Last month I made a big, grown-up decision.  I split my business in two, so that I could concentrate properly on both bits.

For the past four years or so I've been running "how to sell on Etsy" workshops, which then branched out into online shop reviews, followed by a series of downloadable PDFs.  I'd been selling these alongside my illustrations on Etsy, and while it's all been ticking over I was aware that it was becoming a bit confusing for my two distinct customer groups.

So, after giving it a lot of thought, I decided to go for it.  First things first, I had to decide on a name for my new business.  This isn't something I'd ever done before - it was pretty exciting, but I knew I had to get it right!

And then branding... again it's not something that I had consciously done for my own business.  My BGI branding kind of just evolved over time.  I decided to stick to the key colours I use in my BGI branding, as the two businesses will run alongside each other, and I created my own hand-lettered font.  I can't explain how much fun I had doing this; I really enjoyed creating a whole new brand identity for myself!

So, new logo in hand, I set up my new Etsy Shop, along with social media accounts, and launched my new project on 6th April... I was absolutely terrified that no-one would be interested!  But, you know what, it's been great so far!  Lots of interest - and so much support from my small business buddies.  I am so grateful to everyone who's supported me so far; and I hope that I'll now be able to develop the types of support I can offer to other small businesses under this new brand.

I've already been asked about running workshops as far afield as Glasgow and Cornwall; which is super-exciting - a little tour of the UK is definitely on the cards!  I'm also looking at expanding on the workshops I can offer - perhaps looking at some social media topics too.  Working under a brand name also opens up the scope of working collaboratively with other people, which is pretty exciting.  Watch this space!

It's a totally different kettle of fish, launching a business when you know a bit more about what you're doing.  I think it's actually a bit scarier, cos you know what can go wrong!

But, so far, so good... and my next big job is to get my own Make & Flourish website up and running.

To find out more about Make & Flourish, and for lots of handy Etsy tips, find me on Instagram and Facebook; and to see what PDFs and review services are on offer, see my Etsy shop!

Last week I travelled down to Etsy's London HQ to take part in a training session to become one of the first Etsy Educators in the world!

Alongside eight other experienced sellers from around the UK, the concept of Etsy Educators was explained to us, and we were tasked to set up a workshop for brand new Etsy sellers in October.

Our brief was pretty flexible - we all get to choose the location, duration and format of our session - which was really helpful.  It's a trial, to see if this is something that can be rolled out further in the UK - and also in other countries.

So, throughout next month will be a series of workshops throughout the UK, if you are interested in opening a brand new Etsy shopfront then hopefully there will be one to suit you.

My own event will be in Liverpool on 21st October.  It's a full day session - and will be at one of my favourite venues, HUS, who will be making us lunch too!  For more details click here.

If Liverpool's no good for you then here are some more sessions throughout the UK:

• Rose of Luna Harkin Co has organised a series of afternoon workshop sessions running through October, in Leeds.
• If you're in South Wales, Sarah-Jane of Fragment Designs is holding a day-long workshop on Saturday 7th October.
• Also on 7th October, in Oxfordshire, is a daytime session by Christina from Christina Made It.
• Claire of Claireabellemakes is also putting on a full day workshop on Saturday 14th October in Cambridge.
• Jilly from Jilly Jilly Design is hosting a full day workshop in Dundee on Sunday 22nd October.

And if none of these locations suit you then worry not - there's another couple of options for you:

• Rachel from The Dorothy Days is hosting a webinar to take you through the process of setting up your Etsy shop in a month.
• Similarly, queen of biscuits Nikki McWilliams has gone for the online approach - you can enrol here.
  

We are all really excited about getting started as Etsy Educators - and getting lots more fab Etsy sellers on board!

Moving out of my house into a shared studio was one of the best things I did – for my sanity and my business.  It shifted my work-life balance and made everything work much better for me.
 
Until I gave up my day job it made perfect sense to work from home.  It was cost-efficient and saved me time in commuting.
 
However once I’d taken the plunge and was doing this thing full-time it became apparent that there were a few massive down-sides to this arrangement.
 
