The more I jumped into the rabbit hole that is organic sewing and the whole natural movement in general, the more I felt like here I am at the beginning, a newbie, that young girl who walks into the sewing store looking for lanolin and gets that timeless look from the other ladies who say...oh well so and so are already doing that.......... well made me feel like, "Damn, I have bitten off a really big chunk to swallow!" Starting a business and following my passion had one small catch....
Competition.
Okay...so the words of wisdom.....
As a BC girl I had the privilege of working with a woman who impacted me in more ways than one.
Mary
Mary Lucas is the owner of the Victoria artery of Hip Baby. I worked with Mary for a few character building months before my adventures brought me to Muskoka. One thing that placed Mary on my Top Ten List of Strong Woman in My Life was her attitude about competition, or in her words, partners.
From the beginning, Mary made a strong conviction that there will always be other business that will sell the same products as you. Instead of looking at these businesses as competition or intimidation, Mary takes the professional and positive approach that, not only are other individuals in the same field as you valuable connections, they set the level of standards by which each business can inspire the other to become better, to deliver higher customer service and products and to have an all around, more positive and lasting enterprise.
I had to compare my insecurities with her attitude and realized that my intimidation came from the desire that I want to be successful in this area of my life. Sewing to me is what makes me happy. It is what makes me lose track of time and it is what makes me feel independent from others around me. To realize that others out there are jumping onto the green dragon made me want to jump on as well which in turn stressed me out that I would somehow (in the matter of a week) miss my great opportunity to ride to my own green success. STOP Alissa, realize that with time the hands become wiser and so does the spirit.
So as I sat there is my sewing room inspecting my work, ensuring that my seams were right and that I needed to focus on craftsmanship and that extra handmade touch, I realized that there is a huge source out there of inspiration if you only chose to see it that way. Yes, there are others out there who are up-cycling and creating beautiful hand made things....I will take their efforts, work harder, pay attention to detail, slow down, and dammit, Love every minute of it.
To all of those out there creating beauty with their hands, you are my inspiration.
{o,o} The wOOly Owl
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