I write as I sit in the heat of the late October sun, sat in the East River State park, which has wifi (of course! This is New York after all). The cloudless skies show no sign of abating - Winter when it comes is going to be a cold hard shock to the system! Having experienced some crazy weather systems here at different times of the year, I am well aware that next week it could be snowing so I am making the most of it while I can.
I left Bristol a month ago and have mostly spent my time walking, exploring, sunbathing, seeing the sights with Nicola, oh and road tripping along the California coast (but more on that later). But now is the time to get down to the serious business of - working out what I am going to do with the rest of my life! Specifically - how am I going to take the progress I made with Twentythree Workshop over the last couple of years and turn it into a sustainable, profitable, all - round rip roaring success of a business?
I have put things on hold while I spend time here in New York. The decision to come and live here with Dave for 3 months (while he is busy sorting out the wayfinding system for the whole of the city) was easy. Apartment in Brooklyn? Yes please! 3 months exploring New York? Ok then! Working out how to uproot my whole business and move out of Cox and Baloney without leaving behind any loose ends - more difficult! It took months of sorting out mountains of scraps of fabric into 'useful', 'precious', 'sentimental', and 'for Scrapstores' piles and picking pins out the carpet before i could move on, as well as precision planning each minute of my time to make sure I completed all my projects. It was during this that I realised how almost inseparable my business had become from my own life, I had been living and breathing vintage dressmaking for a year and although I loved (almost!) every minute (silk satin sewing freak outs aside), I realise now that it took over, and that working at that pace on my own next year will just not be a good thing, for my standards of work and my own general sanity.
Commissions were flying at me from every direction - people just walking in and ordering dresses! It was fantastic! I had never been busier and never worked harder. I always kept up with the work and I made sure that everything that left my studio was completed to the best of my abilities - but this was sometimes only achieved by working looong, 14 hour days, mostly on my own, in a dark basement! I will never regret the day I sent a rushed email to Cox and Baloney's about why I would be the perfect person to rent their space, it literally changed my life! But I am glad now to have some time to step back, re evaluate my options and work out how best to proceed when I return to Bristol in January. I think the only thing I am really sure of is that I can't work in a basement again.
Don't get me wrong, the happiness and relief I feel when I finally see those photos of all those brides and bridesmaids walking down the aisle makes it all worthwhile! Final proof that I am good at what I do, and that people love my work! Hooray! But you can't help, as a creative being, always wanting more, always wanting to do better, which I guess is what drives me to work those crazy hours and take crazy risks like, deciding to rent a studio and shop space within the space of 4 days with no funds or business plan to speak of.
I'm a great believer in visualising what it is that you want - really picturing it. I know that one day I will have a shop, and I know exactly what colour I am going to paint it, and exactly how the window display is going to look. I know what it will sell, and where it will be in Bristol. I won't go into these details right now, you will have to wait and see! But I think that unless you know exactly what it is you are aiming for, how do you know how to go about it?
I believe in making your own luck by trying as many different things as possible, and believing in yourself and your vision. Therefore everything I do is with a view to owning that little south facing, peach coloured shop one day. And if it doesn't work out exactly how I imagine, then, at least I tried, and, I bet I will end up somewhere equally exciting. Right now I may not have as much money, I may not own a house or take big holidays (this year being the exception!) like some of my peers, but I am so happy knowing I am on the way to where I want to be, and I know there are no shortcuts. Running your own business, especially a craft buiness, is probably one of the hardest things you can do, career wise, which is why only the people that really really want it manage to do it! Hopefully in ten years time, I will still be one of those people.
This is a long waffly way of saying, I am proud of what I have achieved, and here's to the next phase of twenty-three workshop, whatever that might involve! Any suggestions on what I should do, how I should do it, inspiring business I should know about etc would be gratefully received at laura@twentythreeworkshop.co.uk
Thanks for reading this far!