Facebook and The Challenge

I just love Facebook. Through Facebook, I am able to keep up with my friends and family all over the world. Whenever I have a problem, I just post it on Facebook and 99% of the time one of my Facebook friends comes through for me. Here are just a few examples of how this has happened ifor me recently:

• I was staying in Oklahoma for a month and was looking for a pack and play to borrow or buy cheaply. I posted it on Facebook and sure enough, a friend's mom brought me one. Magic! Thanks, Jeanna! (And your mom too.)
• More recently, Jason had to go home to Oklahoma for his grandma's funeral. He needed a garment bag to take his suit on the airplane. What happened? I asked where to buy one and our neighbors let us borrow one. Thanks, Cox family!
• That same weekend, I was getting ready for the open house. I had worked for DAYS getting ready and now Jason was (very understandably) out of town and we had no one to watch the kids for me. Once again, Facebook came to my rescue. Thanks our neighbor, Mandy, for watching our kids, free of charge!
• And just one more example (I could go on and on!). I'm sure I mentioned earlier about my love/hate relationship with sewing. When I was making the aprons for the kids, my sewing machine was acting up and I could NOT figure out how to fix it. So I posted a picture on Facebook and my sweet friend in Mississippi took one look at the picture and told me how to fix it. Wowee! Thanks to her help, I was able to adjust the tension on my machine, start over and completely finish the projects in under two hours. Thank you, Sarah!

Yep. Facebook is awesome. Another reason I love it is because I'm able to keep in touch with friends - new and old. A new friend and I were talking late one night about our businesses and she was able to give me advice about pricing and getting more customers. (Thanks, Alissa!) And the same night, I was talking to a friend from elementary school who has her own jewelry business. She and I were discussing how difficult it is to get out of your comfort zone and overcome shyness to make your business grow. I want to share with you a bit of the message I sent to her. I want to record it here so when I'm feeling discouraged, I can come back and read this. I just bet I'm gonna need it.

You can do it! If I can, I know you can. I was/still am SO SHY and awkward around people I don't know! But you know what? I CAN and WILL be successful at my business. I CAN and WILL overcome my shyness and step out of my comfort zone to make my business grow and thrive. I have to! I don't know but I feel like God wouldn't be telling me to go out and do this thing if I was going to fail. I believe He gave me the idea for this and through Him, I can succeed. Now if only I can get off my lazy behind tomorrow and get some work done! lol
I'll make you a deal... If you do at least one event before June, then I will too. I said June because it takes a while to find what you want to do, get it set up, do the event (craft show, bridal expo, etc) and still live your every day life. What do you say? It is really going to be a stretch for me to step out and do it but I will if you will. :) It is HARD to sell your products! At least with my products, I want to give people a good deal, not charge them too much but still make a profit and pay myself back for all my hard work. And when people don't buy I start to second guess my work, my prices, EVERYTHING! But I just have to quit listening to that negative self-talk and say "Hey, I can do this!" But it sure is easier said than done sometimes. :) I believe in you. And YOU are an inspiration to me too, my sweet friend. Thank you for those kind words and if ever you need a little encouragement, just let me know. I know you'll do the same for me. Thanks for being my friend. Love you!

Sometimes Facebook is just awesome technology.  Through it, I keep up with my friends and family, have received help more times than I can count and am growing my business and challenging myself too.  Now to start making products for a craft show for my challenge.  And signing up for my first craft show too.  Woohoo!  Let's go!</p>