This is a term I’ve had to repeat to myself over and over again. One thing I’ve said before is that I love the artistic aspect of this business. It isn’t like making fine art but it is making a rugged type of jewelry that people can wear everyday. As I’m preparing for an event, I get all these ideas of new things, Key Chains, bracelets, , necklaces, different colors and the like. Sometimes the ideas just come flooding out and I try and make them as fast as the ideas come.
There is only one problem. I can go down the road of exploring so many new ideas and tying new and intricate bracelets, that it is easy to lose focus and get distracted. I’m doing it right now.
Recently I started making a new bracelet with a dog tag, that we are developing, attached and it prompted a bunch of other design ideas. The problem with all the new ideas is if the process of making them is systematically different they slow me down and don’t allow me to make the amount of stock that I believe I will need for a show or event. Mind you that it is important to have something to sell. Something for people to be able to pickup and manipulate in their hands and decide if they will be able to purchase. I can’t go to the show, any show, with pictures and a bunch of order forms so I can’t take peoples orders and send it to them later. I don’t believe people expect that. It’s one thing if they are asking for something custom or something that has a unique process. It is a total different thing or expectation when people see you in person. They want to see that you actually created the item. I’ve wrote before how many times it has surprised people that I make them in the first place. Frankly I think people think I buy them. I’ve had several ask me how did I get my wife to make these for me. Now my wife is one of the most giving people in the world and I love her for that, but she isn’t about to just make hundreds of bracelets for me and send me on my merry way. I like making the items and I like talking to people about them. Actually it’s fun to surprise them.
So I’m going to stay focused, Constant Reader, and get back to work.
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