My oldest son called me today. He’s 13, as of my writing this, and sometimes gives me a call after school when it’s one of his father’s days. Today, he called to fill me in a little bit more on the girl he likes, and then, after chattering about his things, ask me what I was doing.

“Working. Just like I do on every day you guys aren’t here. Working working.” It was more sing-sing than short, promise.

He answered back with an affirmative understanding, but he’s a good person, and worries about his mother, so that didn’t stop him from commenting that I work ALL the time. I had to agree – I do work all the time – but the hope is that while I work really hard right now, the businesses will take off, and I will be able to work fewer days.

“How does that work?” he wanted to know.

So I tried my best to explain concepts like customer acquisition and marketing, the basics of branding and getting your name out, customer service, product development for creative businesses, and how direct sales works. We talked about how early on, most of your time is spent on marketing – getting your name out, finding your customers, and taking care of them, making sure they want to be repeat customers. It takes a long time, a lot of time, and a LOT of work to get that down. I explained why marketing and reaching new people is important, how the financial side of a business works early on, and how happy repeat customers means your business keeps going so you can shift into more and more product development and creative work.

We chatted about how some of the businesses will more or less run themselves with a large enough customer base, provided you spend time regularly on taking care of your current customers. And that’s why I run so many little businesses right now, so I can cover the bills and focus on creative work in the future, start taking time off, and help our family get stable.

We talked about the huge difference having a supportive partner makes as an entrepreneur, because he asked what does Steve do to help. I explained that if your partner isn’t supportive (he’s seen that situation before) that you’ve practically failed before you’ve started. If you have a supportive partner, you have the hardest part out of the way. I talked to him about how Steve handles shipping, builds my painting panels, has given me tools to help the businesses when I couldn’t get them myself, and how he keeps me sane. Paul laughed at that one, since the running joke is that Mom is a bit crazy, but he understood, he said. He’s seen me frazzled and worn down and in tears from the stress, and he knows how Steve holds me up on my feet when I can’t do it myself.

Paul talked about how I should make sure to wear my own t-shirt designs and leggings all the time, to help promote the business, so maybe people would want to invest or purchase, and help the businesses get off the ground. (Smart kid.) And he talked about how cool it would be if and when they took off – “I’m not saying they will or won’t, but it’d be cool if…”, he said, often. I talked to him about how wholesale works, and hopes of maybe seeing designs in stores, and some of the advantages of working wholesale with small businesses like me. Lower purchasing requirements for other small businesses, and so on. He got excited about this idea, that stores would have things like this, and he had a jaw drop moment when I explained that with big companies, minimum wholesale orders could be for thousands of pieces – “That’s like… $2,000 an order! THAT’S A LOT!” (We’d been running examples with a $10 profit margin, admittedly low, but it’s an easy number to do mental math with.)

I told him I know that my being an entrepreneur like this means that I don’t get to spoil them the same way their father does (“Well, yeah but Dad works as a government contractor and they pay him a lot, so that’s why,” he volunteered) but I get to stop work and talk with him after he comes home from school, so it’s a trade off. And hopefully some day, the work will pay off. For now, it’s one of the prices of being an entrepreneur – you try an idea, and it fails, and so you try another one, and then another one, and they fail, and you just keep trying until you find one and it works, and it’s awesome.

“I hope yours take off soon, Mom. That’d be really cool.”

Me too, kiddo, me too. <3

It was good to chat about this stuff with someone who thought it was as cool as I did, but didn’t feel the need to suggest modifications to the system I’m working with. I’m not sure how the other side of his biological family will feel about me imparting some of the entrepreneurial spirit to him – that other side much prefers the mundane 9-5 and the lack of risk that comes with it – but the kiddo has the aptitude for it. Each time I explained a concept, he’d ask more questions, digging deeper.

That’s my kid. <3

Regarding the header image – jewelry is one of the four businesses I run. It’s the other creative business, along side the art and designs you find here. Posh and Jamberry are my direct sales businesses.