Time for serious talk

 I am being pulled in 1,000 different directions and I'm letting myself do it. I have signed up, and paid good money, for a number of courses and I haven't finished them. I am now considering another course. So I need some really straight talk to myself here. 

First off, what exactly do I want to do? I have this vague notion that I want to have a side business. Okay, doing exactly what? That's where it all falls apart. I want to make things I enjoy, that seems to boil down to art work, games, and some other things. That's great, but how do I market an eclectic array of stuff? I can't claim to be the expert on anything if I'm busy making everything. Okay, that's fair. So what do I want to do. I had decided last week to focus on pet stuff and I still like that. I'm learning to make collars and soon I'm going to add leashes, maybe even harnesses, so that's a good start. I have designs for cat and dog key holders, I have designs for dog leash holders, I even have some crappy designs for cat and dog earrings (definitely not a fan of these designs). I even have dog and cat bowls that can be customized - engraved. I have some things that can make pet memorials. I have tags that can be engraved. I also have resin tags that I think I have figured out how to customize on the spot if my little printer/cutter ever gets here. So I have some great things that focus on pets and I can do that easily. Jeez, just had an idea that if someone buys a collar, I can include a custom engraved tag for free. Wouldn't that be a great selling point. Of course, I need some collars completed to show them. That's for another post. So let's say I do want to focus solely on pet stuff. That is something that sells as long as I can get it out to the right people. But for sake of argument, we'll go with pet stuff. 

Second, I have purchased so many courses I don't think I even know all the ones I've purchased. And I don't think I've finished any of them. Seriously. I go great guns for a while, learn some new things, then stop and think I'm good. I'M. NOT. GOOD. I have some semi-skills in a number of things but I'm not great at any of them. And I'm thinking of purchasing another one. Is that crazy or what? At least the one I'm thinking of is on Pinterest which no one does, so at least I'm branching out. However, she did say she opens the course 3 times a year, so in another 4 months it will be open again and I could join then. I'm thinking that's what I'm going to do, wait. I need to get some of these other things under control, like exactly what I'm doing. I also need to finish and master the courses I've already paid for before paying for anymore. Yeah, I think that's a good policy to have and one I'm going to stick with. If I want to take more courses, I need to finish the ones I already bought. Okay, that is settled. 

Third, I need to work on my business more. I. NEED. TO!!!! There is no reason why I can't sit at night and work on collars while watching TV. No reason at all. I will need a decent inventory and I sit and watch TV for at least an hour every night. What a good time to work on them. I realize that I can't do a lot of heavy mental work at night. After a day of school, that is just not possible. But making collars, especially once I get the patterns down, should be relatively easy. That's just using my hands and a little bit of my brain. I could probably make a collar a night, or close to it. My first collar took me about 45 minutes and my second one took me about 15 minutes. Of course, these were small collars and simple designs, but they were quick. The one I started last night is much more complex and we shall see how long it takes me. I don't want to make just collars. I want to make beautiful, unique collars that are works of art. I want to make matching leashes eventually too. But I need to master the collars first. So if I work on those at night during the week, on weekends I can work on the other pet things I want to make. I have some leash holder designs that I could make. I also have some key holders that have dog/cat themes to them. 

Fourth, and finally, I have to work on my social media. I made a great (in my mind) reel the other day completely on the spur of the moment. I'm going to do that. I'm going to video almost everything I do and just make reels and stories. Maybe a post once in a while. And I'm just going to post. I would like to say I'm going to post every day, but honestly, that's not going to happen. So how about I shoot for every other day? That should be sustainable. And I'm just going to post whatever. I'm not going to stress over what I should be posting, I'm just going to post. Screw all the information. 

Okay, this is the last one. Between all this stuff, I'm going to work on finishing the classes I have signed up for. I want to design things, and I even started my first 'collection', but I need to learn AI better. Making stuff with the laser is a lot of waiting. Waiting for it to cut. Waiting for paint to dry. Waiting for the glue to set. So I have a lot of down time when I can work on those classes. I'm going to make a list of the classes and plan of attack to get them done. 

Okay, I think I have a plan in my head that I worked out as I was typing this. I'm going to do this. I'm going to work on wood things over the weekends; cutting, painting, assembling; and I'm going to work on collars during the week. That's a solid plan and shouldn't be that hard to execute regularly. I'll just record things I do and make reels/stories/posts out of them. No more stressing about social media. I'm going to work on my courses when I can and get them finished up so I can start doing other things as well. Alright, I think I'm ready to go and execute my plan. 

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