Thoughts About The Business World

So...a couple of nights ago, I am working in my hotel and the alarm starts going off. Apparently a tornado has touched down in the city I work in. Very close to the hotel. So we have to take all of our bar guests to the tunnels underneath the hotel to safety. Not an easy task considering you can't even hear the rain from inside our bar. Of course everyone is giving us a hard time and thinks we're overreacting. Well, not really since this is the first time they've actually made us take shelter. But that's okay. We do what we have to do, tornado or no tornado.



I'm actually pretty immune to tornados. They happen all the time in my area and if I freaked out over every single one I would be insane. I understand they happen and I am okay with that. I can't control it and I'm not even going to try. If one is coming straight towards me, I'll take shelter and wait for it to pass. And I have never been inside a tornado in the 27 years I've lived here.



My professor has been talking about how the business world is complete chaos. From my experiences with the jobs I've had so far, I can agree. He said we are seeking structure and all kinds of good stuff like that. I see that all the time at work really. People are always asking the managers to enforce rules to make up more rules. It makes them feel better I guess. I hate being micromanaged. That is why I am learning how to build a successful business.



So...as a self employeed person trying to survive the choas, how do you find structure? Create every day. Promote every day. I am not the type to stick to a specific schedule. I have my list of things to do and do them one at a time. As long as they get done, it's cool. And now that I have my list on my phone, things get done. (I think this phone is magical...LOL)



I truly believe Etsy is chaos, just like any other business. The front page selection is chaos. Completely out of our control. The design of the website....out of our control. The featured seller...out of our control. The aesthetic of the site...out of our control. So let's not try to control that. Let's do the best we can with what we have. There are so many ways we can help each other out and help ourselves out.



I keep seeing threads in the forums about how Etsy needs to do stuff for us. I'm never going to bank on that. It is my job to promote my business and I know that. If they change a search or whatever, that's fine. If I am getting views from my promotional efforts, what's a few hits here and there? They are providing the place to list and potential customers. I'll take it from here. I have learned so much from the Storque and from the forums...I think Etsy has done enough for me.



You know, the more I do this, the more I realize that it will take a lot more than listing on Etsy. It will take art shows and openings and mingling with the art world. It will require getting up at hours I don't necessarily care to be up at sometimes. It will mean working at art shows on weekends when I'd rather be drinking beer on the patio somewhere. It will mean taking a serious amount of rejection. The more I get into it, the more that I see there will be some rejection. I can deal with that.



I have been taking a long hard look at myself lately. As my confidence grows, I see that I am capable of much more than I am doing for myself. That's why I started working out. That's why I study in little pockets of time, work on my business in little pockets of time. I've already decided that I am not giving up. Not after this week where I have been featured in 2 places and have one on the way. I'm getting closer!



Thank you for sticking this post out!

::Liz::

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