The First Time I Changed My Site

I CAN'T believe I actually did it!

I changed my site and went with Shopify. Holy cow! I always said I would NEVER do this but let me tell you that since they were able to make the custom items I wanted, I am beyond HAPPY!

I didn't want a cookie-cutter website! I didn't want a site that made you scroll through a bunch of different pages to get to the color you wanted. I also didn't want you to have to then click back and forth on sizes to see the prices. I wanted ALL of that right there on the same screen! Ease of use. For me, that is a HUGE thing! I have walked away from sites because of the other problem before.

But how did I get here you may ask? (and if you aren't that is okay because I am going to tell you anyway) Let's go back in time to pre-covid. I know, I know, who actually remembers life without it? I truly have a hard time some days.

It was the fall of the year 2019. (Seems like ages ago I know!) I had decided that the idea which was going through my head for a year was actually going to happen. I mean I had done the many many many hours of leg work to look into and contact the many different people to get authorization to sell the products! (Yes that is a thing! I actually contacted the companies that sell Siser and Oracal and asked for their permission and who to contact to buy from. This way I was truly LEGIT!) My plan was to open a store! An actual Brick and Mortar Store! BUT it wasn't going to JUST be a store! It was going to be a place to come and use machines, try before you buy type thing. It was going to be a place like in those novels where the women sit around and knit all-day type stores lol Yep I am corny but that was what I envisioned and it would have been GREAT! The only thing I didn't think I really needed was a website. LOL right? Come on Tonya where is your head at? Well, it was back at the dream of my storybook store lol I wasn't actually thinking of the world outside of that.

This is where my son comes in! He kept telling me that I NEEDED to get a website! He even said he would do it. And he DID! Together we worked on a website that was what I wanted! It was a growing site and a changing one that changed with the stores' growth AND with the growth and suggestions from my customers. BUT I am getting ahead of myself.

Back to my storybook store! I ran into some obstacles but I was still willing to plow through them. The biggest obstacles were my husband's panic attack about having a 5-year lease on a store and the voice in my head telling me to wait on getting the physical store. Just hold off. I actually listened and did wait! My voices are NEVER wrong! I mean come on, I am a WOMAN and I am always right! Just ask my husband and kids. (Actually don't they will have way too many things to say!) So I set a date to launch my website and that was that!

BAHAHAHA what story EVER ends like that? Like it is EVER that EASY! My son's child is born and he gets a new job that is shift work AND a new baby is on its way.

WOW I know WAIT a second you say. I look too young to be a grandma of two right? I know! BUT as my children say I am super old!

Sorry back to the story....

He is struggling to keep up with it all. A friend tells me about a program the government is doing to help small businesses with websites. I was super hesitant but applied anyway. I got accepted! I mean really who wouldn't want me and my store? We are both pretty freakin' AWESOME!

And here we are. With a new website! The feels of this have been ALL over the place! Betrayal to my son for not keeping his site, even though he told me it was okay. Betrayal to my first website - YES there is sentimental value there AND there is a familiarity to it too! I know what I am doing with that site. When I started putting stuff into the new site I was so lost BUT Pauline, my web designer, was AMAZING! She helped me out at EVERY step and walked me through EVERYTHING! I mean to have the patience to do that and NOT call me OLD is also AMAZING!

I am super happy with it and best of ALL it has a BLOG! So I can now share ALL of the videos I have made for you in ONE place! HERE!

So for those of you who have A) read this whole long-ass post and B) who have stayed with me during my first AMAZING year and a half - THANK YOU!!!! From the bottom of my HEART, THANK YOU!!!!!