How Does She Do It?? -Weekly WAHM Series Part II

Many work at home moms, myself included, struggle with the duties of caring for the house and family on a daily basis- I have started a weekly feature where I search the net to find extraordinary mothers who have found and mastered a way to maintain a home business as an indie crafter.



How Does She Do it??" Is a series of interviews with indie moms of children from birth to teenage years who have graciously volunteered to share their skills, lessons & experiences with us. There will be two guest posts every week starting July 13th, 2009 all Summer long.!!!

Here is this week sensational soap crafter Rebecca D. Dillon

Rebecca's Soap Delicatessen-http://soapdeli.artfire.com

) Tell us about yourself: (background, family, personality.

I’m from a pretty average American family. I grew up as part of the struggling middle class in the 80s with a mother who was always trying to give my brother and I whatever we wanted and therefore living a bit beyond our means. My mom was always doing arts and crafts with me and taught me how to bake. I attended college locally at Roanoke College where I studied a bit of everything including photography, screen printing, graphic design, pottery, 3-D design, drawing, painting, art history, poetry and even writing. It took me seven years, but I eventually managed a BA in fine arts. I love making soap, blogging, shopping and reading anything related to the paranormal.



I've been married for eight years now and have a twelve-year-old son from a previous relationship. My son is the best helper I could ask for and will do a multitude of weekly chores for his allowance, which goes a long way toward helping me out. He's also a great student and rarely gets into trouble, which makes thinks a lot easier on me. He's pretty well rounded. He's active in sports despite having exercise induced asthma, pulls straight A's in advanced classes, is learning how to target shoot at the range from his bio father's girlfriend, plays a mean hand of Texas Hold 'Em, and is heading off on a mission trip next week to a South Dakota Indian reservation. He's also planning on attending Harvard to study law, and if that falls through, well, he's a tried and true UVA fan and they have a law program as well. I couldn't ask for better.



On a more personal note, I have struggled with severe depression all of my life. Several years back I was diagnosed with agoraphobia, and last week I was diagnosed with bipolar. So I'm sort of a mess all the way around some days. Getting things done can be a constant struggle for me because of the bipolar and agoraphobia but I push through because I'm stubborn - and very much the typical Gemini - and do what I can when I can. I also hate that there is a negative stigma attached to mental illness so I talk about it freely because it's really not something that people should feel ashamed of. Everyone has issues of some kind. Some just have a harder go than others.

2) How or why did you make the decision to pursue your art career and work from home?

I started my business in 2001 while I was still working outside of the home. I didn't really take it that seriously when I first started up. Like a lot of folks giving a first time business a go it was more of a hobby than anything else. Around 2005 I was diagnosed with agoraphobia. It was so bad that I was at the point I was having panic attacks over and over, practically non-stop, everywhere including my home. The only places I was panic free were in my office and my bedroom. Finding the appropriate medication to treat the panic took a few tries so at that point I made the decision to stay at home for a while and left my job. I was lucky that my husband had reached a point in his career that I was able to do this. Within a year though I was bored out of my ever-loving mind and striking up conversations with random strangers in Target. Then one-day hubby and I just happened to be walking downtown through the local city market, and I made a spur of the moment decision that day that I was going to sell downtown. The next day I called and got things set up, and the day after that I was officially a vendor. I worked through the panic attacks and didn't sell on Saturdays for several months until I was able to work up to the point that the market was a comfort zone for me. Once I established my local business, I moved on to focus on my online business in January of 2008.



3) How do you balance work and spend quality/downtime with them during a busy or hectic workday?

This is an especially big challenge for me. Going undiagnosed with bipolar for so long and having my medication for the agoraphobia stop working every six months or so I would go through long periods of depression. I'd have good days and bad days. Good weeks and bad weeks. Some weeks I'd function and others I just didn't. So the weeks that are good I make product like there's no tomorrow which allows me to balance things out for when I'm so unfocused I'd skip from thing to thing to thing and couldn't get anything done. Or the weeks I was just simply exhausted all of the time and could barely get out of bed. If I start to feel stressed, I know that if I don't stop and slow down it will only get worse. My health is more important than making soap because in the end, if I don't stop and slow down, I'll be even less productive and for far longer. So I stop and chill out in the bedroom and watch bad TV or I read book after book. Occasionally I'll party like a rock star. It all depends on the mood I'm in. However, I've just started on a mood stabilizer in addition to the medication I take for the anxiety and depression so hopefully it will work and I can get into a more regular routine.



