Maternity-Leaving Self-Employment

(the fabulous children's Geranium dress pattern is the last class I'm scheduled to teach at The Village Haberdashery on 25th June. image source: Made By Rae)

A few years back one of the topics I occasionally wrote about was self-employment, both specifically about mine which is in the field of sewing, and a bit more generally. A number of people that I've taught over the last four-ish years have found the idea of making money from your passion to be an interesting one, so I felt the reality of that was a topic worth discussing on this blog whilst I outlined how I made my income. I haven't written specifically about sewing-related self-employment for ages, mainly because my situation hasn't changed very much in the last two years. However, I'm currently staring down the barrel of my second maternity leave, so lots of thoughts, feelings and questions have come up for me that I'd like to air here.

For the last two and a half years, I've been the primary caregiver for our daughter Dolores. She has yet to attend nursery or any other form of childcare so it's a pretty full on task. I've also been bringing in a part-time income, the majority of this has been through teaching sewing and dressmaking classes at the weekends (when her dad can take care of her). I also make a small amount from blogging, sample making, blog sponsorship and sewing pattern sales, which I work on after Dolores has gone to bed and during her naps times. There's been times that all of these activities have left me really busy, and times when it's been less so and I've been able to do more sewing for myself and stuff. The most tiring aspect has been the travelling to and from classes, especially the ones that take place in London. On bad weekends, the journey can take up to four hours each way. When I haven't had a good nights sleep, and now that I'm pregnant again, it can really take it out of me for a couple of days after. So because of that, I'm really looking forward to my maternity leave to avoid the travelling part (although I know that there is a whole different world of tiredness just round the corner!). But on the other hand, I'm really lamenting having to step away from my working life.

(the beautiful and inspiring sewing space at MIY Workshop. 

image source: MIY Workshop/Wendy Ward)

As far as I can figure out from my internal enquiries, there's a couple of reasons for this. Partly it's because I've managed to get myself some really great gigs, which has mainly been through working hard at what I do to get good at it. I genuinely LOVE the four companies I currently teach at (Tilly and the Buttons, The Village Haberdashery, MIY Workshop and Fabric Godmother), and getting to help people improve their sewing skills and confidence is a really lovely way to spend time, however tiring projecting a super-positive energy whilst being on your feet all day can be. Plus, getting great feedback from my students about how much they've enjoyed a class and how much more confident they now feel with sewing is so rewarding, and it just feels great to be good at something! There are MANY days that have been spent 'mumming' where I just don't feel like I'm doing a very good job. I'm not sure how my general self-esteem will be effected when I can't intersperse those days with the odd one spent teaching someone to successfully insert an invisible zip or get their head round bias binding. (By the way, you can see what remaining classes I'm scheduled to teach on my Sewing Classes page.) I spoke very frankly about motherhood and the ways in which sewing offers some relief and escape towards the end of this Seamwork magazine article, and some of what I talked about needing sewing for could also be said for my paid employment.

You may be thinking, 'But this is your second child, you've been through this before, right? Why are you freaking out?'. I guess there are two main differences this time round. Firstly, I have a much clearer idea of how absorbing and exhausting life with a tiny baby is; I know how little time will be left over for any kind of work or creative endeavour when you're the primary caregiver. I was very naive about that when I first entered motherhood. Secondly, on top of the whole tiny baby situation, this time I'll have a lively toddler to care for and entertain as well, which will surely leave me with even less time and energy to direct towards anything else I might like to pursue. Thinking I could still achieve quite a bit, on top of keeping a little baby alive and happy, lead me to come unstuck last time and definitely contributed to me experiencing post-natal depression. Therefore, I'm trying to be as realistic as possible about the stresses and strains coming my way over the next year or two.  

(your last chance to let me help you to sew with jersey will be at the Fabric Godmother HQ in Hove on 17th July! image source: Fabric Godmother)

So I don't really know what the future holds for my self-employment after my maternity leave. I don't know exactly how different life will be with two tiny children rather than one, and I don't know exactly how Pat's employment will change over the next couple of years either. His situation will have a major effect on both my availability to work and how much my financial input will be needed. But I know that I will need to do some kind of work, however infrequent, for my sanity if nothing else once the mini-dude is old enough to eat solids and breast-feeding calms down.

What I guess I need to remember is that their infancy only lasts a relatively short time, although when you're in the trenches it feels like an age! They'll be at school in the blink of an eye, and I'll be wondering where this period went. At that point I will have more time to concentrate on creative ways to earn money. But I know I'm not the only woman to have felt a bit uneasy about an approaching maternity leave, and what that will mean for your sense of self. Likewise, being somewhat lost in motherhood, no matter how much you love your kids and how carefully they were planned, is not a unique experience either. If anyone else felt a bit weird about this stage of life, it'd be great to hear how you dealt with it.

