Spinning My Wheels: The Joys of Small Business Ownership
You know how sometimes you sit down with a plan for the day, feeling super organized, and you’re ready to crush your to-do list? Yeah, that wasn’t today. Today was all about cutting bias strips of fabric… for FIVE hours. Yes, you read that right. Five. Hours. Of. Cutting. And I’mstillnot done!
The plan was to write a tutorial on how to make bias tape bows. Cute, right?
But instead, I spent the day knee-deep in fabric, trying to fill a wholesale order that feels like it's taking forever. As a small business owner, I’ve learned that sometimes the best-laid plans get thrown out the window when real life steps in—usually carrying a massive pile of fabric with it.
The Reality of Small Business Life
Owning a small business is a lot like spinning your wheels some days. You’ve got this mental checklist of all the things you want to accomplish, but halfway through the day, you realize you've only managed to cross off one thing. And that one thing? It’s usually something like “Cut fabric for five hours while trying not to lose your sanity.”
Sometimes it feels like no matter how much effort you put in, the list never actually gets shorter. In fact, it seems to grow! (Is my to-do list secretly multiplying while I sleep? Who am I kidding, if you’ve seen my IG stories you already know, I don’t sleep! haha).
But hey, at least the piles of bias tape are looking fabulous, right?
Why We Keep Going
The thing is, even on days like this, when it feels like you’re getting nowhere fast, there’s a reason we small business owners keep pushing forward. It’s because we love what we do. Even when it’s hard. Even when the hours fly by and you wonder how in the world cutting fabric could take up a whole day (seriously, how?!).
It’s the passion that keeps us going. The thrill of seeing an order come together, and for me, knowing that we’ve created something that another quilter will use and enjoy for years to come. And let’s be honest, there’s also a special kind of joy that comes from knowing tomorrow’s another day, and maybe—just maybe—you’ll finally get that one last thing on your list done.
Embracing the Chaos
If you’re feeling like you’re spinning your wheels too, just know that you’re not alone. Running a small business isn’t always smooth sailing, but every bit of progress counts. And even when it doesn’t feel like you’re moving forward, remember that the work you're doing matters.
So, while the bias tape bows will have to wait for another day, I’m going to focus on what Idid accomplish today (even if it was mostly just cutting fabric). Here's to the days when we don’t check every box, but we keep going anyway—because that’s what being a small business owner is all about
Thanks for sticking with me through the ups and downs, friends. Now . . . back to cutting!
— Karen
