It’s hard to believe that five years ago
today I was sitting at our little folding table desk filling out forms online
to make Happily Ever After Me, LLC official!
I had an idea that became a big dream, and now it is the closest to reality
than it has ever been. I think that it’s
a pretty cool and exciting thing to watch it unfold.
I’m not a very
patient person, at all. I expect things to progress and produce results immediately, and if it falls short I feel
that I have not done a good enough job.
But, there are things that I have learned, both professionally and
personally, these last 5 years. So, I
thought maybe I would take a few minutes to share those things with you. (Hence, the title…)
5 things I have learned as an individual
1. Family comes
before work and time spent with them comes before money.
“MOM mom mOOOOm MOOOM…
mom….MOM!!!” Who can even think with
that going on?! Many hours were spent in
front of the computer screen or drawing board when I should have been spending
time with my children. Old habits are
very difficult to break, so it took some time and personal growth (see #5), but
I have now found a good balance. Late
nights take the lead, and that’s okay because that is what works for us. I learned that I can’t try to squeeze work
into every free second of the day or it will just drive us all insane. I am a mom and wife first.
2. Stop giving things
away!
I love my friends, especially the ones that love my
products. (Haha jk) I love making friends too.
This is one way to make lots of “friends.” I used
to love contests and promotions and giveaways because of the idea in my head of
the exposure they would give me. BUZZ!
WRONG. I have learned that plenty of
people will jump for free. Free things
don’t make people want to buy more or buy another product. Free things don’t even necessarily make
people like you or your company. People
just love free, plain and simple. Don’t get me wrong, I like free too and I
think it is okay every once in a while, but when I realized the amount of money
and time I was losing on freebies, I had to make it stop.
3. It’s okay to say no.
This one is still difficult for me at times. I am a people pleaser and I want everyone to
be happy. I want everyone to like me as
a business owner and like my company for what we provide. Customer Service is so extremely important to
me, and word of mouth from our clients has been a huge seller. I’ve had to accept the fact that there are
people out there who will try to push to get more, and want to be the exception
to the process, guidelines, etc. I have
learned that sometimes I just have to say no and remember there are policies
set in place for a reason.
4. I DO have a job
even though I stay at home.
Someone asks if I work…
I say no I am a stay at home mom, I home school, and I have a little business
that I work on at night…
*Gasp* I have insulted myself!
A little business, you say?! How about you go ask your customers how little
they think their stories are. I’m
guessing they will say their stores are a pretty BIG deal. This is something I am still learning. It’s hard to say that I work from home when it is something that I
love so much and I don’t give it the hours that a full time job does on a
weekly basis. But, I have worked pretty
hard for what I do and I need to give myself more credit.
5. It’s okay if I don’t
do it all.
This is HUGE! There
came a point with a story, when I realized I just couldn't do it anymore. I didn't want to give up. I didn't want to feel like I was
failing. I just simply did not have the
talent to continue. When I started
Happily Ever After Me, I did it all. I
talked with the customers, wrote the story, illustrated the story, scanned and
cleaned up the images; re-sized, colored, prepped for print… you get the
picture. I did it all, and I realized
that I was going to work against myself at some point. Realizing I needed help was the best thing
that ever happened to me. I found Joyee,
the very first illustrator that I brought on the team, and she was an angel. I was so thankful for her and her
talents. And now, here I am 4 years
later with 4 illustrators on the team and 1 other writer. So blessed!!!
5 things I have learned as a business owner
1. Your product is worth what you make it.
We are completely customized. We have some amazingly talented girls on the
team. They create beautiful, original
high quality illustrations each time we create a product, and Natalie can whip
up a new story from 3 full pages of ideas and requests like you wouldn't
believe. These girls ROCK, and they do
it for next to nothing considering the love and time they put into each
product. But, for a really long time I
felt like I had to explain away our prices before anyone ever had anything
negative to say about them! Why did I
think that was okay? That’s a sure way
to make people feel like you don’t believe in your own product. (That goes back
to people pleasing, I do believe!) I have learned not to downplay our worth by
trying to defend our prices. It’s okay
if people think it is expensive. You are
paying for what you get, and our products are worth it.
2. People WILL pay.
Along the lines of #1, this is also something I have had to
learn. Some people do realize the value
of your product and they will pay. This
has been the most encouraging thing through the whole process. I started creating these books for a whopping
$30.00! That is crazy to think about now, but I did what I had to do to get my
name and product out there. I began
pricing our products according to what I could pay, what I thought my friends
could pay what I thought people WOULD pay.
I was still on the losing end. I
began taking baby steps and would raise the price a little bit with each year
passing. Orders kept coming in, and my
confidence in our products kept growing.
Finally, I came to a point where I realized that it could only continue
if I made it worth our time. So, I looked
at the numbers and set a realistic budget, and amazingly the orders continue to
come in. (Wow. Thank you!)
3. Men understand.
Ladies, it’s the truth.
Would you believe it if I said that I had multiple male customers suggest
that I charge more for what I do? And
guess what the women had to say about our products? It’s been the women who have complained or
turned the other way because of our prices.
I can’t believe what I am about to say, but the best advice I have
received here recently has been from the men.
One man in particular seems to know what he is talking about most of the time… Haha. Kudos and thank you to my smart and
supportive husband - I might have taken
the long way around, but eventually I got to where he said I should have been
in the first place.
4. I could not do
this without the other girls.
No joke. I have got
some of the kindest, coolest, gracious, and most talented girls working with me
that I have ever known. I don’t even
want to think about doing this without them!
I am so thankful for each one of them.
They seemed to show up and just
the perfect times, just when I thought it would be nice to have more variety or
when I thought it would be great to have help with the writing… then POOF here
comes Joyeeta, then Eva, then Abira, and then Gina and Natalie. I still have never met these girls in person,
but I feel a special bond with them. I
thank God for bringing them into my life not only as part of my team, but as people
that I consider my friends.
5. I have no doubt this is what I should be doing.
With each major change in life over the last couple of years
(And even this year with homeschooling, which by the way is when Natalie came
into the picture! Wow, perfect timing again!), there has been a question of
whether or not I would be able to keep up with HEAM. It seems that even with all of the other
priorities in life, HEAM has kept at a manageable, steady pace for me to
continue on. It’s exciting, it’s super
fun, and I couldn't feel more at peace with where things are right now. I am so thankful for the opportunity to use
my imagination and have a part in creating these wonderful products! I can’t imagine life without being able to do
something like this. As long as people
have stories to tell, I hope that I can continue to play a part in them. I look
forward to seeing what this next year holds!
-Stacey
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