The Medieval Nun

It was a perfectly normal Friday in August. It was nearly lunchtime. And then, it happened; I got laid off.

I had been talking with my husband about going into business for myself, because there were rumors afoot at work that the office would be moving to a more distant part of the city, and I knew that was going to make my commute too long to tolerate. Still, my ideas were very much in the planning stages. I had not built out a workroom that I knew I would need. I had no supplies. While I had gone ahead and set up a website, that was just to secure the name; I didn't have anything to put on it.

So, in adversity, I started to build my business. I got enough of a severance package that I was able to buy some supplies and I started making jewelry on the kitchen table. And slowly, but surely, I have started to add a few things other than jewelry, and I've placed my products on Etsy, eCrater and my website. I've had to do some fast learning about setting up an online business. I had to get a merchant's account with PayPal, start advertising on Google, and spend many hours submitting my website to directories. Not to mention getting business books out of the library by the armloads and reading through them for tips.

I am still in the process of building my business. These Squidoo lenses are part of my marketing strategy. I saw them recommended in one book I read about marketing your online craft and art business. They work on several levels. Firstly, your lenses sell and promote your business directly (this one is a prime example). Secondly, every time I link to my business in a lens, and Google sees that, my website gets a little bonus point. Someone said that having links to your website on other websites is like having people vote for you. In this case, Google reads lenses as little, individual websites, so every lens I have with my business link in it is a vote for myself. And the more "votes" that I have, the higher up in the search results my website will be (yes, it seems a silly way to rank a page, but then, Google is so popular they're a publicly-traded company, so they must be doing something right).

And, in an unrelated note, lensmasters get a cut of the advertising revenues from Squidoo, based on the number of lenses they have, how good they are, and how much traffic they get. While this doesn't mean anything to my business, it is a source of income, however small; in this economy, I'll gladly take it.

I am limited in what all I can make, due to limited space in our house for production and storage. And until I get some sales, we can't afford to build out the upstairs of our garage into my planned workshop. So I'm in a bit of a Catch-22 situation. It also doesn't help that the same economic downturn that caused me to lose my job in the first place is also causing people to clamp down on their wallets and not shop.

I have begun production of wedding veils and plan on making more. I also plan on making up some aprons. I've been wearing one of mine around the house and find it terribly handy. My grandmother gave me some fabric odds and ends, so I can make some up cheap to try out. I also have some silk that I can make stoles with (a part of the vestments used in Catholic, Episcopal and some Methodist churches). So, with what materials I have now, and with having to make a lot of Christmas presents this year instead of buying them, I should be quite busy until Christmas.

I also plan on offering a Christmas sale. Stay tuned to my website, or sign up on one of my networking sites to find out more.

As to the short term future (as in the next few months), I plan on making some stoles. I have a couple of examples of medieval embroidery on stoles which I plan to replicate, and I also plan on beading one.

It would be great if, sometime this year, we could get my workshop built out and I could move on to producing clothing.

In terms of church items, I would like to be producing cassocks, robes, stoles, albs, chasubles, alter cloths and funeral palls.

In terms of wedding items, I would like to have a good selection of veils and a few medieval-style wedding dresses for off-the-rack.

In terms of religious jewelry, I would just like to have more of it.

I may or may not let the non-wedding, non-religious jewelry (what I refer to as "everyday jewelry") drop. It all depends on whether I miss making it, whether it's a good seller, and how well everything else sells and the comparative profit margins. For the short term, though, while the economy is a mess, I don't intend to make any additional pieces, as people aren't buying that kind of luxury item.

I am 29 years old (no, really), married, with one horse and two kittens. My husband and I live on 5 acres out in the country, near the little town of Eagleville. We both do medieval re-enacting; my husband also does 18th century re-enacting and used to do Civil War.

I run my business out of our home (off our kitchen table and in parts of our living room, actually), cottage industries being very medieval. My goal is to become so successful I can hire two employees--one to do all of the computer work, bookkeeping and mailing, and the other one to do the sewing that I don't much care to do, leaving me free to focus more on jewelry and embroidery.

(Picture: Me and my husband at one of our large re-enactments, in front of our old tent. I made our clothing.)