Closing Out 2010

I can't believe the end of the year is a few days away. I really intended to keep this blog up every day this year. I wanted to record my day and share my knowledge about the mineral world. I also wanted to start a record; a diary of my retail journey that I am currently on.
I still want - desire all of these things. It's quite obvious that I haven't been consistently blogging, but I am determined to change that. This entry is proof, right? Well, at least it's still 2010 so I really haven't let the blog die. I've just been really busy. Really busy. In fact, this year feels like it's been one very long day.
The shop did, indeed, grow this year. The inventory levels grew too. I'm still a one woman show - no employees, so as the shop gets busier, I get more behind on the "stuff". There's always so much to do to run a business. The day to day chores of running the business is what I refer to as the "stuff". It's everything from paperwork to cleaning the floors. The only housekeeping I can say I've kept up on is cleaning the bathroom weekly. I haven't let that get behind because I'm easily grossed out that perfect strangers use it and I feel obliged. Enough of that.
The summer was great fun. I love the summers here in Wheeling, West Virginia. The weather is beautiful and people are often visiting relatives, so I have an opportunity to be in touch with people that live all over the country. They tell me about the bead and rock shops in their part of the country and I get to pick their brains about other markets. My ego inflates sometimes because of these visits because their comments are so complimentary. It's a great boost and makes me work harder for my local clientele.
The Celtic Fest and Bluesfest were great successes. These two events are on the schedule permantly. Love them both so much. Both have produced new customers and both are a lot of fun. The music is fantastic.

November was another story. I set up at an Alpaca show in Springfield, OH and it was a disaster. The vendors were seperated from the main activity, which is the show ring and the Alpaca farmers. This seperation caused the vendors to be rather unhappy, which made the energy pretty gloomy. The worse part was I dropped my cell phone in the toilet - no I wasn't using it - it fell out of my back pocket. Every penny I made went to expenses and a new phone. I would have called it a wash, but I came home with a very nasty cold which lasted for about 3 weeks. The shop was closed while I recuperated. I had to force myself to let go of the worry that being closed causes me. I surprised myself, because I did let go and I did ease up on myself - a little - and I realized I do have limitations. I am only one human. That experience was a learning curve that I am glad is over.

December has been really busy, but I am exhausted. I became a jewelry elf. I am appreciative of the business. The bead shop boomed, and I've learned how to create earrings in less than 10 minutes. I had quite a few private bead parties so I made the decision to cancel my regular Tuesday night class. Going forward, I'll only do private parties. I think the customers enjoy the personal attention and I'm all for creating a one - on - one learning experience. Canceling the Tuesday night class was one big decision among many that I had to make this year. Which leads me to the mineral I want to talk about. This mineral is Aquamarine.

Aquamarine is a beautiful stone. The color reminds me of the color of the Carribean Sea. I've been in awe of this stone for it's beauty, but I didn't relate to it until the other day. By relating to it, I mean that it never called to me. It never spoke to me. I've helped other people make jewelry with the beads, and the metaphysical seekers ask for it a lot. I had always wanted to make some pieces for myself, but never got around to it. In October when I was shopping a tradeshow for beads, I indulged myself and bought a strand of faceted freeform beads. The strand laid on the my work bench for the last two months. Every day, I'd look at it and try to imagine what pieces I wanted to make out of it. I knew I'd get to it when I was ready. A few days ago, I decided to put all shop chores aside and commit the entire work day (between customers) to creating pieces with my strand. Before I started, I really wanted to research the metaphysical meaning, but something inside told me to wait until the pieces were finished before I found out what was drawing me to finally use the stone. So, I completed a necklace, a pair of earrings and a killer bracelet that I know I'll enjoy wearing. I wanted to be dripping in Aquamarine. I wanted an Aquamarine suit of armor, so to speak. I felt like it was allowing me to have it draped all over my person. I felt like it was telling me that it was time I wore the stone; that the stone was giving me permission to be owned by me.
When I looked up the metaphysical meaning, my jaw hung open in disbelief.
Aquamarine is a "stone of courage".
When you own your own business, there are so many big decisions to make and some of those decisions require courage. I need courage to head into the new year with confidence. I need courage to stand firm on the decisions I make that keep the shop a fun, creative, peaceful, warm place for people to visit. I need courage to be guilt free of the hard decisions that need to be made in order to maintain such an environment.
I believe that's why it took two months to work with the stone. I didn't realize how much courage it takes to run and grow a business, but I do now....and I've got my Aquamarine minerals to help.
Yours in rocks and beads,
Kathy