Making that leap

Well today I have no real new nail art. I just felt the need to share what it is I have been doing instead of blogging lately.

Over the last year I've had so many friends and family give me feedback that it's too bad I don't live closer. More than a few are aware that you can buy nail art and have asked - when am I going to start selling them? The girl at my local nail supply has even asked - Do you do that? I've even gotten requests for different designs through my website. Up to now, I have hesitated to go that route partly because of just outright fear of failure and partly because I wasn't sure what would be involved in making that happen. What are the up front costs involved for materials, where to sell it, etc?

When I started getting it from my Dad and my husband, that was it, I needed to seriously look into it. Just for the sake of simplicity, ideally I would like to have used my website. I already have a merchant account through my provider and currently use that account to accept Credit Cards for my services. I have been known to take risks to try something new, but at the same time, I like to keep an eye on my bottom line.

After a few very frustrating days, I was able to determine that my website provider required that I pay an additional fee per month to add a web store to my site. My inner cynic tells me that it's great I have so many supportive people around me, but will I be able to sell enough per month to cover the cost??

Ultimately, I decided that it wasn't worth the risk. So I looked at other options; ebay, etsy, craigslist, etc. In the meantime, I was finally able to purchase some supplies I would need and I got to work. In the end I decided to go with ebay since they are no longer charging you for a basic listing with them as a seller. Of course, that does have some limitations, but those limitations are more than acceptable to me since I'm not bringing a huge amount of inventory to the table right off.  

I took some pictures of my product and this morning I set everything all up. You'll notice I've added a link above to a complete listing of what I have available. Linked it all to my website as well...posted a few links to facebook and here I am.

I thought I would feel more nervous about this venture than I am. I'm less anxious about anyone buying them and more relieved that I did it. It's like I did it and now I can focus on making it work. I've been a firm believer that whatever you put into the things you do is what you get out of them. That's a philosophy that had one pretty good for me so far.

What do you think? Am I nuts? Would you or have you ever put yourself out there like that?