Dear Kay,
To recap, here are things we’ve never done before together but have done in the past six months:
Formed an LLC.
Hired an accountant.
Engaged a lawyer.
Rented office space.
Learned Quickbooks. Sort of.
Uttered the word “fulfillment.”
Driven to Pennsylvania to see a yarn warehouse.
Obtained a business license.
For those just joining us, Kay and I are deep into the development of a new website that will launch in late summer. It will still be called Modern Daily Knitting, but it will be quite a bit fancier than our little kerosene-powered blog. It is the most interesting project I’ve worked on, ever. It is complicated and has many moving parts. It requires massive amounts of collaboration with smart people. My cell phone clocked 32 hours of phone calls last month, and I enjoyed every minute of every conversation.
It has been suggested that we are “turning our passion into a business,” but I don’t think that’s really it. Turning a passion into a business is a surefire way to crush a passion, in my experience. We’re growing. Maybe that’s the way to think about what we’re doing. We’re hoping to create a place that we knitters will all enjoy. Period.
I’ve never had the impulse to start a business, until now. I do, however, have an endless desire to create things: writing, editing, making stuff. Connecting with people who share this impulse is one of the central joys of my life. When I find myself in conversation with a fellow knitter about a new yarn, that is my definition of a good time. When a book editor shows me the books that delight her, I am a pig in mud. When a designer sends along a swatch for a blanket and says, “I think this will be cool,” my heart swells.
Once we started talking in earnest about what MDK.com might be, the fun of it all came tumbling out. None of this feels like business to me; it’s a lot to learn, and there are moments of deep tedium, but it is exhilarating to be building something. I can’t wait to show everyone what we’re cooking up.
The core of what we’re doing is this: for many knitters, the small act of creating a sock, a hat, or a scarf is an act of love. Of community. Of creativity, of soul saving, sometimes a rebellion against the constraints of everyday life. Knitting is an escape, a haven, a hidey hole that restores us and gives us a bit of control when many things in life are beyond our reach. We’re working from a deep understanding of all this.
And we stand by Modern Daily Knitting Rule Number 1: Knitting is supposed to be fun.
Now that we are embarked on this project, I see the world differently. Every shop I enter is no longer a place simply to buy stuff or grab a bite; it’s somebody’s livelihood, dream, idea. I’m so curious about everyone who has wandered up to the starting line and decided: yes! I’m doing this. I’m off.
Readers, have you ever started something? What was it like?
Love,
Ann
Wow! Can’t wait to see what you two are cooking up!
What she said!
Big WOW. I’m excited for all of us. What a ride this will be!
I have never started a business, but I wish you all the luck in the world. I am looking forward to supporting you as you move forward.
I admit I am secretly fascinated by Business, business management, and the mechanics and inner workings of different-size companies. Hats off to your and Kay’s entrepreneurial spirit! One day you might even have an employee…
I started a Sockalong on my blog last year to teach beginners to knit socks. I thought long and hard about what I had wanted when I first learnt and tried to include all of that in my tutorials. There are so many people who desperately want to knit socks but believe it is beyond them, which seems crazy when they produce far more complicated projects without a murmur. There was trepidation, certainly, excitement and then delight beyond my wildest expectations when people started to show me their completed socks. Their happiness was my happiness, and made the learning curve of writing the tutorials (which are free), the accompanying book (which isn’t) and managing the Facebook group (boy, do you learn fast when comments ping in so quickly!) absolutely worth all the effort. I wish you every success with MDK.com. If it’s as enthusiastic and joyfully infectious as your blog, there’s going to be no stopping it xx
????I said you wanna be startin’ somethin’…????
Thanks for the earworm!! 😀
I opened a yarn shop, and you all were part of my inspiration!! I wanted to create a place where women (let’s face it, most knitters are women) could feel like part of a community and be creative together. It needed to be a PLACE, not online, so I opened my LYS in 2009. It was an unbeatable experience, and I met some wonderful women.