New Classes at MIY Workshop, Brighton

About a month ago, we had a couple of friends come to visit from Spain, and one of them gave Pat and me a tarot reading. Now, I'm not at all new-agey, but I freaking loves me some tarot. If done by someone who knows what they are doing (or at least can pretend that they do), then it is a lot of fun. And my mate Lee really knows what he's doing, plus he is selfless enough to help his friends delve into their problems for hours on end. On this occasion, we wanted to know what is going on with us, work-wise. There's uncertainty in our future as Pat's current job is coming to an end in a few weeks, with nothing else currently on the horizon. I won't bore you with the whole spread, but I have to say that Lee predicted that my work opportunities will be expanding, and in the direction of Brighton (I have no idea which specific card means 'more work in Brighton'!).

(image source: Wendy Ward via Makery blog)

I shit you not, less than a week later I was helping out at the Fabric Godmother's awesome open day (massive hello's to everyone I met or caught up with there) and got the chance to chat with Wendy Ward, who asked if I would like to teach at her MIY Workshop (which is in Brighton)! A briefly backstory and explanation: I was lucky enough to meet Wendy two years ago when she kindly accepted our request to talk at the Craftaganza Live talks (now defunct), which were a spin off of my semi-regular craft market, Brighton Craftaganza (resting, but not defunct). Wendy is an insanely talented pattern cutter, designer, writer and teacher who sells her own patterns and sewing related products, AND wrote a beautiful, recently released sewing book. She recently contributed not one but TWO incredible refashions as part of Portia/Makery blog's The Refashioners 2015 challenge (see above). Good work, Tarot.

(image source: MIY Workshop)

I'm so excited to be teaching at the MIY Workshop for so many reasons. Wendy is a really cool lady who I hope to learn from, and her workshop space (see above) looks lovely and super inspiring. She seems to have a bunch of loyal, regular students who attend her classes (many of whom have been asking for Saturday classes, which is what I'll be teaching) and I can't wait to meet some of them. These classes are for anyone interested in doing some sewing, no matter what their existing skill level. Students work on whatever projects they fancy at their own pace, and I'll be there to assist in any way I can. Initially, I'll be teaching there on 19th September and 24th October, and if those book up well, then every 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month going forwards. If you would like to know more or to book a class, please visit here for Wendy's contact information. Please don't hesitate! Or the tarot will be proved a liar, and Lee will have to find a new hobby.

To clarify, I will be teaching at the MIY Workshop in addition to my other fabulous teaching gigs: Tilly and the Buttons HQ and The Village Haberdashery. I bloody love my job!

Self-Employment Update: 1 Year in with a Family

I've written and even spoken pretty openly in the past about my reality of being self-employed and  trying to make a living from my creative and sewing related endeavours. I've been meaning to write an update on the subject for ages. There's been a fair bit written in the sewing community of late about bloggers who make money from sewing, and whether or not their blogs should or shouldn't be used to promote their money-making activities. Sadly, I don't have a fraction of the time I'd like for reading blogs these days so I'm not fully versed in all aspects of the debate. However, reading Karen's fascinating recent post and all the interesting comments that followed, I found it surprising that there was such a clear opposition from some to sewing bloggers making money from their passion. 

I don't have the energy to wade in to the debate right now, but I'm certainly not about to stop mentioning things that are related to my income if I feel they may be of interest to some of my readers. For example, if I'm teaching a class on how to Copy Your Clothes (which I am, BTW), for you to decide that it's a class you'd like to take to expand your skills, you're going to need to know that it's happening. And if I've developed a sewing pattern to sell and you're into sewing, how can you decide if you want to buy it if I don't tell you about it and show you versions already made? I respect the emotional intelligence of my readers to engage with and/or enjoy the parts of my blog that interest them, and to click away when it doesn't feel relevant to them. 

Plus, I can't help but feel that a significant number of people would like to make at least part of their income from their hobby, so my assumption is that at least a handful of people who read my blog will be interested in me writing about my experience of this. Indeed, from the comments I've received from all those posts in the past, quite a few people are interested in that as a subject, and some even pondered how I'm going to juggle those things with a baby/child on the scene. So here goes...

The main reason that it's taken me so long to write a self-employment update since becoming a mum is that things have been in pretty constant flux. It's only after a year that I feel that things are starting to stabilise for long enough to have a status quo to write about. It's been a hell of a learning curve, in every respect, and it's been both the most amazing and the most difficult year of my life. The majority of the difficulty, I can now see, was perpetuated if not caused by my foolish assumption that I could achieve just as much with a baby as I could without one, with absolutely no additional childcare. That and a lack of sleep!