4) Do you ever find yourself feeling overwhelmed or stressed out? If so how do you diffuse or deal with these moments during business time?

All the time. If I'm working at home I just stop and take time out for myself and do things that help me relax. If I'm down on the market I usually have to pop an Ativan or grab a drink with lunch. Sometimes I'm able to mellow out just by having someone watch my table and I'll walk around and chat with the vendors. But my situation is sort of unique.



5) Please walk us through an average day at home

I can't. It's never the same. It's never consistent. I am chaos. The one consistent thing I do however is a lot of marketing on the computer whenever I get out of bed. And when I get out of bed depends on a myriad of circumstances.

6) Is your craft your primary source of income? How do you manage during slow sales times/seasons?

Yes. I am officially a soap maker. I make above the poverty line at my craft. However, as I HATE paying taxes I buy personal property to offset some of my profit and opened a traditional IRA last year so I could pay more to myself rather than into social security and Medicaid. After all, who even knows if it will be around by the time I retire. Not to mention it is not possible to live comfortably on social security alone.



For slow seasons you just have to budget. The last quarter is obviously the best one, so I keep enough cash in the bank from my profits then to be able to pay all of my bills for the first quarter just in case.



7) As a soap crafter, how do you safeguard all your materials/supplies?

I store everything in sealed containers in my cool, dry basement. It's their happy place.



8) As a seller, what are you do and don't you would advice to running a home business?

1.Do it legal. It's worth the effort for the deductions and to show income if you decide to branch out and need to get a loan.



2.Give 100%. You can't expect to get 100% if you aren't giving it. You only get a return on the time you're willing to invest.



3. You must spend money to make money. That's just how it goes.



4. Marketing and word of mouth are golden. Nothing sells a product better than a referral from someone who has used your product. Remember that. (If you're new to selling online I wrote a little article to help you get started marketing. http://www.byhand.me/component/option,com_content/catid,35/id,8162/task,view/)

9) What advice would you give to other mothers who want to take that "leap of faith" but are afraid to?? Or have little or no support system?

You cannot expect to make it working for yourself if you aren't willing to take a risk. Just look at the number of companies that made it starting from scratch with one person and one idea and almost nothing else. You have to believe in yourself. And if you can't do that, no one else will believe in you either.



Life is a risk, but you live it. Working for yourself is a risk, but you can do it. If you fail, you fail. You pick yourself back up by your bootstraps and go at it again. Mark Lim of Poison Apple failed his first go round. He tried again and went at it a little differently and it worked the second go round.http://www.poisonappleshirts.com/aboutme/aboutme.htm



10) Where else can we learn more about you? Any other sites/shops? Everywhere!

Social networking:

http://www.twitter.com/soapdeli

http://www.facebook.com/soapdeli

http://www.facebook.com/soapdeligirl

http://soapdeli.byhand.me



Main website:

http://www.soapdelicatessen.com



Blogs:

http://www.soapdelinews.com - My soap blog.

http://www.shopbyhandblog.com - My handmade shopping blog. I give props to other awesome artists.



Other business:

http://www.pokedyoutoo.com - Check out the staff page. This was my husband's big risk this year. He invested in a tattoo artist we knew for three weeks.







FANTASTIC- Thank You so much for sharing your amazing story Rebecca!-You best is yet to come;-)

***Check out our trailblazer "How Does She Do It Indie Mom Interviews

Audrey Hussey - KaBoogie - http://kaboogie.etsy.com

Delilah Pearl-Gloria's Jewelry Box- http://gloriasjewelrybox.etsy.com



Want to share you story click on this link to learn more:Thanks for visiting

Be FIERCE!!

nY

How Does She Do it!- WAHM Indie Series -Part 1

Many work at home moms, myself included, struggle with the duties of caring for the house and family on a daily basis- I have started a weekly feature where I search the net to find extraordinary mothers who have found and mastered a way to maintain a home business as an indie crafter.

How Does She Do it??" Is a series of interviews with indie moms of children from birth to teenage years who have graciously volunteers to share their skills, lessons & experiences with us. There will be two guest posts a week every Monday starting July 13th, 2009 all Summer long.!!!

Our First Featured Guest is a great indie crafter-Children's Footwear and Repurposed Leather Accessory Designer:

Audrey Hussey - KaBoogie - http://kaboogie.etsy.com


Tell us about yourself: (background, family, personality.

