I’ve been away from a world that most normal people live in for almost two months now — MY world involves foggy thinking, blurry eyesight and a completely irrational fear of the washing machine, the dishwasher and WordPress blogs.
My recovery time has been dragging and my ability to sit down in front of the computer and actually FOCUS and THINK has been a challenge to say the least. Some of the post-op medications have made me really … uh… stupid… is the only way to actually put it. I have trouble coming up with those big words like “auction”, “crafts” and “write” LOL!!! This reduction in vocabulary makes for very boring stuff to read…
S
o I’m bored. I’m frustrated and I’m lonely. I miss you, I miss writing, I miss creating and I NEED a way to keep what little bit of my brain that still functions entertained and busy…
“Challenged” isn’t in the equation right now… my personal challenges involve negotiating the steps and figuring out how to make a decent lunch for my seven year old daughter… and to be perfectly honest SHE makes lunch for ME way more often than the other way around.
I’m so blessed to have such an independent, loving, caring little girl watching out for her mommy. At first, I felt kinda guilty about the whole thing, but then I saw how PROUD she was of herself, and I have LET her take care of me when she asks to… which is often!
So what have I been doing… NO, I have NOT been lying on the couch eating bon-bons and watching soap operas. I DO nap quite often, and I respond to email on a limited basis. Communication has been like pulling teeth for me, and I’ve pretty much withdrawn from the whole world. If you sent me an email and I didn’t respond, please accept my apology… it’s not personal, I haven’t even talked to my FAMILY more than once or twice since I got home from the hospital!
What I HAVE been doing is research… TONS of it … and looking for new niches and ideas.
Stuart Turnbull flew out here last month and we spent over a week working on a brand new product (I’m the bottleneck…. I have three or four PDFs I have to create and I’m not THERE yet, if you know what I mean.) This product is going to be AWESOME!!!! I love, love, love it, and I think you will too! I’m not saying anything else, other than it involves Stuart’s ideas, my ideas and physical stuff.
Stuart and I also officially partnered and we set up all the paperwork for our new combined business with the incredibly creative & unique name: “DEB N STUART LLC”.
It took us MONTHS to come up with that… okay… joking, it only took my husband about 5 minutes after ME spending HOURS brainstorming all sorts of weird acronyms and names mostly during my brain MRI’s (what the hell else does one think about for well over an hour of “clickity, clackity clunk, kerchunk, kerchunk, kerchunk”)???
So here I am, home… dizzy, fuzzy headed and blurry eyed. I’m bored, I need something to keep me thinking, learning… busy.
And then it hits me… paper crafting! How can I combine public domain images, old books, new books and crafts into a profitable easy niche?
I figured it out… REALLY! And I’m working on getting a few more pieces of information together before I reveal my findings in its entirety. But I DO want to leave you with this thought…
When it comes to Steampunk, Scrap for Hire, Custom Paper Piecing, OOAK Jewelry and all the other wonderful handmade goodies on Etsy… what can ANY klutzy, untalented, can’t draw or cut a straight line to save my life slob sell on ETSY too – without ending up being publically ridiculed on Regretsy??
I can sell these talented artisans the SUPPLIES!!!
The watch parts, the scrabble tiles, the dominoes, the dice, the game pieces, the playing cards, the old pieces of paper that are left over from selling vintage prints… AND to go one step further, I could use a couple of paper punches and punch the paper, or I could sort the watch pieces into different types, or I could put a themed pack together of characters… and even though I’m STILL not creating the “TA-DA” piece, I’m adding some of my time into the items and thus adding value to my stuff.
Think about it this way… you can supply the raw materials, you can use the raw materials to create components OR if you have some talent you can create a finished piece and sell your creation… it’s up to you.. and some of the “finished pieces” take more creativity in coming up with the IDEA not in the actual technique, skill or talent to actually produce it.
I hope that I kick-started your creative side… I think since my “left-brain” has been on a hiatus since the surgery… my “right-brain” has taken over and I’ve been bitten BIG TIME by the crafting bug.
I’ll tell you more about my big fun and crafting ideas and adventures next post!
Happy Scrapping and eBaying…
Best ~Deb
Excellent post Deb. Thanks for the update. Get yourself well. It is wonderful you have a little helper there. This is something she will remember for life and it is a grand experience for her. talk about a super neat way for the two of you to bond with. As my father use to day, “there is no great loss but what there is not some small gain.” I think you found a huge gain from this challenge you facing. God bless you and the little angel,
It is at times overwhelming to have a health problem. It becomes the focus of your day if you let it. Think of all the wonderful things you can still do and give yourself the time to heal.
I hurt my knee a week before Christmas last year and couldn’t walk without crutches. I had done some simple leg lifts sitting in my chair and watching the TV. I still couldn’t walk in April and went to the doctor.(I have doctor phobia) He gave me Prednesone and after a couple of weeks I could walk for short distances. Everyday I improve. The main thing I am grateful and thankful for is the absence of pain. My pain kept me from being able to concentrate on anything. I was contantly restless in my mind. Going to lie down on the bed for short periods helped me to get some focus back.
