Etsy Musings and a bit of Bathroom Humor

I've been working on promoting my fiber business for oh, about 15 years now and I'm still trying to make it "big". I started going to craft shows and wool festivals when I was in high school. It was a lot of work then setting up and tearing down the booth for not much return. It's still a lot of work and as I get older it seems less and less worth it. Back when I started, the internet wasn't really being used as a social networking tool. I realized this morning though, just how much technology has changed and how it's affecting how we small businesses are doing business. Having a full-time job, a husband and two lovely dogs doesn't allow for much time to absorb everything there is out there on the web. Mornings are especially tough as I am trying to get everything ready for the workday. My routine is pretty much the same, get up, take a shower, poke the husband to get out of bed, let the dogs out, make coffee, let the dogs in, feed the dogs, get lunch ready, make breakfast, unload the dishwasher, load it back up, put the dogs in the crate and out the door for work. In the midst of this routine, the couple sips of coffee do the trick and I realized, instead of grabbing the morning paper or magazine on my way to the bathroom, I've been grabbing the laptop! Why not, right? I have to check my email, my etsy store, my twitter account, my blog, not to mention catching up on reading the valuable etsy articles on selling and marketing. But this is now how business is done, on the computer. It sure beats all the hassel of packing up inventory, driving across the state to set up a booth for the weekend, staying in hotels, and packing it all up again the next day and coming home. I've cancelled all but one show for this year. I'm focusing on my etsy store and bringing my products to people across the country. I have a long ways to go, only 5 etsy sales last year, but I am hopeful. It's still a lot of work being on the computer, but I'd much rather do it from the comfort of my own bathroom.