Time for some Shout-Outs...

I thought that at this point in the development of my 'little biz' it might be a good time to publicly acknowledge the people who have been supporting me so far in my journey to become a mumtrepreneur...

Firstly, the BubHub girls who have been so encouraging in their support and advice.  Especially during the debacle that was 'Moderator Gate' and things got really tough...
Coglibear, for ordering the first ever rug made for someone other than my son;
MagicGirl, Kaceemaree and Mrs Walrus who quickly followed and have been enjoying their rugs for quite some time now. (and Kaceemaree for wanting another rug in the New Year!).

Nic and Sam from Sugar Plum Tree who have been consistently giving Piccaninny Rugs a spot on their Tagging Tuesday posts.

Build a Little Biz (on FaceBook) for having the answers to the kinds of questions that a newbie like me needs...

Good friend and amateur public relations extraordinaire, Mardi, for being arguably my best customer.  I gave her a rug to celebrate the birth of her son, Phoenix and since then she's ordered no less than 4 rugs!

Darling Hubby, Jason, who insists that I get back into what has been affectionately termed "The Sweat Shop".  He also manages to keep Darling Son, Will occupied while I sit for hours at the sewing machine.

I know I've probably forgotten people, if I have, please don't hesitate to remind me by commenting on this post... my omission of your role in the development of Piccaninny Rugs wouldn't be deliberate, just fuelled by a long night last night with VERY interrupted sleep!

We're on the home stretch to the market with only 13 days to go!  I have 3 custom rugs to make and another 5+ to get done for the market.  At the current rate, I might just get them done if Darling Son allows it!

Wish me luck!

WorkCover?

Apart from the usual aches and pains that I always have (thanks to carrying around a grizzling baby for much of the day), I can now add a workplace injury to the list.

I sewed my finger today! 

OUCH!! 

I refuse, however, to take the entire blame for said event.  I would like to attribute some of the responsibility to my Darling Son who has an ongoing love affair with the foot peddle of my sewing machine (which I may have mentioned in previous posts). 

Mid-seam, Darling Son decided to pay my foot a visit, pressing rather firmly and making the sewing machine take off faster than I would usually be operating it.  In an attempt to extricate my foot (and peddle) from the iron-like grip of my son, I moved my hand and inadvertently put my middle finger on the left hand in the line of fire.  Several needle punctures later and I have a nice jagged cut long the top of said finger.

I would like to take the opportunity to say that sewing one's finger hurts like hell!

I had previously scoffed at hearing of people with sewing machine related injuries, my mind boggling at how a person could allow their phalanges to cross the path of a rapidly moving, sharp metal object.  How the mighty have fallen...

I must soldier on as I have 3 rugs to make for one customer and more stock to finish off for the fast approaching market debut of Piccaninny Rugs!

Just getting better and better!

Please excuse the short, sharp post but I have to share the awesome news I just got...

Piccaninny Rugs is now an officially registered business name in Victoria!  Woo hoo!!  I've been waiting for several weeks for this news, been rejected numerous times in the online application, rejected from my hard copy application, requested a review of the decision and now, finally, SUCCESS!!!

This means that my enthusiasm has gone up a gear and I'm revved up and ready to conquer the world! (well, Woodend for now will do!)

I had a pretty productive weekend of sewing with 3 rugs made (not the 4 that I had hoped in my Face Book post) and 8 Tag Blankies in various colours and with a range of embellishments for tactile bubs.  It was rather interesting trying to sew with Darling Son (not Monster Head today) crawling around the room now affectionately known as The Sweat Shop.  He has a love affair with the peddle for the sewing machine and loves nothing more than to press down on it or give it a good chewing on.  That's all well and good when the machine is turned off, but if I'm pinning or cutting and have forgotten to flick the switch I get a nasty tangle of thread inside the bobbin run as he delights in hearing the whirring noise created by his actions!  To circumvent this, I realised that I can get a good inner thigh workout and sew at the same time (and avoid the tangled thread) if I operate the peddle, not with my foot, but between my knees.  It took some time to perfect, and I can't get the machine going as quickly as by foot, but it works.  I guess being able to squeeze the peddle harder and thus have the machine sew more quickly will come with the added toning that my thighs will be getting!

And in more good news, Spotlight is having a sale on one of the fabrics that is a major part of my rugs, so I get 30% off the RRP of that!  That means I'll be saving of over $100 for a whole roll (which I have put away for me ready to collect tomorrow!)

Now I have to apply for an ABN to go with my Registered Business name and it's all official!  Exciting but scary at the same time...

