I’ve recently had to wrestle with decisions to continue/discontinue certain business relationships/services and whether or not to go through a voluntary recertification process related to the day job.  I’m sharing my thought processes here in case others are going through a similar situation.

When you are a micro-business, every dollar counts.  I know what it costs me to be in business every year and at what point I actually start earning money.  Last year, I made a calculated decision to start buying wholesale.  I researched vendors and chose one with whom to do business. The experience was positive, but I am researching other vendors who may be better able to meet my needs with product assortments, fill rates, shipping costs and order minimums.  (Sometimes Joann with a sale and discount coupon is the better deal and no shipping costs involved!  Just sayin’!)

With regard to the day job, it’s hard to believe that a decade ago I was in the final stages of earning my specialist degree and completing my National Board Certified Teacher credentials. I have never once regretted the tremendous effort and financial sacrifice that went into earning my NBCT credential.  However,  after much reflection, I have chosen not to go through the renewal process.

Why?  Because it doesn’t make fiscal sense for me to renew!

1. My state legislators didn’t live up to their end of the deal when they chose to withhold the 10% salary annual bonus that was promised to those to achieved NBCT. They kept changing the rules and even though I finally work in one of the lowest performing schools in the district, they still won’t pay the bonus.  This has cost me the equivalent of one year of salary over the past 10 years.
2. The renewal costs $1,250 and means another portfolio of work.  Nope.
3. One of the big educational vendors is now in charge of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. To me, it detracts from the hard work put forth by a lot of professionals and has turned the process into yet another profit center for the multibillion dollar a year education industry. 

   This is strictly a business decision.   The ROI simply isn’t there for me.  That money and time will be better spent elsewhere or set aside for retirement.

I use this same strategy in my craft business.  I am willing to try new things, but if there is no continued benefit from a certain association membership, banking relationship, insurance provider, or wholesale provider, I look for alternatives that can meet my needs/help my business grow.  I think we worry too much about hurting someone’s feelings.  No, it’s business.  For example, a friend has done my monogramming and machine embroidery work for years.  She does a fabulous job at a reasonable price.  Once I changed schools, I had to find a local shop to handle my time-sensitive work, because she now lives an hour a day.

Are you willing to let certain relationships/services go that no longer meet your needs? Please share.

It’s easy – peasy, especially if you are sewing on relatively flat 2 or 4 hole buttons!

Machine settings:
Presser foot:  All purpose or button sewing foot
Stitch:  Zig Zag   W= 4.0 and L = 0 – .2

Some manufacturers suggest lowering your feed dogs when attaching buttons, but all of my machines seem to do better with the feed dogs up and the stitch length set at .2 (just a smidge above 0).

Use clear tape to hold your button in place while you sew, or just wing it. Test to make sure the needle clears both holes and stitch away.  Tip:  if your button will have to go through thick material,  place a toothpick on top of the button, but position it between the holes prior to stitching.  You will zigzag over the toothpick and slide it out when you are finished attaching the button.  This will form a shank – makes it easier for the button to go in and out of the buttonhole. I usually count to 8 and then tie off. My machine does this automatically, but you can leave a tail to pull the threads to the back to tie them off.

Tip: If the wearer is particularly hard on buttons, consider putting a dab of Fray Check on the stitching on the reverse side.

Occasionally, I will sew on a button by hand, but it’s so much easier to do by machine, if you can.

Ever had a looming project deadline, but you find yourself unable to move forward because something else is literally in the way?  Mental or physical clutter that has brought your creative energies to a screeching halt?  For me, it came in the form of a pro bono project that literally took over my sewing room.

My main sewing machine was threaded and dedicated to the project we were working on. Parts of the project were scattered around my sewing room in various stages of completion.  Adding to my frustration was the fact that the part of the process that was holding everything up should have been completed a few weeks earlier, thus freeing up my sewing space (and my mind) to complete my quilt for hire project well in advance of the customer’s deadline. Life has a funny way of derailing the best laid plans. Crazy schedules of those involved. Challenging fabrics. Not enough experience with this particular type of project.  You get the picture.

The looming quilt deadline is what finally prompted me to take action. I gathered up all of the pro bono project materials and put them together in one location.  I cleaned up the studio while I pondered how to solve a problem with the pro bono project that was holding up the works. Sunday morning, I sat at the sewing machine and just dealt with it. My solution wasn’t the most glamorous, but surprisingly, it did work.  At that moment, the dam burst and my creative mojo was back.

That Sunday afternoon, my pro bono project collaborators left with part of the project completed and the segments that they could complete outside of my studio over the next two weeks.

I worked like a mad woman, but managed to get the full-size t-shirt quilt mosaic completed in less than 10 days.  The customer was THRILLED with her quilt and will happily refer my services to others. “A couple of my friends ordered tshirt quilts from online companies that turned out to be crap. Yours are SO much better.”  I was happy to hear this because there IS a difference in quality. You do get what you pay for. And she willingly paid a fair price for the amount of work involved to make the quilt to her specifications.

Now that the studio has been cleaned yet again, it’s times for Easter egg placements for me and a memory pillow/wedding hanky gift for a coworker. Then on to the next quilt project.