Friday, September 2, 2011

Dont Be Mad At Us Vendors: Be Mad At The Republican Party

Ive been too busy to post lately and I was too busy to celebrate being here in my new studio and little town for one whole year as of August 15th! I have to be honest. Without the support of my customers, the move would never have been possible. I had great dreams for moving my business forward , decorating my studio, and getting a car. Well, as the bottom fell out of the American Dream, I ended up just trying to ride this roller coaster out and there was no moving forward. Treading water and trying not to sink was the focus for that year. And it was very scary. And I was really, really angry. All my hard work was just sliding into the toilet.

As when all apple barrels get upturned, someone gets mad regardless of whether you overturned them apples yourself or not. And so Ive managed to be overly late on a few custom Fluffie Rufflie orders that were being placed just when the shit came down. This isn't normal behaviour and these are special times. I do state on my Etsy listings that anything and everything can and will affect your order. It states right there in plain English all my info for you, the buyer. All you have to do is read it. Its just that simple. And everyone gets their goods. My postal receipts are sure fewer than they were last year, but I do still have enough to show that Ive been busy! Sellers don't want to talk about angry customers, but everyone gets one now and then. Its a numbers game. But I am here to talk about it all. Sometimes you get one or two that just don't get it, or don't read, or don't get the email that you sent, and sometimes you, the seller got it all wrong despite how hard you tried. But the truth is, nobody could stay in business if everyone hated what you did. I personally have had a few bad experiences buying online. Just enough to make me wary of doing it. But the vendors seem to have a happy customer base, so it was probably that this was when my number was up. Like I said, Shit happens and most vendors are more than willing to try to make you happy somehow. Nobody can make everyone happy all the time.

All my pending Fluffie Rufflie orders are done now ( except for one - and its almost done - and she knows about it) and I wont be making them again like I was.  Ive never believed in that saying that the customer is always right and I never will. If it were, we wouldn't have pages and pages of rules and information and contracts for you to read  to cover our asses. Because my loves: shit happens. And while I generally bend over backwards to give the customer what he or she wants - because I want us both to be happy with the product, this year pretty much almost did me in. Its nobody's fault. Fear is everywhere. And where there is fear, there is bad behavior. I have not been exempt from the fear factor, so Ive done my best to keep positive. Its hard to do sometimes and I have had my moments, but I don't want to attract that fear into my life any more than is already there.I want to thrive.

BUT. During this whole time, I have always felt that something new or different is around the corner and I still do. I have no idea what this "something" is, but its coming. Somehow, for some reason, Ive managed to keep this roof over my head and eat. And I owe this only to anyone who has ever purchased or commissioned anything from me. And I am here for a reason. The right people are starting to find me, and things are slowly feeling better. It may be another rocky winter, but for some reason, I feel that its not going to be that bad.

I love  what I do and I'm going to keep doing it one way or another. Ive got projects that I'm working on and Ive closed out the work that isn't viable  for me any longer. Its been a year of transition and those are always difficult, but very, very beneficial if you can get out of them in one piece. I'm still alive, I'm still working, I'm still in my dream studio, and if it wasn't the year of paying off debt, or buying a car and mega yards of brocade for new draperies that I had planned on, hopefully  next year will be.I still got to make some really cool stuff! And now that all those smaller orders are not hanging over my head, I am freed up for more work - for bigger projects. For making new merchandise. For a new day.

So don't be mad at us sellers.  Be mad at the Republicans or Demons of your choosing. We didn't cause this mess. Thank you.

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