LIVING IN THE REAL WORLD

As opposed to where, you might be asking?

Good question.

This post is going to start with a few disclosures, which may or not take the shape of a discombobulated rant. Hang with me, it'll become cohesive by posts end. At least I'm hoping.

For the past 15 or so years, much of my life has been lived online.

In the mid to late 90s, I converted to Catholicism.

Around the same time, I purchased my first computer, and the very first thing I typed into the search engine was "Catholicism".

The woefully inadequate catechesis I received from my RCIA program was supplemented by the many wonderful Catholic resources I was able to find online. Hooray for cyberspace!

Fast forward a few years.

Frustrated by the lack of like-minded dating prospects in my geographical area, I gave online dating a try.

Yes, I'm one of those people.  ;-)

At the behest of a friend, I placed a profile on match.com, making sure to keep my faith and pre-reqs for a mate front and center, as I was wary of the sort of Pervy Pete's you read about in all those cautionary tales out there.

One day later, I had received many, many contacts, but one stood out from the crowd.

Online, he went by a variation on the name Christopher Robin from Winnie the Pooh.

Today I call him husband.

Again, a big huzzah for the net!

This time last year, I had a somewhat fuzzy notion of what a blog was, but had never read one, much less given thought to starting my own.

I think we all know how THAT has turned out, right?

Initially, the purpose of this blog was to document my journey into becoming a shopkeeper, with all the twists and turns and obstacles and little victories along the way.

So I went to Warrenton.

I was inspired.

I opened my first booth in an antique mall.

About three months into the journey, I discovered Etsy, and amidst much fear and trepidation, opened my Etsy Shop.

And I think I did pretty well, actually! I've achieved 70+ sales since November, and although it's an awful lot of work to list, photograph, pack and ship, I've still found it to be both financially and artistically gratifying.

Did somebody say financially?

Yep, that'd be me.

I found that things I thought were awesome and killer were sitting and sitting and collecting dust in my booth, month after month.

Without fail, I'd pull something from my booth, list it on Etsy, and within days, it would sell...only confirming my deeply held belief that if only somehow, some way, all my bloggy friends could make it to my booth, I'd have booth sales out the wazoo.

You know what they say, if the mountain won't come to Mohammed...

To be fair, it wasn't anybody's fault.

Pardon my language, but the economy sucks.

Booths and shops are hurting all over, and honestly, my upstairs location in the mall wasn't doing me any favors.

Decision time.

I wrestled with whether to just give up my booth altogether, and some months, I wasn't even making the rent. And why would I? I was putting all my best stuff on Etsy, what the heck did I expect???

Around this time, there were rumblings that I was in line for a coveted, first floor spot, so I decided to just hang on and see how things played out.

By the time I knew I was headed to Warrenton to sell, I also knew that I would be moving into that prime piece of downstairs real estate, so here's where we finally get to the point of this post.

Still with me?

Confession time:

I'm suffering from Etsy Ambivalence.

I can't seem to find the motivation or the inspiration to re-open my Etsy Shop, and here's why.

Conventional wisdom dictates that a downstairs booth equals much more foot traffic and visibilty, which should translate into more sales. And so far, this has proven to be the case.

Given this irrefutable fact, why on earth wouldn't I give it a fair shake and place the very best of my wares into my booth...give 'em a chance to sell, to see if the old adage location, location, location REALLY is the case?

Now in a perfect world, I would do both...have an Etsy shop AND a booth. And work my full-time job as a therapist, manage a household and solve world hunger. And all of that would be before lunchtime on a slow day for me.  ;-)

But, being only a mere mortal, something has had to give, and for now, that something is my Etsy shop. It's on vacation mode until further notice.
I'm choosing to live more in the "real" world for a season, and to see how my wonderful Warrenton wares will be received in my own neck of the woods.

Have I made the right choice? I won't know the answer to that for a few more months, but that's the direction I'm headed, and I do hope that all of you will weigh in on what YOU think about my decision.

I'd also love to hear from ladies and gents that have wrestled with similar situations and how you've handled things.

Share your struggles and little victories...at the end of the day, isn't that what blogging's all about?

And now it would be your turn.

Talk to me.