Since we have decided to go into business together, we have both been working very hard to make it happen.  While Bonita is at work, I’m out looking for materials we need to make our crafts.  I have found several thrift stores, Goodwill Stores, Salvation Army Stores, and even stores where everything is $1 and found a lot of the things we need.  By going to places like that, we end up without having a lot of money in the supplies we need or the materials either.

If I am going to reopen my store the beginning of February, we have a lot to get busy on.  We need enough samples and a few in stock to be able to either sell them right then and there or take orders on something special that someone might want.  We have decided to offer to make our clocks by special order if someone has a particular plate or silverware they want used.  They can bring in the items they want a clock made out of and I will custom make it for them.  That was Bonita’s idea and I think it was a darn good one too.

So as you can see, we both have a lot to do in just a few days but if we aren’t ready by the beginning of February, then I can reopen when I get ready to.  I was just thinking some of these things might be good Valentines Day gifts.

Bonita is as excited as I am about the prospect of a partnership.  She wants to keep her job until we get enough merchandise made up to start the web site and then once we see if it’s going to fly, then and only then will she quit her job.  That’s smart thinking.  I knew she had a good head on her shoulders but I didn’t realize it was that good.

I spend the day out in the shop working and when she gets home, shes going to join me.  She has some really good ideas for other items we can make too.  We just have to figure out the best way to do them and then we’re up and running.  I hope this works like we want.  It would be nice to be able to support ourselves totally and make a decent living at it.  I would show you some more of what we are making but if I do, someone else might start making them and get them on the market before we can.  Sorry.

Since a lot of local stores want my crafts to sell in their stores, I decided to work as hard as I can to get several items made and on February 1st, I’m going to reopen my store.  I don’t usually reopen until just before Spring Break so I have time to get ready for it but this year is different.

I found a web site that I can get all of the clock works wholesale if I order so many at a time.  If they’re going to sell as good as the others then I’ll need a lot of them.  I have also been looking into a web site for my stuff.  I have a lot of ideas for items to make and if they sell just half as good as the plate clocks have then I’ll be a super busy girl for sure.  I might even have to teach Bonita how to make them and put her to work for me instead of her working in the office where she works.

Hey, we could start a family business, a partnership.  I need to call a lawyer and see what we will need to start a partnership, then talk to Bonita about it and see if she’s interested.  Wow, who would have thought that something like a simple craft could start an online business, a partnership and have me opening my store back up early.  I sure hope it works like I’m seeing it in my head.  You know what I’m saying?

Well I found out it’s pretty easy to start a partnership.  Basically all it consists of is the signed agreement between Bonita and I.  Now I have to present the whole idea to her.  She likes her job and also helps me with my clocks and other crafts.  She has had some really good ideas of other things we can make too that will go perfectly with what I’m making.

As for my business, since it has been mine and mine alone for 3 years, I couldn’t just give Bonita half of that off the bat.  I have worked hard to build that myself, by myself.  I’m not sure how to work that one because all of the items we make together will be sold in my store but be like the vendors that bring merchandise to me.  That’s it, she doesn’t have to have part of my store, just her and I will be vendors for that merchandise and she’ll be over the online store too.  I’ll still have to work all of that out in my head and then approach her with it.

I got a call yesterday from some local stores that had seen my crafts and wanted to start carrying them in their stores.  I’m thinking about doing it but what about my own store?  Sure I close it through the winter but if they are going to be that big of a hit, maybe I need to rethink keeping my store closed.  Maybe I need to reopen my store and put my crafts in my own store.

I might sell some to the stores that are in the town next to us and then they won’t be as much competition for my store.  I’ll have to think about all of this for awhile before I decide what to do.  Who would have though my crafts would have been popular enough for stores to call me wanting them?  I sure didn’t.