Got to get back to the sewing machine... I have a rug half made and a baby who is in a surprisingly good mood...  Time to take advantage of that!

(and if anyone from Blogger is reading this, a sensational addition to the blogs would be the ability to add some emoticons!  I just can't convey my excitement without them!)

Full Steam Ahead!

I received some wonderful news last night... I've been accepted into the Sugar & Spice Baby and Children's Market.  The big day will be Sunday December 12th at Woodend in Victoria.  It's the news I've been waiting and hoping for, but it brings up a range of emotions and obstacles to be overcome...

The first thing to deal with is the overwhelming excitement that my business is moving past the initial start-up phase and is starting to feel like it may actually be going somewhere.  A market was always my first goal so I'm thrilled that I'm able to be a part of one.  Opening the email at 9:30 last night when I was really tired and about to head off to bed wasn't exactly conducive to a speedy trip to the Land of Nod but I'm so glad that I did. I know that my product will do well, I have that confidence in myself and what I make.  What is an issue is the short time frame that I have to get enough stock made in time for the market.

I've got Darling Hubby on the lookout for an easy and portable display system that I can take to the market to show off my handy work. How do you manage to show all that you have when the rugs are, at a minimum, 1.5m in size?  I have a 3m space (requested the larger one given the product I was going to try to display) but am still nutting out how to show what I have 'under the counter' in their carry bags.  It will be a nightmare to pull out each rug to show customers and then try to fold them again to get into the bags! I'm thinking that a clothes horse style set-up would enable me to display a range of rugs without too much trouble. Maybe I'll have to have a display book with photos of each rug and one or two on display for size comparison, touching and feeling... things to think about.  Any advice would be much appreciated!

Time, time, time... where can I get some more of the stuff? I have about 4 weeks to make about 20 rugs.  If I wasn't working and didn't have a baby it would be a no-brainer, easy peasy!  Having a demanding 8.5mth old and a paid job that takes me out of the home 2 days a week throws up the challenge of finding the time to get the fabric cut out (most of it done), rugs and carry bags made.  Darling Hubby is super supportive and will take Monster Head (Darling Son) off my hands when he can but that still leaves the other responsibilities that I have to try to juggle...

Rachel from AnEdge Designs has been terrific in making sense of my constantly changing ramblings over my logo and business cards.  Hopefully we get it just right in time for me to get some pamphlets and business cards printed for the market stall.  I also need to use the logo that she designs for the Use and Care Instructions that I have to supply with each rug.

What's holding much of my planning up is waiting on news about my application to register my business name... It's been 13 days since I requested a review of my application (Blog post Monday Nov 1st, "Waiting, Waiting, Waiting") and I've heard nothing.  They have, however, been so kind as to take the application fee from my credit card!  Hopefully that is because my application has been successful and not because you have to pay regardless of the outcome of the application!

So the excitement of last night's news is competing with anxiety about getting all of the rugs made, my (surprising) lack of coherence in conveying my ideas to Rachel for the logo and frustration at not yet having an approved business name!  Add to that the cold that has taken up residence in my head and I'm all over the place at the moment!

Time for a few deep breaths, a clearer head (metaphorically and literally) and a positive outlook!

Super woman or super silly?

Whilst juggling a number of tasks on my 'To Do' list today, I started to contemplate the role I have created for myself in this life and how dramatically it's changed over the past 8 or so months.

I used to define myself by what I did for a living.  For too many years to count, when asked the age old question "So tell me about yourself" the first thing out of my mouth was about my occupation.  It was a point of reference from which I was able to validate my value to society.  It was a label that I was able to pin on myself and say loud and proud 'This is me!" When I birthed my son, did I lose a little bit of myself, or gain more facets to my life and identity? Now, if asked that same question, I would have to hesitate and have a really good think about who I am...

So who, or what, exactly am I?

I'm a mum.  I never thought that I would say that, but I am a mum.  I'm proud of my little guy and the amazing discoveries that he makes every day.  I carried another being inside me, nurtured him and birthed him.  I didn't do anything so amazing that it hadn't been done before, but what I have done is pretty special in my eyes.  I can now join in on conversations at work about our children rather than trying to bury myself in something other than the conversation going on around me.  In fact, I dread to consider that I may be turning into one of those mums who talks about their children constantly.  Why did I feel the need to announce at work last week that my son had cut his first two teeth??  What is it with me adding the newest photo of him to my already over crowded screen saver?  It was not so long ago that I was the only childless (and happily so) person in my office.  Now, I feel for the person who replaced me whilst I was on maternity leave as she is the childless one having to endure my endless nattering about how wonderful my son is.  So in a way, I'm a mum, but I'm also a bit of a hypocrite who has forgotten the promises she made whilst pregnant about the kind of mum she wouldn't be...

