Big sales week!

Compared to a week ago, when I was running at a deficit, I feel like I'm rolling in the money.

Whoo hoo!

(don't get too excited, it still doesn't amount to much, but at least I'm no longer in the red)

I've had NINE orders this last week, which, for a gal who generally runs around the house screaming every time she gets an email from etsy notifying her of a sale is pretty darned good.

(this is way more orders than I had in all of 2008)

Most of the orders were for single cards (my Alice in Wonderland card sold twice!), but I did have two sets of birthday cards sell (one was a variation of the mermaid invitations for a set of triplets. A flat comp is pictured above (this was such a rush -- it should get to the customer within a week of her contacting me -- that I never got to the point of constructing a physical comp, which is what I usually do to get final approval). The other is a set of fifty circus invitations, which is an amazingly popular item for me).

So, a very good week.

But at the end of the week, after spending quite a few late nights and early mornings slaving away with and exacto knife and glue, I have to stop and think about my actual goals with this venture.

I started because I love to do this and it is incredibly affirming to have someone actually like my work enough to pay cash money for it.

I then can use the money to pay for more supplies (pretty card stock! cute stock imagery!). I LOVE this factor. I don't have to feel like I'm taking money out of the boys' college funds when I buy a luxurious pack of card stock.

At the beginning, getting a lot of sales and making a ton of money seemed to be the goal to shoot for, but with additional sales comes... additional work. I like some work, but too much work is just too much.

I'm still not all that sure that I'm making minimum wage at this point (I'm my own sweatshop!).

All this requires some thought...