one of the things i have learned in this adventurous ride to self employment is how absolutely amazing some of the women i work for are.
like – jaw-droppingly creative, ambitious as all get out, sleep-deprived, hard working, and never failing to amaze me. i wanted to share a little about who some of them are and what i’ve learned from them and make sure that you get to know them a bit too.
linda at craftaholics anonymous (or, as she is known in our house, linda crafaholics) was literally the first woman to put her faith in me and give me a shot. we met at haven home conference last year (when i randomly plopped down at her table and said “mind if i sit here and scarf my lunch?”) and that is literally how all of this started. a few emails were exchanged and she took the plunge and was the first one to actually hire me. i want to tell her every day how much i appreciate her and say thank you every day but i think that might creep her out. 🙂
linda says she isn’t a pro at things like SEO and building traffic – but she is modest. she has taught me everything i know about it and shown me how it can help your site grow. i learned how to pick keywords and use alt tags in images to boost pinterest traffic. she also trusted me to draft posts in wordpress on her behalf when i had no clue what i was doing. i’m certainly not a wordpress professional by any means but because of her faith in me it is another skill i can add to my resume.
i contacted heather at just lovely things (known here as just lovely heather) at a point when love club was really starting to grow and i honestly think she was desperate. i know it was a huge stretch for her to give up some of the control and let me take over some things (totally outing you) but after a few random conversations about bacon, gas station corn dogs, and more recently, the sinful nature of Easter candy, i think she is pretty sure she found the right girl. 🙂 (believe it or not we do talk about things other than food…)
i love her ability to work through rough spells. i know how hard it was for me to continue to blog when things got rough in life (like when we moved, when my mom passed away, and when my business started taking off) but she maintains this ability to continue creating even when life seems a little bit upside down. she is always dreaming of the next big thing – and you can say that about anyone. but heather not only dreams them… she does them. she can carry a dream through to execution and then know when to give it wings and let it fly on its own like nobody’s business.
monica at flying photo school was my first client that happened across my website, liked what she saw, and blindly said “please please help me!” and i so so happily obliged. it has been a fun ride ever since. she is not only an amazing photographer but also has a very successful online photography school where she helps beginner photogs get there cameras off of auto and into manual and take gorgeous pictures as well.
i have never met someone so absolutely emotionally and fully invested in their business and in themselves. there is so much of her heart and soul in these courses that i truly find myself fighting to defend her personally when a student isn’t happy (and let’s face it – you cannot please all the people all the time!). working with and for her has helped my spiritual side grow because i have really really learned how to handle people with grace and love more than i ever thought i could. i can have a bit of a short fuse (especially with this pregnancy!) and my boundaries of grace have expanded because of her faith in me. she has also been so faithful to me and asked me to partner with her on a new project and having someone believe in you like that is such a boost to believing in yourself and what you do – i cannot express it enough!
lastly, jessica at jessica n designs, this girl. (known here as the spoon lady) i don’t think i know anyone who works harder than she does. raising three littles and running her own extremely successful handmade business where she does 90% of the work all by herself – that totally astounds me. i love the quirky sense of humor you get from her spoons and she is always working to expand her line but keep it real to her and what she loves to do.
she never seems to slow down (even in that slump after Christmas i’m pretty sure she was buried under vintage spoons) but somehow she has this wonderful family that she cares for and friends she helps out in a pinch (including me!). i’m so lucky that she took the plunge and reached out to me. she has taught me that hard work and dedication to your craft, whatever it might be, is doable and will pay off!
this is only a small handful of the women that i work with and admire – there are more to come. but these four have pretty much been with me from the beginning and i’ve told them all that they are stuck with me so get used to it! this is one small way to say thank you to them for believing in me and helping me believe in myself! you should go check out their websites and shops and support them as much as they’ve supported me over the last few months!
Awesome Skye! YOU are such an inspiration to ME! You made a plan, stuck to it and now look where you are!? You rock my socks girl!
Thanks so much for sharing this post, its fun to see some of the other ladies you help out (besides me and all my craziness!). I am so so happy you came around when you did and I appreciate you probably more than you know or more than I can share! xo