BE THE DIFFERENCE

It's easy to make a buck. It's a lot harder to make a difference.  ~Tom Brokaw

I have spent the past couple of weeks, really stressing over the fact that I have been giving away more products than I have been selling (four to one). First, I went through wondering what I was doing wrong. I don't have a major in marketing and I am winging-it in just about every area, and the learning curve has been steep! I started up Gypsy Essentials a little over a year ago, with the idea that I would be able to make up the difference in our income (with Aaron's second job gradually decreasing over the next year or so) and somehow make a difference in the world. Last year, I gave away about 3x as much as I sold. Which was okay with me. Everything I gave away, was to people I love and wanted to share my love with. Over the past year, I learned a lot about setting up a website, selling in boutiques, and going to craft fairs (the one craft fair I did attend, was a disaster for everyone there). Over the past week, I began doubting my capabilities and wondering if others really like my products or if they are just being kind and supportive because they love me (I am very loved by my friends, this much I do know) or excited to get something for FREE (I have heard that people will enter contests for just about anything, because it is FREE! FREE! FREE! That VCR-potato peeler-back massager they won was FREE!).

 I have been spending 30+ hours a week working on Gypsy Essentials. That is a lot of time, when you consider I am homeschooling 5 of our 6 kids and attempting to stay at home with all of them, while working these 30+ hours. Between making calls, sending e-mails, researching to find Wubblies/organizations to help out with our sales, along with actually making all of the products I love, I have been going to bed around 2am and waking back up around 6am. My evenings and weekends are no longer relaxing. I no longer have clean counter tops and sinks or know where all of the missing socks have migrated to. And the bathrooms....don't get me started! I have delegated meals, laundry, and bathing to the older kids and Aaron. I have been reading, talking with mentors and friends, and (of course) working on products so much lately, that I haven't had a chance to really sit back and take a look at all I am doing and want to do.

 Finally, this weekend, I did just that. I took a really hard look at what I want to accomplish with Gypsy Essentials and what my plans are for the future. I sat down and discussed my plans with a couple of dear friends, whose opinions I hold very high. Their advice, was to not donate any money or time, to focus on my business and how I can make money....which is great advice, and I know I should proabably take it to heart, but I still have this part of me that wants so very badly to be able to BE THE DIFFERENCE, to BE THE CHANGE, to BE THE GOOD. I know, it sounds very nice, so sweet, even noble, but it isn't as a means to pat myself on the back. It is something that is innate in  my soul (and I am guessing in every other person's soul, as well). It's in every one of us, to be loved, to feel safe, to feel wanted, to be appreciated. It is natural to want to help others to feel the same way. While my friends were right, I am going to have to begin managing my time and prioritizing better, I just can't give up on the aspect of Gypsy Essentials that takes up most of my time right now. I know it is going to be a little bit more time and effort, but I will have to give up some of the other areas in my life. Book Club will not be attended this year, my garden may not get weeded as often, the carpets may go weeks without being vacuumed, and the bathrooms will still be embarrassing to have guests go into, but I will continue with seeking out and assisting others in donating to those causes that strike deep to the core of my being. That is just the way it is.

Once I have everything more organized, with our Wubblies, my plan is to find several different organizations which are supporting more causes I feel passionate about, and to donate to and help raise funds for those causes...but not this week.

Another issue I have had, over the past year, is the fact that everyone wants something for nothing. When I tell people that it took me a few months of looking, to find the colors of upcycled fabrics that I use in my Gypsy Mats (ALL of the fabric used in them is upcycled, even the tags), they look at me with that blank stare my kids give me when I have been lecturing them for over 10 minutes. When I tell them that it, then, took me another 2 hours to wash & dry (that part isn't actually any work....lol), to rip, to crochet, and to sew the Gypsy Mats, their eyes glaze over even more. Then they begin asking me if I can share my technique with them. This is the part that always gets me! I am naturally a sharing and caring kind of gal. I want to educate the world, I want to have everyone able to do whatever I do. If someone asks me about homeschooling, I usually will spend hours giving them my reasons, my resources, my love and my support. If they were to ask me about homebirthing, I would do the same. These are subjects that I feel passionate about and have spent years educating myself on. I LOVE to share info. So, naturally, when they first asked, I was going into great detail, sharing how I made my product and wishing them the best of luck with their own "craft". Hey, they wouldn't go home and start up their own business and try to copy everything I am making, right? What did I have to lose? But after a sweet, fellow craftsman overheard me sharing one day and realized I was naive to the crafting business, he shared with me that my time is worth more than just freely sharing all of my hard work and efforts with the public. Nowadays, I just tell people to google crocheting in the round or rag rugs (and I have even learned to send friends an e-mail with links on homebirthing, homeschooling, etc.....I just don't have the time to spend hours on the phone or in person sharing what I know, only to have them ask me again and again and again. It is a matter of efficiency.). The truth is, with today's technology, you can make just about everything on your own. In fact, just about anything you see in a craft boutique, you can go home and make for yourself. The real question here isn't CAN YOU, but WILL YOU? ;)

