Having a Small Business in NYC

So many people flock to New York City - the city of opportunity & lights - to come visit, to come live, or to come try to make their lively hood. I've lived in New York my whole life, born and raised on the south shore of Long Island and then moving to Queens (part of NYC) three years ago when my husband and I bought our condo. Buying a home was the first time I realized how much of a struggle it is to live in this part of the country (world). Everything is so beyond expensive that it actually disgusts me. When we were buying our 925sqft in Queens, I had a friend that was buying a 2,300sqft home in upstate NY for less than we were paying. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't jealous, and I'd be lying again if I said my husband and I haven't thought about leaving NY. But at the end of the day, this is where our family and friends are, and I think that if I ever left the smell of low tide and ocean, I'd be heartbroken.

Not only are the costs of living in New York ridiculously expensive,  but starting a business is no small chunk of change either. If you live within the 5 boros of NYC, you are required to publish your business in a reputable publication in order to validate the business. If you don't publish, you're business and Tax ID number will become void. There's a good chance that technically I'm a void business right now, because I haven't yet published. I've been dragging my feet because I think it's the stupidest thing in the world, it's super expensive (between $1,000-$2,500) and it seems like a way for NYC to take a crap on small businesses and milk start-ups for whatever money they've saved or borrowed. Regardless of how much I hate the rule, we all still need to do it, and I do plan on having my business published within the next few weeks, even if it puts me in debt.

While each county is every so slightly different, the following steps seem to be the same everywhere. So, if you live anywhere within NYC, plan on doing the following: To have your business published you need to call your county clerk to let them know you started a business, then send/fax them a copy of your article of organization and then they'll tell you what two publications you must publish with. I think that's the part that bothers me the most - that they dictate where you have to publish, and you really have no choice (at least that's how it works in Queens). Anyway, you have to then go and publish an announcement stating that your company is open for business. The cost depends on the publication, some are very inexpensive and some are extremely expensive - but again, you have no choice because it's dictated by the county clerk's office. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my publications aren't more than $1,500 because any more than that and I won't be able to do it until I have more dough saved up. Also, I do plan on begging the clerk to please show mercy and not give me expensive publications. I am not above begging.

Since I'm on the topic of expenses, and money, and living in NYC, I thought I would open up about something else that has been very much on my mind lately.

It's almost impossible to live in this area without two incomes, and they need to be two good incomes. Luckily, my husband and I are very comfortable right now because we both work full time, however, my ultimate goal in life is to grow Believe Notes into my full time job. I'm not saying I want to leave my full time jobe right now, because I happen to love what I do, but I also know that when the time comes to have children (and not any time soon, btw), I want to be present to raise those children. While I have a ton of respect for successful working moms, I don't know that it'll be the right thing for me. I want to be a kick-ass mom that is home to raise children and also bring in an income. It's an absolutely terrifying future goal because I have no idea if I'll be able to ever bring in the type of income that we'd need to live off of and have the type of life I want to have. To be honest, sometimes I feel a little bitter, because if I were living anywhere else right now (except for the other top 5 most expensive cities in the US) I would be able to comfortably call my current income from Believe Notes a true income that I could maybe live off of. Here in NY, I need to make at least 4 times what I'm currently making in order to be able to move back to Long Island and even contemplate leaving corporate America.

Not being one to shy away from a challenge, I am giving myself 2013 to really push every limit that exists. I'm just curious to see what type of potential is in my little business, and how much more efficient and profitable I can make it. I have to start thinking like a business person that is strategic about the future and try to figure out where I want to be and if I can actually get there. While I love my job, and I really don't want to leave, I also adore stationery, and stationery will give me the flexibility to someday have a better work/life balance situation. And of course, the fact that I live in such an expensive area just compounds my anxiety about the future - but I'll continue to work my butt off (in all jobs) until I know I can confidently go in the direction I need to.

Custom Recap + Brklyn View Photography

One of my goals for this year is to network more and send heartfelt notes to people I really admire.  Jainé, the photographer behind Brklyn View Photography, is one of those people. I had been following her blog for a while, and when I saw her get published on Style Me Pretty I was so darn excited that I finally decided to email her and introduce myself. After exchanging a few emails (and enjoying really awesome burgers and drinks together) we decided to collaborate on some stationery and head shots. Turns out that Jainé is a paper junkie, and I'm a picture nut, so we were like a match made in heaven!

Jainé loves all things pink and fun, so we decided to create two stationery looks for her. One features lively confetti with her logo on the back, and the other has a hand embossed "thank you" on the front in gold, with bright pink and red stripes on the back. Sounds awesome, right?! I've been playing around with hand-embossing lately and loved that Jainé was on board.

