Crafting Tales: A Mompreneur’s Beginnings

My hubby is a really talented person. 

Wow, what a way to start off a blog about being a mompreneur. But I have to start at the beginning and give credit where credit is due. I wouldn’t be maker if it wasn’t for him and I wouldn’t be a mom either. Lets go back to 2015 where my business journey begins.

Actually, to be more precise, I’ve always wanted to start a business and work for myself. As I kid I would create “classes” for fun so I could teach, I would write our own family newspaper complete with the top songs and cat adoptions, I would dream about owning a coffee shop and created a whole thing in my head! But the dream wouldn’t become a reality until desperation set in. 

2015, we’re stuck in a bad rental house. It’s hubby, myself, and our son who was about 6 at the time. (This was before we had bad debt) For fun we would go pop hunting. Funko pops are vinyl figures of all things pop culture. Music, tv, iconic characters, celebrities, etc. we would go nuts over these things. Figures, mini figures, collectible box subscriptions, t-shirts, mystery figures, pints, bobbles, exclusives at hot topic, GameStop, books a million, barns & Nobel, online stores, and COMICON! There would be times where we waited in line and waited in line online to grab the exclusive figures we wanted. There was a whole huge community! It was a sensation! It got to the point where we would find deals on fellow local pop hunters selling their collections and we would buy them in bulk and resell them on eBay. And thus my entrepreneur journey would begin. I started with an eBay store in 2015 called Gulf Coast Girls Collectibles, and a Mercari in 2017! Funko pops sparked a new sensation, collecting but also a creative side. People would design and make their own pops, some would paint, flock, glitter... I would bedazzle! It turns out I can be a bit crafty and I didn't even realize it. I would eventually start a facebook page called "Rockin Rhinestones" it is probably still on facebook too but that is around the time we started our moving process and i put the rhinestones away, for good. It was fun while it lasted. Back to my eBay store, the day I opened my store was super exciting. I no longer have my eBay store because I closed down in 2020 but it had helped me to learn the ins and outs of running an online retail store and all that entails. Listings, product pictures, pricing research, packaging, shipping, customer service, etc etc etc. It wasn't easy either because Funkos are first and foremost, collectible figures and the boxes matter! People would need to see every angle, every noted imperfection, every bit of damage. It was fun but tedious at the same time. I still have a Mercari shop where I continue to sell our collectibles however it has taken a back seat.

After years of collecting for fun and eventually for profit, I got tired of doing it. I didn’t want to resell someone else’s stuff because the market was saturated and funko was to blame. They put our way to much common stuff way too quick and it lost the joy. I may have purchased one or two in 2023 but nothing like before. Our collection (last I checked) was upwards of $24,000. And guess what? It’s all in plastic totes in storage. It’s kind of sad that the end of an era looks like plastic totes in the dark. 

Moving forward, we bought a house in 2017 which is another long story in itself, but let’s skip on some of the details, I’ll share that story another time. We moved in and our daughter was born in 2018. I needed to figure out another way to bring in money because we weren’t buying up funkos and all we had left was our actual collection and to this day that isn’t something I want to go through, separate, and part with. Who has the time? So being a new mom for a second time, I was tired! I was absorbed in mommy hood. There would be no more funko hunting. With two kids and house debt (the story for another time)  This brings us back to the beginning! We needed a plan. 

My hubby is a really talented person. Haven’t I already said that? I meant it! He has a very long job title and description, in short he is a craftsman. A mobile solutions technician and fabricator. He creates amazing builds for cars, trucks, vans, motorcycles, boats, ATVs, anything with wheels, he customizes. (Speaker boxes, radios, door panels, consoles, the list goes on). He has always finds creative and genius ways to make amazing builds with his hands, a table saw, and a router. He spends his (limited) free time  advancing his knowledge and gets inspired by watching and learning from others in his industry. So he told me one day about something called a c02 laser. He said we could get a laser and make pieces for his builds, adapters, speaker grills, pieces for his speaker boxes, and he would research different lasers and share with me how cool they were in terms of building things that he couldn’t do (like engraving). So we decided to invest in a laser. It was the worst laser experience ever. Another story for another time but we got our first laser and boy what a learning curve that was! Our laser unit was a lemon. It was broken. The company we got it from was, to be honest, a total nightmare. I’m getting ahead of myself a little however. We had this laser and it worked ok for a bit. In order to learn how to use this for his work, I needed to learn so I could help him to use it. I would make things like engraved pieces, coasters, really sad looking wall decor, and signs. In the late Summer of 2019 I signed up for our very first vendor craft show! It was a huge step and very exciting but the lemon laser died on us weeks before the show!! I was stressed and devastated. The laser only had 12 hours of runtime total and it was dead in the water. The company gave us the runaround and I needed another laser! Here’s where mom comes to the rescue, my mom. I decided to do some research and one of the things that I kept seeing that was the newest awesome thing in the market was Glowforge. After going back and forth between them and the laser we had initially, I decided to go back to our  second choice that we didn’t initially purchase and I ordered my Glowforge pro (thanks for that loan mom). In September 2019, I got my first Glowforge. I was so excited! She was clean, compact, white, and shiny! I immediately got to work making signs and pieces for our first show and I was feeling good! This laser was perfect for me. I started learning design and I was building my portfolio and my confidence. I had my laser set up in my dining room complete with toolboxes and material and packing supplies, it was interesting. That is the story of how I got my first and his first laser but it doesn’t end there. There is so much more to this story and I’m excited to share its with you here on my blog!

I’ve decided to create two separate blogs, this one “The Diary of a Mompreneur Maker” and “WrightHouseHandmade”. One for my stories and adventures of being a mom, a maker, and a business and laser enthusiast, and the other for stories on our adventure with the laser and business aspects. I’m excited to tell my story and share my experiences and perhaps some insight into our life and what it takes to be a family business. My journey is far from over but it’s amazing to see where we started with a hobby collecting movie characters to a laser selling handcrafted items all over the country! It’s amazing what we can do when we step out of our comfort zone and adapt to our situations. 

✨📸Picture Time:

Picture 1: September 2019, this was the day my first Glowforge arrived, I set her up, turned the power on, and never looked back! 

 

Picture 2: Unboxing Our First Glowforge

 

Picture 3: This is how my set up was in our dining room for years. (This was actually taken in 2022 with the second laser but that’s a story for another time.) 

 

 

Picture 4: Pop hunting for SDCC Exclusives - Summer 2016!

 

Picture 5: One of the many pictures of some of the many pops we have.

This is part of my Nightmare Before Christmas collection. I haven't pulled any of these out in years, it was nice to reminisce while I was looking for a picture for the blog entry! One day I will have a few back on display,

 

 

Picture 6: One of my "Rockin Rhinestone" Funko Pops

 

 

Picture 6: Hubby and I at the Scrappin the Coast car show in 2016 showing off our car with his handywork.