Sunday, January 27, 2008

The New Beginning






I thought 2007 was a good start to something that's been even greater so far in 2008. I discovered ETSY. I loved being at home with my two year old son, but I needed something more to still make me-- me. I thought selling makeup or some other online fake stay-at-home job would work. None were good or even worth my time. I only had a little bit of time with a baby at home and I wanted to do something creative. I have loved making things forever now. So here is the story of how http://www.beckymae.etsy.com/ became a reality. I received a bunch of vintage scarves and old vintage fabrics from my mother in law and thought: now what, I really have not sewn since high school and you can't make jewelry from fabric, so what is one to do with all this fabric. I began trying different designs, thinking "I am not a fashion designer but I will sure try to be one." I wanted to make something different, creative, unique and functional. So I created the square purse. My design was sloppy and my sewing was worse. But I kept at it until Wow!, a purse that looks cool and is functional. I really likee it, but my husband said, "are you really going to sell that?". It was my worst nightmare to think of trying something else and have it not work either. Then I made a few more with different fabrics that turned out better, Ok. My friend asked me to come to her house for a trunk show, a what?... I went and brought my jewelry that I knew would sell and some of those "purse things" that I liked but was not confident in YET. I sold one piece of jewelry and 4 purses and had orders for 4 more to make. That's right, I did say 8 purses. I told my husband that night, he was surprised, very excited and happy. I think I found my creative outlet. I also was at a loss. What would I call my new creation? I thought of several different things but my name really stuck. I was not into my middle name much, but it was different in spelling and looked cool on a label. So it stuck. Now knowing I had a cool thing that would cost money which we did not have a lot of and that I was almost out of fabrics, I became worried that it would not pan out. But my mind was still going fast, I wanted it to be big. I wanted it to be in every store in America, then I realized I only sold 8 to my friends. They probably bought them because they were my friends not because I had come up with the next Kate Spade. So I desired to be big, and I went crazy, buying scarves and fabric from everywhere. I lost control and got way too much to start with and lost sight of the idea. I kept making the purses though and sold a few more that Christmas. Then, in January 2007 I wanted to really make the business happen. I got my tax ID number and all the stuff to be a small business. I even got a better sewing machine. Now in debt to this business, hoping it would work....I began to sell a little bit more. I think I was at purse 40, not too bad for only being in business a couple of months. I ran out of word-of-mouth contacts and needed something else to make it happen. I looked everywhere on the internet to sell-- no luck. Then, I found a shop locally to sell my purses. She took a few and made some suggestions on how to improve my design...that was in March...but still no online shop. I did not really have the money to get a website. So I used ebay and craigslist. Not much production and not much profit. Then one day I searched craft websites and found ETSY. I was not sure what I really discovered, saw that it was cheaper than a website and I could list my own prices and have a kinda real shop online. I started to create Beckymae online. 150+ purses later, I begin the 2008 journey...

6 comments:

Catherine Marche said...

150!!! You have been very busy and your work is lovely.
Congratulatoins and wising you lots of sales and success

Funky Finds said...

these are beautiful!

jessica
http://www.funkyfinds.blogspot.com

Beckymae Designs said...

thanks ladies, its a start.

Anonymous said...

Your purses are great!

Jacqui said...

These bags are really nice. I can see using them for a casual day out or even a night out on the town. Nice work.

Taylor said...

I'm still using the one I bought last year!
They are so fun and dress up any outfit!

Thanks.