Archive for September, 2012

In case you ever wanted to own your own business, read this. . .

This morning I commuted to my kitchen in my pajamas, and went to work drawing monsters.  Yesterday, I painted an afro and few days ago it was eyeballs.  I’ve been playing around with new computer programs so our presentations are snazzier and tonight I sketched out a crayon box.  I get to cross the line between ” Design Dept” and “Marketing Dept” any ole’ time I feel like it.   I might even delve into being the “Sales Dept” after I get my grocery shopping done in the morning.  And it’s all in the name of WORK!  Whoo-hoo!  In my opinion, I am the luckiest girl around town.

Being an entrepreneur isn’t all fun and games though, even when you work in THE fun and games industry like we do.  Just like any other business, it’s projections, forecasts, and all kinds of numbers and speculation.  You’d think I’d have a better tolerance for it, but the mere mention of  FORECASTS makes me want to pull up my sweatshirt hood, cinch the strings down so tight that I can’t see out the little sweatshirt hole and just hideout in there.  Thankfully, I have a partner that is willing to brave the turbulent cesspool of numbers and pare it down to a cliff notes version that I can digest with my Cap’n Crunch.

It’s hard work.  It isn’t glamorous.  Working for yourself carries with it a stress that can make your stomach ache, and frequently does around our studio.  Truly, owning our own business is a daily step off a cliff into a future we can’t really predict, as much as we might try.  In a year and a half, we’ve experienced some REAL downers: product dropped from a catalog, low sales at the mass retailers, budgets for new licenses shrinking, feasibility is questioned, percentages are challenged, and (the worst stab to our ego) they just don’t like what we’ve invented.  But, together, Ryan and I, shake off the bad mojo like a wet dog, and move ahead.

“So why is she telling us all this?  She’s making being an entrepreneur sound terrible.” Back it up, you.  That isn’t the point I’m trying to make.  Didn’t you read the first paragraph?  My job is fun, because I like WHAT I do, HOW I do it, and picking WHEN I do it.  So does Ryan.  For us, that makes it all worth it.  (Sidenote:  Ahem, being able to pay the bills makes it worth it too.)

Being an entrepreneur isn’t for everyone.  But, liking what you do and enjoying how you spend so many hours of the day IS important.  If you have any questions about starting your own business, email me. We are always happy to share what we’ve learned with people interested in hearing it.

We’ll save the discussion about starting a business with your SPOUSE for another day. . .

Find a job you like and you add five days to every week.  ~H. Jackson Brown