Childcare

Before Dolores was born, Pat (Mr So Zo) and I decided that we would undertake all childcare ourselves until she becomes eligible for the free 15 hours per week that all three year olds in the UK are entitled to. That decision was based on a mixture of what we felt would be best to create stability for her, as well as necessity as we live prohibitively far away from any family assistance, and we couldn't afford additional childcare even if we'd wanted it.  

This year has been a constant juggling act. We are always negotiating with each other about what time we need, work-wise, and when we can take the baby. At times Pat has had to work full time, so has been around very little during the week and I have had to cram everything I've needed to do into nap times, evenings and weekends. There has been very little family time, to be honest. But I have plans for that to change in the New Year. So what have I been working on?

Sewing Classes

The majority of the money I bring in is from teaching sewing classes. Which is fortunate because I LOVE teaching sewing stuff. I literally get paid to talk about my favourite subject for hours on end with lovely, engaging people who want to learn and enjoy themselves. The downside is travelling. For financial reasons, we had to move from Brighton to a cheaper town on the South Coast which has made it harder to get to the schools I teach in. But it's fine, time to myself sitting on trains is pretty welcome! 

Currently I'm teaching at:

Tilly and the Buttons HQ in West Dulwich, London. 

Currently I'm scheduled to teach a Coco workshop, a Francoise workshop and some Copy Your Clothes classes. Check out her workshops page for details here. 

The Village Haberdashery in West Hampstead, London. 

There are plans in the works for lots of classes next year, and currently scheduled are an Emery dress class, a Renfrew top class and a Sureau dress class. Check out their classes schedule here. 

Badger & Earl in Chiswick, London.

The new kids on the sewing-cafe block, I'll be teaching a beginner's dressmaking class for making a pair of child's PJ bottoms. Check out that and the rest of their range of classes here. 

Sew In Brighton in Brighton & Hove, East Sussex.

As soon as I moved away from Brighton, I picked up a job in Brighton. Genius! Anyway, I can sometimes be found here teaching beginner sewing classes and my very own 'Rework Your Wardrobe' class. Check their extensive list of class options here. 

Sewing Patterns

You may have noticed that I released a sewing pattern a couple of months ago! The Dolores batwing pattern has been selling steadily and it's been thoroughly wonderful to see other peoples' versions start to pop up on the internet. I currently have no plans to release any more patterns, but never say never! However, please remember that I have also designed two other sewing patterns which are available here FOR FREE.

Brighton Craftaganza

See the beautiful poster at the top of this post? That's the artwork advertising the latest craft market event which takes place at our usual location of Fabrica Gallery in Central Brighton THIS WEEKEND!!!! If you happen to be in the South East of England and at a loose end, this event won't disappoint. 

From a personal stand point, I've found this year's event much easier and more enjoyable to organise. After the ridiculousness of organising last year's double weekend market around the time I went into labour and then with a tiny baby, I decided more hands were needed on deck. This year I have shared the organisational responsibilities with my super talented friend/jewellery maker Kirstin, and brought in my event-organiser friend Claire to inject some energy and creativity into the decoration.

'Hey Baby Yeah'

For some unknown reason, when Dolores was about three months old, I decided to set up a little baby wear range. Actually I think my reasoning was that I wanted to be a seller at craft events, not just an organiser. Maybe I wanted to spend more time sitting down! (Not that I sit down as a seller, BTW.) Anyways,  I developed a simple range of three products: dribble bibs, jersey trousers based on the ones I'd been making for Dolores, and washable breast pads for boob-feeding mamas. Some of my products can be found in my Etsy shop and I've been really enjoying selling at a few craft fairs here and there. 

My Blog

I've met and 'e-met' some wonderful people through having this blog, it's my favourite outlet for self expression (aside from sewing itself) and it has opened up some great opportunities as well. It's been the source of so many good things for me, particularly since I became self-employed. I don't feel I currently have sufficient brain-space to write as often or as in depth on certain topics as I'd like to at the moment, but of course I'm not apologising for that!  I'm blogging when I can, and not feeling pressured to do so. Plus, FYI, I'm going to continue organising Me-Made-May for as long as the sewing community wants it to go ahead. 

Next Year...

As I mentioned above, it's taken me all year to figure out that I can't pile on the projects and plans like I used to. I used to get a real buzz from having my fingers in lots of metaphorical pies, and plotting and scheming new angles of income. Now I have a child though, I (perhaps unsurprisingly) find it very stressful having lots of things on the go at the same time. With limited attention and energy left for work, I'm worried I'll miss something or end up doing it half-arsed. 

So I have vowed to have a new approach next year. Looking after Dolores is my full-time job. Teaching sewing classes is my part-time job. Anything else is extra and must only be undertaken if I am sure it's not going to add unnecessary pressure. Let's see how that works...

