has such merit......a website dedicated to a niche market which happens to match my style. I think I'll choose to avail myself of the opportunity, although somewhat cautiously. It would be foolhardy to pass up the chance.

Now, time to get busy and revive my crafts, toss out the mothballs and start over...where did I leave that glitter?.......

The Key

It seems as if the key to running a successful online craft business isn't so much about the quality or originality of your product but rather branding yourself as a person. Networking and nuturing a personal relationship with your market seems as important as what you're actually selling, perhaps even more so.

Garnering respect as an individual and amassing a faithful following will set you apart. You are not so much selling your creations as selling yourself. People who obviously spend countless hours positioning themselves so that their marketing efforts are subtle but work for them. You don't need to be blatant with guerrilla marketing or employ spam, but rather tactful suggestion; something I call Accidental Marketing.

picture courtesy of http://bannerofblessings.blogspot.com/