When One Door Closes....

What a day today has been. This week has been a bit of a roller coaster emotionally in my personal life, and finally that was all resolved and everything had been worked out. Then, this morning I got an email from My Pillow, where I've been working as an at home sales rep since November, that my services were no longer needed. I'm pretty angry about that because I feel they have been shady in their dealing with their contractors and the reason given in the generic email I received was not accurate in the least - but in any event. I was sitting here feeling sorry for myself and trying to figure out what I'm going to do next and I logged into my Merch by Amazon account to see I had two more T-Shirt sales since I logged in late last night. That makes 13 sales this week, far more than I have done any other week since I started in late April. It also brings my total sales up to the number I need to "tier up" to the next level. Right now, I can have 25 designs active at any one time (up from 10 when I first started) and when they do the next round of tier ups (Amazon doesn't have a set schedule for when they do this or how they select who gets tiered next, but lately its been happening on alot of Monday's so...fingers crossed!) I HOPEFULLY will be in the next round and get tiered to 100, meaning I can have 100 designs live at a time. Obviously the more designs you have, the greater the income potential. And I'm finding I LOVE designing and I definitely love making money while I sleep with the passive income of this business model. I've worked freelance and as an independent contractor for many years due to having young kids I don't want in daycare and also my general distaste for working outside the home. I've had some great, long term gigs and I've had some short and miserable ones and one thing I've learned is that the old adage is definitely true- God doesn't close a door without opening a window! As upset as I was earlier, losing My Pillow is definitely not the end of the world, it has been so slow that I barely made anything there anyway. Hopefully Merch will fill the gaps, and if not then it will be onto other things. The possibilities are endless in this life. Cheers to everyone, have a great weekend!

This Is 38!

As usual, I'm a bit behind! Because I turned 38 a couple weeks ago! I have never cared about age the way some people do, I don't want to hide my age, I don't wish I was younger, I'm all about enjoying what is happening now and looking on the bright side. Every year, before my birthday I spend some time reflecting on the prior year. I feel that I want to constantly learn and improve, so I judge each year by what I learned or did or improved on from the prior year. So! While I was 37, my personal relationships improved a TON. Things were better with my S/O than at any other time in the years we have been involved. After years of off and on and constant strife, I feel like we got a major grip on things this year. Not entirely, there are still fights and issues, but WAYYYY less than before. Progress. I also learned to sew. Something I tried a few times before over the years and always gave up on quickly. I finally am getting the hang of it. This is big to me. I set a goal to read a book a week for the whole year, and I accomplished that. Actually alot of weeks I read more than one book. So I learned ALOT this year. This year, I began working as a Sales call center rep for My Pillow, which has had it's busy and not so busy times, but overall has been good for my family and my continued quest to work solely from home to raise my children and to always be there for them. Very recently, I got approved for Merch by Amazon, after what felt like an excruciating wait. So I'm designing T-shirts for sale on Amazon now. It's early days and I'm not making a ton of royalties yet, but I'm seeing the potential and very excited. What do I want for 38? I want to hit the 1000 tier with Merch By Amazon by Thanksgiving. Earlier if possible but I think that's a fair goal. I want to continue working from home for the year and raising my children and watching them grow. I want to move out of my smallish rental house and find something bigger hopefully with more of a yard for the kids. 38 feels very exciting so far and I cant wait to see what happens next!

Big Changes!

So! Things are changing quickly and in great ways around here! The thing I want to talk about today is one of my new ventures, just launched today actually and I'm super excited about it.

I mentioned that I learned to sew recently and that I'm very into it. A few people mentioned they really liked and wanted to buy little wristlet purses I made and I decided to launch a Facebook page (Which I will link to below) and try to sell some of my stuff.

I don't know how this will do. Maybe it will become a successful business, maybe no one will be interested. Who knows? But I have the support of my family and my wonderful long time boyfriend and that kind of love and support makes it feel less scary to take chances. <3

All that being said - here is my little business!

https://www.facebook.com/katsewsandsews/

Obsessed With Sewing

So, as anyone who knows me or has been reading this blog for awhile has probably realized, I'm REALLY obsessed with crafts. While I have dabbled in paper crafts, jewelry and an assortment of other kinds, I've always come back to knitting or crochet as my first love.

Until recently. I've wanted to learn to sew for awhile now, and last month i got the awesome and generous gift of a sewing machine. Since then, I've been unstoppable! I've made dolls, dresses and skirts for my daughters, a sleeping bag for my son, mermaid blanket, several pairs of fleece socks....ALOT of stuff. 😂

Having an obsessive personality and a entrepreneurial bent, I've been mulling over starting a little business (when my skills improve enough.) I would make bags and/or dolls and/or fleece socks to sell. Probably on a Facebook page or through word of mouth. What do you all think? Does this sound feasible?  Here are some of my many recent creations....please be kind, I'm still just a newbie!

I'm Back!

Sorry for the extremely long absence, everyone!! Life has been a little crazy but things are finally settling down.

I've been a busy, busy girl! For the last few months, I've been working a new job that I really enjoy, as an at home sales rep for My Pillow. If you need a flexible job, like people and want to work at home, I can't recommend My Pillow highly enough!

Here's how it works. I applied and had a phone interview, then filled out some paperwork. Several weeks later, a laptop, headphones and My Pillow arrived on my doorstep! I waited for the next time a trainer was in my area and then there was an all day training session at my house.

And then I was all set! I log in to work when I want, for as long as I want. Of course, certain times of day are busier for sales than others. For instance, I have found late afternoons and early evening somewhat slow, as I assume people are driving home from work, eating dinner, etc.

When people call, I take their orders over the phone and make commissions on all of my sales. It's an extremely fun and low stress job and has been a real blessing for my family. And I feel good about working for a company with great quality products and a solid reputation.

People who say there are no legitimate work from home jobs out there are very wrong. It does take some digging to find the reputable opportunities, but if you are committed to working from home it is totally possible!