Teaching Workshops at Tilly HQ, London

This blog post is pretty pointless for two reasons but I'm going to write it anyway because I hate not doing something that I planned to. It's meant to be a post announcing the exciting news that I'm going to be teaching two of Tilly and the Buttons's new workshops. However this post is pointless because it is unlikely that there's anyone who reads this blog who wouldn't have already read about the workshops over at Tilly's when she announced them on Tuesday (aside from my folks, hi Mum and Dad!).

Tilly has a whole host of wonderful workshops that will take place in her EPIC new studio space in London. Most of the classes will be taught by herself, plus there's also a Zips and Buttonholes class that will be taught by Lauren from Lladybird when she's in town! I'm tempted to take that one myself just to hang out with her... Does that sound creepy?!

My involvement will be teaching the Copy Your Clothes! and Sewing Knits: Make a Coco workshops. If you were counting and wondered what the second reason why that this blog post is pointless is, it's because both of them have sold out already. However, it is very likely that they will be rescheduled at some point in the future, so if you are interested in taking them you can get on the waiting list by contacting Tilly.

Labour in Labour

I was wondering earlier today if I am merely naive, or actually slightly touched by madness. The reason being that, for some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to organise the biggest craft market that I've created to date at EXACTLY the point when I become a mother of a tiny baby for the first time. I had already booked the usual venue for not one but two weekends of festive contemporary crafty goodness before I became pregnant but instead of either cancelling the dates or passing the organisation over to someone else, I decided to go ahead with organising them myself. I thought that I'd be easily able to check my emails here and update the blog there during my final weeks of pregnancy and whilst wrangling a tiny infant. Pat has a photo of me answering Craftaganza emails during the 17 hours of labour that I spent at home before my contractions were close together enough to be allowed to head to the hospital (33 hours from breaking waters to baby, in case you were wondering!).

With over 110 sellers over the two weekends it's been a real challenge, and in hindsight I would not have taken it on, but I am proud of myself for having achieved this and goodness knows we could use the money at the moment. But I guess my actions do show the extent that self-employed people and those who work from home have trouble stepping away from their work. There's probably a more in-depth point to make from all this but I'm too tired to extract it at the moment.

So if you happen to be in the Brighton area, or at least South-East England and looking for something to check out this weekend and/or the following, you'll find some incredible designer-makers selling their wares at the Fabrica Gallery in Central Brighton. You'll be able to scoop up some phenom unique Christmas presents and with different sellers each weekend there's no reason not to visit twice! And there'll be mulled wine. Unless I drink it all.

New Baby: New Clothes?

It's time to address a subject that I've had seven months to develop an opinion about now. I am of course talking about baby clothes and how I plan to dress my baby. What have we got for our baby to wear when she comes out? SO MUCH: is the answer!!!

After the first scan went well, I started hitting up the charity shops and a nearly-new sale for baby grows, vests and anything else that looked in good condition. At first it was a few things here and there, then we found that the charity shop at the end of our road sells all its baby clothes for 30p a garment! Umm, I went mental in there and hoovered up all the nice things, regardless of colour (i.e. gender) which seemed to really confuse the more conservative shop assistants, particularly when I told them we already knew the sex of our baby! And then the donations started to come in. Friends and relatives with babies and toddlers started giving us bags of baby garments (and heaps of equipment and other stuff). Even an associate of my best friend's dad who I have never met kindly gave us what must be over a hundred pound's worth of stuff. 

Sorting through it all I realised we had more 0-3 months things than we would possibly ever need so I had to place an embargo on myself when near charity shops and start donating some things to a friend of mine who is also expecting but not quite as prepared as we are in terms of 'stuff'. These two drawers pictured above and below are stuffed full with all of the 0-3 months clothes we now have, except for a couple of outdoor padded suits that won't fit in here. 

So, aside from a few pairs of tiny socks (eye-wateringly cute, BTW) and the trousers I have made (blog post to follow), EVERYTHING we have acquired so far, clothes, equipment, furniture, etc, is second-hand. The reasons behind this are predominantly ethical and secondarily financial. 

Ethical

As I have talked and written about many times, I dress myself exclusively in self-made or second-hand garments, aside from bras and hosiery. I do this consciously and deliberately for a variety of reasons that I feel passionately about. My feelings about the environmental damage caused by the production and transportation of mass-produced garments, the welfare of the workers in those industries, the 'disposability' of fast-fashion and the comparative lack of satisfaction shopping awards us compared to sewing or thrifting are not going to go away because I'm about to become a mother. In fact the opposite is happening. I'm more aware than ever of the shitty state our global eco-system is in (BTW, have you watched 'The Island President' yet? Such an amazing film) and the way our capitalist financial systems prioritise profit over human life, safety and well-being, and I feel guilty and embarrassed about the world we are leaving our children. 

