Part of a Team

     From the outside, you are a shop filled with pictures of your products. Some of you may have a face and a bio, but for the most part, that is where it ends. When people favorite your item they don't see the long hours you've put into your product, building your circles, making treasuries, and promoting. When an order is placed, they don't know that you are actually in the ER at that very moment because a loved one has suddenly fallen ill or that you are trying to make dinner, while figuring out how to tidy the house, pick of your child from baseball practice, to the sound of a screaming toddler. All of this stays behind the scenes.

     For me, opening up my Etsy shop was a dream come true. Finally, I felt like I was able to inspire the world with all these ideas that God had been flooding my heart with. I did my best to research what I needed to do and then when I couldn't sleep any longer due to all the ideas constantly floating in my head; I opened up shop. I don't know what I was thinking. For the first few days, I think I needed to attend some sort of Stats Anonymous, as that was all I seemed to do. Looking back, (and you may laugh) I really thought that I was going to open up shop and sell, sell, sell. Wow! I had no clue how much work Etsy really was/is.

      I think I ran on nothing but adrenaline the first week. Once the second week rolled around, I began to lose my momentum a bit. All of the views I had received from my Facebook friends began to trickle away and I was left watching my stats barely rise. I was so defeated. I felt like I had failed. I don't think people really understand how much of your heart you put into your shop, unless they themselves have been there. And that is where you come in.

      When you try to go at Etsy alone, the chances are quite high, that you will be left as I was feeling; down and defeated. But Praise God that the story did not end there :) I started researching success stories and realized that Etsy Teams were a wonderful way to get involved and relate to others going through similar experiences. The first day I was invited to Team Jabez, I literally sat at my computer and wept reading the various discussions. Real people, just like me, sharing their hearts and emotions, while encouraging and spurring one another on. If you are not on a team, I highly encourage you to pray to God to lead you to the right one or as in my case, to have the right one find you.

      I truly feel like the below verse represents what I see in Team Jabez, a team carrying one another's burdens, growing in the Lord, and spurring one another on towards greatness through prayer and joyfulness.

      Colossians 1:9-12 says this, "For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, what has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light."

As we continue this journey together, may you be inspired and encouraged by the unity of being a part of a team.

Blog written by Jacklynn Graham-- www.etsy.com/shop/raisingmavericks

 

Artwork by Kelly Bermudez

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