Making Progress Slowly

Today seems to be one of the slowest days I've had in a long, long time. The Internet keeps timing out; the weather is gray and chilly. I wish it would just actually rain! The world's largest rosemary was alive with small birds when I looked out at it a little while ago. I think they are eating the seeds, for the bush had been covered in blue flowers a few days ago. Maybe this is why rosemary never self-sows--there aren't enough seeds left.

The birds are pretty, little yellow and black finches. Not as charming or as aggressive as the hummingbirds, but fun to watch.

I have been working on loading items onto my Etsy shop where there about 100,000 shops. Not as many as on Cafepress, but still plenty of people. I find it heartening that there is a community of people still trying to make things by hand, truly beautiful things, and to make a living in the process. Artisans and crafts people are competing against mass produced goods, hand-crafts from underdeveloped countries where the cost of living is much lower and each other. (Hmm. Maybe I should move to an underdeveloped country.)

I joined Etsy last year and it has taken me this long to figure out how to put things up on it and what things will work. In the interval, I notice that they have begun posting serious articles to help people run their businesses as businesses and I hope to learn from these articles. I hate to see so many things under priced and yet am afraid to just jump in and price mine higher. The point, after all, is to find buyers!

Maybe building a business is a little like gardening: some days it needs fallow time and there is also weeding to do too. The ideas that aren't worth pursuing, the customer list that needs shortening, seeds to plant. I work at some of the things I do because I like to work with my hands. Too frequently I find that most of the hand-work that I've done in a day is typing; not creative at all and not fulfilling, but necessary.

The underdeveloped country is starting to look more attractive. Still I am grateful for a place to work in peace, light and heat and that the days are getting longer.