I am going to make you wait for the juicy stuff at the end of this post (as though you don’t have the full-on capability to just scroll past this anyways). I wanted to start off with discussing a product change. You may have noticed our tote bags were removed from our website recently. I had previously worked with a manufacturer to print my designs and ship out the bags on my behalf. Thankfully, all my bag sales have been at my booths, any online orders have been my own to get the supplies for the vendor events. Every time I had to place my order, my bags were shipped to me incorrectly. The background was missing. I would have to dispute with them to reprint them and the last time this occurred, they tried to talk me out of it and tried to discuss changing my design to how they sent out the printed error. After I fought with them to send me the corrected merch, I removed them from my website. What I have in stock, will be sold in person only for right now. 

Next year, I will be doing the research of pressing these bags myself. I was so thankful that it was me dealing with these headaches and not my customers. Trusting them to do the work and having them dish out poor quality the way they had, if they had represented my business this way I would have been furious. I am so grateful I was able to catch this now before it had escalated. I know the two designs for “Comeback” and “Progress” have been my big sellers and if you had been waiting to buy online and are disappointed it is no longer there, I do apologize for this. It is a goal to bring it back and have it under my control so I can make sure my customers do not endure that horrendous experience like I had. I know all businesses make mistakes (myself included), but this was every order I had made and to feel as though I was being manipulated in the end to not have my order shipped out because of what they had done on their end was uncalled for. I could not put my customers at risk of being mistreated like that too. The learning curves of a business owner: who to outsource to for help and who not to. Stay tuned for a new tote bag release next year once I get that all squared away.

Now, for the exciting news!

Being a sole proprietor is very hard. Learning how to get yourself out there, what platforms, how many, do I do them all? It is very overwhelming and quite honestly it is burning me out. It is why I had decided to begin my blog on here to link up to my main social media webpages. Managing every aspect of the business, every fine detail including making the products and balancing a life outside of that (Balance? What’s that?) is just impossible. With this being the first year to do a lot of trial and error with things such as: booking different vendor events trying to find the right clientele, putting my stuff out on social media and how to be found in a sea of algorithms (that I quite honestly do not have the time for to try to understand) can really be disheartening and feeling as though I am not doing enough. However, I have been doing TOO much. Too much of the wrong stuff. That is when I decided to work with a PR company and get my business published! I also attended a business resource fair at an event in my area. As I pulled into the driveway of the event that night, I got the email from my PR that my publications went live! The rush of emotions that ran through me, made me shake with excitement in my car. I had to quickly pull myself together, so I did not come off as a crazy woman when I walked into the event meeting all of these strangers.

It was such a great evening of getting an understanding from other business owners and what they went through to make their dreams a reality. The ups and downs, the failed businesses they first had and so on. It was also inspirational and helpful to hear how it truly takes a community. Something I am trying to learn. Not just trying to build with my business for women in that aspect, but to build for myself to get help on the inside of running the business too. I am looking forward to seeing this part of the business grow with time. The connections I can make along the way in both of those areas. To learn how to mold this business even more to get my mission clearer to my audience and how my products can help them. As well as learning how we can lean on one another on our health and wellness journeys together!

To check out one of my publications, please click the link below. I promise it is a good read.

Hand-Sewn with Purpose: Fitness Flair Celebrates 6 Months Building Inclusive Fitness Community for All Women