Sea Change

sea change |  a profound or notable transformation. ORIGIN from Shakespeare’s Tempest ( i. ii. 403).

So here goes my first blog post for the brand spankin’ new Sea Pony Studio site. It’s a long one, but I think you’ll understand why…

It’s been an amazing and transformational eighteen months since I first started this adventure — and there are even more big and wonderful changes coming. I’m excited to share the best bits here with you.

The most obvious change is this fancy new website and blog — which required more time and energy and troubleshooting and tears than you could ever imagine. But here it is and I love it! (Big props to my fabulous hubby, Sam, for making this a reality.)

For those who’ve followed my handmade journey: you have been an incredible source of inspiration, encouragement and support. It was your heartfelt Facebook comments, private message kudos and repeat purchases that made me realize that I could truly call myself a jewelry designer.

Some of you may remember my announcement about being chosen to sell on Overstock.com this past winter. I was thrilled beyond words to have my designs available on such a well-known site. And with it came a new sense of “Wow, I’m in business!” — quickly followed by “Wow, I really gotta put on my big girl business pants now!”. This lead to me enrolling in the Build a Better Creative Business course online, which lead me to the amazing Marie Forleo‘s B-School (to which I won an incredible scholarship) and I’m just finishing a course with Flourish & Thrive Academy to learn business basics specifically geared toward jewelry designers. Throw in some one-on-one coaching sessions with Tracy Matthews (Jewelry Design Mentor Extroidonaire) and you can imagine the trip my little brain has been on since March.

The breakdown
After four months of excitedly preparing to sell on Overstock, I was just diving into B-School when my products finally went live on the site. Maybe it was the overwhelm of the coursework, but I found myself crippled with anxiety rather than excitement. In an effort for complete transparency, I must disclose that I also work another job in addition to my jewelry design. The prospect of hand-weaving 50 bracelets a week in my “spare time” made me want to curl up into a ball and never look at another bead.

There were a lot of jokes about me opening up my own personal sweatshop, but deep down that’s the reality I saw for myself. I had set myself up to build a business I did not love and would never provide enough income to ever think of making jewelry my only focus.

So what’s changing?
This part is hard to write because I feel like I’ll truly be letting some of you down, but it’s time to say it… I’m transitioning out of handmade jewelry. This decision has been difficult (just ask Sam, who has watched me struggle with it on a daily basis), but it stems from the two most important lessons I’ve learned recently.

1. My true passion is as designer rather than maker. The difference may seem trivial, but when it comes to growing a business it means a completely different model.

2. To be profitable, jewelry collections must be easily reproducible and custom work must come at a premium.

Like everything, this will be a process as I fulfill my last handful of custom handmade orders. But I am deeply invested in this process. In fact, I am thrilled about this process — when I imagine my ideal business a year from now all feels right with the world.

I can’t wait to unveil all the details for my new adventure, and that time will be very soon. If we’re Facebook friends, you’ve probably already guessed my new design direction. If we’re not, just take a look at my homepage here on the site for a clue.

I will be posting news here and on Facebook, but if you’d like to be the first to know about my new product updates and pre-launch specials just get my special email list. Join the list »

So here’s to moving onto to bigger and better things *clink*! And in the process, fulfilling my insatiable need to dream and create beautiful things for you to fall in love with.

Smiles,
Sara