I had a thought the other day, as I was sewing heavy pieces of vinyl together in the midst of the chaos that was my apartment after moving--the thought that I have consistently been taking on too many projects, too many things and not being able to say no. And as I was overheated, frustrated and crying in the middle of my living room, I had to ask myself why I keep doing this, and what the reasoning is in my head for not being able to say no.
And I came to a realization that I'm scared to be in the situation I was at the beginning of the year, with no money and few options. Just because I have a job now doesn't mean I'll always have one and that I'll always be able to make ends meet. I think this is largely what spurred the move to an apartment that cost a bit more in terms of rent, but without the crazily fluctuating cost of hydro which made me cry more than once over the course of the winter. And by the same token, it's the fear that's driving me to accept every project, even if it means I'm staying up all night sewing or making things in the midst of chaos.
So I guess the moral of the story is, that I need to balance my need to have enough to get by with my need for sanity, and there just has to be a better way to do this then running myself ragged all of the time. I think it's definitely time for me to put my thinking cap on in this regard and figure out some more realistic solutions and limits that give me time for my business, school, work and for just relaxing!
If any of you have any tips for me on how you balance everything, I'd love to hear them!
♥ Craftzilla
Hello! I know it is easier said than done, but one solution might be to charge more: Less people will order, but you'll make more on each order. Same income, less work! In theory, at least...
ReplyDeleteI'm the worst at this one though.. Despite being broke, I tend to WAAY undercharge based on the hours I put in. I justify that because I do it just for fun, and as a way to cover a few of my sewing costs. If I was more serious about it, I'd have to charge more. I mean, as a tutor I charge $30/hour, but as a crafter I charge less than $5 an hour. How insane is that?
This is a good point...I think regarding the crafting, I just need to make more realistic goals and possibly not accept custom orders when things are crazy. I think adding some of the common stuff into my shop that I'm getting custom order requests for would also help a lot, but we shall see. I may also have to just increase my upfront time for doing any custom order, as I'm having trouble meeting those with things that come up for work and school and life...it's a hard balance for sure!
DeleteMichael, it was ONE BANANA. How much could it cost? Ten dollars?
ReplyDeleteHAHA, oh Arrested Development, you are the bomb :P
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