Writing a Business Plan: Part 1

As many of you know, I am taking a business e-course from Bakery called The BAKERY’s Half-Dozen. It covers a copious amount of material. For me, the most important piece has been writing a business plan. I believe giving my business some much needed direction is going to be my key to success.  I’m going to break this post into two parts. This week’s post will give you a little history of my biz. Next week I will talk more about writing my business plan and my hopes and dreams for the future.

Part 1: How on Earth Did I Get Here?

I never really thought about it. It all happened in such an organic fashion. I’ve had a creative side all my life. As a child I won loads of art contests (always the ones my childhood friend Jared, a now prominent NYC web designer, didn’t participate in). I loved art, spending hours drawing on my bedroom floor while blaring Cyndi Lauper and The Violent Femmes through my giant silver stereo. As I grew up and gained responsibilities, I let go of my artistic side and focused on my compassionate/scientific side. I became an oncology RN.

I dove into the nursing profession and gave it all I had. I loved what I did and was proud to make a difference every day. Years passed, I married and started a cute little family. As my family grew, I reached a point where I was having a hard time leaving the stress and heartbreak of cancer nursing “at the office”. Compounded by the fact that my own family was inundated with cancer, I needed a creative outlet.

I began creating paper goods. It all started with an embarrassingly bad wedding announcement after Pete and I eloped. Remember the late 90′s photo card + vellum overlay + ribbon rage? Well that was my very first card. I look back at it and I’m horrified by how dated it is. I followed that with birth announcements for my kids and invitations for friends. I enjoyed working with my hands and seeing my vision become a reality. I was never a scrapbooker, instead I found great joy in learning Adobe Illustrator. I began incorporating the hand drawn illustrations created by myself, my mom and my sister into my digital files. Slowly I began to develop my own style.

Shortly after we welcomed Kate into our family, I changed gears. Together with my husband, I decided it was time to give the stationery biz a go. It started out slowly working for friends of friends who had seen my cards on family refrigerators and mantles. Most of my work was done during the holiday season, creating photo greetings for the winter holidays. When strangers started calling, I had a glimpse of hope that this could be something I could actually pull off. My momentum kept gathering, but I never stopped to plan where I was going. It never occurred to me that I had the power to direct that momentum. I had fleeting thoughts of business plans, but the non business minded, touchy feel-y nurse in me chose to look the other way.

With my existing client relationships growing stronger and my discovery of Etsy, 2008 was a booming year. I thought I was set. Instead, I let myself get pulled in 100 different directions. I didn’t know how to say no. I took any business that came my way, even if it was not something that fit my design style or goals. While I earned income from these jobs, I know they were ultimately a detriment to my progress and growth as a business. The time I spent on orders and designs that were outside my comfort zone was significant. After the fact, when I did a breakdown of time versus income, I was shocked to learn I was working for pennies on those orders because the time and energy required where over the top. Plus all the time spent “off my path’ was time I should have spent designing a cohesive stationery line. I look back and all I can say is, “Duh.” Thankfully that Duh moment has been a lightbulb moment for me. I realized I am responsible for my happiness, success and the path of my business. And it is high time I get to it!

Next week I will return with Part 2 of Writing a Business Plan: How Do I Get There? Can’t wait!