I had misunderestimated the amount of time being a mother to four middle and high schoolers would take, though, and as my kids got older I just couldn’t keep up with it all. I sold the shop to one of my employees and it is thriving. I am so glad I got to start Sugarfoot Yarns in Peachtree City, Georgia, and so grateful to the wonderful women who run it now, especially the owner, Emily.
And then I went and bought a horse farm. That’s another, ongoing, story….
That’s a great shop! I was there a year and a half ago. You did a great job!
Oh my gosh, thank you! Emily and her crew have really made it great. I’m so glad you liked it. 🙂
CANNOT WAIT!!!! So thrilled for both of you and wish you continued success. Eager to hear more about it! xo Tammy
As usual, Ann, you put things so beautifully. Everything you wrote about knitting, I feel about growing vegetables and cooking them. Every time someone sends me a photo of a fried cauliflower or a lemon ricotta cookie they have made for the first time, or a photo of their version of a “Porch Pot” that they have created, I sit at my computer with the biggest s&*%-eating grin you have ever seen. You summed up in 16 words would have taken me a whole blog post to compose: “Connecting with people who share this impulse is one of the central joys of my life.”
I learned about making a blog a happy place, by reading what you and Kay wrote on your blog starting back in 2003. I learned I could write, by having you live around the corner from me, encouraging my desire to write and ultimately find a way to express myself. I learned creating/crafting/cooking could be a shared joy (hysterical at times) from our little “Sit ‘n Knit” group that later morphed into cooking together at TNFP.
I love you and I’m eternally grateful to you for inspiring me to cross the starting line.
Hi judy! Love your blog too!!
Thank you, Rose, I so appreciate hearing that!!
I can NOT wait to see what you two have cooked/dreamt up! One thing I know, is that it won’t look like anything else. Love, love, love your approach to knitting and have stolen the motto for myself and have spread it to my knitting friends. Knitting is supposed to be fun. And it is. And it’s made me new friends. And I love you, guys! (Insert beer,commercial music)
I started my own software development consulting concern about 20 years ago. I loved it! It lasted only a year or so, but I’ll never regret doing it. And I learned a lot about myself in the process. Good luck with your new growth – I can’t wait to see it!
I have started lots of things but never a business. Thanks for including us in your process. So much to learn and admire.
We are starting something right now. It’s scary and exciting and daring all at the same time. We don’t totally know where we are headed but to a certain extent that’s always the case.
So much excitement. I started my own business 3 years ago and finally got my LLC last month. Can’t wait to follow you even more. As a fledgling I sometimes had more knitting than work.
On Wednesday the vape store my wife and I own will have been open one month. It’s been scary, fun, interesting and a lot of work all at the same time! I run it and Sal works an outside job to keep the wolves away from the door. It’s another road we walk on the interesting and amazing journey we share since I moved from Australia almost two years ago. We are building a base of return customers and we have new ones every day, too. People leave happy and smiling. We worked hard to start it and at times over the months before the doors opened, it felt like it was never going to happen! But, it did and I am happy to go there every day. Days when nobody walks through the door can be scary, but then there’s others when we have a slow, steady stream. There’s been a lot of positive feedback from customers about the products we sell and the way the store looks, which is wonderful. A lot of hard work went into finding high end products for reasonable prices and finding the right location. It’s only a small store, but it’s classy. There is a lot of satisfaction in working in the store and I hope it continues to grow.
So exciting! I can’t wait to see what you have planned!
Can’t wait to see what is coming. I grew up in a family owne business family, and my husband also started a business. It always takes more time and effort than you think, but if you love it, it is worth it. May take a while for the financial rewards to seem so, but the psychic ones can be great.
Woo hoo to you guys. Can’t wait to see what’s next. Whatever it is I know it will inspire and give joy to all of us.
