enJOY it
an archived personal and craft blog from Elise Blaha Cripe.
Category: this is my business story
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My word for 2014 is whole. I thought it was going to be a more personal word, but I realized as I've looked back at this year, that what I have been doing most with my work is trying to tell the whole story. I'm sharing the behind the scenes with MAKE29 products and so…
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read part ten here. After having a baby in 2013, I entered 2014 feeling a bit more like myself. I had a plan to close the stamp shop, launch MAKE29 and start the podcast. Basically in that order. As I mentioned earlier, my markup on stamps was not enough to grow or fuel this business…
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read part nine here. One of the greatest mistakes that I have ever made was assuming that I could do it all at the same time. I planned to take a two month "maternity leave" when I had Ellerie. But what I didn't come up with was a plan for after the maternity leave ended.…
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read part eight here. I entered 2012 without much of a plan for how I'd make money. There was no plan for anything really. Paul was still deployed. Our new townhouse was mostly decorated. I was running out of steam on prints and minibooks. My online workshops felt like they had run their course. I…
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read part seven here. Sometimes when I start talking money or financial goals people get a bit nervous. "Oh, I hate to think about the money." Or "Oh I'd rather not discuss money." But, let's get real, to make money you've got to think about the money. As we learned from The Baby-Sitters Club and…
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read part six here. It's now June 2010 and I'm trying to make a real go of working for myself. This is, honestly, where things start to get fun. Don't get me wrong, the juggle of a day job and an internship and a commute and the snow was interesting and it definitely taught me…
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read part five here. Sidenote : as I have been writing this story, I have been occasionally dropping back into the archives to get my timeline right (I am so off-base about when things happened it’s hilarious). And you guys, after a stroll through the archives, I find myself even more confused about how I…
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read part four here. I graduated college in May 2007. Immediately after, I took a trip to Europe with some of my best girlfriends from high school and then spent rest of the summer hanging out with my parents and preparing to move to Maryland. I remember leaving them at the Sacramento airport. We all…
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read part three here. It's so easy to gloss over not getting all those jobs in the fall of 2006. If this was feel-good story in a creative living magazine it would be romanticized and I'd say I failed because I was supposed to be working for myself and "everything happens for a reason" but…
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read part two here. My transition to college was average, I'd say. I didn't love it so much from the start. I had really enjoyed high school, so I missed my friends. I missed my house. I missed shopping at Target with my mom. But like most things, it became easier with time and I…
enJOY it 