If you've ever read my interview with Rena, you know that Gary and I waited a long, l-o-n-g time for our perfect business idea to come along. We rejected a lot of not quite right, almost right and nearly there ideas along the way. It was hard to do that because we so wanted a business of our own but I'm a perfectionist and I have a wide streak of donkey in my personality so I dug in my heels and picked every potential business idea to death. I think that, more than anything else, is the reason we were sure enough to bet the farm on this idea being The One... because I couldn't pick any holes in it.
If you're in that position now, you really want your own business but you aren't quite sure what it's going to be, the best advice I can give you is... don't rush it. Everything happens when it's time and not one minute sooner. And there are always good reasons for the timing that you can only see in hindsight. Every time Gary left on a business trip, I was so sad and I'd wonder why the universe hates us. (Yes, I was pitifully sorry for myself and I admit it. *s*) But you know what I was doing night after night, all alone with so much time to kill? I was writing code, building websites, making graphics and getting better at it with every passing day. I can't tell you how many times we've wondered what we would have done if I hadn't had those skills when our idea finally came along and we really couldn't afford to pay someone to build the site we needed. When I wanted more to do than write code and make pretty pictures, I started bellydancing which led to shopping for a jingle belt, which led to not liking any of the cheezy belts I found for sale, which led to wanting to make my own, which led to... chainmaille. If Gary hadn't been out of town all the time, if I wasn't sitting alone every night feeling sorry for myself and collecting hobbies, we'd never have been in the right place at the right time for the business idea that's making all our dreams come true. However long it takes, there's always a reason.
If you know your business is going to be jewelry, you're making progress. We all start out in the same place, learning weaves, designing things in our minds that are beyond our current skill level and feeling frustrated because we can't translate those ideas into reality. That's normal, that's what everybody does. But if you don't rush it, if you trust your intuition and follow your interests and let them lead you, you will amass a unique collection of skills that, when combined, produce jewelry that doesn't look like anyone else's jewelry. There will come a day when you'll suddenly realize that you aren't frustrated anymore; that you've stopped hitting obstacles and now you just have new ideas, things you've never seen done before, that you're eager to tackle because you want to find out which of the several different methods you've thought of will work best. You think you're having fun now? *That's* when it's really fun. *g*
That's also when you see your own style emerge. It's only then that you can put your finger on your target market. I remember the day it happened for me. I made a bracelet for my sister. What I was thinking at the time was that I wanted to make her something that was so rich and sumptuous with silver that it was downright decadent. I pulled out all the stops, used everything I knew and made something truly spectacular. I loved every moment of it and when I was finished, I was stunned because it looked like nothing I'd ever seen before. It was mine... in a way that nothing I'd made before had been. That day I raked every piece of jewelry I'd made to that point into a box and put it away. I couldn't sell it, it was too ordinary. That was the day I stopped just making jewelry and became a jewelry designer. I know it all sounds very dramatic... but it was. It's like suddenly realizing who you are.
When you come to that point, you will know who your market is, where you need to be selling, what your website should look like... everything. You'll know because that look that's uniquely your own puts everything else in context; everything else becomes the frame for your style.
If you haven't reached that point yet, spend your time following your interests, acquiring your own particular collection of skills, and preparing the ground for the day that seed will fall. Be serene, be happy and trust that it will happen at exactly the right moment for you. *s*
