order updates and trying a new thing

hello reader~!

let me explain what I am trying here.. for context and a little info on me- well, I am very bad at social media. I am not necessarily a huge introvert, but when it comes to the internet and online presence… it’s just one of those things that make me feel like I am drowning, sort of? this has never been good for business, per say. I am more of an artisan than a runner of a business. honestly it took me years to teach myself how to even photograph any of the things I created.

I created my fidget friends just a few months ago, and I was never expecting the attention and support I received. It has been incredible! I’ve never been the best at words, I do often become nonverbal- putting my thoughts into words is a huge struggle. I don’t mean to complain at all- but the bigger I grow online, the more I find myself overthinking all of my instagram and tiktok captions for like, weeks at a time. In order to post on social platforms, I usually have to type out the post and without thinking or rereading, I post it and then have to close my phone and get back to my sewing zone otherwise I will stare at my post for too long and for some reason or another delete the post and end up feeling gross.

well, this method of posting is not sustainable.. I always have things to show off that I am doing and updates to give, but the more I tell myself that it’s just a social media post, the worse i end up feeling for not being able to do it consistently.

at the very beginning of this month, I posted a tik tok video. if you have kept up with my instagram at all, you may know I was dealing with a lot of stress surrounding having to move this month. at this point my videos and posts weren’t going quite as viral as before so I really, really wasn’t expecting it when this video brought a ton of traffic to my site and social medias. I didn’t even remember that I posted that weekend while dealing with moving..

my entire soul left my body when I realized that I had gotten more orders for fidget friends in one weekend than I have gotten all year. oh my! and none of my sewing room was set up! In the past id never get more than a few orders at a time, so generally I would make each fidget friend start to finish. this was before my move so I was in a tiny space and would spend a very long time on each friend, having to clean up and reset my space for each step of my creation process.

well, that wasn’t going to work here.. I definitely couldn’t work on one at a time, leaving some orders to collect dust even though they were placed on the same day as a friend I have almost finished. well, without thinking too much about how many orders I had to start on- i organized all my orders into their colors, fidgets, and fabrics and began gathering all the supplies to make the fidgets. I spent a week just cutting out fabrics and another week making all the fidgets. I really love making my work customizable and one-of-a-kind. every friend has a different design and different set of fidgets- which requires a lot of patience and focus to create. I love this about what I do, though this means I won’t ever be able to work at an amazon-robot-level pace. people have urged me to just get a manufacturer to make the fidget friends or settle on one design so that I can work in bulk. but I am not doing this for the grind or the money, I am doing this because I love it and I really love giving people the option to customize and be creative.

the influx of orders and social media attention during the transition of moving- it all really threw me for a loop. I had to step away from social media this month and hyperfocus on sewing, feeling a little guilty whenever I wasn’t working on the many orders I received. I am positive I have missed messages or notifications and i am still feeling a bit scrambled!

I am finally working on the last steps for basically every order I have had for all of october. over the next week I will be getting them all finished and shipped out. if you have ordered at all this month- i know it’s taken me a long time to get your order finished- but I am almost there, I promise!!! I hope to thank everybody for being patient and understanding while I learn and grow as an artist and business, so I am adding a fidget frog keychain to every fidget friend order that has been/ will be placed with me in october.

this was my first time ever working on so many orders at once. I learned so much and have been able to establish a new routine in a new space that will keep me functioning and efficient. I will be spending the weekend finishing up all of my october orders and getting them shipped. After I am all caught up, I am confident my turnaround time will be quicker. for the future I am hoping to ship most orders within a week!

I am hoping that posting here, on a little blog on my little website in my own corner of the internet will be better for me. no battling algorithms or reels or any of that. here i can drop the mask and hopefully connect with my readers and supporters

whew ok it is getting very late so i am posting this and not going to reread it, you know how it goes..

P.S. i am going to list mini fidget friends and the frog keychain tomorrow.. I wanted to wait until I was completely caught up and had everything shipped to list more products, but I have been ready to list them all month and I am finally reaching the finish line of all my current orders, so I think it’s time!

thank you for reading!

jenedeer