My daughter is not going to be in any danger from second-hand clothing that has been thoroughly laundered before she wears it. Nor from unbroken equipment or furniture that has had a good clean before she touches it. There is so much damn baby stuff already out there in existance that has barely or not even been used (so many of the garments I've bought second-hand or been given still have the original price tags on), it will not make me a bad mother for (re)using those existing resources rather than buying more brand-new mass-produced items that will be useless to us within a couple of months. 

In fact I believe the opposite. I believe I'm a better mother for trying, at least in some limited way, to put less pressure on the social and environmental fractures that unchecked consumerism is causing. I am the first to admit I live a far from 'perfect' life (if such a thing exists) in terms of my carbon foot-print etc., but I will at least be able to have something to say for myself when she inevitably asks me what me and her dad where doing to stem the damage our generation is inflicting right now.

Financial

Aside from the ethical reasoning behind buying (or receiving) second-hand things where possible for our baby, ourselves and our home, there is no denying that there are real financial benefits to be enjoyed. I've written and spoken in the past about how being self-employed since losing our jobs has had its ups and downs and how it helps to have a certain disposition to ride those waves. 

Recently Pat and I attended a four week course called Parentskool that was chock full of advice for first-time parents of 0-6 month babies. A lot of the discussions revolved around what items and types of items are good and not so good to buy for a baby, including buggies/prams, high chairs, breast milk expressing machines, clothing, cots/bedding, nappies and much more. After a couple of sessions it dawned on me that none of the other couples had any intention of buying second-hand items for their babies, aside from the items that friends and family had already given them. I guess prioritising second-hand options when sourcing things is now so ingrained in me that it occasionally surprises me when people that I can really relate to in many other ways don't feel the same about that too. Then thinking about it a bit deeper, I realised through all the discussions we'd been having that all the other couples were in a much higher income bracket than Pat and I so they didn't have that extra incentive to source the cheaper second-hand options. 

We are kind of in a funny situation in that we are classed (in the UK) as a low-income household, but not low enough to be entitled to any assistance or benefits. I have applied for and been told I'm entitled to Maternity Allowance (the self-employed person's version of a salaried employee's maternity pay) which isn't much but will help with my disappearance of income at the end of my pregnancy and first chunk of our daughter's life. Plus, when she comes along there are some benefits and assistance we will then be able to receive that are designed to help make sure she is secure and well-nourished. As I've said before, I'm not in the habit of overly planning or worrying about the future, so we'll see what happens. 

However, the upside of being self-employed and therefore more flexible is that, unlike the other Parentskool couples who all have complicated plans for their maternity and paternity leave and for what will happen when those allocations dry up, we have time on our side. All being well, touch-wood, Pat and I will be able to share childcare so one or both of us will be with her all the time. We won't need to worry about finding the cheapest nannies or nurseries to leave her with, or experience the guilt (not that anyone should necessarily feel guilty about going back to work) of leaving their baby with strangers, or wrestle with the frustrating reality that childcare costs about as much as the wages you are going back to work to earn. 

We've had a tricky spell, financially speaking, recently. And I'm sure that if we'd gone out and bought new all the things we've so far acquired second-hand, we would be in a really difficult situation right now. And there really is enough to concern ourselves with at the moment with the prospect of very shortly becoming parents. 

Podcast / Audio Post #2: Discussing Self-Employment 10 months in...

After the lovely response my first podcast/audio post received last month, we decided to make another (with added seagulls and aeroplanes for authenticity!). This time Pat and my discussion expands on the theme of self-employment, including an update of 'the story so far' plus thoughts of the future...

Once again, your thought on this/these audio posts are most welcome, including anything you'd like to hear me chat on about in the near future!

Oh WAIT!!! An added extra in this audio post is that I let slip the gender of our baby-to-be! Please no spoilers in the comments peops!

Self-Employment: How it Works (or Doesn't!)

(awesome print by Popcorny, we have this on our wall!)

Right, so this post is kind of an extension of my 'Self-Employment Update: Six Months in' post from last week. It's most likely only going to interest people who feel they might like to be self-employed/free-lance, but you never know! I, for one, am always intrigued to hear about other peoples' lives, even if they aren't doing something I'm directly interested in doing myself (which is probably why I love Tilly's 'A Day in the Life Of' series of posts as much as I do; I seriously think they are some of the best stuff on the internets!).

So please believe when I say that I'm writing this post very far from the perspective of an 'expert' at self-employment, or as someone who is even doing it very successfully. But I do think that sharing some of my experiences and thoughts on this subject will be useful to someone considering venturing into creative self-employment specifically, and perhaps some other kind of self-employment or free-lancedom more generally.

