Two personal blogs in a month? It just might snow!
Good day, Crafties! I'd intended this blog for the middle part of September but this semester has been more hectic with time constraints than I'd anticipated, so here we are.
Back in March, I did Channel Chat 95 after a month long hiatus. One of the big announcements that I'd made was that I wanted to take Infiniti Crafting Co. full time. I started uploading content in
2018 as a hobby and a sparkle in my eye. Over the years, I've managed to niche down in order to focus on knit and crochet content creation. It was a hard choice to make in the
beginning because I wanted to meld all of my fine arts stuff together with my craft. In the end though, it was the right decision as I got to study my audience I realized that I was trying to cater to a very broad array of people and the overlapping interest for both was minimal.
By late 2019, I'd shifted my focus exclusively to fiber content. I'd graduated over the previous summer and had this intermittent period where I didn't have a lot of class obligations and I could focus more on the channel. This was even more possible in 2020 as I found myself out of one of my jobs and all classes were digital. It was such an exciting time for me because I found that I had a passion for teaching my craft. This was also a time of great self-exploration for me personally. I found myself engaging with vlogging and really just giving my audience an inside look at my personality. Doing something like this previously would have made me recoil for general social anxiety.
By May that year, I'd opened up my Etsy shop for physical item orders and I was so excited when I made $130 that year. Now it's solely used as a pattern shop. That's because in February 2021, I was able to launch my very own website, here, after saving for years. It was a really big moment for Infiniti Crafting Co. because I was then able to put everything in one central location. It's also brought on its share of challenges but, problem solving can be part of the fun when you're trying to run your own business.
I began to grow both on the channel and within myself and by the end of the year, I was finally able to monetize my content. That was the moment where I started believing that all that work had been worth it. I'd been struggling financially and it was getting to me mentally at the time so, the ad revenue came as a huge relief.
Now, post associate's degree, I was beginning to reevaluate how much I wanted to go into the classroom. It'd been nagging me since I took my final EDU class in the summer of '19. I love kids and the opportunity to inspire them through creativity. But I have also come to terms with the fact that school isn't like it was when I was going. And at the time, with all the added restrictions from Rona, I had to continually put off education courses once I got into university. Instead, I continued taking business classes just to maintain my full-time status (and also give me some ideas and insights on how to proceed with ICC.)
During the spring semester of 2022, I was in some intense business classes because I had developed the intent of obtaining a business minor. It was yet another semester where we'd been slammed with ridiculous restrictions on campus and I absolutely refused to be subjected to it. At this point I wasn't in any education courses and frankly, I was loving it.
Tragically, at the end of the first quarter, my mother passed away in February and it really rocked my world because of the suddenness. It knocked the winds out of my sails and looking back, I may have gone into a bit of a depression as I stepped away from my business for over a month.
After I could bare to talk and not sob on camera, I came back around with the announcement that I no longer wanted to teach and that I was going to make Infiniti Crafting Co. my full-time occupation. I've faced so many challenges with this but, I'm still adamant about following my dream.
So why am I writing this blog?
On September 7th, 2022 I officially dropped my K-12 teaching certificate! This decision took a lot out of me and was such a hard conclusion to come toward, even after announcing it in March. I'd gone through and completed my associate's degree in Art Education and that felt really great. I was totally committed to the idea of being in a classroom and inspiring young minds through creativity. And though I may still end up teaching, I decided that getting my BFA with a the teaching certificate wasn't it.
With each passing semester, the prospect started to feel like a weight on my shoulders. In retrospect, I realized that I was driven to complete a this goal for the sake of family approval. Since the passing of my mom, I've thought about a LOT. And the moment I decided to let go of that aspect of my education, the relief was profound. In addition to that, I've made it my mission to take Infiniti Crafting Company full time and make it my career.
Currently, I have several projects in the works to boost this momentum going forward. I've had to be super creative as of late, considering this whole ordeal with my teeth but I think y'all will like what I have in store.
I'm definitely feeling the aimlessness of that decision. Some days are high and others are very low. I knew that I was in for a ride when I started this as a leisurely gig all those years ago but, I had no idea how intense things could start to feel. Nevertheless, I'm going to keep trusting God and following my dreams here. I enjoy very much what I do and I can't wait to see where things are five years from now!
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