Thoughts on Sweet Ruby

(this update is mostly for my journal purposes but feel free to read on)

Each month and year that I continue selling and building my business with Sweet Ruby it continues to grow. Is it where I'd like it to be? No

In major stores across the country, a household name, did it appear on Oprah? No

Do I own my own store front? No.

 It will someday be all those things but due to lack of time (I am a mom to 3 kids and that is my #1 priority right now), money (I've found out it takes money to make money), and business skills (you'd think with an entrepreneur for a husband I'd be good at this stuff, I suck but he is amazing he's just super busy). And unfortunately my best friend Oprah never got a chance to give it away as her "Favorite Things!" dang it! But hey, she's still Oprah so I'm sure I can figure out a way for her to advertise for me, just got to figure that out.

I go back and forth almost weekly if I should keep doing this.  Its not enough money to support us (yet) but it does give us some fun money and right now I keep a lot of it in the business and then use some extra to buy things. I get overwhelmed at times doing it all by myself, there are days when I wake up and turn on the computer to see how many items I've sold and I'm a bit overwhelmed. But then there are days that I wake up and only have one or sometimes no sales.
Sweet Ruby started out because my babies loved their small blankets and their binkys so I researched on the Internet for one combined and couldn't find one. So I set out to make one and that was over 3 years ago. Now if only I had the money to patent it, the binky attachment part on the blanket, then I'd be set. Since I started making them there have been similar items made on etsy with some sort of attachment its going to be hard to patent it, it takes SO much money to do that and who knows someone else may have one pending now, even though it was my idea! haha
 I LOVE the products I make.

I love that my baby LOVES his pacifier blanket.

I honestly don't know how I survived without one with Hudson and Ruby. I would get up in the middle of the night with Hudson and Ruby and search all over their crib for their binky. I would pull out the crib and search all over the ground in the dark for her binky and sometimes not be able to find it. Well, I can honestly say I have NEVER had to get up in the middle of the night to do that for finn, NEVER! He knows its attached to his blanket and if he for some reason wakes up in the middle of the night he knows exactly where it is and can find it. Its heaven I tell you! I recently had a lady make a binky blanket with 4 attachments so there was no way in H*** (she said) that her baby would not be able to find his binky. You could tell she hadn't gotten a full nights sleep in over a year. So far she said its working! Too funny!

I started making them as gifts and then people would ask me to make them one. Then I decided to start an etsy shop and it grew from there. I was on studio 5 2 years ago to promote my products and a wholesaler saw the show and wanted to have my products, so now they are on over 40 websites. Overstock is my biggest wholesaler. I also have my products in a few local boutiques and they are doing really well.
 It is growing daily and it is so fun to see! I LOVE when I have repeat customers who buy from me each time they have a baby or their friend or family member has a baby. I love hearing that their babies love them and the moms themselves love my products. And how convenient they are to have. And I love hearing that even though their baby isn't a binky baby it just stays attached to the carseat at all times so their baby has something to snuggle and is always there.
I am so grateful for the success I've had so far and its been so much fun to see the growth.
I am in the process of trying to get it bigger, its hard and takes a lot of time and money but hopefully someday Sweet Ruby will be there.
Thank you for all your love and support!

I also recently re branded my products. I LOVE my new logo. I loved my last one but I was just selling locally and now that I am selling in stores and websites I felt I needed something more simple and professional. I think Sweet Ruby has come a long way in the last 3 years and I can't wait to see where it will be in the next 3 years.