In my last post I mentioned that John had quit his job.. many of you have congratulated us on our working togetherness. John did quit his job, a 14 hour a day management job that gave my husband too much stress but , alas, the dolls can’t pay the mortgage… yet. John is now working at a hardware store up the street . He comes home at 5pm and not 8pm, he’s not tied to his cell, he’s happy. I am so proud of him, I know how hard it is for men and their work and how much it’s tied into their identity. He’s had to check his ego at the door so to speak, taking a significant job change and pay ‘adjustment’. But this is our first step, one of many. We can’t go full on just yet, the kids are too little and there are other things that need to be in place first, but it’s a step.
So, in the evenings we work together- trying to figure out how all this will operate. Although I’ve been making dolls for years now and selling them, now it’s really for ‘reals’. John has set us up with a invoicing/shipping/ ordering system. He takes inventory. Mr. Organized now has the time and energy and love to really and truely be part of Bamboletta- it’s been a very cool past couple of weeks. It’s been so great to have so much of the admin stuff taken care of, I think that’s one thing that takes all of us crafters by surprise is how much time it takes to email, invoice, pack, do books, order stock, etc. Now that some of that is freed up I’m able to spend more time on sewing, what I love most. We have been butting heads..lol.. he can not believe that I have spent the past 5 years sending out dolls with 1. no deposit and 2. before receiving payment (In all those years I’ve only ever had 2 non payments. I love my customers!). Well, that’s changed now- John won on that one!
So, we are almost there- we took a very big financial jump..but haven’t gone ‘all the way’ yet..still a little chicken. Bawk, bawk.
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