Business Plans for the Year....

 Honestly, I don't have any firm plans.  COVID is still a raging concern, and despite the vaccinations, I suspect we will be socially distancing most of 2021.  I hope I'm wrong.  We won't know yet until may or later what the rest of the year will look like.  Booking shows is mostly done by then.   

So trying to plan for 2021 isn't really a straight forward. 

Crappy photo, hard to capture the drape of t    his flat instead of worn.  Anyway, on the left is part of a pocket watch, with added vintage flower and a regular hanging down.  on the other side is  vintage watch face and parts.  The chains drape gracefully between them - when it's fitted properly.  I had it rather long, but it's easy to adjust.  Pretty copper flower clasp - since this is all about flowers.

I'm finding that, without setting up a business plan, I don't have well defined business goals.  (go figure!) If I don't have well defined goals, it's hard to get motivated.  

Don't get me wrong, I still love to make jewelry, but without focus, I tend to start and never finish it.  I enjoy every minute of my time in the studio, but it's aimless.  Also without planning for specific shows in mind, it's hard to give myself permission to spend the time needed in the studio to really create.  I never have enough time to get everything done, so if i'm not doing show, my brain thinks I don't deserve creative time.  Yeah, I know that part is twisted, and I'm working on it, but I can't pretend it's not there.

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Maybe It's because I don't get the validation of selling face to face.  Selling jewelry, seeing people really like my jewelry, and it connects to them.  It becomes a shared experience that I really miss.

Just knowing I can make someone else's day is a high.

Even when/if COVID isn't an issue, I'm not sure how much longer I can sell direct to the public.  

I have health issues. Let's discuss just one of them: Asthma.  It's triggered by smoke, hairspray, perfume, flowers, deodorant,  lotions,  HAND SANITIZERS, exercise, laundry detergent and stuff that's green and grows.  

It's been increasingly hard to function at art shows and farmer's markets.  I never know when I'm going to get too close to someone and get triggered.  My biggest fear is sometime soon I'll get triggered by something someone is wearing, and my emergency inhaler won't help and I'll end up in a hospital emergency room.

Just imagine it... set up at Downtown Farmer's Market, bushwhacked by hairspray, rushed to the hospital cause I can't breathe, Hubby probably going with me insane with worry... my booth left abandoned -- or Jerry trying to take it apart by himself during the market, rushing and crazy with worry while the streets are crowded with 5000 people trying to get packed up so he can get to me.... 

I can spin multiple nightmare scenarios.

It hasn't happened yet, but I really feel it's a possibility.   

One thing COVID and basically never leaving the house has taught me-  my asthma really is a trigger situation.  If I avoid my triggers, I avoid episodes.  I have the occasional "bad breath day" but overall, it's situational.

For example, take this week.  I've used my inhaler three times -- all while cleaning the house.  The chemicals and dust made me start having a coughing fit, I got away from it ( my wonderful large house i can actually do this) I used my inhaler and sat down and calmed down and all was fine.

I hadn't used my inhaler for 2 weeks before this.

When I'm working at the office, or at a art show, I'm using my inhaler daily.  That's not healthy, or safe long term.  At work and at art shows where I'm tied to a location, where I can't do evasive maneuvers very well, I'm as higher risk of the big attack.   Asthma is painful and scary.  It hurts putting Jerry my husband through it.  I know he worries about it almost as much as I do.  

I tell you this not to enlist sympathy  -- merely to explain  why the more I think about it, the more I'm not sure how much longer I can do art shows.

Now add my other health issues --- one of them as serious if not more than my asthma ---  it's a lot to think about.