Oh dear, ladies. Because you asked, I will tell. I started a quilting business with a friend. It was the most soul-sucking experience of my life. It took ALL. THE. JOY. out of quilting for me; it took years to get it back. BUT, I was young, and I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I am not the entrepreneurial type, I am not brave, I am not a leader. You both are ALL of those, and more. I wish you nothing but the very best. Can’t wait to see what you’re cooking up
I’m sorry, your fantastic new enterprise lost my attention when I read “yarn warehouse in Pennsylvania”. Are you telling me that there is an ENTIRE yarn warehouse in my home state?
(If you ever find yourself in need of a qualified retail manager, let me know… 🙂
When I opened Conversational Threads I had no retail experience whatsoever other than 3 months selling shirts to men in a department store 30 years ago. The night before the first day the shop opened was sleepless, but since then it has been the best 7 years of my life. I have worked harder than I ever knew I could, and yet I still am happy to go in to the shop every day. I have met more wonderful people than I ever thought was possible, and founded a community where everyone is passionate about the same things as I am. Despite the occasional day on which I feel like I am running a lunatic asylum, it is the best job in the world!
You will be learning new things constantly, you will make a few missteps along the way, but you both have such a huge following of people already who love you that you have a vast head start – embrace that!
I wish you the best of luck with this new venture, and know that I am happy to help in any way I can, you just need to ask. I am certain that whatever it is exactly that you two have cooked up will be unique and delightful. Please don’t forget what I told you about the Ravelry forums – they are more than happy to share their experiences. You can filter a lot of good information from them.
And, after all this time of owning a shop and despite my fear that it would no longer be true once it became my job – knitting is still so much fun!
Your business sounds like so much fun! Back in 1981 I jumped into the pond and started a small cafe. It was fun. I got to meet interesting new people every day and many became life long friends. And if I thought of trying something, there was no one to say no. I just did it. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. I was there seventeen years before the landlord tore the building down. I never regretted the experience.
I am currently knitting a blanket, a mitred squares blanket, in waiting rooms, on busses, in waiting rooms, on the underground, on my sofa, in more waiting rooms as I undergo my first round of IVF. It gives me control, it gives me hope and calm, eventually it will give me a blanket to wrap my future baby in, but more than that it gives me an anchor and a link to a community of people who enjoy knitting and may also be knitting for the same reasons as me. Thank you for your blog, and good luck for its expansion!
Best wishes! Xanax knitting is totally necessary during ivf. If insurance companies knew how calming it is and how much it increases the likelihood of success they’d send yarn kits.
LOVE this post and the sentiment behind it.
I’m so excited for you guys!! I love reading the blog and can’t wait to see what MDK.com becomes.
I actually just quit my full time job at the beginning of March to try and launch my design career. It’s terrifying, exciting and wonderful all at once!! ^_^
I am eager to see what the business will be and wishing you the best in the launch. As someone who has started businesses, some successful and not so successful, my suggestions are:
1) Don’t expect everything to be absolutely right out of the gate;
2) Expect that you will need to fine tune and adjust your business model to match the reality of what you are doing to what you “thought” would happen;
3) Know when to stop for the day… you need time for yourself, your family, and anything else that feeds your spirit and creativity – a business can be a baby with colic that you just can’t take a break from;
4) Hire people for their skills, not because of the convenience of the person sharing your same interest in something. Know what roles/tasks you will do vs. someone else will do. It’s always too easy to just do it yourself vs. explain it to someone else and expect them to “get it;”
5) Expect that you will have doubts at times and ask yourself “Am I doing the right thing?” and “What have I gotten myself into?” or “Now that is a fine mess you got us into, Ollie” – Overcoming these points will give you the greatest sense of success (though it won’t feel like it at the time).
Best of luck…I can’t wait to hear more.
I have a “business” teaching and coaching writing, and as part of this I offer, with a partner, workshops in France. I put the word business in quotes because I love it all so much it doesn’t feel like work. I will say, though, that my workshop partner and I met for wine/dinner for two years before we ever set foot on French soil! It took us a while to get it going, but it was a lot of fun getting there.