Our Situation

I think it is important to explain that both myself AND Pat (Mr So Zo) became self-employed around the same time last year. Therefore our experience might be very different from someone who has a salaried partner/financial dependents/is single. I bring in income from a variety of sources (see last post) but Pat is a writer who works with one single publisher.

How it Works (or Doesn't!) Financially

It may be considered vulgar (like as a hangover from the 50's or something!) to discussed finances, but I can't really give a thorough picture of life as a self-employed person/couple without addressing the subject. Obvs I'm not going to go into figures, but here's how the income arrives:

Me:

• Most of my income presently comes from teaching sewing and pattern cutting classes. I don't teach regularly, my schedule is mixed. A few weeks could go by with no classes, or I could find myself teaching three or even four times a week. I invoice Sew Over It for my teaching every week or two weeks worth of work. I use eventbrite to organise my profits from classes I organise and teach at Super+Super HQ. 
• A few days after each Brighton Craftaganza event I organise I pay any outstanding invoices and calculate the profit I've made. These bursts of income are obviously as regular as the events themselves. Plus, the amount I end up with has a lot of variables, the main one being whether it was a one-day or two-day event (not as simple as two days being double the profit!). The profit I get from organising these events may be quite little compared to the amount of hours I put in, but the amount always makes that month a bit easier!
• I get a small amount of income from the selected sponsors of this blog. 

Pat:

• Pat completes a title approx. every six weeks/two months. When he finishes a title he can invoice for an advance. 'An advance' sounds very impressive, but isn't really unless you are Stephen King or something. Presently it compares to about one month's wages from his old shitty job in telesales. 
• Occasionally he is asked to do a small amount of work for other titles, like writing the introduction or something. This will be for a small one-off amount. 
• The books then take a whole bunch of months to be released. The ones he wrote all the copy for will then earn him royalties after the advance has been recouped. Obviously depending on how popular the title becomes but also how the book distributors have been dealt with, the monthly royalty cheques could be the equivalent of several month's worth of of shitty telesales wages or a small fraction of it!

As you can imagine (or maybe relate to), it can be difficult when we are both having 'lean' months. But when either of us are having a flush time, I employ a very important technique: squirrelling. As you may imagine from the name I have given it, squirrelling involves taking chunks of money to distribute into other (less accessible) places for the future. When I was a waitress getting paid in cash at the end of the week and receiving my tips in coins at the end of each shift, I literally had a multitude of envelopes, boxes and drawers to squirrel money away in. These days I have four active bank accounts for the purposes of squirrelling. It makes me feel secure knowing there are a few 'pads' of money around, even if I've been allocating some of it for a holiday or something. 

But there has been some scary patches since we became self-employed. Plus if your partner is going through a lean period, the urge can be to step up your own earnings, but that isn't always possible and can lead to extra stress. Likewise, knowing your own contribution is way down can make you feel guilty and stressed in a different way! Sometimes it feels like you really can't win. But when you do have a good month, knowing that your creativity and skills are solely responsible for that makes it all the sweeter and more exhilarating. As scary as it can be not knowing if your bills will be covered next month and as messed up as my sleep pattern can get because of it, NOT having the safety net of a dollop of a set salary to expect at the end of the month makes me feel much more alive, and somehow more adult. I feel like I'm participating in life more somehow. 

In My Experience... /Points to Consider 

There are some other points to make and lessons I've learnt over the last six months that I'd like to mention that could be relevant if you are trying to decide whether or not to quit your day job:

• Pat and I comparatively don't have much in the way of overheads, no loan repayments or credit cards to pay off. We don't have a car to run or keep taxed and insured. 
• Pat works entirely from home or a local cafe with good wifi, therefore his transportation costs are zilch. My work locations are more mixed. I work from home or Super+Super which is in walking distance. When I work in London the classes are always at weekends or in the evenings so my train fares (which can be extortionate in the UK) are always off-peak fares so I don't have to work for very long before I've recouped that outlay. 
• Recently we moved into a bigger (and therefore more costly) flat, even though we have chosen to live in one of the most expensive areas of one of the most expensive countries you could pick to live in! We made that decision because, seeing as both of us work from home at least some of the time, it was going to be better for our mental health to have some more space. Our new place has a little separate room that is now my sewing studio. To afford and justify this I no longer have a desk space at Super+Super HQ, which was a hard decision to make because I love those peops so much. But I found I wasn't using that desk space as often as I could've and it was being used in part as very expensive storage for my sewing patterns and laptop! Nowadays we can work in effectively the same room but he's at the other end so my sewing machine and swearing don't disturb his concentration as much as they used to! Plus our living room and bedroom aren't filled with bags of fabric constantly in sight like the last flat we lived in had become. 
• Going back to finances, although this of course makes sense anyway, being self-employed makes it particularly essential to have a clear idea of how much is in your bank account/s at all times! You have to either keep in your mind (which I am good at) or check regularly (which Pat has taught himself to do) what work you've completed, who you've invoiced and when you can expect to get paid. 
• Similarly, you need to keep a eye on when big outlays are looming. Whether that's something big and scary like your self-assessment tax bill, or a bi-annual utility bill, or something fun like a holiday or trip to visit friends you've planned. It helps you assess exactly how flush or lean things currently are and theoretically helps you get prepared. 
• Keeping an eye on how much work is coming up in the near to mid-future is a good idea too. If I know I've got a whole bunch of classes coming up for example, can help me decide whether or not I need to release some squirrelled away funds in the meantime or not.  
• This may be controversial, but unless you're running a business that relies on a long term business plan for momentum, I would suggest not to stress or even bother thinking about anything say, six to nine months or more into the future. Crazy I know but I think it just a waste of time. If there is anything that life taught me last year is that it can catch you off guard and throw up all kinds of potholes, but also exciting opportunities. Plus you'll naturally do some evaluating at regular intervals, so why bother to plan deep into the future when it may become clear that one element isn't working or you want/need to change tack from the path you'd previously set yourself on?
• There are HEAPS of awesome resources out there to help a self-employed person, be they of the crafty persuasion or not! Red Velvet has a lovely, inspiration e-course for carving out your dream creative job. The Design Trust is a killer website for aspiring self-employed designers/designer-makers, I well recommend signing up to their newsletter. Anyone who works from home could find support, advice and inspiration from this site, following the site author @judyheminsley on twitter is a good idea. 

Self-Employment Update: Six Months in...

Umm, where did six whole months go?! There I was last August, ploughing head-first into a schedule-less void of panic, then by November I'd scrabbled together a group of activities that I could collectively call 'work' and was vaguely financially keeping me afloat. Now I'm six months into self-employment and it feels like a good time to have another review and check the lay of the land. I was slightly reticent to continue posting about this subject as it feels a little self-indulgent and somewhat off-topic from sewing, sustainably or style, but the last self-employment update post received so many lovely comments from people who found it interesting and/or they could relate to my experiences so I've decided I'm going to continue to do so. If you want to pass on this one, come back on Monday when I'll be writing about something else, no doubt!

So what am I doing these days:

Teaching

This activity has gone to the top of the list this time because the amount of classes I'm teaching has increased a lot since November and therefore it has become a more significant activity financially:

• I have been teaching quite a few sewing and pattern cutting classes at Sew Over It in Clapham, South London as well as helping them prep and test patterns and instructions (for example the new Tulip Skirt class, pictured above). It's such a nice place to work. Everyone I've come into contact with through that place, both staff members and customers, I've found to range from 'really nice' to 'freakin' awesome'! As you may have noticed in the right-hand side column of this blog, they are now one of my sponsors. This is a reflection of how supportive the owner Lisa is of her staff. However, that's not to say that it is easy-peasy work, obviously it differs from class to class but I put A LOT of energy into those classes. Helping six or seven people through a complex garment project all day, keeping momentum and positivity and dealing with sporadic technical difficulties whilst not letting anyone fall behind definitely feels a bit like keeping plates spinning whilst on stage (I'd imagine)! 
• I also have a monthly 'Rework Your Wardrobe' class which takes place at Super+Super HQ in Brighton. These classes are really fun and it's wonderful to see some previously unwearable garments brought back to life. It's great to share the skills, techniques and approaches that a lot of us who have been sewing/refashioning for yonks may have started to take for granted. I also have another 'Intro to Commercial Sewing Patterns' class coming up at Super+Super. Amy and Claire who own and run this lovely space are very open to trying new classes and workshops, so I may rig up some others before the year is out. I love the freedom I have working with Super+Super, but the downside of teaching classes there is that I have to do quite a bit of organising and promoting. I'm totally spoilt by Sew Over It, where I just need to turn up and not worry about getting bums on seats!

Brighton Craftaganza

My baby contemporary craft market is a baby no more! It is now in its third year. How quickly they grow... Since becoming self-employed, I've definitely been able to devote more brain-space to how I want it to develop and grow. Interestingly, when I very first became self-employed I really tried to put a rocket under it and even researched options for making it monthly rather than quarterly, but I kept hitting brick walls. A few months on I think that was totally for the best and I now feel its strength lies in being less frequent and therefore a more special 'event'. I may have misinterpreted feedback, but it appears to be getting a rep as one of the better, more interesting craft/handmade fairs/markets in the UK. Hurrah for that! 

