Josie Gates 5m 1,212 #smallbusinessowners
The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.
Hitting My First 5,000 Sales
The people who often seem to have figured it out, those who tell you to quit your day job and start your own business, often enjoy the fruits of their labor, but don’t always mention just how much that labor is. From design to development to running the books to weeding and preparing, and then finally to shipping, owning a small business or even a large one, is a lot of work. Don’t get it wrong, it is fun if you are doing what you love. And I do love what I do very much.
Let’s not even get started on the packaging materials, for which you must come up with your own design for branding, or the marketing costs that go into trying to get yourself out there, while also trying to be perfect and ensure everything is 100% and flawless before it leaves your home or place of business. Dealing with customer complaints is another thing to worry about, with many complaints often related, not because of your actions to the product, but because of the actions of others, such as the United States Post Office or UPS handling your packages correctly, and hoping that you put enough bubble wrap and padding around everything to ensure it safely arrives.
Or the fact that this was not my first business. Not all businesses are going to succeed and there is a lot of trial and error. Finding what you really want to do and love to do takes time, takes patience, and learning of new skills, and overcoming fears that may hold you back. Once you do find the path you want to be in, it can only lead to your success. But you must put in the work to achieve that success.
There is a lot to worry about when running a business. We didn’t even start where, in order to run a business and actually do authentic business, you have to register your business with your state as a business, and ensure everything is legal, and of course, Uncle Sam, the taxman will always want his share, so you must put aside for him as well. It seems everyone wants a piece of the pie, so by the time you pay yourself, you are the one who did all the work, and oftentimes, you wonder when you’ll get paid for it.
If you have ever wondered what it was like to own a small business, sometimes a helper here or there, but mainly running it on your own, it is a lot of work. To try and keep the costs down, while competing against companies like Amazon, while having to pay for the costs of materials and shipping. To be a small business owner is to care about people, to design and build things that are unique and are an experience to each individual, such as that of a pendulum board, each coming with its own powerful base, waiting for your energy to be imbued within.
The powerful crystal grid made of wood can be used as a base for absorbing and holding energy for a time, with placements of crystals to absorb and reflect a variety of different types of energies. What you do with your energy and the energy from your ancestors is completely up to you and what you will for yourself. The Earth is a very old and sacred place and through the use of crystal grids and crystals, you can help re-balance your energy and the energy of the world, which is why you should be equipped with specialized tools for holding and releasing energy via wood and crystals. After all, even Harry Potter needed his wand most of the time.
Getting carried away talking about my shop is something I love because it makes me happy to help people to discover their own paths in life via the mysticism of the spiritual. It is not easy work and I go to bed tired every night, but the feeling of knowing I am helping others and providing them with the tools they need to face this world. There is no greater mission in life for all of us than to help others. Upon reaching 5,000 sales, I feel accomplished and yet, many people are still asleep, trying to understand what it all means, but even you eventually discovered the realm of the spiritual and mystical.
To be a small business owner, to be brave enough to work while you are still working your 9-5 or quitting and learning what a life of running your own business is like. It is not an easy task, not to mention that there are no healthcare benefits and there is no 401k and that putting away money into some type of savings for the future is ideal, but hardly obtainable in the first year or so of business. It is scary to run a business and deal with the problems that are related to my business, but it is my business, and I take pride in everything it has become because it is my business.
There is no laziness in success and there is no shortcuts when it comes to making product, making sales, or making a business run properly. Everything is a full-time job that hardly equates to 9-5 but rather, it is really determinant on your own set hours and how much work you want to put into it. Staying up until 3 AM at night, getting orders ready, and prepared to be shipped that same day is not easy work, but it does take a lot of care and concern and passion to do it. And if you are that passionate about your business, then you will only find success following that path.
Many people would say I am lucky. There is not much luck in the hard work it took to get to this point of my small business. I was happy to reach 10 sales and then 100 and then 200 and then 500 and then 1,000, and then 2,000, and as I kept having more customers, I realized I have shipped out nationwide to every state in the United States of America. There is a piece of me, something I made, and provided for others to enjoy, is out there, and being talked about and shared and used for many enchanting journeys and adventures, predicting next phases of life, speaking with spiritual guardians and guides, and even connecting with ancestors and deceased loved ones. The number of sales may be 5,000, and I had not even noticed until someone pointed it out to me.
It was at that moment I realized that I am just happy to be a small business owner supporting another small business owner. You are the reason I decided to do this and ultimately why I keep doing it. I have no greater love for you, my dear reader, and especially you, my mediators, my psychics, my tarot readers, my pendulum users, and my crystal keepers, and everyone else I forgot. You inspire me and keep me coming up with new ideas to encapsulate and use energy in so many different ways. You are on your way to 5,000 sales. Thank you for reading about my journey to 5,000 sales.
Kudos to the small business owners.
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