Terrified

I wrote another post announcing our brand new Quirky Squirrel Shop, but it didn’t seem quite right. Then I realized that it didn’t match the tone of my blog at all. My blog entries are all about real experiences and (relatively) unfiltered thoughts. I have been waiting like a caffeine-filled child on Christmas Eve to open my shop and I am equally (if not more so) terrified.

Here’s the thing. In order to create my shop, I had to “design” (and I use that word very loosely) a new website to incorporate an actual store. I am in no way an IT guru, but I also have a budget of zero and couldn’t hire an expert (or even an amateur). This meant I had to learn how to use WordPress and other processes like drop-shipping. It’s been a very long, slow, and sometimes tearful process filled with countless attempts at trial and error, oodles of googling, a few calls to customer service with disjointed questions, and gallons of Diet Coke. My website isn’t fancy, has no bells and whistles, and, quite frankly, I’m afraid “people” (anyone and everyone) will immediately notice every flaw, glitch, inconsistency, and problem area that I encountered as well as endless mistakes that I haven’t even imagined.

I’d like to say I “voiced my concerns to my family” but it’s more accurate to say they witnessed a good cry session fueled by anxiety at the eleventh hour. Then my daughter said, “But your blog is anything but fancy. And I don’t think anyone cares. It’s literally called Quirky Squirrel.” Okay, that sounds mean at first, but she didn’t mean it that way and made an excellent point. And she’s right. I named my blog and my business Quirky Squirrel because I am quirky and quite scatterbrained. My thoughts go all over the place and sometimes it’s fun (and scary) to see where they take me. My blog is where I write to figure out what I’m thinking. Just like I’m a jeans-and-t-shirt kind of girl, my site is a basic, easily-navigatable (yes, I know that’s not a real word, but I like it more than “navigable”), straight-forward, simple, and, according to my daughter, “cringy” place. Gee, thanks, kid. At least I know I can embarrass her very easily if I want to. But like my mom told me many years ago about any creative project, “No one knows what it’s supposed to look like, so it can be anything you want.” This from a woman who figured out how to sell bunny poop…there’s a fine line between genius and crazy and sometimes we swerve all over it.

So, here I am. Still terrified but I’m closing my eyes and going to jump anyway. Some people may hate my shop. Others might like it…one or two people may even love it (Hey, after all, if you’re gonna dream, dream big, right?). And thus, without further ado, I welcome you to my little Quirky Squirrel Shop and hope you might find an item or two that strikes your fancy.