I’m so excited to see what you two are cooking up!
So, so excited for the two of you! From my experience of launching something new and/or heading in new directions, you guys have the hard part done in that you have each other. The love and trust, the chemistry, the dedication, and the passion … a partnership that works. No small thing, and I can’t wait to see where you go from here. XOClare
Big congrats! You ALL get this and all knitters are awesome (and other fiber artists, too)! Thanks for saving souls.
Looking forward to seeing what you’re coming up with. I expect it will be great & greatly welcomed. The hubster & I have our own business, but it’s not in a creative industry & it’s our full time gig. It is a lot of work, but it’s rewarding & it’s nice to be able to call our own shots.
Your adventure, starting a site that welcomes all different types of knitters and crafters sounds phenomenal. I can help with design services, in another life I was a graphic designer. Also you have a wonderful audience right here to ask questions, get ideas, nifty promotions, and best of all customers.
I so look forward to your new adventure.
Patty
I don’t have a business but a hobby that has allowed me to make a few bucks. When I moved from Connecticut to the Cincinnati, Ohio area 4 1/2 years ago, I moved into a house 2x the size of the one we left. Wait, no, maybe 2 1/2. For $10,000 more than what we sold our Ct house . A budget for furnishing the extra space did not come with the move. Then I discovered the thrift stores of Cincinnati. So filled with older, well made furniture that grandma’s relatives didn’t want, I thought I had gone to furniture heaven. Cheap, beautiful furniture heaven. I happened upon furniture painting lessons with the local Annie Sloan Chalk Paint stockist and a new passion was born. After I filled my house with refabbed furniture, I still needed to paint. I first sold my furniture through a local consignment shop and after I decided I was ‘good enough’, rented a space at the Ohio Valley Antique Mall in Fairfield, Ohio. It has been equaling thrilling and anxiety provoking-the thrill of the hunt when looking for new ‘old’ pieces and the anxiety of having to continually produce while trying to keep my house from turning into a furniture warehouse-I love it.
I can’t wait for you new website-I have often wondered if something more than your renewed posting on the blog was happening in the background. The patterns in your first book to me, as a new knitter, fueled my passion for knitting. Any new knitter I have showed that book has been thrilled by what they found on those pages. I know your website will be the same
I am all for wallowing in whatever you love, for both work and play. It works for me 🙂
Very envious. My mother and I always talked about opening a yarn store, but we ended up living 500 miles apart. And, frankly, I am too impatient to teach, I think. And she would not have been very good at retail – I think I would have been a little better. In time, 4 kids and a solid professional career stood in the way of any yarn stores, plus seeing a couple of stores that one person just couldn’t sustain for very long. And finally it was the 80s and 90s and for most of that time no one knit. I would love to be creative enough to figure out a way to profit at my knitting passion. But – I sense a sucking sound…There is going to be yet another way to eke dollars out of my wallet for more yarn and related stuff pretty soon. And I won’t have to drive 100 miles, as I do now to hit a yarn store! Congratulations on the new endeavor!
In the past ten years I have started two different businesses, one with my husband that he is still running, and one all by my lonesome. They are both endeavors of the heart (Rabelais- Fine books of food and drink, is my husband’s baby, A Gathering of Stitches is mine) and they are both extremely ‘colicky’, as an earlier commenter put it. I cannot imagine doing anything else, I am a serial entrepreneur, but the day to day running of things can be oppressive at times. Having a partner is crucial, and you two are such a good fit, that is a GREAT starting point. But I would advise (as someone else said above) to be flexible about adjusting goals according to current outcomes. Don’t beat yourselves up if things progress differently, and remember it’s all about the ride, not the destination. PS, I’m coming to Nashville 5/11-13, would love to buy you a cup of coffee, or a glass of wine, if you have any time….?
Oh, please do keep lots of notes and write a(nother) book about the whole process when it is well launched! I love following your blog, and know the backstory of the new company will make a wonderful read.
