My Story

Today I'm going to share something a little bit different. I'm currently enrolled in the Late Night Stampers Boot Camp. While we don't have to go out on marches at an ungodly morning hour, or face crawl through the mud, there are some assignments that make me wish we did. For example, the assignment I am doing today. Share your SU! story in your group or on your blog. For some people this is easy. They have some amazing stories about how the income from Stampin' Up! saved their family. My story isn't quite as dramatic. In the interest of not being labeled a quitter, I figured I better do it. So.....here is my story.

My Story
I am an impatient person. It has always been a part of my character. Maybe it has something to do with my career choice. For the past several years I have worked with Substance Abusers and risk takers. As with any job dealing with humanity and change, progress proceeds at a snail’s pace. My impatience coupled with this type of atmosphere causes me stress. Maybe not the same level of stress as Wall street, but stress none the less. In order to combat this stress, I needed a hobby.

In my quest for a hobby to provide stress relief, I think I may have tried them all. First it was cross-stitch. That sure didn’t go fast enough. I still have a picture I haven’t finished….and I started it in 1998! Then it was pottery, toll painting, scrapbooking, and gardening. None of them provided that quick burst of fun I was in search of. It seemed I was doomed to forever have projects only half finished.
Fast forward to Memorial Day weekend, 2008. One of my friends invited me to a Stampin’ Up! workshop. She had recently become a demonstrator and wanted to fill the seats with people she knew. I agreed to go. Little did I know that this was about to become an obsession.

I had never stamped before. What an eye opening experience. During that one and a half hour workshop I made 2 cards and a 3D project! This was awesome! It didn’t take months to finish a project and it wasn’t rocket science either. I could make mistakes and it still ended up looking good. I was totally hooked. I sat down at that first workshop and wrote out my order. It totaled over $700 dollars! My friend said, “why don’t you have your own workshop?” Sounded good to me.

Over the next couple of months I had several workshops. My wish list seemed to be getting bigger, not smaller, so my demo friend suggested signing up to be a demonstrator. I already had a job, but why not. I could definitively use that 20% discount. In August of 2008 I signed the demo agreement and became the proud owner of a hobby business.

As I began sharing this new found passion with my friends and co-workers my hobby business took on a life of its own. From January to June 2009 I managed to accumulate almost 17K dollars worth of sales. The amazing part? Most of it wasn’t from me. Not only was I enjoying the stress relief this new hobby provides, I was making money! I haven’t had to pay for a single Stampin’ Up! item out of my own pocket since May and I have bought a lot. I spend most of my weekends with friends either at classes, workshops, or just hanging out in my stamp room. I’m happy, I’m relaxed, and I’m having a blast. Stampin’ Up! has done all of this for me, and I am so grateful.

Stampin' Up! has really been an amazing part of my life. I love what I am doing, and I am doing what I love. It really doesn't get much better than that. My goal for this year is to grow my business into something that is not only self-supporting, but also capable of supporting my family. Burn out in my line of work is high, I want to make sure that when that time comes I have a secure and fun business to fall back on. If you are looking for a way to support your family full time, or just a way to give yourself a break now and then, leave me a comment. I would love to share the Stampin' Up! opportunity with you!