To see some of our items being used, check them out.

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When I received the notification from Etsy that our shop had been suspended, I was a bit devastated at first. However, my daughter-in-law reminded me that this was an opportunity to strike out in a different direction and form the business the way that we need to in order to be successful.

I’m not sure if you are aware of this or not, but when we sell something on Etsy, Etsy takes a huge chunk of our money. We are charged to list an item (and relist after we sell). We are charged a percentage of our sale and they charge us for taking the payment.

When we sell on our website, we only pay for payment processing and not for relisting (or listing) an item. Plus, Etsy never let us double dip with the coupons. What’s up with that?

We also have plans for wanting to expand into brick-and-mortar retail. Can you blame us? Online is nice because we can reach so many people all around the world, but we really need to expand beyond 2 rooms in my house. We need space to grow, and having a retail space will provide that. Just hang in there as we go through some growing pains. We will start with updating Facebook shops to sell there, and then we will be prepping our website to be more efficient. We’re looking forward to providing you with a better shopping experience, something that Etsy didn’t allow us to give you.

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I know life isn’t always about money, but when you are growing a business that you want to become sustainable, that sound represents growth.

Last night, when the app alerted us to another sale, we celebrated with high fives all around when we realized that we just had our first double sale (they purchased 2 items with 1 purchase). It wasn’t for a whole lot of money, but it was our first milestone. We’ve already had a repeat customer, and now, we had our first customer to purchase 2 items at the same time. We were ecstatic.

My son commented that once we started having more sales and needed help, he would learn the business and become our first employee. Of course, he said that he would learn to sew. I think I could continue to sew and pass on the computer to him. I realized this morning that my favorite thing to do is sew. Posting items? Not so much. He also stated that this would not be possible without his money. It seems he purchased the fabric for the item that sold last night. I just laughed.

The truth is that none of this would be possible had I not had a serious reaction to steroids that caused me to be hospitalized in October. I sat in that hospital room and watched videos on YouTube (which is my favorite past time), and I dreamed of something more. I already had an Etsy and a website where I sold items, and it was pretty much stagnant. I had been watching videos to learn how to increase my traffic and improve my sales when a sudden idea struck me: What if we started a children’s clothing store?

As soon as I got out of the hospital, I asked my daughter-in-law if she would be interested in joining together for a business. We sat down, created a business plan, and I started to teach her how to use the Silhouette Portrait to cut Heat Transfer Vinyl. From there, we expanded.

Our main goal: A sustainable family business that will provide income. We eventually want to expand into wholesale and retail markets beyond what we do here in our tiny space. Will it be possible? Yes, as long as we keep hearing those lovely Cha-Chings!

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We have uploaded our first shirt for purchase. You may have seen the Facebook and Instagram posts of items being hot off the press. If not, you really should follow us on Facebook or Instagram. It is a great way to know when sales will be happening. Of course, signing up for our newsletter is another way to make sure that you are in the loop of what is going on.

As we are now open for business, have you caught on to what our business is about?

We are nerds in training offering clothing items for little nerds in training. DnD (Dungeons and Dragons) is a favorite past time, and we thought about how much we would dress the children to reflect our favorite things, even the nerdy things.

As we open for business, we realize that we may have painted ourselves into a corner with such a focused niche, but we are confident that our products will appeal to more than just the DnD and Magic folks. We want to provide our customers with a unique experience in general.

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