Made a decision, it's small, but it's a start!

So I went to pay my water bill today with the money that I didn't give to the lawyer yesterday and they said that they didn't show that a check has come back to them from me yet (so it bought me a few days) and I figured, a few days of my etsy site being up can bring in another 500.00 especially with Valentines Day around the corner.  So, my etsy bill is paid (411.00) and I even have money for gas.  I'm feeling positive again.  I've been on etsy all morning and facebook, adding new items to my site and sharing on facebook.  Let's hope it brings in sales.  In case you would like to take a look, here is my etsy link:  www.etsy.com/shop/christienano.  And, for those of you who don't know what etsy is, it's a site for people who handmake items, sell vintage items, or supplies of crafters.  It's a worldwide wonderful place to sell your wares and it only costs 7.00 to start your selling page and .20 cents to list an item.  They take a small percentage of each sale.  I sell wholesale on there with a slight markup to factor in etsy's cut and paypals cut!  Great way to start an at-home business moms!  Do you knit, make soap, paint?  Try it out, it's cheap and you never know.  I never expected to do any business on there and poo-pooed it for quite some time, then in March 2010 I finally put some cufflinks on there because that was the one item that I didn't sell to any of my stores and sales started rolling in. Now, I have over 200 items on there and it has become 98% of my business!  Of course the site is saturated with my kind of jewelry so I've had to step it up and create new and interesting things, but I still make a decent living off of it.

My biggest problem last year was opening up a retail clothing store downtown Hollister.  It took up all my time, I had to pay employees and my jewelery business suffered.  I now have to give CMD some TLC and get it back up to where I know it can be again.

So, that's it, feeling hopeful, and grateful (my friend Laura is coming down here today to treat me to a pedicure..I have the best friends!!)

Appreciate your friends, and don't give up hope...ever!

xoxo C