I know, I know, these cards are totally awesome. The icing on the cake is that both sets of cards were paired with hot pink envelopes and gold envelope liners! And I'm not going to lie, I think I'm in love with hand embossing, it's such a beautiful way to add an extra element to designs. Labor intensive, yes, but so very worth it!

Custom Recap: Pink & Grey Housewarming Invitation

Today I want to share a customized housewarming party invitation I created based on my House + Warming design. I love taking a design and giving it an update through color and specialty paper, so I was super excited when my client asked for the invitation to be done in grey + pink and then printed shimmer paper. How awesome did these come out?!

I'm so smitten with this color combo, that I'm now offering these exact invitations for sale in the shop! If you love them as much as I do, head on over and check them out.

The Battle of Self Doubt, Business Doubt & Being Discouraged

Today I want to talk about the absolute biggest business challenge I have ever faced: myself.

I've been going back and forth on whether or not I wanted to write this post, but at the end of the day, this blog is supposed to offer insights into my business - both the high and low. While I would love to only post about the great growth and fabulousness, that wouldn't be showing what really goes on behind the scenes.

Last week I shared some of my Common Business Mistakes, and while it was a scary mini-series to write, I thought it would be helpful so I wrote it, and it has gotten a ton of views, so thank you! Today I'll let you in on something that's even scarier to me, but I think it'll be even more helpful for you and the life/business you may be trying to grow.

Let's start off with my big confession: I seriously doubt myself. Like, all of the time. I doubt that I have the business savvy to really keep Believe Notes growing, I doubt that I have the accounting savvy to not have the IRS knock on my door and take me off to jail, I doubt that I have the actual design talent to create something timeless and versatile, I doubt that I have a warm & inviting personality and that I won't be able to make friends and be successful at networking, and I doubt that I have the ability to come off real and authentic in my blog posts.

Most days I am able to dock my doubts in the back of my mind and just plow through my to-do list,  but lately my to-do list has grown overwhelmingly complicated and my available time has dwindled to just about nothing. I'm so consumed by my business that I basically ignore all other house chores. There are stacks of laundry that need to be put away, my office is a mess, if it weren't for auto-pay, our bills wouldn't be paid, and I have a chronically empty fridge.

 my fridge, a few weeks ago: apple sauce, milk, eggs, beer, plain pasta. Oye.

One day last week I came home from my full-time job, exhausted and in dire need of some R&R. I needed to clear a spot on my sofa just to sit down, seriously. I looked around and noticed that my dining room table was covered in envelopes, samples, stamps and boxes - with just a little area cleared for my husband and I to have dinner every night. My sofa table was stacked with "inspirational magazines" - but wait, what color is my sofa table again? There was a giant pile of empty boxes sitting by the door, waiting to be taken to the recycling bin - one of Miss Juliet's balls was in there somewhere, but she was too chicken to dig in an get it herself, so she sat and cried and begged for me to reach into the pile and get it for her. Suddenly I felt overwhelmed, guilty, upset and out-of-control. Usually I'm able to come home from work and fold laundry, go through mail and tidy up. But lately I've been so busy filling orders and designing for Minted challenges, launching my wedding line, and prepping for the holidays, that I literally come home from work each day and go straight to my computer. I feel like a bad wife, and feeling like a bad wife is a sucky feeling (even though my husband swears I am not exactly the mutant stationery zombie that I think I am)

The hardest part for me, honestly, is the doubt around whether or not my business is legitimate. While my sales have increased, I'm still not anywhere near where I want to be. My Shop has days with zero visitors and weeks with zero sales. Granted, some weeks I have more sales than I can keep up with, and that feels fantastic. But on the weeks with nothing, I feel like a failure, and I start the doubt cycle again. I'll also add that I have a particularly hard time in the beginnings of the month, because all of the statistic stuff for website/blog/shop go down to zero. It's overwhelming when I look at the zero on the charts and have to think about how hard I'll be working over the month in order to get my numbers where I'd like them to be.

Speaking of numbers, I know I want more exposure. It's a goal, and I'm definitely working hard at it. I had reached out to a bunch of advertisers in the beginning of September and was so overwhelmingly surprised and happy that ALL of them not only supported my business, but wanted to feature me as "hand picked" or the like. I was on a high, until I realized that while I had money in my savings, I didn't have enough to pay for all the basic advertising. Well, that totally killed my high. I know it takes money to make money - and maybe I should take the risk of pulling money from my personal savings to pay for some of the ads?

