Don't be afraid of the Edge.......

When I started my business 4 years ago from my lounge room all I had was a hand drawn shorts pattern on Christmas wrapping paper my mother gave me, a $189 sewing machine from Kmart, a $119 overlocker from Aldi & an old laptop. It was then up to me to find out how to buy fabric, where to buy it, how to source wholesalers, how to register for a business name, how to sew etc etc. My one big set back was that I lived in Kalgoorlie which meant no Spotlight, all my fabric purchases were from the local craft shop at $24-$30 metre for a fabric, scary to practice on & my fabric cost more than some of the things I was making but I didn't care as I loved to sew.

I searched forums & websites for hours on end trying to find resources, I emailed people & asked questions & was either never replied to or fobbed off with "I paid my dues you have to pay yours". This frustrated me at the time because I didnt want to copy what designers were doing, I respected them greatly & was genuinely trying to find materials as there were none where I lived. Luckily I stumbled upon someone who mentioned Etsy, thankyou Lord for Etsy! I was finally able to buy fabric that was not available where I lived, it also helped me to research the Australian distributors of fabric & from there on I haven't looked back.

Since then I have made it a point that if ever I am asked about suppliers or resources I have always been more than willing to supply to them any knowledge I have no matter how small or insignificant & I love to see & support other small businesses like myself blossom & grow.

Unfortunately my sharing, as I have been told, became an issue today when I posted a link on my facebook page to a pattern that is for sale to anyone all over the world. I have always been positive on my page & have never had a reason to post anything negative however after I received numerous personal messages that another persons facebook's page nasty update was referring to me I was shocked. I found the update disturbing both in its agressiveness & the fact that children were mentioned. I decided to post this update in the hope that if it was meant for me that this person would be ashamed of what they wrote & even if it wasn't meant for me they still should be ashamed & others out there that have been bullied shouldn't accept this type of behaviour.

I am saddened that after coming so far personally there would be such haters out there, I am not hurt by the comments as they are ridiculous but I do think they are disturbing & sad. I refuse to become a business that does not pass on information because at the end of the day I am but a small fish in a big pond & there is plenty of business to go around.