This is a post for fellow business owners, or those who are thinking of opening up a small business. I get told a lot of different things as a business owner, most of them very positive.
"How do you do it with 2 littles and one on the way?"
"What's the secret to balancing your roles of mom/business owner?"
"It must keep you super busy!"
"What an accomplishment!"
I often smile and say thank you, and leave it at that... but the truth to it all is that there are a lot of things left unsaid. I don't have it all figured out, I'm still learning how to balance my work and being a mama. And some days, I cry a lot. Plus, there are often things that are unsaid about running a business that I feel I need to share from my heart.
Recently, I've seen a few posts on some local networking group from new, small businesses who feel defeated and discouraged because they feel like they don't have many sales, or don't have many followers on Instagram, or they feel like their followers and fans on social media are not engaging with them, or they aren't part of enough giveaways. I realized that I'm not the only one that has insecurities surrounding their small business. I want to encourage those who might feel the same way or have insecurities. The truth is, a lot of business owners feel this way, even if they are seen as a established small business. It is never easy to run a small business. I want to share a little bit about the vulnerabilities and sensitive heart matters on running a business on social media in this post.
I'm just going to say it. There are a lot of things that make my heart feel vulnerable when running my business. For starters, it is easy for myself to compare myself to others, and I often have a tendency to compare my successes to those of other shops. Don't get me wrong. when I see that another shop has reached 10,000 sales, I am extremely happy for them, but there is a part of me that wonders how many sales I've made to date and how that compares to 10,000 sales. The next one is hard for me to admit. When I see a good giveaway being hosted on social media, I sometimes wish I was invited to participate in it and I sometimes wonder if I even would make a good fit for any of these giveaways. Or, sometimes my heart beats a little unsteadily when I see that someone that I "follow" on Instagram doesn't follow me back, or worse.... unfollows me! I'm even embarrassed to even say all of this out loud and I'm resisting the urge to hit backspace because it all sounds so neurotic. But the truth is, I could go on and on! I know I'm not the only one to have these thoughts because I see posts about them all the time in my networking groups.
In short: There are times I feel insecure as a business owner. I think the reason behind all of this is because running a business puts us in a very vulnerable position. We pour our hearts out into our businesses, invest our precious time and money into it, and it's only natural to feel that way. It's only natural to feel a bit vulnerable! But I think that it's important to remind ourselves this:
What success looks like to one person is not the same as what success looks like to another person.
As small business owners, we need to give ourselves room, grace and patience. The beauty of running a business from home is that each business has a unique backstory to it! Some open up a business because they need the additional income. Some open up businesses because they have found something they enjoy making and want an excuse to make more of. Some business owners are stay at home moms. Others are working moms. Some businesses will see an overnight growth and huge spikes in sales, but others will grow slowly but steadily. The story behind each business is different, and each business owner's life is different. Because of all these differences- each business is going to grow and thrive differently. I think that the road to success for small businesses begins with pacing our hearts and our work loads. I'll write another post on some of the practical things I do to balance my business with my mothering duties another day, but I wanted this post to be focused on these heart matters. What we can do is encourage each other, collaborate with each other, and lift each other up when insecurities hit. Collaboration, not competition! If you're a small business- whether you're seen as "big" or "small" keep doing your thing! Be encouraged, because what success looks like to one person is not the same as what success looks like to another person.
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DESCRIPTION AND MEASURMENTS OF FONTS:
Atticus: Handwritten style, whimsical, sweet uppercase only font. Resembles someone's printing on a sticky note, a little sweet love note left for a special sweetheart, just because. Pairs well with the Jaleesa font. Stamps very sharp and crisp. Letters are small, about 2mm. Uppercase only.
Aurora: Calligraphy style font resembling beautiful ribbons of the aurora borealis. This font font is similar to the calligraphy font, but also the wanderlust font. Very small foot on the r. Letters vary about 2.8mm-4mm. Lowercase only.
Constellation: Resembles beautiful hand-lettered journalling, featuring the most beautiful dancing baseline. This looks like something that would be found in a talented hand-letterer's journal book: effortless, carefree yet clear. About 3mm. This is a scripted font and as such will have a dancing baseline. Upper and lowercase. Lowercase r does not have a foot.
Blossom: Round, cursive-like font with a hand written feel. This font is a bit wider, with letters being about 3mm wide. Lowercase only.
Boho Love: Printed letters, resembling child's hand printing. Letters are not perfectly straight & even and resembles whimsical child's hand printing. This font is stylized to not be as smooth, as it resembles printing with a pen or pencil. Letters are about 4mm tall. Uppercase and numbers only.
Calligraphy: Elegant font that resembles calligraphy! Letters vary in size, but is about 2-3 mm in size on average. Letters like the a, o are smaller while letters with the beautiful strokes (like the j, y) are a bit bigger. The r has a very small foot as shown in sample photos. This is a scripted font and as such will have a dancing baseline. Only lowercase.
Cashmere: Smooth, hand scripted letters resembling silk cashmere ribbons. Letters are about 2.5- 3mm. (Vowels, letters without tails are smaller). No foot on the r. Lowercase only.
