I’m super excited to feature a little bit of Anna’s story with you. Having a handmade business is hard work — no doubt, but it is so rewarding. My favorite part of this blog is that it’s a source of encouragement for so many; this warms my heart. We all have amazing talents — some know of them right away, others take a little more time to bloom. Your input and experience is so valuable, regardless of what stage you’re in, and I hope this mini-feature helps you to know that. xoxo.
My name is Anna and I am the creator and designer for For the Love of Joy. I am 26 years old, a wife and mom, and a graphic design major. We live in Euless, Texas, a small city inside of the sprawling metroplex of Dallas/Fort Worth. When I’m not taking care of my family or creating, I enjoy cooking and eating, watching Conan and Jimmy Fallon, and decorating my home.
My two greatest accomplishments to date are becoming a mom and starting For The Love of Joy. These are two things that I never in my life thought I could or wanted to do and here I am doing it…and I love it!
It was such a great weight off my shoulders the day I quit my day job. I was not happy doing that line of work and so when I quit, I felt happy just to get away from that. Then I felt immense joy to know that I am one of the very few that get to do what I love AND be my own boss. It is such a huge blessing!
Running your own business is very hard and time consuming. Make sure that this is what you not only love to do but what you’re meant to do. I’ve seen many friends who want to start up their own shop but it never works out because it was just about the money and not about doing something that they loved. Also, learn to manage your time and stay committed. Most of all, be proud of your work and share it with everyone you know. Word of mouth is the best way to get your business up and running!
My struggle right now is learning to budget my business money. I always want to run around and spend it all on my favorite fabrics but like Gussy says, you must tell your money where to go or one day you’ll wake up wondering where it all went! {seriously — so true!}
I hope my story inspires those who have this strong feeling to start their own business but don’t know where to start. I always knew creating was something I was suppose to do with my life but I thought that couldn’t happen until after I went to college, worked for an agency, blah blah blah. Just do it. I learned about my business through my experiences and from asking questions from those who are living out their dreams right now. You’ll have your ups and downs for sure but if you believe this is the path you’re meant to take, you’ll get back up and keep going. Don’t be afraid to dream big….it’ll just make you work harder to reach your goals!
♥ For the love of Joy: shop | blog
Share with us: What is something that’s holding you back from professional success and/or growth? What is one thing you could do to improve this? — leave a comment below, let’s encourage one another.
Homework: Write your answers down at home and keep them nearby ~ let your experiences encourage you to seek change.
what an inspiring interview!! i love anna, what she sells, and how incredibly sweet and talented she is!!
Oh thank you for posting, so inspiring. I too have been trying to find my place, I love all sorts of crafty things but never know what exactly to do with it. Her story is just an uplifter for me.
I actually just commissioned her 2 days ago to make me a quilt! She is very sweet and I’m so excited to see what it will look like in the end! Her fabric choices are beautiful!
That is such a good post! thanks for sharing! Im gonna go check her out now!!! :)
Beautiful, inspirational story! I took the leap and started my own business. I know exactly what I want to do and how to do it. For this, I feel very fortunate! But I struggle with time management. Finding the balance between caring for my home and my family and doing what needs to be done to grow the business is a real challenge for me. I would love to hear how others deal with this!
xoxo, a.
Yay, Anna! So fun to see you being featured :) I have had the privilege of meeting Anna in real life and she is not only super talented, but super sweet, too! And it’s such good advice about making sure you love what you do…because let’s face it, none of us are going to get rich overnight so we better be in it for the long haul. And if we don’t love it, then we won’t last for the long haul.
Love this little story! Super cute shop!
I LOVE looking at her shop. So beautiful!! I am always the one holding myself back in business:) right now its time management and priorities. I am working on it. Thanks for the encouraging story!
Great story. So many of the women I have read about (including gussy) on this blog are soooo young! YAY! Young with lots of energy – and knowing what you want and how to make it happen! Congrats!
Anna said “I always knew creating was something I was suppose to do with my life.” That is exactly how I feel. I went to college and have a degree in marketing because I thought that would help me most with my business. Then I thought I wanted to be a baker and make fancy pastries, so I went to school for that. But now I don’t know what I want. I daydream about it everyday and imagine myself making creative handmade things and being able to quit my day job. But I just don’t know what my craft should be. I always seem to be just ok at each thing I try. I guess to improve, I shouldn’t give up so quickly on an idea, but try to get better.
Thanks for this post, it was very inspiring. :o)
I am trying to build my Etsy business and it’s been such hard work but sooo fun!! I think the thing that is holding me back is setting aside my time just for my business not just when I can get to it. I am a stay at home mom so time is money but I’m working in it!!
What’s holding me back? Me. Thoughts of failure scare me, but then I have to remind myself to TRY. I’ve realized that I need to make time to make my dreams come true. I can’t let my “real job” be an excuse any longer.
strength and dignity are her clothing. i absolutely love that. so beautiful, so original. we all need a little strength in adversity in our lives, and sometimes all you can do lift your head up high and refuse to lose your dignity.
get out of here! she lives 15 min from me (I’m in Ft. Worth)! Ah that just made my day. I love Anna & her shop. this post has been such an encouragement to me. I guess lately my biggest set back in trying to start a professional has been branding and coming up with a product that is unique. Also, like Earl- Leigh said, failure scares me. But I’m never going to move past those 3 things if I don’t try. “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” Earl-Leigh, we can do this!
Oh I needed this today! What a beautiful story! Fear I think holds me back more than anything…
One thing that’s holding me back from going to school to be an esthetician is time and money! LOL. I love skin/skin care/make up (really, it’s an obsession), but I have a really great job now and in order to go back to school, I would have to quit my job. I’m not ready to do that quite yet. Plus we need a new deck and new furnace/AC units soon and we have a baby on the way, so I’m not ready to dig into our savings for schooling. Maybe in a few years!
Yay for a fellow DFW-ian! :) You’ll have to come visit me when I do another craft show. I think my next one is in May in FTW!
one thing that’s holding me back? that i don’t have a handmade business. ;)
great post.
Wow! Anna is my niece and I am amazed at her talent. You’re are so gifted!!!!! You are also an inspiration to all women who want to create but feel they don’t have the money or time.
One thing holding me back: I do hand embroidered crazy quilt hearts. I was showing some of my work to my sil and she said I could never make a living doing that. I prefer to do embroidery by hand than with a machine, so she is right, it takes much longer to finish the product by hand.