I’m happy and excited for you both in your new venture. AND I hope you will still keep this blog as blog of your knitting and life and travels and adventures and misadventures.
I say this because so many of the blogs on my blog roll are still wonderful but are all about selling their patterns or yarns, etc. There are so few that are simply knitting, spinning, and life. I know folks need to make a living and that blogs are a powerful and creative way to do that, but I love blogging for blogging, ya know?
Anyway, here’s hoping you will and WAHOOOO for the new fun!
Sing it, sister!
Is this the knitting college you talked about last week? Woohoo!!!
This makes me so happy! Your blog was one of my first introductions, back in 2005(?), to the online knitting community. I was so thrilled when y’all came back to the blog, and even more thrilled that you have bigger plans. I cannot wait to see what is in store with your new adventure (or your continuation of this adventure)!
Love this. Love this. Coming back to knitting decades ago, I almost brushed past your first book. Being in the South “Modern Daily” wasn’t what I was looking for. I could not have been more wrong. I love the books, love the blog, and whatever y’all do is golden in my eyes.
Whatever you are planning will undoubtedly be wonderful. Your friendship has shown through for years! I have been in a cottage business out of my home in the past and it became difficult to separate work from home life, because the work was always there staring me in the face. I loved the craft I did, but it did burn me out eventually. I can now still do a few personal gifts of the craft, but no more selling. I’ve changed to knitting(not the same craft as the business, thankfully!) as a hobby, which has been an on again off again love since childhood. I’m retired and knit all the time. I would love to spend more time producing things, but fingers just don’t move fast enough. I don’t teach and right now don’t have a knitting group to meet with, so I’m a bit lost. The local shop is fortunately very welcoming to me to just sit and knit. I know that helps them, because I do purchase from them frequently.
I do recommend you try to do business with each other and have separate time for your friendship. Business with a friend or family member can be difficult, to try to be careful.
Keep smiling, laughing and loving and you will be successful. Good luck with your plans!!!
This is all so exciting! I’m thrilled for you and will be watching closely. As a soon-to-be empty nester, I’m ready for my next adventure. Yay to both of you!
Knitting is a CONSTANT “rebellion against the constraints of everyday life” for me. Thank you for expressing with words, my true feelings about why I knit, in that one paragraph. Best wishes for an enterprise that will edify all of us!
Yes! In fact, I’m doing it now with my very own blog: Bear & Bug Eats. It’s one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever done, but I think it will be worth it.
Wow! Scary and exciting stuff. I can’t wait for the big reveal.
I did start a Business (note the capital “b”) almost 28 years ago. It was the best thing I ever did. Along the way I have helped so many other people. I have been able to employ family and friends. I have been able to be my own boss. I have worked harder than I ever thought, but I have also had time to be there when my family needed me. Last year in the midst of family crisis I was able to fly cross country 5 times to support and comfort people I love. No matter how understanding a boss is, I don’t know how many would have had that level of patience. My business has enabled me to get to a level of confidence in life I don’t think I ever would have achieved without it.
Good luck MDK!
This calls for champagne! Or its yarn equivalent, whatever it may be. Long live MDK!
Cashmere, I would guess. 🙂 Raising my needles for a toast … here, here!
Congratulations! Your passion shines through!
Wishing you the best!
Congratulations from me too! This post has me on the edge of my chair (knitting needles in hand), wondering what you’ll be telling us about next.. This is SO exciting, not just for you both, but for all of us I loved reading the comments about the knitters who are pursuing their own passions.
I can’t wait to see what you two are up to with your new business.
I’m working on a Modern Daily inspired knit at the moment. A log cabin squares blanket for a June wedding gift for a young cousin of mine. And I’m loving every minute of garter stitch as its all coming together.
Thanks for your inspiration!
We can hardly wait! I love the community you’ve gathered already, appreciate so much beauty and inspiration you’ve sent our way. John says it sounds like a brew pub: comfortable, solid, with great conversation.