I spent a long time trying to figure out just the right pattern for my Gypsy Mats, through trial and error. Most crocheters already know how to read a pattern and have been crocheting in the round forever. Not me. I can't read a sewing or crochet pattern to save my life. I have borrowed library books on the subject and have plenty of mentors, but haven't taken the time to learn....too busy thinking up NEW products to create! I came up with the design for the Gypsy Towel, all on my own. I am sure somewhere in the world, someone has something similar, but if you look around here and on etsy, you won't find that design. And it works! Not only are my Gypsy Towels bright, vibrant, and FUN, but they function better than your grandma's design ever did. Some of the key ingredients to creating an awesome product, for me, are being functional, beautiful, and resourceful (which is why I use upcycled fabrics with as much as I can). But, while everyone wants one and wants to know where I got the towels from, if I can show them how to crochet the top, they balk at the amount of money I am asking. Yes, it may seem like a lot to you. But take into consideration that the buttons, alone, usually run me around $1-$2. The yarn isn't that expensive, as I have found that acrylic holds up the longest (and costs the least....thank goodness!). The sewing around the edges is less than a dollar. The towels only cost me a couple of dollars. The insignia (which I have an embroiderer do, because it is my own design and I don't own a $10,000 machine that can do digitized embroidery) costs me more than the towel does, at $2.50 per tag or piece. Put all of that together, take into consideration that it takes me about 45 minutes to crochet on my Gypsy Towels (down from 1 hour when I first began) and around 8 minutes to sew (down from 1/2 hour, when I first began. LOL), that I travel to pick up all of the materials, wash the towels before I begin, to make sure they are not going to have issues with the edges, pay to have them listed on etsy and in the stores where I have booths, pay for Paypal, pay for the electricity, machines, tools I use, pay for tags, paper to make signs, etc.....and you can see why I would charge what I do. It all adds up. I am not WalMart, I am not even KMart. I have to pay what you would for supplies. I don't ship the work  I have, out to China or Thailand. I do the work myself or hire someone local to help me. And I am okay with all of that. I LOVE what I create and know that, at some point, others will see my creations for what they are and be willing to pay what they are worth. I am FOLLOWING MY BLISS!

Once I found my groove and accepted the fact that I LOVE what I create, even though I wasn't making much more than a dollar an hour, I decided to begin figuring out a way to make a difference. I began with the Wubblies, because over the past year, I had watched one of my best friends, Dee, working her tail off to get funds for the adoption of their son, Peter. I knew that this was an area I could feel passionate about and so I began looking for another child to help find their forever family.

Sara and Samuel's names were given to me from a liaison at Reece's Rainbows. I thought they sounded like they needed help. I thought I could make a difference. Right from the get-go, I felt frustrated. Because of the coding for the widget Reece's Rainbow provided me, I wasn't able to add it to my blog, so I spent a couple of days and moved everything from Wordpress, over to Blogger. Which was okay, I thought, if I was going to be working with Reece's Rainbow, I wanted donors to be able to see the progress and get excited over the difference they were making. Since I had no way to know who had donated or how much, there wasn't a way to promote it much, other than to share their touching story....again and again. I am still not sure how much was raised for Sara & Samuel during the month I had their widget on our website. At any rate, one day I came to post on my website, and found that where the widget had been, it now said "page not found". I sent a message to the liaison for Reece's Rainbows and she joyously announced that they had a forever family that was working towards their adoption. YES! This was awesome news! She said that if I wanted to, I could help the family raise funds for the adoption. Well, it just so happened that, only a couple of weeks earlier, my friend, Dee, who had just returned with her Wubbly, Peter, had announced that they were going to be raising funds for another adoption, Divine's. I was torn. I wanted to continue on with Sara and Samuel, but I really didn't feel like what I had been doing for them had even made a dent and felt that I could support Divine's adoption and Dee's efforts more effectively. I discussed it with my kids (who are, for all intent and purposes, the Board of Directors for Gypsy Essentials) and with Aaron (my business partner). They all said it was up to me, but that they would like to support Divine's adoption more. I vacillated in my head, between the two options, for a good 2 weeks. I prayed. I debated. I even thought of drawing names out of a hat.....but then I finally received the answer I was seeking. I knew that Sara and Samuel would receive the help they deserve. I knew that the Taylors will be able to raise the funds they need, through the vast network they have been building over the years, with all of the other adoptions they have been fortunate to fulfill. I knew that Dee was a miracle worker herself, and I also remembered conversations we had had when we were just 14 years old. We both loved (still do)  kids and both wanted to adopt kids, at some point. I had been adopted by my parents and she had been adopted by her dad. We both knew of the importance and we both wanted to "travel the world and have babies from as many places as we needed to adopt them from". As I am not in a position, emotionally, physically or financially to adopt at this point, the best thing I can do, is to support my sister in her efforts to save these children and give them the love they deserve. My choice had been made and I am now perfectly at peace with my final decision.

I give you, Divine! This Wubbly is in Liberia. We will be donating a portion of our proceeds from our 2013 Wubbblies, from this point forward, toward Divine's adoption. We will get a link to Divine's donate button, once it is available. In the meantime, feel free to join this FB page, to share your support and to find out more about how Dee was able to raise funds for Peter's adoption last year. She has an e-book that will be coming out soon, with a lot of valuable info on fundraising, in general, even though it will be especially beneficial for all of you who are working towards an international  adoption. And 100% of the profits from this e-book will be put towards Divine's adoption. Yay!

So, now you know what I have been through over the past year, what I am in the process of working out, and what we are planning on doing in the future. Hopefully, this will give you a little bit of insight into who I am and explain what we are doing here at Gypsy Essentials. We may not be perfect, but we are working towards BEING THE CHANGE, BEING THE DIFFERENCE, BEING THE GOOD....and that is all any of us can do, really.

BE THE CHANGE.
BE THE DIFFERENCE.
BE THE GOOD.
~Danni