Huge Changes to my little creative business - what does it mean??

Making the decision to change the direction of a business is never easy. It requires reflection, analysis, and sometimes even a bit of courage. For me, this journey has led to a major transformation in my business model. I have decided to pull all of my online physical items from sale. Instead, my physical products will now be available solely at events throughout the year. I will keep you updated on here to what events will be coming up through the year.

The transition away from an online selling model has been on my mind for quite some time. I was just pondering on how I can make my business still tick over when I was withdrawing my stock from sale online as this is the main source of revenue for my business. This thought process took some time along with building the courage to do it as I have been doing this since 2017 so it is a huge step to take in another direction.

Digital art piece which I did.

Today, I want to share my motivations behind this shift, the challenges I encountered.

So I am going to be completely transparent in this blog as you all deserve to know the full truth as to why I have come to this decision.

Firstly, my health is a huge factor in this. If you are not aware already I am a disabled woman. I have two disabilities one which is Scoliosis and the other is Multiple Sclerosis, these two conditions come along with a multitude of varied struggles and symptoms some more manageable than others. One big one is chronic pain, I simply do not have a day when I am completely pain free ... in all honesty I can no longer remember what that feels like lol. Pain makes it so that working enough hours a day, every day on my business to help it grow is just not viable. My body simply will not take that anymore. This is also the case with chronic fatigue which I have with the Multiple Sclerosis. Due to these two things I have never been able to put into my business the time which it needs to really flourish.

Please dont feel any pity for me, I dont want to come across as that is the reason I am saying this as it is not. I am telling you all this in a hope you can understand why I made this decision and also bring some awareness to disabilities as a whole as I think it can be very easy to not see the things which a person deals with every day as we like to put on a mask of 'everything is ok'. Also, one of the main factors in this is stress and my mental health. Don't get me wrong I LOVE getting orders online, just the thought that someone wants something that I have made fills me with so much joy and pride for what I have made. However, the stress and anxietry which the process of sending things out came along side this amazing joyus feeling. I am and always have been a perfectionsit and I would make myself anxious and get easily stressed if the smallest things did not go right or a printer broke or I ran our of something. Normally this would just be a normal part of the process but for me these feeling of stress can bring on relapses of my Multiple Sclerosis and it has become not worth the potential health risks it causes. Due to this I will still be making but only selling in person.

Future Events and Physical Products

Physical products will still be a huge part of my business, but they will only be available at selected events throughout the year. These occasions will allow me to showcase my work, engage with customers face-to-face, and continue to build a community around my brand. It will also allow me to carry on being creative in a physical form which as a disabled person is one of the things I use to stay sane in this crazy world we call home lol.

I will be pulling my products from online on the 14th January 2025 so if there is something you want to buy online from me you will only have until this date to do so. Otherwise if you are in the UK at the time you can come see me at certain market/selling events which I will be attending.

Previous market attended.

After this I will be using this website and my other accounts online to show what I am up to, where I will be at markets.

I am an avid reader and have been a budding author for some time but I am in the process of doing a degree part of which is creative writing in the hope it helps me to fulfil my end goal of being a published author. So, this is also where I will be updating on my writing progression. You will see changes happening on all accounts linked to me as I transition into writing more so I hope you will stick with me and follow my journey into this new chapter in my life (pun very much intended lol).

Sue xoxo