82. Business & the Dolls Clothes Pattern Club
Dealing with the need to be productive
This week
I’m excited with the latest developments of being invited to have a market stall at our local markets. Because friends I made bracelets and earring for have been showing off their jewellery more people have become aware of my jewellery making. I don’t want a busy market business. I am happy to only attend the local markets twice a month and hopefully make enough to add to my savings.
I have to point out that I don’t have aspirations to continually grow my income streams. It is more about adding to my savings so I can travel or buy books as well as have time and energy to enjoy what I do.
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I am having a Labor Day sale in my Etsy shop from 27th August to 7th September (AEST). I have a good selection of 18” doll clothes patterns and some 17” baby doll clothes patterns. A good chance to try out my patterns if you are thinking of joining the Pattern Club.
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Some background
Almost as soon as I retired from working a job where I worked for someone else I started to think about starting up my own business. There are so many online businesses perfect for people who are getting older and don’t have the physical strength required for other jobs. Retirement these days doesn’t have to mean the end of earning a regular income.
My little online business doesn’t require me to stand for hours or lift heavy boxes or get up early everyday and travel for hours to work.
My first business idea was to create doll clothes patterns and sell them online in a market place. Another income stream that I am very gradually working on is selling gemstone bead jewellery. This is also a job that doesn’t require physical strength so I can see myself continuing with it for many years to come. My third income stream has evolved from my doll clothes pattern business and is the paid subscriber Pattern Club that I offer through my Substack newsletter.
The doll clothes pattern club is something that I really wanted. I feel highly motivated to create pretty, easy to sew designs that make people happy. I love the idea of building an income from my newsletter paid subscriptions but I am not chasing it. My life goal is to create things that I love and make them available for other people to buy and enjoy them. I am doing what I love and happy to let the income increase organically.
I didn’t start my micro business until my early 60’s. I spent nearly 5 years working out what I could do and how I could do it. By not chasing the dollars and remembering that I want to “be retired” I think I have managed a good balance between productivity and leisure.
My latest pattern for paid subscribers
This week I have been finishing up a variation of the classic pinafore. It has cute pleats in the front. I have one more variation I want to explore with a yoke and gathers in the front that I aim to put up in a few weeks.
I have lots of the floral fabric so I will be trying to come up with designs that look good in floral. I was thinking some pyjamas or underwear or a skort design and I would like to do some gathered skirt dress styles as well. I am aiming for something new at the end of September.
I have decided to print out my instruction sheets on disc punched B5 paper and store them in my Happy Planner. I have an 18 month planner with lots of dividers that I can use to divide the patterns. I found that I can leave one flap of the envelope unfolded when I sticky tape up the envelope and use it to punch holes in and add to the folder.
It’s a bit fiddly to print double sided on the B5 because you have to print and turn each page. At least all I have to do with the A4 file is select B5 for printing and it shrinks and fits nicely. I like this size better than A5 because it is a bit bigger. B5 is a good in-between size.
Cheers,
Val