I woke up around 1am this morning, and couldn’t get back to sleep. And thoughts kept running through my head as to what I wanted to ‘talk’ about next in my blog that would be of interest to you.

I have had my business Sandi’s T’s for a number of years, and I’m always asked how I got started. And getting a business up and runnning requires work.

This idea of selling things started back when I was a teenager, in high school. (this would be in the 60′s) I had babysat a number of times, as many teenage girls will do, but really wanted to do it a lot more. So, I printed up fliers and passed them around my neighborhood and ended up with more babysitting jobs than I could handle.

I then worked in the Ben Franklin store – remember those? But stocking shelves wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted to be able to interact with customers more.

After I got married to a US Navy man – we traveled overseas. (1970′s) Since I wasn’t working, I needed something to fill my time. I took to creating needlepoint baby announcements, had them framed, and gave them to friends as they had children. That developed into a small business when those friends told others and I started selling them. They were really cute – the girls’ was a pink carriage on a cream colored background, and the boys’ was a blue stork on cream. I still have those patterns, and would love to keep making them, tho I would find it hard to get good frames at reasonable prices, and I don’t do woodwork myself.

When we came back to the US, I made crocheted animals and put them on consignment in baby shops. I also got into a home sales business and that continued for many years.

(1980′s) All types of business’ were put on hold when, as a divorced mother of 2, I went to work full time, and then went back to school to get a degree.

After getting remarried – to my dh – in ’92, it didn’t take me long to start thinking about a new business. I just like to do something constructive, and working full time was just a ‘job’! I had never done craft shows, and with my sewing ability, I was able to create some unique designs that became popular at the shows that I did. You can see more about how I got the idea for my tshirt business Here. I did craft shows for several years, and enjoyed being able to interact with my customer. I decided to branch out into the internet a little over 3 years ago. And while I don’t have that face to face interaction any more, I enjoy getting the emails from customers and visitors and being able to ‘talk’ to them!

If you want to know more about starting a business, while I’m not an authority, I can definitely tell you about my experiences and steps to make it successful.

Sandi