I say YES to business with friends! Such fun. You know about the restaurant, but I also tried to start a business with another friend, a dinner delivery service about 6 years ago. It took too much time for too little income, but I miss the hours of gabbing & cooking with my friend Hannah.
Also, so many great comments here, thanks all you knitters.
So true JM 🙂
We’re three weeks from taking the leap from hobby farmers with alpacas in the pasture to people who sell yarn at the farmer’s market. Our first ever load of yarn is due in about a week from the mill, and I’m excited/nervous/terrified. I keep telling myself, worst case is I have a ton of yarn from our own animals and a few hundred bucks in debt. This could be much worse.
I would give everything I have to go back and not open a yarn shop – You won’t see stories like mine on Oprah. I would give it all back except for meeting Franklin…..
Dear Ann,
In 2001, after a year of planning while working in community mental health, a friend and I, both Licensed Professional Counselors, left our salaries, benefits and the safety of employment and opened our own counseling office. We had to learn about insurance provider panels, malpractice insurance filing claims, advertising, accounting, lines of credit, etc. ad nauseum. We found a space, bought furniture and created a place where people could come to heal. Our respective husbands were supportive, telling us just not to bankrupt them. We each started with two clients; one of mine had insurance with a company that went out of business and never paid me. Two months later, the planes hit the buildings in New York, and I remember thinking “either no one or everyone will need us now.” I retired two years ago, after many years of working with wonderful people. It was the scariest and most exhilarating and rewarding thing I’ve ever done, other than having and raising children. It doesn’t sound like a creative process, but it was. It was ours and we loved it. I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Wishing you first joy and then success! Kathie
Great story, Kathie!
Woohoo!! I have no advice or experience to offer. I will just note that business gurus Peters and Waterman in their 1980s book had 8 rules for business success. One rule is “stick to the knitting.”
You will be wildly successful!!
Yes! I started a church – with my ministry partner. We celebrated 5 years last fall and have grown from less that 20 folks to over 200. For us it has been the hardest and best work of our lives. I echo what many have already written. Will be praying for you both as you continue your creative partnership which includes all of us! Love, Pastor Linda (remember me?!)
Well, God bless your cotton socks. Cannot wait for the reveal.
What exciting news! You have many devoted friends and followers who are pulling for you. A great resource, though not a “business” book, is The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson. Very positive and encouraging!
Shortly after our Mother died, my sister & I started setting up at craft fairs. She made earrings & I sold 18″ doll clothes. We got together every weekend before shows & worked on things together. While we didn’t make much money, it gave us time together to work through our Mother’s death. It was worth a lot more than any amount of money we could have made!
The enthusiasm in your voice tells a big story. It truly is growth to jump into a new bizness wholeheartedly. The endless learning, all the smart people we can work with, the feeling of “hey, I’ve got something to put out there and it’s good,” it all adds up to the reason we’re living.
One big leg-up is your fine partnership. Exciting!
This gives me so much joy, you folks at MDK brought so much fun to knitting for me. I’m happy to see more joy sparking in the future!
So excited for you! Your enthusiasm and joy for knitting and connecting with people and for life in general are contagious. I always want to make what you guys have on the needles, and I learn something new every time I check out your blog. You are two smart ladies and I know that you will be successful. Can’t wait to see what you have planned. I have never even thought of do something as big as starting a business, but now that my chicks have about all flown the coop, I’m doing some soul searching. Good for you guys for being brave and taking the leap!
Congratulations! I love that you’re growing. I started my leadership development and coaching business, Ardent Vision with Shannon LaBruyere, almost one year ago. Although I’ve done similar work for almost 20 years, I’ve never been an entrepreneur. I’m transitioning, and it’s exhausting but immensely satisfying. I’m part of a terrific learning and support community, and have an accountability partner, both of which have been crucial to my “stick-to-it-ive-ness.” Onward! I can’t wait to see what’s in store.
