All that art I made is gone, blown up and I already have a new store lined up
Last summer while a lovely lady was making a number of purchases in my store, she wrote and asked me to make a T-shirt for a pattern she favored (because I had not designed one yet). So, of course gladly I made her the T-shirt, which she added to her orders. Shortly after her order arrived, I checked with her to see how everything was.
She said she LOVED all the items but sadly she would have to wait till she lost a little bit of weight, before she could wear the capris. Sadly I didn't have a larger size capris or leggings to offer her so, she hadn't made the wrong size choice, I had simply only limited sizes in my store.
This made me feel a kind of way, and it was not a content feeling, knowing that my new friend was unable to wear my weird and wonderful clothes, simply because I didn't have the right products to suit everyone out there.
Look, I've had people write to me and ask me to get larger sizes or to make shorts, or long sleeve sun shirts, or leggings with pockets etc....... but it's an enormous task to change everything.
While on the new site designing I noticed some other items with similar broad sizing that were empty canvases, just waiting for me to create on, pieces that people had been asking for. Different cuts, better materials, More significant construction.
I wanted to see this stuff. It is pricier and I wanted to see how it feels in real life, to see if it was worth the extra cost, so I made some longer athletic shorts and an athletic short sleeved top as well and sent off my order.
When they arrived I was so impressed with it all that I found that my wheels where turning. This stuff is too good for me not to offer it. It would be excruciating, but I had to do this.
So I set out looking to teach myself how to RE-do my store. I didn't do it without help. I did as much as I could by myself first, and then when it got scary, I searched and found a web expert who lives close enough by who helped get me running and then due to family emergency could not continue the job.
Which paralyzed me. I was not interested in floating alone again without someone I could trust holding my hand through the web developer stuff, so, I blew it up again.
Yes, after a thousand dollars of education I had a beautiful store that I realized I didn't want to run because the stress of it took all the fun of the art away.
And this new site lets me just be an artist. The Artist Shops.
basics like Tshirts and hoodies as well as all sorts of new items like mugs, towels, jackets, stickers, sweatshirts and more will cost you LESS because that all has been moved onto my ARTIST site where it's not my own store, I am merely an artist who designs using the THREADLESS site where you get the items from directly, and I get a commission. It cuts out the middle man, the shop and sends you to the source. If I put these basics in my store I have to charge more and do all sorts of work to do so. So I didn't. Look for all these new gift items and basics at my ARTIST store HERE.
Canadian residents please note some items will be shipping internationally and duties could apply.
And to my new friend, she has her new leggings now, and loves them, and I am so grateful to her for her open comments because it spurred me and all of us, to a better place. See the old store I blew up. (I still have all these designs and more ready to go digital if someone wants to partner with me)
She said she LOVED all the items but sadly she would have to wait till she lost a little bit of weight, before she could wear the capris. Sadly I didn't have a larger size capris or leggings to offer her so, she hadn't made the wrong size choice, I had simply only limited sizes in my store.
This made me feel a kind of way, and it was not a content feeling, knowing that my new friend was unable to wear my weird and wonderful clothes, simply because I didn't have the right products to suit everyone out there.
I thought about it a lot.
As a musician first and artist second, I want to run the "business" side of things, not at alll.
Putting together a store and learning all the dreary numbers and tables and htmls and ins and outs and getting computer friendly has not been an easy hike at all, especially when all I want to do is make things look or sound pretty. And I finally had my store running even if it wasn't serving everyone.
But it still bothered me that I couldn't serve everyone, and if the only thing in my way was myself, well I've learned how to do things before. When publishers wouldn't even look at my book idea a couple of years ago, I learned how to self publish. Now I have two books, the second one I also published entirely myself (well my husband supports me in everything I do but that's a whole other love story), because I could. I just had an idea and made the book. So what I am getting at here is that I find forced growth is often a good thing or at least a catalyst. I embrace it (often after a bunch of complaining, but I digress).
And thanks to my aforementioned new friend (who loves butterflies by the way), my thinking turned into inspiration. Inspiration to do what I had never done before and get off my ass and source a manufacturer who could provide ALL the products I needed.
As a musician first and artist second, I want to run the "business" side of things, not at alll.
Putting together a store and learning all the dreary numbers and tables and htmls and ins and outs and getting computer friendly has not been an easy hike at all, especially when all I want to do is make things look or sound pretty. And I finally had my store running even if it wasn't serving everyone.
But it still bothered me that I couldn't serve everyone, and if the only thing in my way was myself, well I've learned how to do things before. When publishers wouldn't even look at my book idea a couple of years ago, I learned how to self publish. Now I have two books, the second one I also published entirely myself (well my husband supports me in everything I do but that's a whole other love story), because I could. I just had an idea and made the book. So what I am getting at here is that I find forced growth is often a good thing or at least a catalyst. I embrace it (often after a bunch of complaining, but I digress).
And thanks to my aforementioned new friend (who loves butterflies by the way), my thinking turned into inspiration. Inspiration to do what I had never done before and get off my ass and source a manufacturer who could provide ALL the products I needed.
