busyness/business

Today I'm very busy trying to be a fully-functioning human being, so this is going to be short. It's not even five pm, and I have managed to shower, half-dress, build and then maintain a fire using only two pieces of wood (besides kindling) and about a million pinecones (some of which smell like feet, curiously), and take up one skirt in my pile of altering. Did I mention I also brushed my teeth? Things are lookin' GOOD.

You may wonder how this affects you, and the shop. Well, my sewing "skills" are a bit like a Dad's rugby abilities; fine until I actually do some sewing. And my eventual plan is to offer a basic tailoring service, so if you buy a skirt but want it a little bit shorter, or want a top taken in, I can do it. I'm going to take a refresher sewing course to this end, but I'm not up to the refresher standard at present, so here we are. The skirt I just altered is mostly straight; I think the issue is more with my ironing skills than my sewing... ?

This is still barely relevant to the blog, so let me tell you about my visit to IRD last week. It was GREAT. A visit to Inland Revenue shouldn't be scary for someone like me because I believe in taxes, but the institution still has a Big Bad Wolf-ness about it. It shouldn't. If you're starting a business, and especially if you, like me, studied arts subjects and have no idea what PAYE stands for, go and see IRD. You make an appointment on the website, where they have incredibly helpful (if slightly user unfriendly) business stuff (a free downloadable cashbook, which I was then taught to use, a checklist that gives you absolutely no credit; excellent), and then someone gets in touch with you for a meeting. So now, for me, IRD has a face and another name, and that face and name answered all of my kindergarten questions without laughing, gave me great advice (especially that, with the simple nature of my business and my anal note-taking and book-keeping and respect for taxes, I probably don't need an accountant), and I can email the face and name as soon as I know enough to ask more questions.

This song has nothing to do with any of this. I just didn't know how to end this, and something about the memory of me and Jimmy in the office with IRD's face and name, with construction happening around us, made me think of FotC.

Back to being busy.

one go around

If I may say so — sometimes I think people think too much about starting their own business rather than just doing it. If you think about it too much, you allow yourself to entertain the what-ifs, and then you’ll end up in a downward spiral of doubt. You only get one go around in this game. I wish I had more specific constructive advice, but really I feel that sometimes people just need a push off the edge. You’ll either succeed, or you’ll call it quits, but either way it will be an adventure, and it’s not going to kill you. You’ll have gone for it, and that’s what matters.  -  Sarah Ryhanen of Saipua

Fortuitous and a bit creepy to find this Design Sponge interview waiting for me on my feedly this morning. I don't usually (ie never) click on business interviews, but I've been reading Sarah's beautiful blog Saipua for some time; long enough that if she was going to give some advice, I definitely wanted to hear it. Turns out I needed to hear it.

Sometimes people just need a push off the edge.

(Photo and arrangement by Saipua, obviously.)