Cursive: A pretty font that resembles old-fashioned cursive writing. Small foot on the r. Simple, but pretty! Each letter is about 3mm on average. Upper and Lowercase.
Fairytale: A mix between a brush script and hand-scripted. Similar to sunset, but less brushed, and almost like ribbon. Letters are about 2-3mm. There is no foot on the r, features a curvy m and a very swaying baseline. Only Lowercase.
Galaxy: A clean, minimalist stylish font with a modern vibe. Letters are about 2.75mm. Uppercase only.
Heartstrings: Letters resembling string, and words will connect as if strung like string across a bar necklace. Who pulls at your heartstrings? Letters are about 3.5-4.15mm wide. We can fit up to 4 letters on a petite bar. We can fit up to 7 characters on a standard bar, and up to 10 on a luxe bar. Lowercase only.
Jaleesa: Elegant, beautiful, dainty font that makes a statement. Resembles someone's effortlessly talented and beautiful writing. The j's and the i's are dotted with the sweetest hearts. Named after Jaleesa. This is a small font, about 2.5mm. Scripted style, with thin and crisp lines and flowing letters. Vowels are very small. Lowercase, and r does not have foot when stamped individually or with words beginning with the letter r. Lowercase only.
Lace: Delicate, graceful letters with clean and simple lines. Letters are about 2.5-3mm. Letters like the b, f, g are elegantly elongated. No foot on the r when stamped individually or with words that start with the letter r, please see the chart to view this letter. Lowercase only.
Lavender: Lavender is a lowercase font, it is small, about 1.5mm-2mm (depending on the letter- letters such as d, f, p ,t are taller than smaller letters such as vowels). It is an easy to read, clear font that is small but makes a statement.
Love Letters: Similar to calligraphy, but more slanted as if written with a quill on parchment paper with a love note for a loved one. No foot on the r when stamped individually or with words that start with r. Please see chart. Letters range in size but will be about 3mm. Lowercase only.
Madeline: Free writing font with flowing letters. About 2-3mm tall letters. Letters are a bit wider than other fonts, therefore character limit is a bit lower for bar necklaces as this is a wider font. This is a brush-like handwriting font, and so depth will appear to vary, and as such each letter will vary and may appear to have a dancing baseline (bottoms of letters are not on the same plane). Small foot on the r. Available in upper and lowercase.
Meadow: Artisanal writing. Letters are wider, and this features a very artistic, dancing baseline. Please note, there is no foot on the letter r. No foot on the r when stamped individually or with words that start with r. Lowercase only. Letters are about 3 - 3.5 mm.
Moonlight: Moonlight is a lowercase font. about 3.25mm tall. It features loopy letters that are beautifully curved. Very small foot on the r. Scripted style font.
MINIMALIST: A small, uppercase font that is classic and simple. It is a smaller font, about 1.5 mm in height. Available in uppercase and is the default font for numbers as well as roman numerals.
Newspaper: Resembles a type that you’d see out of a vintage newspaper. Will vary on baseline, as if typed on a vintage typewriter. Letters are about 2-3mm tall. Skinnier font than Print. Upper and Lowercase, plus numbers to match.
Ocean: Curvy, wavy like the ocean waves. This font has unique letters, with each letter having its own personality. Letters vary greatly in size, with some being 1.5mm and others being 2-3mm. Letters such as d and g may be larger, up to 4mm. Letters such as c, u,n,m v, as well as vowels are smaller in this particular font. No foot on the r. This is a very small font, and words will be very small if you have a customization with many vowels or any of the smaller letters in your customization word/name as shown in the chart. Lowercase only.
Sapphire: Fun, handwritten style font that has a brush feel. 2-3mm. There is no foot on the r. No foot on the r when stamped individually or with words that start with r. Lowercase only.
Storybook: Simple, playful but elegant cursive font. Letters are about 2-3mm. This is a smaller font. No foot on the r when stamped individually or on a word that starts with r. This font and features beautiful loops. Lowercase only.
Sunset: Brush style font with a boho feel. Scripted freely and beautifully like brushed strokes. Letters will vary widely between 1.5 mm to 5mm. Letters such as the t, y, z, g are larger, with most vowels and other letters such as c, v, x being smaller. No foot on the r stamped individually or with words that start with the r. Please note that this font style may not suit every single word or name, as it is a brush style with letters varying a lot in sizes, particularly ones with smaller letters. Not every word will stamp the same way with this font. The words that are best suited for this font (in general) are medium sized words. Please make sure you take a look at the font chart so that you are aware of what each letter looks like and so you can gauge what your preferences will be for this font. Please contact us if you might want this font but are unsure if it may suit your customization. This font is offered for those who like very freely brushed/scripted fonts. We do ensure that our stamp placements are as accurate as they can be, and this is a beautiful font, but can be tricky in that it will not suit every word due to the varying sizes of these letters. Please contact us PRIOR to ordering to ask a question specifically about your word with this font fit if you are interested in this font but have any questions about this font in your customization. It is also suggested that you contact us if you are looking for a customization for a word or name that is short or has several smaller characters. Lowercase only.
