My little bag of Entrepreneurial Keepsakes...
This post was actually inspired by a comment I received from @nurseanne84 on yesterdays post. She mentioned that she would love to see some of the handmade greeting cards that I used to make and sell when in college. Reading that comment put a big smile on my face because I am quite a sentimental individual, so I do in fact have keepsakes from pretty much most of my life milestones and had actually kept a handful of those cards. I actually have a zip bag where I have kept ALL that stuff and having my attention drawn to it for the sake of the cards, got me thinking about some of the other related entrepreneurial journeys I have traveled which then inspired me to compile this post.
The handmade greeting cards, is aptly the starting point - being that I was in graphic design college at the time. I left school at the age of 15 as I was failing hopelessly at pretty much everything due to my complete disinterest across the board and well, drugs. I lived with my mom at the time, and after much effort and persistence with my father - as well as "under-age" acceptance from the college itself - I went to study graphic design and the handmade cards was something I did to make money for social spending. Nothing grand really haha - and as an adult I am not sure whether people bought them because they felt sorry for the 16 year old girl selling them or because they actually liked them haha.... but either way, they sold! They were sold plastic packaged for 5 ZAR at the time. And as you can no doubt see @nurseanne84, I saved the ones I liked most which were mostly daisy designs haha... it is my favourite flower :)
The next little memory I grabbed out of the bag of keepsakes was the third step in my entrepreneurial journey... the second one, oddly (because it was my ultimate game changer)... I didn't keep any samples of. When I left my last place of employ, it was because of an idea inspired by one of my brothers. The same brother that I had helped to sell the dummy car alarms some years back... and the concept was promotional fridge magnets. I designed and printed 5000 of those per month and had them distributed to relevant suburbs in Cape Town.
They were "info magnets" and on them, I would sell advertising space to businesses and services that people generally wanted on demand... such as electricians (that would be my brother haha), food delivery, locksmiths etc. and then they would also display all local emergency numbers etc. I did that for two years. Aside from the brutality of cold-calling, it was probably the easiest money I have EVER made! I was 19 years old, working two days a week and living completely self-sufficiently. The economic climate here in SA eventually made that venture challenging. People no longer had the excess cash to fork out so easily.
Following that, was a product which I created called "The Business Bulletin". It was a throw away advertising leaflet of which there were 8 kinds (each suburb specific). I designed, printed and distributed 80 000 of those monthly. Essentially, people purchased an advertising slot on the flyer to promote their business. I simultaneously used this as a tool to promote my own design and print services which is what helped ultimately build the 7500+ client base that I continued to service until 2018. This particular venture lasted about 6 odd years. Both of the above were very successful, but with the internet beginning to dominate the below the line advertising sphere, the sales became quite challenging towards the end.
Next in the bag of tricks at approx. 22 years of age, was an alternative magazine which I launched at the same time as I was doing the business bulletin. It was called "Vibrations". It was a small magazine (inspired by the tiny "Glamour" woman's magazine) but was geared at the holistic, alternative and health market. I compiled, designed, printed and distributed 5000 of those for free to suitable retailers all over the Western Cape every alternate month for 2+ years. The advertisers funded it. It was enormously successful and loved by everyone that picked it up.
Each issue was approx. 44+ pages and was content rich. It was an INCREDIBLY stressful venture to take on and after two years of dedicated readership I added a 5 ZAR price tag on it, which is not even enough to buys a Mc Donalds cheese burger... and suddenly everyone was up in arms! Their sheer unwillingness to pay such a ridiculously small price for something that literally took up my every day and every night, made me lose enthusiasm and passion for it VERY fast! And so, I eventually sold it to another local holistic magazine company.
That "little magazine" was a journey of NOTE for me! It taught me an enormous amount and also simultaneously SCREWED my perfect eyesight up for life haha! I worked almost 24 hour days for 2+ years with that brain child... on a monitor which was faulty and blurred in the centre of the screen - but I could not afford to replace it with a new one at the time, so I carried on as normal. A perfect lack of foresight in that instance, as my now prescription glasses cost a lot more than a new monitor then would have.... haha - live and learn hey ;)
The last "additional" venture I undertook over and above the running of my second design and print business from 2007 to Dec 2018 was not something I could keep in that bag, but was also a monumental venture and something that taught me and led me to where I am now. When selling the "vibrations" magazine I swore I would NEVER do that again... but I did haha... only the last time, I did it digitally. I launched "INSPIRE VIRTUAL MAG" and ran that man alone for 2 years as well. That was an utterly MAMMOTH task as it was a fully fledged international e-mag - 160+ pages and other than receiving content from writers, absolutely EVERYTHING else was done by little 'ol me. From editorial layout, advertisement design, compilation, promotion, clothes selections, fashion shoots - all of it.