• My main Craftaganza tasks are still organising the actual events themselves. This year we are doing more events than previous years, so as soon as one market has taken place, I have perhaps a few weeks before I need to start it up all over again. Each event takes about three months of fairly intense part-time work, even though to the lay-man who doesn't know me, it may look like all I do is rock on up to the actual event and put some tables out and tell Pat where to hang the bunting! If only they knew... I'm not entirely sure Craftaganza is financially worth all the time and effort I put into it, but I do think we are doing good things for the local and perhaps national handmade/craft scene and by spreading the word that handmade is more special and valuable than mass-produced (which I guess is kind of what I try to do in regards to clothing with my other activities). 
• I'm still firmly involved in co-promoting and co-hosting our new Craftaganza Live free creative meet-ups. These are monthly events to provide opportunities for local creative types, very often designer-makers, to meet, have a drink and a chat. Each event starts with a talk by a member or members of the crafty/handmade scene about their work, business and inspiration. Last month's speaker was the amazing Eleanor Callaghan, designer of Etsy and Pinterest favourite label 'Dig for Victory' (one of her beautiful creations is pictured below). She's just opened a bricks-and-mortar shop and her whole story was totally fascinating. Tonight's Craftaganza Live will be featuring, umm, me! I'll be talking about my experience of starting up and running a craft market and hopefully imparting some helpful hints to sellers/potential sellers. Wish me luck, I'm really nervous!!!

Sewing and Blogging

The fact that I spend a fair bit of time sewing and blogging probably won't come as a surprise to you! But the reason that I'm adding it to my list of activities these days is because (in the very best sense) I now take blogging more seriously and no longer feel it's an indulgence to spend hours taking/editing photos and writing blog posts. My husband Pat helped me realise that I should be considering it one of my main activities, rather than just a hobby, because this blog is my calling card of sorts. It speaks entirely of my passions, skills and interests and has opened lots of doors for me. For example, I probably wouldn't be teaching at Sew Over It if I didn't have a blog that got me an invite to Lisa's book launch and a chance to put to her the possibility of teaching at her sewing cafe. Also, as mentioned above, I now have a small number of selected sewing-related sponsors that bring in an (albeit tiny) income.  

Mystery Projects

I apologise for the guarded nature of this section, but it is currently too soon to disclose the details of a couple of exciting projects I've got on the go. Maybe they won't pan out, maybe they will. Maybe they will flop, maybe they will be game-changing. All I can currently say is that both are taking a fair bit of my time and brain-space. 

One notable absence and lessons learnt...

If you have been paying close attention, you may have noticed that hat-making or any kind of sewing-for-money is no longer on this list of activities. I shall explain... The run up to Christmas was totally stressful. I know it is for most people, but I felt properly snowed under (excuse the pun) with organising the Christmas Brighton Craftaganza market, organising and teaching classes, rigging up some 'Sales For People Who Hate Selling' talks, making stock for some craft fairs I took part in, co-organising and promoting 'Miniclick-aganza' which was a combined photography and craft Christmas party (don't ask, surprisingly it was carnage!) and doing extra shifts at the hat-making job. I knew it was going to be a stressful time, which always has detrimental effects to my sleep, but I thought I saw an end in sight.

I took a couple of weeks off over Christmas to visit friends and family, although I was still sleeping very little. I thought that things would start to balance out in the new year, but they didn't. I had to immediately start organising the Spring Brighton Craftaganza, and the number of classes I was scheduled to teach amped up. For some reason, orders kept flying in at the hat-making business so things didn't let up there. I was struggling to spend time doing the things I love (like sewing and blogging) and I was becoming a physical mess. I actually have a draft of half a blog post saved I tried to write at that time (it was written at 3am or something when I was going through a phase of insomnia). It's such a pathetic mess of garbled thoughts, it helped me realise something had to give. 

I think if you are self-employed or freelance, there is a compulsion to 'make hay whilse the sunshines' and push yourself to do as much work/take on as many projects as you possibly can for fear that there will be a dry period just round the corner and you'll be thankful you made as much money as you could when you had the chance. Although dropping one of my income streams was going to make things tricky financially-speaking, I had to take one thing off the pile of activities if I was to get some sleep and leave some brain space for the other things I want to achieve this year (including the mystery projects). So I chose the hat-making as the thing to let go. It wasn't an easy decision to make because my boss is really lovely. But I kind of got to the point where it wasn't much of a challenge anymore and as the one thing that wasn't self-directed, I didn't feel as invested in it. Plus it involves working longer hours for less money than teaching does!

So apologies if this post has gone on a bit long! I'm going to publish a kind of 'Part 2' to this post next Wednesday that will be more directly useful if you are thinking about becoming self-employed/free-lance yourself. Not that I'm any kind of expert, or have even done a particularly good job of being self-employed in the last six months, but I think sharing my experience and some extra info may be beneficial to others.