Jack of All Trades
Running a small business (by which I technically mean “being a sole trader”) is an immense challenge, in a good way! When I left my “proper job” to set up as a fused glass artist, one of my ex-colleagues wished me a happy “indefinite sabbatical” - I’d had a period of sabbatical while I decided what I wanted to do next. My boss had told me (before I started my sabbatical) that I’d be bored if I didn’t come back. Oh how wrong they were…
In Glassified, I am the:
- Glassworker
- Woodworker
- Photographer
- Web Designer
- Accountant
- Product Designer
- General Administrator
- Warehouse Operator
- Queen of Spreadsheets
- Head of HR
- Social Media Guru (I am really no guru!)
- Head of Marketing
- Head of Pricing
- General Dogsbody
Oh and obviously I’m also wife, mum, taxi service, cleaner, household administrator, chief cook and bottle washer!
Some of these jobs I enjoy more than others. I love a good spreadsheet! I don’t understand social media. And photography… well, that deserves a whole blog post of its own. I appreciate the flexibility that self-employment gives me: last-minute engagements in my son’s social life don’t send me into a spin in the same way they did when I had formal employment to work around.
I enjoy the variety I get by fulfilling all the above roles - and if I’m not in the mood for one thing one day, there’s probably something completely different on my list I can tick off instead. And of course, there’s the feeling of excitement/nervousness every time I open my kiln lid!
I should also give a massive shout-out to my husband in this post. Although I have titled myself the Web Designer, I mean “design” in the sense of “I’d like a purple bit here, that font shouldn’t be underlined, I want this photo to be smaller than usual, please can I have a scrolling gallery full of photos”. He does all the magic, and there’s a lot of magic on this website!
And I included Woodworker on my list - I do the measuring, sawing, sanding and filing - but he’s in charge of the computer-controlled bits (which has turned out to be even trickier than it sounds). He’s also my sounding board for ideas, puts up with me dealing with social media in the evenings, and joins in my happy dance whenever an order comes in.
Finally, I have a couple of very demanding self-appointed colleagues. They need doors opening and closing frequently (they’re always the wrong side), they occasionally try and jump onto a work area that’s covered in glass, and they have very different ideas to me about what makes a good sales photo. They are, of course, my rescue cats Bert and Ernie!