I am a typical type A, I come from a family entirely populated with entrepreneurs, business owners. We don't do well working for others, but WITH others. We tend to be craftsmen, My father owned a large sign company while I was growing up, I learned the art of design from him. One brother owns a neon plant, another a manufacturing plant. My sister runs a home daycare.

How or Why did you make the decision to pursue your art career and work from home?

I have a B.S. in Graphic Design, worked as an art director for over 12 years before I left advertising. I then turned to craft, making things to sell and trade; toddler furniture, frames, sewn things. This was back in the mid 90's. My mom and I used to laugh at the fledgling home decorating shows, doing things we had been doing for years. I didn't turn to online sales, or my current craft until my girlfriend showed me her shop 1 1/2 yrs ago. I am too cheap to buy $28 baby shoes online with designs I hated, so I made my own, recycled from my husband's bomber jacket. I was hooked!

I see that you home school six children? Wow! How do you balance work and family in this manner?

I never considered anything BUT homeschooling. As more children came, they just eased into my routine, having done one, two, three, etc., weren't much more difficult. This year we are trying out a very small (28 students) private school. My eldest needs much more intellectual challenges than he is getting while I tend 2 preschoolers and sew. I would like to see if I can bring my biz to the next level, and take a mental break. Yes, sometimes I get saturated. The middle children just like trying something new, but they have the choice to come home next year if they want. They come first! The two youngest will stay home with me. The balance often leaves me drained, I tend to work late at night. I think all moms, regardless of employment or not, feel this way at times.

Do you ever find yourself feeling overwhelmed or stressed out? If so how do you diffuse or deal with these moments during business time?

I've always been the type to take on more than I can probably handle at once. Then, I just BOOGIE! lol! My husband helps a lot, I employ a niece and some of my kids help. There's a lot to be said for training up your children to do as much as they are capable of. You have to relax some standards and prioritize. I make sure dinner is always on the table, we stick to a relative schedule, and rarely use babysitters. Not all people would want to take this much on, nor should they. I do tend to thrive on it, though. I can't go to a birthday party without a basket of shoes to finish up, or some needle felting to do.

I see you have some children under 5? How do you spend quality/downtime with them during a busy or hectic work day?Please walk us through an average day at home:

Summer days are sort of unscheduled. During school I don't work until the elder 4 are well into their work. Then I work alongside so I am available. At the same time, I set the little two up with play doh, cutting paper, coloring or TV, yes, we use TV as part of our day. This year the 5 yr old will school with me, and the 2 yr old will learn by osmosis. After lunch, most of school is done, chores get done, then we go our own ways, they play, I work, baby gets a nap. If the 2 or 5 yr old wants mom time then, they come to me.

My children are extremely self sufficient; the benefit of a large family is no lack of playmates, they rarely come to me bored. We often have homeschool activities, or karate, music lessons or bunches of other homeschoolers come by and the melee begins! Dinner is always eaten together, then after bedtime reading, I work and promote online here in the den where I work, the older kids and hubby come in and we're together for a couple of hours. I work in the midst of the family, jumping up and down, running to and fro is the norm for me.

Alot of mothers cannot afford child/daycare in this economy or have no support system, while other moms are simply aren't interested in others caring for their young children but they would like to find a way to support themselves and their families at home? In your humble opinion, what advice would you give them?

I think if you have to support yourself by your craft, with or without kids at home, you have to hustle. You also have to lose the one thing that holds us all back. FEAR. Fear keeps most of us in the small time. Fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of the truth. Is what we do marketable and is it the best quality it can be? There is also fear of success. Incredible but true. What will I do on the next level? I am stuck there right now. Do I have what it takes to bring it there? You have to be willing to go through the muck and the pain of growth. To not be willing to take no for an answer or let others pull you down (you know who they are). To think outside the box. Take a risk. Do something totally different. It can be done, we know that.

Is your craft your primary source of income? How do you manage during slow sales times/seasons?

Thankfully this is not my primary source of income. I am in a dry spell, outside a large wholesale order, and am using the time to rethink where I put my efforts. I will be streamlining my product line. The one thing I've learned is to make what sells. The desire as an artist to create what you want can't always happen, but you can still make what you love. When people come to my craft show booth I notice they seem lost among too many designs...it's like when someone offers you 15 choices of ice cream when 3 or 4 would do.

What do you love most about owning and operating your own creative business?

