Watch Out - Learning Curve Ahead

As I stumble around trying to figure out the world of online selling, I find that I have a problem with money. Not spending it - that's the easy part - but how much to charge for the things I make. I've always been uncomfortable with money and have been unsuccessful both at making any significant income or saving money for the proverbial rainy day and with recognizing my own worth. Friends have been kind enough to point this out to me recently, and even though I've been aware of this for years, it has now come around to bite me in the ass. The trick is, what to do about it.

It goes back to my younger days, listening to my parents argue about money. My father had the potential to make decent money (he was a commercial artist and sign painter) but often ended up not making enough to support a family, so my mother (who was a teacher in the public school system) often paid for the important things, like the mortgage and utility bills. This put a lot of stress on their marriage, which finally ended in divorce after 25 years. 

I should have learned about money from my mother, but unfortunately both my brother and I seem to have inherited my father's disdain for dineros. My stepfather was pretty savvy about simoleons, but I was already out on my own by then, and didn't learn much from him, either. So now, I am faced with this dilemma about making decent dough, because I don't really want to go back to working in retail (I'm not very good at it, plus I loathe being expected to cheerfully convince someone to part with their hard-earned cash) and I'd rather try and be my own boss for a change.

I've taken an online class and watched a few videos about what it takes to become an entrepreneur, and I've heard some pretty interesting things, like "Make your customer richer with every purchase" and "Ease the customer's pain" - and I get it, I think it's valid, and I can probably do that in a variety of ways. But it's time management and the pricing of goods that I still don't get - in fact, I totally suck at it. 

I can write. I can make stuff. I can help people release stress by applying a type of energy healing called Reiki. I'm interested in so many things, like chromotherapy (using colored light to help with various dis-eases) and photography and, well, everything. 

So I have a huge learning curve ahead of me... I just hope I'm not too set in my ways or too old to learn a few new tricks.