I'm a career person.  I worked my way through and up the education system and was proud of my accomplishments.  I met and worked with some amazing people.  I got to work early and left late.  I ate my lunch at my desk. I hate to admit it, but I also resented women who worked part time as it made my life as a full time employee more difficult.  Meetings had to be scheduled (or rescheduled) around the days that they were at work. Ideas could not be discussed when I had them as not everyone was around to contribute.  My working life was dictated, to a greater or lesser extent, by the part timers.  And yet I find myself now in the ranks of the part time employee.  I still enjoy my work but I can't imagine returning to work 5 days per week.  My role in the workplace is clearly not how I now define myself and my use to society.

And as if that wasn't enough, I'm working to establish myself as a small business owner.  This is where the 'super silly' of the title of this post comes in.  When I find myself, on the rare occasion, with a couple of spare minutes during the day, no longer do I reach for a good book and set myself up on the couch with a hot (yes, hot) cup of tea and a mint slice, I rush off to the sewing room to try to quickly finish cutting out the fabric that I started during my son's last nap.  I don't, as a matter of course, have a glass of wine after dinner whilst watching my favourite show in the TV. Instead, I find myself in the study lamenting over the state of my financial records for the business.  Or I slavishly check my blog and business Face Book page to see whether anyone has read my musings and commented (or given encouragement).

So why is it that when my life used to be so fulfilling with only one label to wear, that I now find myself with 3?

Super woman or super silly?  I guess it's all in the eye of the beholder...

At least I'm a textbook case...

"The start-up phase of a new small business is characterised by tremendous uncertainty... decisions may be a little compulsive, erratic and inconsisent... will almost certainly face a cash crisis...huge financial drain.." - Managing a small business in Australia, John English & Babette Moate

Seems like I tick all the boxes!

I finally sat down last night, after going cross eyed cutting out fabric, and worked out how much fabric I had and how many rugs I could make with it.  Seems like I've got quite a bit!  I calculated (and actually wrote down ) that I have enough contrast fabric, and wadding for about 18 rugs.  (and more fabric on the way, courtesty of a couple of Ebay bids that I didn't think would come to anything)
That's the good news.
The bad news is that I still need to buy more denim (that's not the cheapest stuff going around) and the coated backing (again not cheap!) for the all these rugs.

So I headed back across to Spotlight today to buy, what I thought would be, the last of the materials needed to get enough stock made for the market I'm hoping to go to in December.  Not so!  When I bought a full roll of wadding on Friday, I got a really nice discount for taking the whole thing.  When I asked today about a discount for a whole roll of the backing fabric, they only offered me half of the discount I got on Friday!  Not happy!  Add to that that I couldn't find the same denim that I bought on Friday and I wasn't a particularly happy camper. I did, however, find another denim that is close to what I wanted and realistically, I'm not going to mix the two types on the one rug so it really doesn't matter!

The upshot of all this is that I was quite apprehensive about spending another huge wad of $$$ today but didn't have to be as they didn't have everything that I was after!

Cash crisis averted (for another week, anyway!).  Time to go and crunch some numbers and see exactly how much money I need to, eventually, put back into the loan redraw...

Waiting, waiting, waiting...

So I find myself at the mercy of others...

Having called the Department of Justice about the failed business name registration I was given a little hope that there may still be a chance of securing the business name that I want so desperately.  Turns out that the grounds for rejecting my application are that there is another business name that deals in childrens' products.  Having done a little research, the very helpful person  at DoJ, told me that they sell second hand baby clothes and products.  She advised me that I may be able to have my submission reviewed in light of the fact that they sell 2nd hand goods and I clearly have distinguished myself by specifying that I'm all about rugs.  Fingers crossed it works!  I sent an email to have it reviewed on Friday, so hopefull within the next couple of days (but probably not until next week because of Melbourne Cup holiday) I'll know whether Piccaninny Rugs will be an official business name.  Please wish me luck!

I'm also waiting to hear from the organiser of a popular baby and children't market to find out whether I have secured a stall in December.  I've checked their website but can't find any information about when I should expect to be notified.

And let's not forget the little terrorist that regularly holds me hostage to his demands and refuses to let me get anything done around the house.  It's 9:30am and I'm still sitting here in my pyjamas waiting for him to go to sleep so that I can have a shower and make a start on another rug.

So much for being autonomous and doing what I want when I want to!

Patience is a virtue...