Hello dear friends!
I have this issue I want to come to a decision with. But first I feel I need to analyze it from all possible viewpoints to be able to make that decision on how I shall continue from here?
The images in this post are of Arabella, my daughter. 4 at the time, now 7 1/2. She is wearing a tiara I made. I call it "Punk Princess". And you know she is shouting out "It's Party Time!" on the first picture. There is no connection to the subject in this post. Other than that I love my children, and I wish them to be proud of me. I am sooo proud of them!
I believe you could help me with this process. I had such a good experience from asking about your opinions on the new looks on my blog. (Thank you again for the great response on that, it really helped.) So I am gonna go for this method again. Let's call it "Online Brainstorming for the Benefit of Malin"
I wish to hear your thoughts, different ideas, possibilities you come to think of, obstacles you can see, and so on. Anything and from any angle. And from all angles.
The question is - shall I have an online shop (like one on Etsy for instance), or should I not?
These are the facts:
1.
- I make jewelry.
- I make good enough jewelry too sell it.
- I want to sell my jewelry. I will not make any money from it, but it will help providing enough to keep my hobby going. I can buy more beads and supplies, and I can improve my working area and my tool park.
- Another good reason I want to sell my jewelry is that it makes me happy. It is a great feeling to know that people wear things I have made. That I have helped to improve their lives just a little by providing something they like and makes them feel good.
- It is a great feeling to get positive response on thing you have created. It's a kick, and you become kind of addicted. I know you know what I mean!
2.
- I have MS.
- I got the diagnosis in 2008. But I know now that I have had it since at least 1984, at the age of 19. I have had symptom's that were vague and weird here and there over the years. Sometimes I would go and see a doctor about it, but most of the time I would ignore them, thinking it was just a passing phase of some weirdity going on. Looking at my self as the healthiest person on the earth. "I can do anything I want." "I am strong." (HA!) And the weird phase would pass, coz that is how MS works most often.
- Now over the years the MS has gradually worn my system down, and today I am stuck with some permanent functional disorders.
- It is these disorders that I am afraid stand in the way for me when it comes to selling my jewelry online. Or rather, I can't see really how I should do to work around them and make it possible anyway.
3.
- Basically the main problem for me is to actually make sure the piece reach the buyer in good time and in a good manner.
- I have problems executing such things. And my current thought is that I can't have an online shop coz I would just not be able to provide a good service in that sense.
4.
- My bodily dysfunctions are. I don't walk well at all. And I get dizzy/vertigo from any movement of my head or my eyes. Or if things move within my eyesight. Changing visual focus costs a lot of energy. Basically just moving in any way costs a lot of energy (better explain, this is due to the nerve signals going very slowly and maybe not even reaching their destination, compare driving on a motorway/highway or on a curvy bumpy cow trail through the woods.)
- Cognitive impairment: A lack of ability to organize myself, to keep track of things, to make a plan, to stick to a plan, and to carry it out. I have problems with staying in focus, and to maintain and divide attention, or to monitor my activities. I have a bad short term memory. And it causes me to constantly loose track of what I am doing at the time. I suffer seriously from all these things. I emphasize this strongly coz I have noticed that most people don't understand the severity of the cognitive disorders with me. They are not visible, but they are there. It is not just everyday "charming" wooziness, whimsies or forgetfulness which anyone can experience. This is way way beyond.
- To conclude: the best for me is to be able to be still and/or in the one same context for longer periods. To have to get up to get something I need and that is not within reach (say for instance another pair of scissors) will most likely cause me to realize later, that I never finished that thing I was in the middle of. It could be hours, days, weeks or months even. And when I realize I am most likely not in the situation where I can easily just pick up from where I left. Because I am in the middle of something else then.
So that is what this is all about really. I need some good contribution thinking from you. Should I skip the online shop totally? Or should I try to alter some things to make it possible? What and how in that case?
(There are other possibilities for me to sell my jewelry, but they would mean other types of issues. And at the moment the online shop seems the easiest way after all.)
I am glad for just any little comment on this subject, do not feel you have to solve it all for me. Every little helps. It really does!
Of course their should be a possibility for you to gain something from helping me. How about a good old give-away? Or something else? Let me get back on that. All ideas on that are appreciated.
All my best,
Malin
