Well, this time off of work has been interesting to say the least. I've had my hands full getting Onoma up and running, networking, sponsoring, getting new designs printed, trying to decide the best course of action as to how to sell the shirts online, and registering at Mt. SAC for Speech class. Man it seems everyday I have a list of things to do. But, I'm hoping that by the time I get back to work, this list will be managable! Well...it has to be, that's the bottom line.
I decided to take a break today and focus on other things, like cleaning my mess of papers. lol And I got alot cleaned actually. Then I decided to take time to blog tonite to write down some thoughts of mine. Maybe this will help relieve a little stress.
So, this business has been a great challenge in the area of decision-making, an area that I've always struggled with. There are times I know what I want right away, but when I don't know, oh boy! I'll be pacing back & forth forever analyzing the situation, which has taken most of my time lately. But you know, I thought that this is actually good for me, because I DO want to make good decisions, and good decisions should not be hasty but thought out and weighed carefully right? So this has helped me to do just that. I tend to get ancy and want to just make the decision and be done with it, but the decisions I'm making will affect the company and I can't afford to just makes hasty decisions, so I'm learning that as well. It's been tough, though, and trying.
Right now, for instance, I'm trying to decide whether I should: A) Sell my shirts at an online store where they print all my shirts, provide the site and take care of all the shipping and customer service, or B) Get my own site (like Yahoo commerce site or other), print my shirts locally, and ship them out myself. There are adv/disadv to both sides. Doing this myself, I have more control over it as well as the experience of fully running the business. When I get my tees printed locally I can simply take what I need out for sponsorees, friends, etc., and there's no min order I need to fulfill. And I like working with someone personally when they go to print to sort out details. On the other hand, letting someone else do it takes that off my hands. When I run low on inventory, they'll just replenish it (with a min. 24 shirt order, which is a tad high). I can then focus on the website and marketing of my company. But if I need extra shirts I'll need to get them shipped to me. Also, I wanted to send out stickers with each order, and I'm not sure if another company would even do that for me.
Now, one thing about doing it myself was, I wouldn't have anywhere to store the tees, so I thought the answer was obvious, until...one day I came home to find out that my mom (yes I still live at home, I know) had cleared the top shelf of the closet I use in the hallway. Later, that got me thinking. I realized that if I folded the tees nicely enough, I could fit them all side by side on that shelf and store a good deal of them there, while keeping the rest in the storage! I though 'perfect!' So that may just work out fine. So my other thought is, what if I DO get busy and I find I don't have time for all this shipping stuff, then what? But seriously, how much time does it take to check for orders, grab the tees, package them and take it to the post office? Maybe I'm worrying unnecessarily. Anyhow, if I do get to the point where I'm shipping tees on a regular basis, maybe that means it's time to let someone else like PrintMojo to do the printing/shipping for me. For now, I think I'll be okay, and again, this will give me some experience regarding this side of the business, so maybe I should take advantage of it while it's still new!
By saying that, yes, I do have this amazing confidence that Onoma WILL grow. It must be the Lord, cause from time to time I look at where I'm at and think 'What am I doing? Should I even be doing this, should I just let this go? Maybe I'm getting in over my head.' And I'll feel very unsure and incapable all of a sudden. Then I'll remember why I wanted to do this in the first place (to use the gift He's given me, to create a business to provide for missionary work, the poor, etc. and be fully involved with the company) and realize that this is good, and He has gotten me here, not me. He reminds me of that when I see so much happening with this company, and I look at other clothing co.'s and don't see much happening with them, and I start to wonder if I should have started much simpler like them! But the Lord reminds me that I wanted to do so much with this company, so being 'simple' is NOT in the equation! lol In order to get the company where I'd like, I've got to keep pushing forward, which seems to be all that's happening, and NOT look behind.
It reminds me of Peter when he walked on water to meet the Lord. He started out fine, right, but what happened? When he stopped and noticed what was going on, he started sinking. That's how I can feel from time to time, like I'm gonna sink instead of succeed! But when I get my focus back on Him, he rejuvenates me and encourages me to go forward with the momentum of a jaguar and the grace of a doe and the...okay maybe He wasn't that detailed. lol Just couldn't resist. But he does encourage me to move forward and to keep my trust in Him.
Wow long post. So last Thursday I saw the Ortho, who instructed me to start doing some strengthening exercises so I can go back to work soon. My arm is very close to having a full range of motion, almost. He gave me four weeks to see him again, but told me if I feel capable to go back to just let him know and he will release me, so I'm hoping maybe in two weeks or so, we'll see.
So right now, I'm feeling very good about option B, running everything myself for now. If it gets busier, I'm sure I can transfer that work over fairly smoothly, since I'd own the domain name. So I just might go with this option. *pause* Yeah, just might.
I do have another brand called HBC (Hummingbird Concepts) that I'm working on as well. I brought that up because for THAT company, the decision was easy! lol I just used a print-on-demand site where I can send in all my designs, have a site, and sell shirts as the orders come in. Very simple concept. I like that! So I'm pretty stoked about that. I have about four designs total I'm presently posting so they should be out soon. The new designs for Onoma should be out soon as well, and as soon as I get the shirts printed, I'm going to do a little photo shoot with a couple of people, then post those to my site. It's so close...I can taste it! hehe
In other news, I recently saw Apocolypto on DVD. Freaky man! It was intense for me and kept my attention for sure. I couldn't stop watching til the end cause I had to see what was going to happen to Jaguar Paw! lol Yeah it was intense, it reminded me of the part on King Kong where they came face to face with that tribe on the island. That was also pretty freaky. But this movie was more bloody and barbaric. I'll tell you, when you put your faith in anything but a loving God who wants your life to be a blessing, you'll start believing the strangest things, not unlike the people in Apocolypto.
Okay I can't end like that.
Ummm...sweet thoughts...sweet thoughts. Draft autosaved at 2:16 AM. lol Quote from Night at the Museum: "Someone's gotta pay!" "Why does someone have to pay?" "I don't know! Look...stop whining and take it like a man!" lol Loved that movie.
Okay, now I have to go it's getting a tad bit late. Nite. =)
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