Look, I've had people write to me and ask me to get larger sizes or to make shorts, or long sleeve sun shirts, or leggings with pockets etc....... but it's an enormous task to change everything.
This woman is a customer however, she committed to me by purchasing, and I felt like I had failed her.
So I was determined to at the very least, find some leggings in her size that I could customize for her, even just to send her as a unique original pair, just for her.
Never in my wildest dreams did I realize her simple request for some Pickleball Butterfly clothes would inspire a radical blow up of my store.
You see I found a supplier with the best leggings I could locate. They looked amazing online, crossover yoga band, pockets and seemingly superior construction to the ones I had in my store at the time. The best part is they went up to size 6X and that's several sizes above what I even needed, so things looked golden, I dug in and designed a pair.
So I was determined to at the very least, find some leggings in her size that I could customize for her, even just to send her as a unique original pair, just for her.
Never in my wildest dreams did I realize her simple request for some Pickleball Butterfly clothes would inspire a radical blow up of my store.
You see I found a supplier with the best leggings I could locate. They looked amazing online, crossover yoga band, pockets and seemingly superior construction to the ones I had in my store at the time. The best part is they went up to size 6X and that's several sizes above what I even needed, so things looked golden, I dug in and designed a pair.
While on the new site designing I noticed some other items with similar broad sizing that were empty canvases, just waiting for me to create on, pieces that people had been asking for. Different cuts, better materials, More significant construction.
I wanted to see this stuff. It is pricier and I wanted to see how it feels in real life, to see if it was worth the extra cost, so I made some longer athletic shorts and an athletic short sleeved top as well and sent off my order.
When they arrived I was so impressed with it all that I found that my wheels where turning. This stuff is too good for me not to offer it. It would be excruciating, but I had to do this.
So I set out looking to teach myself how to RE-do my store. I didn't do it without help. I did as much as I could by myself first, and then when it got scary, I searched and found a web expert who lives close enough by who helped get me running and then due to family emergency could not continue the job.
Which paralyzed me. I was not interested in floating alone again without someone I could trust holding my hand through the web developer stuff, so, I blew it up again.
Yes, after a thousand dollars of education I had a beautiful store that I realized I didn't want to run because the stress of it took all the fun of the art away.
And this new site lets me just be an artist. The Artist Shops.
basics like Tshirts and hoodies as well as all sorts of new items like mugs, towels, jackets, stickers, sweatshirts and more will cost you LESS because that all has been moved onto my ARTIST site where it's not my own store, I am merely an artist who designs using the THREADLESS site where you get the items from directly, and I get a commission. It cuts out the middle man, the shop and sends you to the source. If I put these basics in my store I have to charge more and do all sorts of work to do so. So I didn't. Look for all these new gift items and basics at my ARTIST store HERE.
Canadian residents please note some items will be shipping internationally and duties could apply.
And to my new friend, she has her new leggings now, and loves them, and I am so grateful to her for her open comments because it spurred me and all of us, to a better place. See the old store I blew up. (I still have all these designs and more ready to go digital if someone wants to partner with me)
Here is my free ARTIST shop. :)
This site will invite you to sign up but you can bypass that, you are not obligated to sign up to look or shop! :)
And for your listening enjoyment I leave you with my latest #pickleball parody. "I DINKED the ball and I liked it" based on @Katy Perry's iconic tune I Kissed a Girl which I used to sing with @Hitzone a hundred years ago. :) (also please take some time, Katy has a foundation called Firework Foundation and she serves underprivileged kids with her inspiring camp)
The video above features not only my friend @Lee Whitwell but also a few other outstanding young professional pickleball players who she wrangled in to guest star with her, and it's so been exciting to watch the PPA and MLP and spot these players who are in my video, out there being awesome on the courts. In fact the same day I got the video part from Rachael Rohrabacher my hubby and I watched her win a gold medal with Anna Bright. I've since seen them all playing on stream and become a fan of each of them, so thank you SO much again pickleball stars! (and speaking of Pickleball Stars.... )
Now I know for a fact that many of you don't really watch pickleball on TV (or stream it) because you tell me so, and that's a real shame. If I can inspire you all to do one thing for your pickleball self that will inspire you and ignite some fire in your happy little pickleball heart, let it be to tune in to some pro pickleball and give it a watch. Admittedly it's getting weirdly harder and easier at the same time to watch. There is more pickleball streaming than ever before but no one knows where to watch it, so it is a challenge, but most of the big Pickleball Forums share great clips and so if you scroll through those it's a place to start. They usually post when there are tournaments streaming as well.
If you know this game it's really worth watching it being played at the highest level, especially when you know just how hard it is to be THAT consistent.....you will keep tuning in to be inspired to move your own feet more if nothing else.
Anyhow, once again, I digress......
Love and stuff, Rachael
#Idinkedtheball, #katyperry, #pickleballparody, #pickleballbutterflies, #pickleballartwear, #rachaelchatoor, #pickleballclothes, #pickleballgifts #ladygibraltar #leewhitwell #rachelrohrabacher
