I'm Walkin' on Sunshine

I feel like I'm walking three feet off the ground.

I'm laughing with the kids, I'm taking care of (some) stuff around the house, and I'm head over heels in love with my new idea. Tuesday afternoon I made the decision to start my own business.

Let me back up a little. Last year, around this time, my friend Chaotic Mom started talking to me about putting my love of theater and music and teaching together and hiring myself to entertain at birthday parties. I liked the idea, and she even hired me to do her son's party (which went really well) but then life got in the way as it normally does. I didn't pursue it, and the idea just kind of petered out.

And now I'm at a different point in my life. I had the "big talk" with my sister where I told her that I couldn't watch her kids anymore, and, not that I'm counting, I only have seven more days where I'm in charge of my nephew for the day. While I'm relieved to not have that responsiblity anymore, I will definitely miss that income. A lot. So I've been trying to figure out what I could do to make it up. I was contemplating becoming a consultant for one of the many home based businesses out there, and then I met with a good friend who sells Mary Kay. Now anyone who knows me knows that I would DEFINITELY not be the person to sell Mary Kay, but after mulling over several ideas with her, she stressed to me that it's really important to find something that I'm passionate about. And we're back to the whole birthday party entertainer again.

So Tuesday I put together my idea in the form of a simple flyer and sent it out to a bunch of friends for feedback. Wow, do I have some great friends out there! One even took the information and made it, shall we say, extremely visually appealing. I have been tweaking it on and off for the last three days. I'm so beyond excited about this!!! My next step is to figure out how to create my own website to provide more info for curious parents. I feel like I shouldn't make brochures or business cards until I have a web address since I will obviously want those things on it. And I'm also trying to get information about starting my own business so I can figure out the legalities of it. Any of you out there have any good sites that talk about starting a small business or a way to design and host your own website totally for free? I'll keep doing my google searches and hopefully will get things up and running by next week.

I have not felt this alive in a really long time. I know part of it is I just started getting three mornings to myself each week (2 1/2 hours each makes a HUGE difference in how overwhelmed I end up feeling by the end of the day). But every time I come upstairs I have to run to the computer to see if anyone has sent me any other ideas or revisions for the flyer or the business as a whole. So many possiblities, so many things to explore. One aspect of what I will provide is a craft and costume accessories for each child based on their individual theme. So I have to decide how much I should spend per child to make it fun for the kids but not prohibitive for the parents. Which also means I have to check out all the various sites on-line to find the BEST prices in these kinds of things. For example, a friend might hire me to do a pirate themed party for her son next month. So I'm looking for bandanas and eye patches as well as temporary tattoos, plus small treasure chests for them each to decorate. Then I have to decide how much my time is worth, or how much do I have to get paid to make this financially worthwhile for me. It's just a lot to think about, but it's so totally exciting.

I sent some flyers to Kinko's (yes, you can do that from your computer) to get 10 copies made just to start out. After nap time I'm taking the kids over to pick them up. Can't wait to see them.

So that's why I haven't blogged this week. And now I've found out it is National Delurker Week and I almost missed it! PLEASE delurk and leave a comment.