Tiny Sayings: This is a super small, dainty font. Each letter varies in size between 1-1.5mm! This is great if you would like a longer saying that you need to fit on a bar, or more names to fit on a bar. This is a very tiny miniature font. The font style resembles something tiny printed out of a vintage newspaper. Lowercase AND numbers.
Wanderlust: This is a beautiful font that has a dancing baseline. It is flowy, fun yet elegant. Letters range in size from about 1.5-3.75mm. Please note this is a free/flowy/whimsical font with letters varying widely in size due to the hand scripted nature of this font. Because of the design and style of the font, letters without tails or swings such as vowels, or letters like c, n, v, etc are much smaller than letters such as h. Vowels are closer to 1.5mm and are quite small. Please remember this if your customization is short or has mostly vowels, and see the font chart for comparisons between letter sizing. This font features smaller vowels and letters with letters don't have tails or swings and is a smaller font so if you're customizing a bar with more words, this would be an option to fit more words. Please note that a few of the letters in this Wanderlust is quite small compared to other letters in this font, particularly the vowels. The letter r does not have a foot. See chart for reference. Lowercase only.
NUMBERS Number requests will be stamped minimalist by default unless otherwise noted.
IMPORTANT FONT CHOICE SELECTION INFORMATION:
If you would like hearts or dots, you can leave a note in the customization box with (heart) or (dot) to indicate that you'd like a heart or a dot.
For special symbols and punctuation, please contact us directly.
If any of the fonts do not show a matching & (ampersand) sign, it will be the plain & sign shown with minimalist.
Numbers only come in minimalist, tiny sayings, or newspaper. Please note that if you would like a necklace with dates and would like more than 2 dates, we can only fit it with minimalist or tiny sayings.
Please note that some fonts have been enlarged so you can see each letter easily. Also, please note that some letters only come in lowercase and will be stamped as such. All the font descriptions and dimensions can be found under the photo. Please note that letters with tails such as j, t, y, etc are much smaller than vowels or other smaller letters such as a, c, i, u, v, n etc. If you need exact dimensions of each letter, please contact us here.
Letters are to scale within font sets. All script fonts will appear to be connected for the most part as if someone did calligraphy on your necklace but please be aware that spacing and placement will vary to ensure fit on bar or triangle and also because each one is hand stamped! These are also stamped by hand, so please keep that in mind as you order. If you are looking for something with 100% precision, an engraved necklace would better suit your needs!
About our speciality calligraphy and scripted fonts: Most of our calligraphy and brush or handwritten style fonts have a dancing baselines, meaning that not all the bottoms of the letters will not touch the same plane at the exact same location. If you combine letters with upswings and downswings, there definitely will be a dancing baseline, and it may dance more than if there was not. For example if there is a p and a d in the name, you may notice that the baseline varies more. Please contact us if you have any questions. In the chart, the letters have been drawn out without a dancing baseline so that we can fit every sample on this chart. STAMPED, there is a slight dancing baseline. This is the style of these fonts. If you prefer something simple, minimalist would be a great choice.
Please contact us if you have any questions. Also, please note that stamping is done by hand and not by a machine so placement, depth may vary ever so slightly.
Please note that by default, if numbers are requested, they will be plain as shown on the minimalist font. If numbers are requested in a font not available, minimalist is the default font for numbers.
Our products are not digitally produced, but are hand stamped, so it is not possible to create a proof.
Please note that some fonts come in uppercase/lowercase while others come with only lowercase. If you type in "Mary," and the font is only available in lowercase, we will stamp "mary" on your bar. If it comes in both cases, it will be stamped as "Mary" on your bar. Please note that by default, if numbers are requested, they will be plain as shown on the minimalist font unless otherwise requested.
Scripted fonts such as the storybook, wanderlust and calligraphy are a designer font, and are not a block font so please understand that it resembles free hand writing or brushed writing with a dancing baseline.
Because they are designer fonts, they are handcrafted fonts. Please keep that in mind if you select any of our scripted or designer fonts in that every designer font has a style that is unique. Most of them have a dancing baseline. Because of this, some letters in scripted fonts are different than others. For example the letter "r" may include a foot in some fonts but not other fonts. Some fonts may include letters that vary greatly in size. For example, in the wanderlust font, the some letters such as the a, e, r are much smaller than letters like l, h, j. Please contact us prior to purchasing if you need any help with picking a scripted font.
Each necklace is handmade and handstamped, please allow for variations in position, depth and spacing of letters. This is not a printed necklace, so some variations will occur as a result of being handmade and handstamped, and to ensure that every letter fits on the bar. Furthermore, every single name will vary as each name has different combinations of words. Please contact us directly here if you have any questions regarding font choices and we would love to assist you! The photo below is a guide to help visualize the differences in chain lengths. It is a guide to help. Like clothing size, each length will fit differently on each person. 18 inches is our standard size but depending on your frame, and preference for where you want your necklace to sit, you may need a shorter or longer chain.
WORD FIT ON BARS:
*For bars with 4 + names, we can fit them! Please contact us to design a piece!