and other unlikely stories…

Hey readers,

So it’s with a great deal of sadness that I realise my side hustle has died. Or is dying.

I had set up a lovely little shop on Etsy and sold a couple of items last year. It was not enough to cover costs. This business had been my dream. I thought I’d given it my all but in reality, I held myself back with fears and what ifs. I didn’t spend what I could on capital items, on proper lighting or photography, on advertising. I was held back by my fear of spending money.

In truth, it was a half-hearted attempt at business. It didn’t feel that way at the time, but looking at the evidence above, you got to call a duck a duck.

I haven’t closed up the shop completely but I won’t be renewing the listings on the website. It’s hard. I don’t want to give it up. That would really mean having to face the fact that I (don’t say it too loudly) failed.

Some take aways from this little venture – I learnt how to:

• Set up an Etsy shop
• Post stuff to strangers
• Package things attractively and spend hours trying to figure best ways to wrap with flimsy yet pretty tissue paper
• Agonise over what message to write to the customers on the postcard I would pop in the box along with their items
• File my own company accounts and tax returns with the Revenue
• Realise that I can’t take good product photos (at least not with mediocre equipment)

So not all bad news. Just have to deal with the crushing sense of failure.

Cheers x