Recently I have had some life changing events. Not going into details I will say that my brick and mortar has changed names. In addition to the name change I am soon going to be the only one making items for the shop. This creates a bit of an issue for me when it comes to time management.
Over the last couple of years I have juggled several projects including multiple online shops, wholesale accounts, shows and a brick and mortar shop. I will not say it has been easy because, well, it hasn't. It takes a lot of energy to do everythings that needs to be done. I am now to the point where something has to give. I have to realistically look at what I can and cannot make time for.
At the moment, this project, Market My Shop, makes very little income. And when I say very little I mean almost no income whatsoever. Every now and then I sell one of my eBooks in my Etsy shop, but it is pretty rare. My only other source of income from this blog is the tiny amount of money I make from Google Ad Words. That equates to about $30 a year, meaning every 3 years or so Google pays me.
I am considering letting this blog and the Etsy shop go. I hate to break it down to income but I just cannot afford to keep doing all of the free things that I have been doing. I am already putting in 12 to 18 hours each and every day just to maintain all of the other things I am doing.
I am open to suggestions. So, if you have a great idea that will help me gain time to continue a pretty much free project or a possible way to monetize it so that it can pay for itself I am totally willing to listen. I welcome your comments and emails. And just for the record, no firm decision has been made on anything yet.
I sympathize with you. There just aren't enough hours in the day to do everything. Unfortunately, I don't have any suggestions.
ReplyDeleteYour blog is on my Bloglovin watch list, so I'll be back any time you have the time and energy to post.
I don't have any suggestions, but whatever you decide , I want to wish you all the best. You gotta do what you gotta do, and I'm sure you'll make the right decision. I've enjoyed reading the emails from Market My Shop. I'm sure you'll get through this tough time - hang in there!
ReplyDeleteI wish you the best.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds as if you're on the road to burnout.
It's a rational choice to drop the projects that demand time with virtually no monetary return.
I know exactly where you are coming from. I had to make a big decision right after Christmas on whether to continue my Farmers Market or just stay with Etsy. I agonized long and hard over it and finally came to the decision the Market had to go. While there are times I miss it, I realize that it was the best thing for me.
ReplyDeleteI truly enjoy your blogs and will miss them but do what is best for you.
If you burn the candle at both ends, you get a candle that doesn't work. The lesson of course is that you're getting burned out.
ReplyDeleteMaybe cut down your postings to a couple times a month, or even once a month with a longer article. It's not so much the writing that takes up the time, it's the getting on and getting it posted, I find.
Good luck on your decision. We appreciate what you have done, even though I get behind to post responses too much.
Other than spending a few hours writing a bunch of blog posts and scheduling them to post later, the only other thing I can think of is to sell blog ads to ... US! You could use Etsy mini's, so they'd all be consistent. I think if the ad price was $3 or $5 per month, there would be a decent response. Good luck with whatever you decide!
ReplyDeleteI recently had to make a tough decision about continuing as a participant on a wholesale web site. I'd been there a year and, although the fee wasn't much, I also wasn't selling very much there. I've been doing really well on Etsy this year; it's nowhere near enough to live on, but it's enough to help out now and then.