Saturday, December 17, 2011

One Year Anniversary of Sparkling Creations! (A Week Late)

I’m so pleased to be celebrating the one year anniversary of Sparkling Creations! Technically, I am one week late, because I received my small business license on December 10, 2010.  However, certain events, such as the last week of school here in Rockingham County and my 29th birthday, prevented me from really celebrating this important milestone for my business!

The most important lesson I’ve learned this year though has been that patience/perseverance is the key to running a small business. Period.  I have lost count of the many times I have uttered the prayer “Why God have I committed myself to this insanity?” throughout the past year.  I have learned to press on through weeks of not selling a single jewelry piece, spending entire days photographing jewelry and then realizing that in each photo there’s something you can’t photoshop out, having to type in four months of sales/expenses again due to a corrupt file, having a “friendly” chat with the Virginia Department of Taxation over sales tax, etc.  However, despite those trials, I did manage to preserve and continue my commitment to this business.  I read the entire Bible over the past summer and whenever I get frustrated over events such as the ones mentioned, I found this verse:

 “We count those blessed who endured.  You have hear of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.”  ~James 5:11

While I have definitely not suffered the trials poor Job had to deal with, this verse has been a great encouragement to me as I’ve dealt with the more unpleasant aspects of running my jewelry business.

God gave me so many amazing opportunities this past year-I’ve done four craft fairs, one jewelry party, sold jewelry online both domestically and internationally (Canada), created almost two hundred pieces of beautiful jewelry, wrote a detailed business plan, the list could go on and on.  The most amazing thing though is that for the 2011 business year, Sparkling Creations Jewelry has made a small net profit!!  If you had told me a year and a half ago, that I would not only be running a small business, but making a small profit off of it, I would have laughed in your face.  Very loudly.

It’s just proof to me that God is full of surprises and uses people (such as myself) to do incredible things.  I’m definitely looking forward to another year of them!

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