It is often said in the field of self-employment that 80% of small businesses fail within their first five years.
Beach glass used to be a way of life for me
Seems like a somewhat gruesome statistic, but it is really hard to build a business, especially from home.
Lately, I have been feeling some nostalgia, as I wind down my jewelry supplies business with "found objects." Of course, this one lasted far longer than five years... I started it in 2007.
For a while, it was allowing me to make about $50K a year doing one of my favorite things: Finding and picking up interesting things on the beach.
Sadly, I don't have access to finding things the way I once had (when I started, there were only a couple of us, now "everybody" wants to do it) and — like a great many fields — the business has also fallen victim to the problem of (this will be "politically incorrect") "Cheap crap from China."
I can't make a living — especially in today's inflationary economic climate — trying to sell something for 50-75% less while my cost of living has become 50% more.
And so, I end up waxing nostalgic for the "old days," like I used to hear elderly relatives do, when I was a kid.
Maybe it's just (possibly false?) perception that "good things" come to an end much faster than "bad things." Sometimes it feels like I have been outsourced and outdated in practically everything I have attempted... even such a thing as beach combing.
No, I'm not angry about it... more sad than anything. Endings do tend to make me sad...
Lately, I have been working a lot on accounting and bookkeeping... perhaps my least favorite thing about being self-employed. But hey, it has to be done.
My once thriving business made the head spinning sum of $1,514 in 2023. So it really is time to call it quits... and perhaps "reinvent myself" once again, at the tender age of 64.
It seems necessary — if not essential — as my work as a book editor is also on its way to be made obsolete by AI and outsourcing to SE Asia.
But these are the times in which we live.
I suppose I could be bitter and angry about it all... but what's the use?
When I was young, one of the challenges I set for myself was to work at — and with — things I sincerely believed in.
If life has taught me much of anything, it would be that I am thoroughly out-of-step with what most people in the world want, and most people are thoroughly out-of-step with what I want.
It simply is, and that's OK.
But today I have been feeling a bit nostalgic and longing for a time when I did pretty well, doing something I really enjoyed doing!
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great remainder of your week!
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Created at 2024.10.16 00:12 PST
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