I like that I can step away from work and make other things, not necessarily for sale, but for me, or for gifts. I love that i can make some extra cash and not stress the budget. i especially love that I can rescue gorgeous pieces of leather clothing from landfills and give them new life.

Despite new CSPIA regulations- Why do you think consumers should shop handmade for children?

The CPSIA threw such a wrench into my machine, so to speak. I did send a batch of samples for testing and was not surprised that they came back well below the limit. Since babies gobble their shoes down haha! When and if the requirements become as originally written into the law, I will probably be forced to buy new leather from tanneries who can provide me with 3rd party compliance. That or shut down. My hope is that we do not let our guard down, that the head of the CPSA will prevail against those who want her removed, and that common sense requirements will be put into place.

People should prefer handmade, the onus is on us crafters to provide safe products. Large manufacturers will usually be the ones breaking existing law, as we've seen, and will continue as long as they use facilities outside the jurisdiction of US inspectors, and certification that is forged or fudged. In this economy, the government can ill afford to forsake us in favor of lobbyists from huge companies. Common sense also must prevail against consumer organizations who's knee jerk reactions against perceived threats cause such over-reaction.

You can learn more about her work at these links
Blogger:http://www.kaboogietwoshoes.blogspot.com
Twitter me:http://www.twitter.com/kaboogie

Thanks so much Andrea! Hope I didn't ramble on too much!-

Not at all!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful experience with us!-" YOU ROCK!!

Coming up:

Gloria'sJewelryBox

Indie Inspirations- Interview With Sydney Austin Designs

I had the pleasure of finding this beautiful Indie Artist at Etsy.com and had to grab a few minutes to chat with her. Please welcome

~ Hip Handcrafted Jewels for the Stylish Chick ~

1. Welcome to Indie Inspirations!-Please introduce yourself;-)
My name is Robyn Wren Bourne. I'm originally from Baltimore, MD. I currently live in Greensboro, NC. My shop's name is Sydney Austin Designs. I design and make one of a kind jewelry such as necklaces, earrings, cocktail rings, and bracelets.

2. Is your shop name your real name? It's has a beautiful ring to it.
My shop name is not my "real" name. Sydney is my daughter's middle name and Austin is my son's middle name.

3. What inspired you to start making jewelry? What are your favorite materials to work with?
My brother and I made earrings years ago and we stopped. A few years ago I took a jewelry making class in Baltimore and I fell in love with all of the gemstones that are available.

I rec'd lots of compliments from the designs I made in class that I decided to give jewelry making another shot. I love working with gemstones, vintage beads, lampwork, metal, freshwater pearls, swarovski crystal, and wood.

Urban Cowboy Necklace

4. How did you come to find a home on ETSY?
I found Etsy by doing some research on Google for selling handcrafted jewelry.

5. How does it feel to have your own on-line shop? What have you learned so far about running your own business?
I love having my jewelry available online. I am currently in the works to obtaining my own website that will hopefully be up and running by December 2009. Having your own business that a lot of hard work and dedication.

6. What is your favorite piece in your Shop?
My Surrender Earrings are my favorite item in my shop. They are so much fun! Perfect for anybody in the law enforcement field.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=15891323

7. Do you find yourself trying to keep up with the latest trends/fads or do you march to a different drum of your own. Do you have any special projects that you are/will be working on?
I get inspiration from current trends, but mostly I like to march to my own beat. I would love to take metalsmithing classes. I want to learn how to work with a torch. Right now I have a beautiful handmade lampwork mother/baby pendant that I am trying to create into a beautiful necklace.

8. What is the best piece of advice you can give other jewelry designers?
My advice for other jewelry artisans is to be diligent, always continue to study your craft (take classes, go to workshops), be flexible (especially now in this tough economic market), but most of all be consistent!

9. In your opinion, why do you think that buying and selling handmade products benefits society?
Handmade products benefit society because a lot of materials we use are recycled. We take vintage beads, scrap metal, natural materials, and make them into something beautiful. When you buy handmade you are supporting small businesses. Plus you are getting a quality product.

10. So, is there anywhere else we can find you other than Etsy to learn more about you? Do you have any other shops

I have a blog: http://www.sydneyaustindesigns.blogspot.com I am also on twitter: http://www.twitter.com/sydneyaustin Also, I have a flickr account which shows a lot of my designs: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sydneyaustindesigns/


Fabulous!!- Thank you so much for coming by..Good luck to you & keep those gorgeous creations coming!

Thanks for the opportunity to be featured in your blog!

-Robyn