Sunday, July 26, 2009

Four little words

I have written several blogs. Most of them tend to be about motherhood and the balancing act that happens in the life of nearly every mom. This time I want to try something a little different.

What does it mean to start and run your own business? This is a question that every new entrepreneur asks themselves as they attempt to compose a mission statement. Everyone wants to have the perfect answer, unfortunately there is no perfect answer. For some I suppose it could be money or control. For others it may be convenience and ease. For me I think I can say that I wanted creative freedom.

My definition of creative freedom means that I can adapt products and ideas into tangible items. I get the freedom to choose the colors, theme, style, and overall appearance of any given item. Sometimes this process is very calculated and exact, other times I wind up with something totally different than my original vision.

I think one of the aspects that I love the most is finished product and the effect that it has on the person receiving it. There is nothing I love more about this job than pouring my heart and soul into an item, loveingly wraping it, and presenting it. Only to see it bring complete happiness to the reciepent. One of my favorite phrases in the world is "Did you make this?" . Somehow those four little words validate what I do. I suppose it's silly to let simple words have such a profound power over me, but when I create a burp cloth, bracelet, quilt, doll, painting, etc. I put my blood, sweat, and yes even sometimes tears into it. Seeing all of my efforts create happiness in someone else makes all of my hard work worth while.

I guess that's where I link the business back to my most important role, which is as a mother and wife to the greatest family ever. I always loved rocking my babies (when they were small enough to be rocked). I would find myself looking deep into thier eyes and wondering what they were thinking and if they would ever know just how much I love them. I'm not sure if they'll ever know but one things for sure the first time I heard each of them say "I love you, too!" changed who I was as a person. Everyday I try to think of ways to be a better person, mother, wife, christian, businesswoman, daughter, sister, friend, etc. No matter how bad a day is or how gloomy things look, those four little words envoke the need for the four other little words. So, for me I guess my business couldn't exist without those four little words, "I love you, too!"