Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Enough is enough.

I'm getting down to business today.

I've been absent from this space for so long due to one simple fact. I don't want to write this blog post. I've been putting it off, procrastinating, worrying, stressing, spinning around and around in circles about it. Even now as I sit here in front of the screen I'm fighting the urge to walk the dogs, do the dishes, click on any window to get me away from this task. And now that I've gotten you sufficiently worried, too, here goes.

Changes have come to Fall Creek Fibers. Due to many (many many) circumstances, my business plan had to change.

Fall Creek Fibers will no longer be an online one stop shop. After much reflection (and worry about space, cost, and the effect this business was going to have on my personal life) I've come to the conclusion that the only reason I love doing this job so much is because I get to be creative. Where's the creativity in buying something from someone and then reselling it to someone else? There's money in it, sure. And there's a surprisingly large demand for undyed roving and dye and very few suppliers, sure. But no love. (Cue the Santa Cruz hippie woman in me with messy hair and incense.) The love and passion that is poured into hand dyed goods is what makes them special.

And on that note, Fall Creek Fibers will continue to sell hand dyed roving and hand spun yarn. And hand dyed yarn in wholesale or special order quantities (and through the sock yarn club).

And possibly down the road, dye kits for the aspiring fiber artist.

Now, I'm wrestling with these decisions for many reasons. One, I'm not into doing things in a halfway fashion and cutting back on my business plans sounds halfway. Two, there is a place in my heart for my original business plan, but I think that place includes a brick and mortar store tucked into a busy strip with an apartment above and a shop cat named Suri. Three, I really WANT to do this the way I had originally planned. Unfortunately, the things that are stopping me are too big to ignore and more than wanting this, I DON'T want to set myself up to fail.

There have also been many shifts happening in my personal life that make now (I'm a big fan of doing things big and NOW) not the best time to have large amounts of inventory in my possession. There's been talk of moving, of staying, of moving again, of staying even more and when we finally reached a decision that will affect us for the next year (when Sean and I speak of change we often put time constraints on decisions, as we both tend to want to do everything big and NOW), it was one of staying. Staying in this beautiful (but too small) space through another winter and into another spring. This wasn't necessarily the decision either of us WANTed to make, but I think it was the right one. I know I don't go very much into the lobster's life, but basically his job right now is about to open up his skill set to an entirely new and different field. One in which he will be able to move around much more freely within the next couple years... Hard to pass up an opportunity like that. Also, we have the BEST landlords in the whole entirety of rentworld and we can't leave them without the right place to go. And while this space is certainly not ideal for running a business out of, it is home. Hopefully with a little bit of rearranging we can make it work for another year.

So there we have it. The big scary decision I didn't want to make but did.

Keep an eye out for the new Fall Creek Fibers website, blog, and shop on July 1st.

And all the yarn currently in the etsy shop is buy one get one half off until it sells out and then it will only be available by special order or wholesale, so get it now if you've had your eye one it!

3 comments:

Jacqueline said...

Here, here! I support your decision.

Emily said...

Brie,
It's a great plan! So long as you can be my fiber pimp all is well. ;)

Also, very much feel you on the whole small space. Thankfully we have a garage and most things that don't fit go there. Having one car is such a blessing and a curse, but it's allowed us to keep a lot of stuff hidden away.

^_^
Take care of yourself,
Em

Anonymous said...

I absolutely believe that you need to do what makes YOU happy. And for the record, your amazing creativity, astounding talent with color, and mad spinning abilities are what I first fell in love with when I first came across your shop. Of course, now I think you are even more amazing and talented than I first realized AND an awesome, incredible person too!
So, do what makes you happy! I support you will still keep coming back for more of your amazing goodies!!!