Although I can knit and crochet I am not a talented crafts person. However, I am a brilliant organiser and manager 🙂 So, one Sunday afternoon, whilst wondering where life was taking me, I started a small events business to provide high quality markets in which to showcase the wealth of art/crafts/food/drink and other small businesses in Cornwall, UK. That was 14 years ago and since then we (husband became a full-time employee within three months) have given many local artisans and new business owners a start in a very competitive, yet underrated, marketplace. Not all have survived, as is the way of business, but those that have have gone on to achieve many wonderful things. We are now heading towards retirement and have put half of the company into the hands of our clients as a Community Interest Company, so that they can continue to move forwards. The other half of the company, which we still run, organises the BEST Victorian Christmas Market EVER! Running your own business is the most satisfying way of earning a living, particularly when it is your passion. Congratulations and the very best of luck…you are going to have a blast!
I often read the business news even though I would never start my own business; I am too much of an introvert to be in business.
I did start my own lab, in Nashville. I failed to get momentum (i.e. external funding), didn’t get tenure, and moved to an administrative position in government. It is hard to have my failure “looking” at me every day as I deal with former colleagues via my current job. However, I am grateful for having had the chance to try.
This sounds great! I cannot wait!
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If you might be selling yarns, I would like to put in a word for the sheep, goats, llamas, etc. to suggest it would be wonderful if the yarns reflected kindness and consideration of the living creatures supplying crafters with materials. As you are both pet lovers, that may follow at any rate.
It did feel on the blog that there was a run up happening to something.
Best of luck in your all your ventures, ladies.
I started my own used bookstore once–but the start up I think will leave a lasting impact was the school gift shop I helped the primary school start when I served in the US Peace Corps recently. The school gift shop is now busy selling arts and crafts the children make–including pottery–to the tourists who visit the school on a tour bus 2-3 times a week during tourist season and bringing in much needed revenue for the school. The other day I was driving and suddenly I thought: “I want to start a school of needlework”–where I (and others) teach all kinds of needlework from spinning yarn to weaving to needlelace to beadwork to knitting to quiltmaking–wouldn’t that be cool? Now this is just incubating in my mind….because the big lesson I learned from my recent Peace Corps service was that at my age–65!—I am supposed to spend the rest of my life teaching others everything I know and I know alot of different needlework techniques. I was hoping to find a job teaching arts/crafts when I came back to US–but although I taught art full time to 270 students while in the Peace Corps–I do not have an art ed degree or an ed degree (just a BA) so sadly I have had no luck finding a job teaching art….I still want to share my skills though, so trying to think of other ways to do this and still make some money since I still need income to live. sigh.
Those Modern Daily gals….looking forward to hijinks and shenanigans.
I’ve often wanted to start my own business and, in fact, did five or six (in my head). I was smart enough to realize I’m not cut out for that, but I do make an excellent behind-the-scenes cheerleader. So go Ann! Go Kay! We’re with you! All the way!
I did start my own business (non-profit fundraising consulting) with a partner. It was and is very successful. We built on the reputation we had when we were employed.
My first office was my other bedroom, but we eventually moved into an office, hired employees. Bought a building for an office eventually. Though I have retired, the business is still going, almost 20 years later. They have since moved into a bigger office, have more employees and had their most successful year last year. We survived the recession without laying anyone off.
The advice we got was:
hire a lawyer
hire an accountant
hired a bookkeeper (not the same as an accountant)
Spend your time doing what you do best (which was not accounting or Quickbooks).
I’ve never regretted a minute (ok, maybe a few when I worked 18 hour days for several weeks at a time or my air travel got totally screwed up).
And … have fun!
So stinkin’ happy for you two!
I had a small business a long time ago. It was successful fast and I was not prepared. I also know a small business I frequent that is not doing well. I think a well thought out business plan would have helped us both think through every little detail. We would have asked ourselves critical questions like:
Suppliers
Competition
Realistic expenses
Realistic income projections
Advertising
Location
Customers
Social media
Best of luck in your new endeavor, we’re all cheering for you.
What exciting news!