Come Stitch With Me

Over the past several years, the choruses from Lassiter and Walton high schools were invited to perform with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.  The ASO’s board of directors, in its infinite wisdom, decided that chorus members from these two nationally ranked high schools weren’t diverse enough to perform with the ASO any longer.  Cobb school district officials have confirmed it and today’s editorial pages of the Marietta Daily Journal are all over the issue.

The ASO BOD needs to check its understanding of what diversity really means.  It doesn’t mean substituting another high school (Grady) that is as predominantly black as Lassiter and Walton are white.  You want to see what real diversity looks like?  Then come visit my elementary school – Hayes Elementary in Kennesaw.  This is what true diversity looks like across all strata – socioeconomic, ethnic, race, religion, etc.  It is the real world, albeit in a pint sized version – the good, the bad and the ugly.

When I get that telemarketing call from the ASO sales department about purchasing tickets for the upcoming symphony season, I’ll think I’ll pass this year.  Instead, I’ll pick up the tab for the instrument rental for a talented, deserving youngster I know whose parents can’t afford the fees.

Hubs rode along with me and the dog today to deposit the check I received from the t-shirt pillow class. We talked about how my micro-business was doing.  So, I guess it’s report card time.  And yes, I am going to talk a little bit about numbers and money.

I’ve been “in business” for five months now and yes, I’m turning a teeny-tiny profit only thanks to the fact I’ve not taken a “salary” out of the company.  Instead, I invested the proceeds back in the company by purchasing equipment to use for my sewing classes. [I knew this would be the case the first 2-3 years, which is why I started part-time while I have a full-time job.]

65% of my revenues have come from teaching – my favorite part of the business – and the remainder have come from quilt restorations and custom sewing.  Looking ahead to fall, I see that percentage evening out to a 50/50 split thanks to some custom work currently in the hopper.

I can count on receiving an average of $30 per clock hour of instruction for teaching kids’ sewing classes as long as I teach outside of my home.  It doesn’t matter if it’s private or group lessons. Adult classes pay more because of a larger number of students. I am well aware that another independent teacher in my area receives $50 per hour when she teaches a class. She also has 14 students where I have no more than 6.  The payoff in having this number is that I can I can now write a realistic proposal when pitching a teen/adult class to the local continuing education center.  I know how to set the course price to be competitive and what I will need to cover my time and expenses.

An after-school or before school craft club  would be wonderful – IF I can quit my day job to concentrate on this.  Four one-hour sessions a week would replace 1/3 of my existing income.  That doesn’t include other classes taught elsewhere or out of my home.  Mornings could be spent working on custom sewing projects such as t-shirt quilts or perhaps working a part-time library job as long as I was finished by 1 p.m.

Need to raise prices a bit and make better use of my sewing time.  Not meeting my targets there.

Spending 5 minutes to write the blurb on Craig’s List about my kids’ sewing classes was well worth it.

Moving closer in to Atlanta (like we’ve discussed) would definitely be the right move for my business.  Most of the requests received for private sewing instruction (the most lucrative BY FAR) have been from parents in north Atlanta, not the boonies where I live.  I’ve cheerfully referred people to other shops and teachers when  I can’t help them.  The favor will eventually be repaid.  I see this all the time in library land. I shipped some books that were turned into my library to the school district 1/2 state away last spring.  When I returned to work last week, I had a library book returned to me from the King County Public Library in Seattle.

My business needs at least one additional revenue stream.  Writing for publication or vending small items at craft fairs/online stores would seem like a really good fit.

I probably bought one insurance policy that I really didn’t need. I will not be renewing that one.

I will transfer the business domain name to this blog when the year is up. No need for two separate sites.

I’ve been sucked into the vortex of craziness known as teacher preplanning (the week before the kids start the new school year where teachers sit in meetings and get their rooms ready for the first day of school).  It’s like Christmas in that I know it comes every year, but somehow I’m never fully prepared.   This year is especially bittersweet as many of my friends have moved on to other positions, new adventures and exciting opportunities.   I had hoped to join their ranks this year, but ’twas not my time.

I took a few moments between website and email distribution list updates for my school to peruse blogs of teacher friends I haven’t talked to in a while.   One quit her job to go volunteer in Haiti for a year.  That really took a leap of faith, but she looks so genuinely happy in the pictures she posted.  You can’t help but just *know* this was the right step for her to take.  Another  friend looked positively radiant as she talked about her pet rescue activities this summer whenever we had lunch.  That is truly her calling and I hope the opportunity she’s currently exploring works out for her.  I get that same glint in my eye when I talk about sewing machines, quilting and textiles.   That’s one reason I started my business.

I love libraries and they’ve been a huge part of my life for the past fourteen years.  I’m merely ready to move my career in a different direction…and surely there has to be a way to combine my interests into a new opportunity pour moi.