Firstly, I was lonely as hell.  I live on my own, and I was going for days without seeing anyone.  The lady in the post office really doesn’t count (although by the end of my first month working from home, she knew all about me).  When I did see people I’d do this crazy jabbering thing, talking about a million miles an hour.  It’d take people a good half an hour to get a word in edgeways.  One of my main reasons for keeping the day job for so long was because I know I’d miss having human company!
 
Secondly, I wasn’t getting any exercise.  At all.  It’s easy to forget about the kind of incidental exercise you get simply by walking around an office, or from your car to your desk, in a day job.  I was literally opening my bedroom door and walking ten steps to my desk.  I’d have a trip to the Post Office most days, but I found a Post Office with parking right outside – those sacks are heavy, and I didn’t fancy lugging them down the street.  I put on so much weight in those first few months.
 
Thirdly, I was working ALL THE TIME.  Like from 7 or 8am until 10pm every night.  There was no cut off.  And if I did decide to finish at 6pm, it was only too easy to nip back into the studio to look at something, and realise three hours later that I’d accidentally started working again.
 
Finally, I didn’t have an actual spare room as it was full of my work stuff (the bed had been moved out of there a few years previously to make more space for shelves).  All my immediate family live at least a 2.5 hour drive away, so if they were going to come and see me they’d normally stay over, and I could only offer them the sofa.  Which is less than ideal, really.
 
It became apparent after about six weeks that my situation wasn’t working, and something had to change.
 
I’m often asked “when do you know it’s the right time to get a studio?” - I think that anyone asking that question is close to knowing it’s the right time!  If you’ve thought about it, you’ve maybe done a bit of research, and you’re weighing up the pros and cons, then you’re ready to move.

Once I’d made the decision it was pretty straightforward, and I was lucky enough to find a nearby shared studio that was reasonably-priced - I’ve written more about finding the studio space that's right for you here.
 
Whether it’s to give you extra space, to create separation from work, give yourself a routine, or simply to have some human company, it is a big decision.  But – in my opinion – it’s absolutely worth the hassle of moving everything, coupled with the extra expense of renting another space.  It made me so much more productive.  No more doing the washing up in the middle of the morning, no more friends popping round for an unannounced cup of tea, and absolutely HAVING to get dressed every day!

Are you struggling with knowing when to make the move?  Or have you recently taken the plunge?  I'd love to hear your experiences!

Before I write any more blog posts I really should contextualise everything.
 
After I graduated from Liverpool John Moores in 2002 I was a bit disillusioned by the whole creative world.  The internet wasn’t really a thing, and career options seemed to be either working in a flashy graphics agency (not my scene) or freelance illustration, which seemed scarier and more precarious than I wanted to contemplate.
 
I decided that money was the most important thing.  I embarked on a graduate training scheme for a national pub company, and was a pub manager for a number of years.  There were some fun times, some less fun times, and some really crappy times.  My mental and physical health really suffered.  Smoking and drinking at that time was very much part of the job description.  I worked a hell of a lot of hours - and it was extremely hard work. I can never understand anyone who says they want to retire to go and run a pub!

Anyway, in 2009 everything changed quite suddenly.  I ended up working in Housing Association Call Centre – initially as a temporary three month contract.  Turns out I quite liked it.  I made friends, the hours suited me – I was doing 35 hours a week instead of 70+ hours a week – and I was actually quite interested in housing.  I ended up doing a bit of voluntary work with a few homeless shelters, and even did a secondment as a Homeless Prevention Support Worker.  These were good times.
 
However, soon after my big life change I realised I had a whole heap of extra time on my hands.  Effectively, when I’d been running the pub, I’d been working the same as if I had two full time jobs.
 