Not to blow my trumpet or anything, but magazines as you and I all know them are compiled by huge teams of people - so needless to say... after 14 months of that I was feeling pretty damn exhausted haha!!! And as I mentioned, this was all done in between being completely hands on in my bread winning business. That online magazine was TREMENDOUSLY well received and was read by both men and women across the globe - in fact I think about midway in that journey we were receiving read counts that exceeded 50k+ per issue... but again, when your passion for a project dies, so does the project - but nothing was lost. Many a lesson was gained. I am VERY much a gut driven individual and when I am done with something "energetically" - then I am done with it completely!
Here is a link to the seventh and last issue I ever published for Inspire...
After that last stint, I shifted my focus completely back onto my "bread and butter" design and print business and then eventually handed that over to my shop manager at the beginning of 2018. Many of you who have walked some of this road with me will remember just how much of an emotional roller-coaster that time in my life was... BUT, I had been preparing to do it, and can honestly say... that my decision to completely drown myself into #steem full time has not disappointed me yet! The markets, yes a little haha... but not the community! I absolutely LOVE what I do with my day time hours now and I would not change it for the world! So... there it is @nurseanne84... hehehe - you got a little more than you bargained for when posting that comment no doubt haha - but, I am known for talking too much haha!!! Hope you enjoyed exploring my bag of keepsakes... I know I did :) It always gives renewed perspective!
I have previously referred to, and do so again now - a conversation I once had with my father, where he told me that he sat at a boardroom table with at least 12 men his age (65-75 yrs) and as very financially successful men they each shared a hilarious afternoon of reminiscing about their COUNTLESS failures in the road to getting where they currently stood. I will never forget that little bit of motivational converse. I may have failed a few times already, but what I haven't done even once yet... is give up.
CREDIT
EARN STEEM - AUTO-POST TO STEEMIT FROM INSTAGRAM
CLICK HERE TO SET IT UP
JOIN ME ON INSTAGRAM TOO
Until next time...
Much Love from Cape Town, South Africa xxx
WHO ARE THE
The Power House Creatives is a discord community of individuals who are committed to producing content which adds value across multiple platforms. We are STRONGLY focused on supporting our fellow members individual growth as well as offering support to those that are still trying to get ahead. We are a CLOSE KNIT community of individuals, each with our own strengths, passions and input, yet ALL willing to go the extra mile for our family members... WHY? - because, simply put - we CARE about one another and MANY HANDS make light work! - THAT is what FAMILY is about! - To infinity and beyond...
INTERESTED IN JOINING THE PHC FAMILY?
As most of you already know our community is closed. This does not mean that we are trying to keep people out or that we ignore those who aren’t members – it simply means that we are focused on keeping our standards of content high and our member commitment higher. I think if nothing else, we have proven those two qualities to the Steemisphere over the last year and even more so in the last seven days.
I am not going to sugar-coat things for anybody, because it would not make any sense whatsoever, nor would it serve anybody fruitfully - long-term. Our community is incredibly proactive - and DRIVING the success and growth of the people within it is our FUNDAMENTAL PURPOSE, because this is how they are able to do the same in return for other individuals in communities beyond our own! Our reach extends WAY beyond our own walls and this is one of the primary reasons why it is important to ALL OF US that each of our members are able to hold our flag high wherever they may roam.
We work hard, we play hard - we support one another through thick and thin, we know whats going on in our "3D" lives and no matter what it is - we are there for each other! Yes, there are daily responsibilities and obligations. Yes, there are things that fly within our walls and things that definitely don’t. Yes, we require quite a bit from you as an individual but you get it tenfold in return and ANY ONE of our members will gladly testify to this. Absolutely EVERYTHING is catered for and considered… including those times when you will NOT be able to fulfill your obligations. It simply requires the following of our procedures, which once you have grasped – are not complicated at all - I promise.