So, at this point you might be sick of hearing me talk about this, and you might be looking for my advice or a tip of some sort. Well, I don't have one yet. I'm not exactly sure what my next step is from here, but I'm going to make sure it's a smart one (who wants to make a stupid step, right?!). Maybe I need to reduce the variety of products in my shop to just a select group of things I truly, truly love. Maybe I need to recruit my mother to help me manage some of my accounting & paperwork. Maybe I need to take some money from my personal savings to help get the exposure I want/need. Maybe I need to have more defined business hours. Maybe I just need to be patient and keep on doing what I'm doing (success doesn't come overnight, right?).

There really are some big and exciting things coming with Believe Notes, and I know that I'm running a good business, but I think we all get to a point where we need to think a little more strategically about the future. I do promise, though, that whatever happens, it'll only be in the interest of improving Believe Notes as much as possible.

Believe Notes Collaboration with Daily Sip Studios

One of the most amazing benefits of being part of the Minted community has been the opportunity to meet and collaborate with some amazing & inspiring designers. Kimberly FitzSimons, of Daily Sip Studios, is one of the designers that I have had the absolute pleasure of getting to know.  Kimberly creates impeccable letterpress stationery, and her wedding invitations are out-of-this-world amazing! She's been an inspiration for me & has helped me define (and then refine) some of my own business goals, so when she reached out to me for a collaboration on her new wedding line, I was thrilled!

I am so happy, and proud, to share that you can now purchase my Harmony Wedding Suite, available in letterpress and die cut, at Daily Sip Studios.

They came out beautiful didn't they?! Thank you SO much Kimberly for doing such an amazing job on these invitations! I cannot wait for future collaborations and to continue working with such talented designers.

The flat printed version of the Harmony suite will be available by Believe Notes in just a few more short weeks, when I launch my full line of wedding invitations. In the meantime, if you'd like to purchase the Harmony Save the Date, you can go ahead and do so here.

Holiday Cards Now Available at Minted!

One of my favorite parts of being a stationery designer is having the joy of Christmas in May. Yes, I said May. You may not realize just how much work goes into designing holiday cards every year, so trust me when I say it's a lot of work. As a designer, I'm thinking about the holidays all year round, and it's always SO much fun when Minted has their holiday challenges in the Spring. It's such a blast to play holiday music in warm weather with the windows open. My neighbors must think I'm crazy.

Anyway, I have two designs that will be for sale this year through Minted. Snowy Man is a fun, simple design featuring a little snowman and simple type.

I'm so excited that Snowy Man is now available, and if you're one of those super organized go-getter types that started buying presents last year, well now's a perfect time for you to start thinking about your holiday cards!

Announcing the Tiny Little Note Stationery Line!

A few months ago I gave a little preview of the newest Believe Notes stationery line, and I am excited to announce that the new line is officially here!

Please join me in welcoming the Tiny Little Note line to Believe Notes! These note cards are small in size - measuring in at A2: 4.25"x5.5" - but BIG on impact. They feature hand drawn details, fresh colors, and matching metallic envelopes. They come in sets of 12, and are available in a variety of coordinating themes. From florals to sweets, you're bound to find a set that speaks to you!

A secret? I've been using these as my own personal stationery for a rather long time now. 

I'll be introducing the rest of the line on the blog, but for now, head over to the Etsy shop and check out the Tiny Little Flowers line, featuring the three designs above!

Graduate School Necessities

I get a lot of questions about my time management techniques, and to be honest, I don't think I do it well enough to offer any really good advice. Most of the time I just put my head down and get crap done. That's exactly what I'm doing right now with graduate school. It's September, which means summer is officially over and I'm back to school at night after work. Right now I am only taking one class at a time - it seems to be the most manageable for me and my busy life. I get to my full-time job super early (around 7:30am) and leave by 3:30pm in order to make it to class by 6:00pm - yes, it takes me 2.5 hours to get to class. Yes, I hate it as much as you think I might.

Anyway, I do have a few things that are my absolute essentials when it comes to being an adult learner that goes to graduate school at night after working a full day. Here are the things that help keep me on track.

I wouldn't be able to survive without my giant Vera Bradley bag (1), it's machine washable, comfortable, and easily holds all of my stuff. What will you usually find in my bag? My favorite pens (3), my Nalgene water bottle (5), my Five Star notebook (6) and my iPad (8), which I keep in one of my own super durable covers. I tend to wear cardigans (2), since it's often hot on the subway, but cold in class. And I'm pretty sure that everybody in NYC wears super comfortable flats (4) for their commute - these flats might take comfort to a whole new level. My favorite watch (7) keeps me on track, especially since some classrooms don't have clocks. Although, I don't need my watch to tell me when it's time for a snack. Usually by 7:15 (mid-class) I am STARVING. So I usually pack myself a few brown rice cakes (9) with peanut butter to munch on.

And so there you have it, my graduate school survival guide. Anybody else going to school at night and have some good tips? I'd love to hear them!