I’d not drawn anything for years, and hadn’t really given it a second though.  But with my new found free time I went up to visit my mum and young sister in Cumbria for the weekend.  My sister was doing some art homework and I sat down next to her and picked up a pencil…
 
A few months later I’d dusted off my watercolour paints and had drawn a few things at home; the most noteable being a black and white ink drawing of the front of my house.  I loved working on the brickwork detail – it was so calming, almost meditative, to draw.  I did a few more houses, a friend who lived on the same street, his parents… and then it became a bit of an obsession.  I’d take photos of all my friends’ houses when visiting, and a few weeks later they’d get a little painting through the post.  Before long it became apparent that people liked my little paintings, and what’s more, they were willing to pay me to draw them!

Still working in the call centre, I’d happily offer to do overtime shifts at weekends, and I’d smuggle my paints in.  I’d be happily painting little dinosaurs while discussing rent arrears or arranging boiler repairs.  My colleagues saw what I was up to and were so supportive – they started asking me to draw things for them too, and before long it was becoming a good little sideline.  I should mention at this point that I did get into a bit of trouble by the time I got caught painting away in work.  Ah well.  By that point the seed had already been sown.
 
I started doing a few little craft fairs here and there, selling greetings cards and prints, and was having some success.  In May 2011 I went a step further and set up an Etsy shop.  It was great, I got a few orders a week, and I was really happy balancing my job with my part time business.
 
In January 2012 I opened my notonthehighstreet.com shopfront.  It was a big step up from only selling on Etsy, and by this time I was getting a few orders a day.  My Cheese Alphabet was proving really popular, and I started to expand on my range of “off the shelf” artwork, as I realised this was more time-effective than working on bespoke artwork.

28th April 2012 was the first really big milestone in my business journey.  I’d drawn a family friend’s parents’ house as a wedding anniversary gift.  The recipients were so delighted by it that they wrote to the Guardian and I was featured in the Guardian Weekend supplement.  Things went a bit crazy and I was deluged by emails about House Portrait commissions.  It was so unexpected.  I’d just started a secondment as a support worker in my day job, and was really struggling to juggle both – my evenings and weekends were taken up replying to emails, packing orders and frantically painting!  It was a stressful but really exciting period.

Christmas 2013 was mayhem.  At the time I was working Sunday evenings in the call centre until 10.30pm, and then back in at 10am the next day.  I didn’t get a lot of sleep on Sunday nights, rushing home to pack orders and then making sure I was first in the Post Office queue the next morning.  Sunday evenings are always a busy time for online orders; this shift pattern was a bit of a disaster for me.
 
In between Christmas and New Year I started thinking about the forthcoming Valentine’s Day.  I came up with what I thought was a fairly funny greetings card idea.  I posted a photo of in on Facebook and it got a great reaction.  Good stuff, I thought, I might sell a few of them…

Fast forward to late January and I was getting 50-60 orders a day for Cheesy Valentine’s Cards.  It was incredible.  I was managing, but only just.  On 31st January I woke up to a full inbox – bulging with new notonthehighstreet.com orders.  I was working from the spare room in my house at this time, and I padded through to my computer in my pyjamas and started work.  The orders kept coming.  And coming.  I’d never seen anything like it.  By teatime I’d had 400-odd orders, and I’d run out of envelopes, card and delivery note sheets.  I did an SOS call to my friend Michael who managed to pick up some new delivery note sheets for me, and I just kept packing.  My spare room was so full I had to store the full mail sacks in my bedroom.  I distinctly remember at one point becoming so overwhelmed by it all I was sobbing actual tears – while still packing of course!
 
By the end of that day I’d had a record 565 orders through notonthehighstreet.com.  It turned out they’d shared a link to the Cheesy Card on their Facebook page and it had gone viral.  The following weeks the sales continued – looking back now it’s a blur of sheer exhaustion, with not enough food or sleep, being held together by the unwavering support of my amazing friends.  They were coming to help me in shifts – two in the morning and two in the afternoon.  We sat and folded and packed in my little spare room, and there are small parts of that time that I remember being really lovely.  But mostly – if I’m honest – I just remember the sheer exhaustion.
 
On 9th February 2014 I became an auntie for the first time.  I was such an exhausted mess, I got the phone call, cried A LOT, but then got on with packing Valentine’s cards.
 
I handed in my notice to the call centre the next day, and on 10th March 2014 I became a full-time illustrator.