Shyness, Introverted Personality and Goal of Selling

Thank you to everyone who commented on my last post.  It's kind of amazing how many people can share similar feelings.

After writing this post, I kept thinking about it, especially after reading each comment.  Along with being an introverted person, I am very shy.  I have been trying to work on my shyness as well as trying to be more out there when it comes to larger group settings.  There are times, even in my professional career where I have to be able to deal with group situations, not just one on one situations.

One of my goals is to maybe start an etsy.com page and also sell at craft fairs.  Being an introvert makes this goal really difficult.  I attempted to help a family member a couple of years ago at a craft fair and I didn't do so well.  My shyness, my unease at trying to interact with large numbers of people, and my fear of failure (Would I say something wrong?  Would people not want to interact and talk to me?) made this more difficult.  Since I really want to try to sell things I make, maybe I can overcome some of this shyness and start being a little more extroverted and stop worrying about what others might think of me.

I love to create and my next goal within my creative goal is to organize a place and a time to create and make nice things.  I am hoping that if I can find time and a place to create where I don't have to set up and take down every time, then maybe I can actually get thing made and made well.  Maybe I can practice and work on my learning curve issue.  Part of the problem is that my brother in law is staying with us and is staying in our basement where I would normally set up my craft station.  Now that I have the kids in bed earlier and I have more time to myself at night, I would love to spend that time creating at least once in a while.

I am hoping to get more proficient and feel more comfortable so that I can believe that I can meet my goal of selling what I make!

Amy

Creativity and Fear!

I have been thinking more and more about creating things and selling them.  I really love being creative and feel so relaxed and just plain and simply enjoy myself.  I keep putting off the selling piece, mainly because of my fear.  I am always afraid of failing, of people looking at what I make and thinking that there is no way that they would even consider buying anything that i could make because  it is not good enough to sell.  I am afraid people will laugh at me for even considering something like this.  I am trying to get a plan in place to start so that I don't waste my time and money.  Thankfully, I have a ton of supplies so I don't have to dish out a ton of money to start up creating.

I have been trying to come up with a name that will be creative and also say something about me or what I create.  Part of the problem is that there is just so many areas of creativity that I love, I can't decide where to focus what I would make.  Part of me just wants to focus on accessories and small thoughtful gifts, but I don't want to box myself into a specific medium.  That may be a mistake, but maybe not, as long as I make sure that what I create follows some sort of theme, such as accessories and small gifts.

I have been thinking about a name for my "company" for a long time now, and I just can't think of something really creative.  I have tried to think of things in my life that I love.  I have loved rainbows, mythology, and fairies , and dragonflies, and butterflies, and nature.  I love kind of more bohemian style.  I am finding that I love rich, deep, earthy, colors.  I guess I'm just throwing out ideas for me to have them written down so that I can come back and seeing if anything strikes me.

I would love to start with selling my creations, maybe move on to classes and parties, and then when I have time and maybe money get certified as an art therapist.  As is my brain, this post is very haphazard and kind of all over the place.  At this point, I need to write down my thoughts, maybe have others comment on them, and then maybe I can come back and read my thoughts and come up with ideas.

Amy

Selling What I Make?

I have long thought about selling things I make.  I think I would really enjoy making money, even just a little, from something I created.  Then my fears step in, my anxieties, my doubt.  Am I good enough?  Are the things that I make good enough quality to sell people?  Is anyone interested?  Are there too many people doing the same thing that I am doing.  Will I be a total failure, a total flop?

Yes, I have major self doubts, some that are real and some that are probably more in my mind than anything else.  Yes, I need to make sure that what ever I make, there is a calling for.  I often go to craft fairs for multiple reasons, one of them being to scope out what others are selling.  There are so many jewelers out there.  There are so many people doing all the things that I like to do.  I haven't found my niche yet, and I don't know if I am able to think outside the box enough to create my own little niche.

I have a couple of friends that sell on etsy.com and I am really interested in doing something like this.  I just e-mailed a friend that is jsut starting her own shop.  She got me interested again instead of just thinking about is a side thought.  How nice would it be to actually make money doing something you love?  Granted, I am totally aware that what you love may end up being what you despise when it becomes your job, but I really want to do something I love, not just something I like.  Is this it?  I don't know, but I'm not sure that I should discount that this may be something I would enjoy, maybe just a little side thing to enjoy and make a little money at the same time.

My next goal is to find my little niche.  What will it be?  I can only hope to figure out!  I really need to find something that I will enjoy yet something that is different and something that attracts people to want to buy things.

Amy