Pretending And Attempting.

This year, I decided it was my year.

Last November, I left my job as a practice manager for a physiotherapist practice. The stress was too much, the hours were too huge, the pay was too little and overall my health and mental wellbeing were being neglected. I had a few things line up, and it was finally time to start seeing specialists and getting my body back in order. I took this as an opportunity - my brother came to visit, we went to Canada for Christmas, health time was to get kick started when we returned home. Not often do people the the support of a lovely man, who was willing to take it for the team entirely and let me sort things out without the added stress of working. That sounds so lazy, but seriously, as I later found out, stress was major fuel in my body's revolt.

So, I found myself happily without a job in November, but pretty well occupied with visits and tourist things and preparing and enjoying. It wasn't until I returned home from Canada that it hit --- what was I going to do?

It turns out that this was just what I needed in a lot of ways. From the get go, I really started planning, working on a new website, getting some marketing ideas and really trying to learn skills that would (hopefully) give me some success. I made myself a new website that I'm so happy with -- it was everything I had been hoping for and made me feel much more... confident online. (My main hurdle in creating this business has been my lack of connections and networks. Moving to Sydney not two years ago has meant that I have a really small network of people around me, so getting my name out there has proven, by far, to be my biggest challenge. Nevermind not knowing anyone really with kids! I'm still working on that, but details are to come next time...) While my focus was on photography, I think that the realization that making fascinators was becoming more successful than my photography was slightly depressing, however just a little bit cool.

Anyways! So, you guys, I've decided to go for it. Both!

I've been producing hair pieces and things like crazy, in the hopes of having enough product to sell at a market or two -- encouragingly, as soon as I had decided this, I was invited to a market in June by an Australian artist's collective. That was the little boost I needed to get started, and I've also arranged with a friend to share a stall, officially making Oh Peaches! Design's market debut in April! This is really exciting for me, I think it's going to be a great way to gauge what sells, what style to make more of, and to get my name out there. I'm doing smarter things -- all pieces will now come branded and packaged nicely. I really think that these last six weeks spent learning more and educating myself on marketing, etc, have been so valuable -- and there is still so much to learn.

I think I need to save the rest of the more recent details for my next post, because I've had a crazy week and I want to tell you why!