Everybody in our community jokes about my “boot” because they know that there are certain things that never were and never will be tolerated within our walls… and when they surface, those people will very quickly meet my infamous “boot” sending them out the door – or at least showing them that it is open. A few such things would be the likes of: not doing what you promised to do when joining, not being a team player, plagiarism, spamming, causing trouble with other members etc. These are all no-brainers really, so should not be much of a shock or challenge to anyone who is actually on Steemit (or any other platform) to make it a better place for everyone!
We may be a relatively small collective, but we have approx. 118 members from over 30 countries and that continues to grow. Most of our members are also key players in some of Steemits other highly regarded and supportive discord communities and initiatives - and all of us at “home” know without question or doubt that every single one of our members will make us proud with whatever they do – wherever they go – and that is precisely how we intend to keep it. Simple as that! No, this kind of “ethos” does not work for everyone – and that is perfectly fine - Each to their own. The people who have done the “putting in” are the ones that understand what they “get out” of it all ;)
So, if I have not scared you away yet, or if the above info excites you (even better) and you would still like to put in an application to join our fantabulous and VERY crazy little family… then by all means – hop into our applications server and do the necessary.
YEAH BABY YEAH - I WANT TO APPLY
HELL NO - WAY TOO MUCH HARD WORK
INTERESTED IN SUPPORTING CURATION INITIATIVES?
@theluvbug regularly supports the Steemit community with upvotes and resteems of great content which is really adding value to this platform, but in order to grow and be able to offer MORE SUPPORT, @theluvbug needs your help - with upvotes and resteems of the latest curation announcements on that profile.
That was an awesome read! I always love hearing from entrepreneurs and their journeys to find out "how" and "what it takes" to get to where you want to be. Accepting that failure is going to happen, learning from it and applying those learning experiences to future endeavours is what it's all about. Let's face it, if you keep making the same mistakes then you're a bit of a tit aren't you? Haha
I'm glad we met, funny how all the choices we make and chances we take lead to meeting people we never thought we would and learning things we never thought possible.
Enjoyed reading this, now where's my boot HAHAHA!
It is so neat to revisit the past and to see your entrepreneurial past.
My little ones are industrious but one seems to be the creator and the other the business person. If they didn’t fight so much, they could be a dynamic team. ;)
Posted using Partiko iOS
hahha CUTE!!! That will change with age no doubt and they most likely WILL be an incredibly dynamic team :)
Can I just say, I am so impressed with your journey
Those cards, I would buy in a heart beat even today :)
And those flyers with advertisements.... I saw your hustle for the delegation and I can so totally see you doing your thang with every single one of your ventures wholeheartedly.
And that last line... yup, I resonate with that... as long as my heart's in it, I'd give it my all... but once I lose it... I'm so done :)
Thank you for taking us down memory lane <33
Congratulations @jaynie! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
You can view your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the Steem Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPTo support your work, I also upvoted your post!
Do not miss the last post from @steemitboard:
Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness to get one more award and increased upvotes!
Wowwww @jaynie 😍😍😍
🔥🔥🔥🙏🔥🔥🔥
Posted using Partiko Android
Hi @jaynie!
Your post was upvoted by @steem-ua, new Steem dApp, using UserAuthority for algorithmic post curation!
Your UA account score is currently 5.387 which ranks you at #681 across all Steem accounts.
Your rank has improved 1 places in the last three days (old rank 682).
In our last Algorithmic Curation Round, consisting of 212 contributions, your post is ranked at #42.
Evaluation of your UA score:
Feel free to join our @steem-ua Discord server
Dear jaynie:
We are SteemBet, the next generation STEEM based gaming platform. We are honored to invite you to join our first fantastic dice game, which is just the beginning of SteemBet game series. Our dividend system has now launched. The prize pool has already accumulated 2,000 STEEM and more than 60 players have participated in staking mining token SBT. A huge reward of 40,000 STEEM is awaiting! Join us NOW with other 500 STEEM users to loot HUGE dividend reward!!
SteemBet Team
Official Website
https://steem-bet.com
Discord Server
https://discord.gg/95cBN3W
Telegram Group
https://t.me/steembet
Dear @jaynie,
Very beautiful cards indeed! You've come a long way girl!
People deserve to know this more than anything else. And, may I add, if they do not want to feel defeat or failure, they should never attempt to do anything at all!
Wow you have been amazing with thinking out stuff and being creative all your life - this is stunning and a great post
Wow amazing write-up
Thank you :)