Sweet Pea at Home
This is it. My first blog post. Well, the first one on my very own website. Some of you may remember that I attempted to start a blog when the pandemic had hit full swing. I posted a whopping total of once. It really wasn’t the right time in my life to be starting something new. I also didn’t do enough research and jumped right in with blissful ignorance. The learning curve was much higher than I ever expected. I chose a platform that would never be able to adequately grow with my business. My topic ideas were too broad, and I lacked focus. It was also a difficult time to be taking on an extra responsibility. I wanted to do it, I had so many ideas and I love writing, but we were thrown into so much chaos. Wanting to grow my business and loving to write did not equate the time to invest into a blog.
And before I completely bash 2020, I do want to give a slight disclaimer. It ended up being the most wonderful, horrible year we’ve ever experienced. There is so much that I love about how our life looks post-Covid. I love the extra time we’ve spent together and how we’ve been forced to slow down. Gone are the days that my husband scooted out the door in the morning and came back twelve hours later (in the midst of bedtime). We actually eat meals together as a family every single day. We’ve had loads of weekends with nothing to do, which is crazy for the people who are often double, or even triple booked.
However, it has also been the most stressful years of our lives. I felt like I had so much extra time, but somehow absolutely no time to get anything done. Maybe that’s how every parent has felt, I’m sure I’m probably not alone. We had nowhere to go, but with both Peas home morning, noon, and night it was exhausting. That didn’t leave much time to grow my little business. Don’t get me wrong, I had my most successful year to date with record sales in 2020, but I did not have the bandwidth to take on anything new at that time.
Fast forward to this school year. Both of my Peas go to school full-time. Hubby and I have had time to do all sorts of fun projects, from homemade leather dye to a DIY leather sewing machine! More importantly, I have more time to devote to my business.
So, I decided to do this again with a new year and new determination. This time I have a better plan and more focus. I know exactly where I want this to go, we’ve fallen into a MUCH better routine around here, and I know taking my business full-time is on the horizon.
Before I wrote this, I reflected on not only these past years, but the past eight years I’ve been a work at home mom and the nearly ten years I’ve been running a business. That’s how I came up with the title of this post and really what this blog means to me. This isn’t just going to be a place for me to brag about my products and cram sales pitches down your throat. You don’t want that, I don’t want that, no one wants that. The “at Home” part plays a big role in this blog. I work from home, I run a business from my home, I manage my home, and I care for my children in, you guessed it, my home.
The “at Home” part plays a big role in this blog. I work from home, I run my own business from my home, I manage a lot of aspects of my home, and I care for my children in, you guessed it, my home.
This blog will be a way to invite you into my home and give you an in-depth peek behind the scenes of my shop. I plan to provide content all the way from crafter to consumer. I’m going to show you my process and highlight the love that goes into each and every piece. I want you to feel confident in the quality of my work when you shop with me. I also want to help fellow crafters grow, even if you’re just wanting to learn basic introductory leatherworking skills for fun. I plan to show you how to care for and use the items that I sell. I’m going to give you content that will help you, whether that be finding a gift for your weird uncle, cute ways to accessorize with my products, how to stamp leather, or even how to keep your leather looking brand new.
I’ll obviously showcase my items while I accomplish all of this, I think they’re beautiful and I love showing them off! Let’s be honest, my leatherworking shop is how I got here and it’s how I pay my bills. BUT, I want this blog to help you. That right there is my goal. It may not be life-changing, but maybe it’ll make your life a little easier. Maybe it will help you solve a minor problem that you didn’t even know you had. At the very least I hope to be entertaining and genuine enough to keep you coming back for more.
I want to thank you for reading this, for taking the time out of your busy day to be with me and supporting me. I really wouldn’t be where I am without all my wonderful customers I’ve had over the years. I hope we can embark on this new journey together and that you’ll want to keep reading.
Thank you for joining me today, and as always, life’s better with leather!
jess
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