That September, my boyfriend proposed after six years of dating. Besides work and school, I threw myself into planning a wedding. Paying typical living expenses and school tuition left me with little in the way of cash to pay for my upcoming wedding. I had heard from several sources that one good way to save money was to make things yourself instead of buying everything. I made my own bouquets from life-like roses and hydrangeas. I made my bridesmaids' jewelry. I made our programs, favors, and even our unity candle. In the midst of all the planning and crafting, I discovered I had a love of creating things like this. I started to dream about the possibility of starting a business selling my creations online. I was too busy with all my wedding prepartions, though, to try gathering enough information.
I was married in September of 2007. Although I now had a little more time to spend planning and researching, I still never did much about my new dream. I'd like to think it was because of startup costs (who has money to start a business when they're paying off a wedding and still paying for school?), but as I look back, I honestly think I was more afraid of failing at it. So I continued to do things the same as before. Same job, classes, work, homework, work some more.
The following April, I finally decided I needed to get out of retail and work in an industry related to my studies at school. I was about to start my last year of classes that fall and I knew it would be better to have relevant experience when I had that degree. I got a job working as a teller for a small, local credit union and absolutely loved it! I quickly went from being a part-time tell to head teller, and was offered an additional responsibility as the accounting clerk. I loved going to work every day! My coworkers, the credit union members, and even the work itself made me love going to work every day. Even then, my dream of working for myself stayed alive. At that point, it wasn't much more than a tiny thought in the back of my mind.
In August of 2009 I finally finished my last class and got my diploma after seven years of hard work. I can't describe what a relief it was to get that chapter of my life over with. I suddenly had free time again, and I started thinking about what I wanted to do next. Before I got much further than fleeting thoughts, I found out I was expecting our first child! We had mot been trying for a baby, but we weren't doing anything to prevent a pregnancy. We had decided when we were married that we would just let it happen when it was going to happen. We knew God knew when the time was right and it would happen when it was supposed to. We found out we had conceived sometime in the week surrounding the day I turned in my very last paper of my college career. It was perfect.
Now that I had a child on the way, I started to worry about caring for him. How could I leave my baby to be raised by someone I barely know while I go to work every day? Could there be any job more rewarding or enjoyable than being a mother and being their for my child? I didn't think so. We began to budget our income to see if we could make things work on only one income. After months of budgeting, we decided we had to try. I gave my notice at work. I would stay until our baby was born, and then I would quit to be home with him.
It was during this time that my thoughts about opening a store resurfaced. There biggest difference now was that I was dreaming of making and selling things relating to children and not weddings. I made a few things for my son's nursery, including a shelf with ultrasound photos in it and a hand painted animal themed wall hanging with his name. I began to look into what it would mean to open a store online. I was discouraged by the options I could find. Ebay stores. Amazon stores. It sounded like it wouldn't be too difficult once I got started, but I just couldn't bring myself to take the plunge.
At the end of April, my son Bryce was born. My life completely changed for the better that day. I felt so incredibly lucky to be able to be home with him, and so grateful to my husband for working so hard so I could be there for our baby.
Several months later, I started to feel like I needed to be contributing financially. Christmas was coming up and how much fun would it be for my husband to get gifts that had been paid for with his paycheck? I began looking for ways to earn money from home for situations like that, and so we could have some extra spending money to get out of the house now and then.
At my dad's suggestion, I looked into online survey companies. I spent a few months doing surveys for several different companies online and have managed to make a few hundred dollars doing it. I have even had the opportunity to do in home tests for a few different products to help companies find out if their product is something their customers would buy. This is still something I do, and I will occasionally post reviews to this blog of different online survey companies I have had experience with.
I have also looked into transcription services and online test juries. I have made a little money from a transcription site called Key for Cash, but nothing yet from the juries. I will also occasionally discuss these experiences in this blog.
My main focus in my blog, however, will be what I did on February 18, 2011. Finally, after over three years of dreaming, I have opened a shop named "Sara's Handmades" on a site called Etsy, which is a site allowing makers of handmade crafts to sell them online easily. This blog will chronicle my journey with my new shop, with mentions of other things I am doing to earn money, in the hopes that it will inform and inspire others to work toward their dreams and to earn some extra money as well.
Sara
http://sarashandmades.etsy.com/
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