Give your brain all the time it needs to heal and don’t get anxious about it either. Be sure to schedule lots of quiet time for yourself as part of your healing. Go lie down for 15 minutes or more and just be quiet in your mind. I do this just to clear the clutter out of my head.
Best wishes for daily improvement in your health.
Hi Deb
Good to hear from you! I’ve been wondering how you’re doing and it’s great to know that you’re making progress even though you’re feeling frustrated at the time it’s taking. In spite of that, you’re making good use of your time and you’re coming up with creative ideas that would probably have passed you by if you were firing on all cylinders. Every cloud does indeed have a silver lining!
As a long-time subscriber to Stuart’s newsletter, I knew he’d been over to see you and that the two of you have a new product and other exciting projects in the pipeline and I’m really looking forward to hearing more. But the important thing is your continuing recovery so don’t overdo it, be sure to rest when you need to and hopefully, with each day that passes, you’ll be a little closer to where you want to be.
Best Wishes
Lynn (UK)
Hi Deb,
First of all it is great to see how well you are doing, yes I know right now you may not be where you thought you would be, but just reading your blog post you have achieved a great deal more than most people will ever do in a lifetime.
You have a new business, business ideas flying around, and being a Mum and a Wife too. You are a walking miracle and a true Blessing to many people.
At times God takes us down a different path to the one we thought we were going on, I believe He is giving you this time to relax and work on new ideas as He has something big planned for you in the coming months and years.
Yes I know we think why do I / You have to go through what you are going through and why does my family have to see me go through this, Deb I do not know, but what I do know He has something wonderful mapped out for your life.
And you know what………….when you are back 100% I think we will all be running around around playing catch up time with you. I mean if you have done all this when you are feeling ill, just imagine what will happen when your fit and firing on all cylinders.
Keep resting, keep doing that research and I for one cannot wait to see what the next chapter in Deb’s life will be.
God Bless
Andrew
Mmmm, just had a great idea, whilst reading your post.
I have so many old pieces of jewellery and odd earings that I am sure some crafter could use them in some way and I could make some pocket money.
Glad your back and in your great creative mood, Deb
Speedy recovery and God Bless
Carole –
Make sure when you list it you use the keywords “junk”, “for repair”, “altered art”, “rhinestones” (if you have any), “vintage” and if any of it looks the part (victorian, gears, cogs, unusual) then throw in “steampunk”
Put it up on eBay as a lot, you can either put it in a huge pile (it will ignate that treasure hunting instinct in the bidders) OR lay it all out in a nice creative pleasing manner… start the bidding low… and WAIT until late August early Sept to start…
I promise you will be pleasantly surprised!
Best ~Deb
So glad to see your back!! I’ll take you from whichever brain is working at any given moment. I love your humor and look forward to hearing more.
Prayers and thoughts.
Deb,
Good to hear from you. You’ve been in my thoughts and prayers.
Keep taking those naps! That’s when the body heals.
Glad to hear that you are slowly getting back to work. I knew you and Stuart were working on something from his email. Can’t wait to see what that something is. I know it will be good.
Take care, and keep getting better.
Debbie, all I can say is that you are an inspiration to us all……..
I wrote this with my right hand to help you focus…. HAHAHAHAHA
Keep Inspiring.
Rave
I think you strung some pretty good sentences together here… proud of you! Your sense of humor is shining through as well… love that!
Totally agree with selling supplies – it’s a great niche market that has no boundaries. It’s another profitable stream of income that takes some creative thinking but not creativity.
Great to read from you Deb! I’m not much of a lunch maker either by the way and I am terribly afraid of the washing machine too! I feel lucky to have your humor:)
Who got the richest during the gold rush? The folks leaving their families and digging for hours on end in mostly barren land? No, the folks who got wealthy were selling the gold diggers their supplies!–I think about that saying whenever I package up something with a uline box (uline is probably doing pretty well at this point!)
So, yes, these jewelry designers could definitely use our help in gathering their creative supplies. This is a great idea–some of these supplies are probably right in my closet.
I’m looking forward to seeing the great stuff Deb N Stuart LLC is going to create. What a great mastermind team!
Hi Deb
It’s so good to get your latest note and update. I’ve been a fan since I read Fishing for Niches earlier this year. Just want to say it’s good to know that you are healing. Take care of yourself.
Hi,
Do you offer how-to products on the Public Domain niche? if so, please send me the link. Thanks, Terry Chestnutt
Terry –
I’m sorry, I do not. BUT, my good friend Debra Conrad DOES… and she’s got a boatload of excellent content! You can either check out her stuff at:
http://whattosellformoney.com
(her public domain products are called “uPDate” and my eBay products are called “NOaH”) OR
you can check out her site where she has TONS of teaching products that focus on the Public Domain:
http://publicdomaintreasurehunter.com
Best ~Deb