This week’s article is a letter written by Kat Tucker, a quilter from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She was taken with the article last week and wanted to respond.
“I was sorry to read about those that feel that they are not where they think they should be. Oh boy, can I ever relate to that.
For me it has been a meandering journey. From the time I sold my quilt store with a five year clause of only being able to Internet sell, to losing my husband and having to go back full time, instead of staying part time, in our business, to closing the doors and semi-retiring, to procrastinating during the five years, to OMG the five years are finished and now what do I do? Oh, I know, sign on as Treasurer to the Canadian Quilters Association and use that as an excuse not to work hard, if at all, on my quilting business.
Well, the working not hard became taking course after course about learning about myself, my business, other peoples’ businesses and how they got there, and repeat, especially learning about myself. It got so comfortable taking these courses that the procrastination and the ‘fear of success’ lasted five years plus one more year.
Then one day, don’t ask me when, I decided to go to Quilt Market. Why? I finally got tired of saying, and I’m certain that my quilting friends also got tired of hearing me say, ‘I’m working on my business.’ So now, I’m walking the walk instead of talking the walk.
I go to market. It all seemed too easy to get there and be there. I wasn’t nervous or anything. In fact, I said to the universe, if I get one order I’ll be a success. Well! I got one order. LOL. Thinking back, perhaps I should have asked for more orders. On top of that order, I made lots of contacts and my friends introduced me to contacts with possibilities. One of which has been successful and is a step in the door.
During this journey I’ve always had in the back of my head that this is what I want to do. The journey to get to this point may have taken longer that it should have, not because I didn’t know my business or what had to be done, but because I was standing in my way. ‘Get out of your white man’s head,’ as a friend of mine keeps reminding me.
All that being said, today, I’m a person that has and still continues to trim garbage out of my life. I’ve finally seen that I cannot do exactly what another person did in their journey to become successful and then get upset because it didn’t work for me. That is their journey and this is my journey. Best of all, my journey will probably still meander but it can also be tweaked as it moves down the path.”
“You are where you are suppose to be at this moment in time.”
Kat Tucker
About Kat: Kat Tucker is a former shop owner from Calgary, Alberta. Her love of geometric shapes and sewing began as a pre teen when she was designing house plans with dominos and making clothes. The two interests meshed in the late 70’s, but was short lived as quilting was mostly done by hand. Twenty years later, she rediscovered quilting after a visit to the quilt shop.
Kat opened a quilt shop in early 2000’s because first, she wanted something more to do than run an international trucking company and second, to test the local market with her quilt designs. Looking back those were not very good reasons to become a shop owner but, at the end it was the best thing she did. Today, after many life events, Kat continues to concentrate on designing and working on her business
Please share your thoughts on this blog below. . .
PT? Physical therapy?, you ask. No, for me PT this time means Pause Time, as one of my friends calls it. I have been feeling the rush from the beginning in Houston, following up with contacts that I made, and getting caught up on what was happening in my office in my absence. I know much of it was moving forward on my “to do” list, but was I making any real forward progress? Was I working hard and not remembering what I was trying to do?
I just love Quilt Market. It’s inspiring to see new fabrics, new notions, not to mention all those quilts! While space does not permit a full review, here is a highlight of some of what I saw.
