Wholesale...to do or not to do?

It’s interesting how we can be strolling along in our daily life, with all our plans laid out, not thinking too much of anything other than what’s in front of us at the time.
Also interesting how just a phone call can make us take a different look at our “daily” lives and pay attention to something we previously hadn’t given too much thought to, if any. I was approached by two different companies this week who were both interested in buying my products wholesale or working as a drop shipment producer. I have to be honest - before Tuesday, I didn’t even know what the words “drop shipment” meant! I know, I know, where has this girl been hiding for the past 40 years - under a rock? Anyway, when I received the first call, I was sure it was some sort of scam or hoax. Since launching my website a year and a half ago, I’ve received several hokey email requests, and after determining they were of the dangerous sort, I deleted them immediately. I was actually a bit rude at first with this phone call because I was sure he was wasting my precious time. But, I soon learned he had a genuine company and he truly wanted to talk about a purchasing agreement of some sort. So, once I gleaned from him what it was he was interested in and I asked for a reference I could contact, I told him to give me a call the next day, once I had a chance to talk with my husband, think this through and call the reference, who happens to be one of his current suppliers.
Long story short, the reference gave a glowing report and my husband and I could see no way in which entering into an agreement with this company could be unsafe or financially risky, BUT, and it’s a big “but”, it could bring on plenty of pressure and extra stress and I wasn’t sure I wanted that. That actually didn’t bother me too much at first and I was ready for him to call me back so we could get started on our little business adventure. Skepticism morphed into anticipation as I ran thru my mind the ideas and plans for this new adventure. Right before I went to bed that night, something just kinda clicked in my mind….I can’t even remember what triggered it, but I started thinking a little more about the details this kind of agreement entails. One thing that would happen is that all my labels would have to come off my products. I like my labels, and I like putting my name on my product. I also realized that I liked contact with my customers, talking with them, getting to know them and for most of them, creating for them a custom product ~ a one-of-a-kind item, made just for their purposes. Growing up as a young sewist, I was always in a hurry to finish the item I was working on and my mother would constantly chide me that I needed to slow down because my quality suffered when I was in a hurry. Well, that rule still applies today! It’s one thing to be able to churn out a mass number of items in a short period of time, but it’s another to produce carefully made, quality items for your customers and not be afraid of them finding the hurried mistakes in it. I have strived over the past two years to do just that, and I knew that taking on mass production in ANY level was going to challenge me in that area. I had to remind myself of this by posting a note to myself on the door of my sewing room.

When our oldest child moved away to college, I immediately overtook her room and changed it into what I called my "funroom" because it had all the fun stuff in it...the computer, my TV, my sewing stuff, etc...Since then, another child has moved out and I overtook her room, too, because I had simply outgrown the first room and needed to separate the computer stuff from the sewing stuff (can't wait for the last to move out and then I'll have my kingdom complete....bwah-ha-ha-ha). Anyway, it's called the "funroom" because I have fun in there....tell me now, why would I want to change that by making sewing un-fun?
I think what really un-sealed the deal was when I remembered a recently-read Scripture verse and applied it to the situation

Proverbs 30:7-9...here's just a snippet:

...give me neither poverty nor riches,

but give me only my daily bread...

Reading that again just helped drive it all home. What is even cooler is that my son posted a verse on facebook that was totally similar in meaning - Luke 12:15. I commented back to him, sharing my verse and how unique that we had stumbled upon similar verses and were being challenged in the same way at the same time. To add to that, my oldest daughter saw both our posts and added her own that just a day or two before she had read I Timothy 6:6-10 and it had impressed her in the same way. When God spoke to me on this one, He spoke in threefold!!

I’m just one child shy of being an empty-nester and she’s trying with all her might to get out of the house, much more so - out of the country (more on that story at a later time). But just because I have more time on my hands than a young mother with young children at her feet, doesn’t mean I’m ready to dive into a stressful, mass production business adventure just to make more profit. We’ve been blessed to not have a mortgage or any car payments so our cost of living is actually quite low and God consistently proves that He takes care of us and always provides what we truly need, and occasionally treating us by satisfying a “want”. I always knew that if my sewing became more of a “have to” than a “want to” I would begin to dread it and I never wanted that…I still don’t.

I am truly content and that means everything to me.

So, when the second business proposal arrived today, it was easy to shrug it off and keep my feet on the path.

OK, enough of the deep stuff…on a lighter note, the lazy susan that lives in the middle of our dining room table is on it’s last rollers. She has been replaced by (get this) a brand new double decker turntable.

Wow!! – we are totally upper crust bonetown rednecks now, buddy!



Thanks to everyone visiting and lending an ear to my thoughts on wholesale. I feel better now!

P.S. Did you see that awesome fish “quilt” on Survivor? It was a puzzle the contestants had to put together but instantly upon seeing it, you can’t help but think “Oooh…that would make a neat QUILT!”