HEY THERE!
Welcome to my first ever blog post! Could be my last...who knows. I wanted to take a minute and talk a little bit about The Feathered Farmhouse, our background and our most current endeavor. First, let's take a moment to recognize I am not a writer, blogger, author and this could be somewhat chaotic so just bare with me, ok? Thanks.
THE WHY
The Feathered Farmhouse started out as a creative outlet for this momma who was riding the struggle bus trying to find a sense of self after a couple of years of raising babies. (anyone else been there?) Loooooong story short it lead to me leaving my part-time job at the beginning of the summer of 2017 to stay home with our kids who were 3 & 5 at the time and pursue this journey. It was a huge step. I wasn't a job hopper. I am a comfort zone gal fo sho. I like hiding away in anything that has already been established, where I know my routine and where I feel secure. Branching out from that? Terrifying. But hey, here I am writing a blog post! The benefit of finally being able to be around my kids 24/7 was totally worth that risk.
THE LEAP
But now what?! After several offers to sell my signs in stores around the area I was having a hard time justifying paying rent and commission to places when deep down I knew that's not where I wanted to be. (Insert that comfort zone thing again right? Would have been easy to just take signs places and drop them off.) I wanted to build this brand to stand on it's own. Who was I kidding though, what the hell did I know about running a business? Who would want to buy home decor from the lady who used to work at the police department? It takes a lot of self confidence and at that time I had ZERO. I was physically ill the week I launched my Facebook page, thanks nerves. Thankfully I didn't need that confidence right away because my husband had it for me. One day he just blurted out that we should just build a store at our house. What? Huh? Did I hear you right? He saw something in me that I didn't see in myself and I'm super grateful for his swift kick the a** that got me going.
THE SHOP
We broke ground that summer, fast forward....one year later, it's still being worked on. He farms and works on this building in his spare time. Farmer and spare time ARE NOT two words that you will often find together. I must say I knew he was handy but holy moly, dude that farms just built a legit building! Impressed. We really did think it was going to be finished by last fall, then this spring and now? Well we are shooting for the Christmas season. One thing I have learned is to roll with it. Last fall I decided to have an open house in our garage and that's where we have been operating out of ever since! Looking at the shop now I get pretty emotional. I can't this business has supported the funds to pay for it, let alone the support from the community this business has to continue to do so. (Current progress, cats, goose poop and chaos included)
THE WEBSITE
The website was created, but not launched in June of 2017. Once again I anticipated having it finished by that fall. Wrong. Um, did you know that to actually create and run your own website you have to know a little bit about coding? Lots of long hours and research and the website finally went live in April of 2018. Having the website be a success is an integrate part of my business plan. That's right guys, this gal has big dreams now. While we love going to shows and will continue to do so, it takes away lots of hours from our family. Which is the main goal and purpose of this whole shindig. A successful website would be a such blessing to our family!
THE INSTAGRAM
Yup, that terrifying giant that makes my stomach turn. This is part of my business I struggle with. I knew early on that I needed to get my business on Instagram. I started out doing the hashtag games, posting photos of my house, trying to find a balance. FAIL. It STRESSED me out. You mean to tell me I need to clean my house and take a beautifully staged photo so I can try to sell my product?! Nope. Couldn't do it. Second step, I will just take photos of my signs. Flat lay for dayssss. So that worked for a while but then I launched the website. Um, great. Now I need to get photos of my products. I have been using the stock photos but that just seems a little uninspired and boring. This isn't what I wanted or envisioned and now I'm taking the reins.
THE BREAKING POINT
So here I am. Currently fed up. This whole time I have thought I needed to be the one doing it ALL. I need to have photos of MY house, show products how I would style them. Make sure every piece of a sign from start to finish was created by my hands and MY hands only. Every box unloaded and item styled in the shop was done by ME. Truth is I can't do it all. It took a long time for me to realize the current pace I had been going was going to make me self destruct or quickly burn out. If I wanted those big goals I set for myself I was going to need help. This summer I hired my first employee, my mom. One of what I hope to be many more in the future. Being able to pay someone who has selflessly helped me for years has definitely been one of my favorite things this business has done so far. So why not bless others while outsourcing help all at once? Kinda a no brainer huh? Guess that's why there are BRAND REPS!
THE SEARCH
So remember when I talked about how stressful getting a pretty picture of a product in my house was? Yup, still holds true. That's why I am looking for YOU! The Feathered Farmhouse is holding it's first official brand rep search. What are we looking for? Someone who LOVES to style their home. Someone who LOVES our products and would be thrilled to receive them. Someone who gets it. Someone who can embrace and LOVE our brand as much as we do. Interested? Shoot me a direct message, an email, smoke signals. Whatever floats your boat. We can wait to hear from you.