G33Kmade

About eight years ago, I started working in sales and marketing with Avon. I also started selling stuff on the Internet years and years ago, and as everyone knows, a single year in "technology time" -- well, that's a LOOOONG time. I started in online sales way back in the day on Ebay. So successfully as a matter of fact, I even had a PayPal account of mine hacked (previous account that was quickly terminated, of course). I always thought that if a person was interested in hacking your PayPal account, well, you must be one hell of a seller. *bows*

Now, my house is nearly paid off and I own seven cars. My inked skin alone is worth over $10,000. I am happily married with two wonderful kids . . . sounds idyllic and so easy right?

Well, the first of those two wonderful kids was the result of that guy I'm happily married to knocking me up while we were in high school. And all of my cars? Well, none some of them dont actually "run," but if you ask my husband he says "technically" you *could* get them around the block...at least once. Maybe. I never made it to college, and I've had my battles with drug abuse, I have run away, and I wasted a lot of my life being selfish. And while I've been successful at what I've done, my husband always paid the bills, so there was no threat of failing.

Over the last year and a half, I have literally changed my life around. I wrote a post for GeekGirlsNetwork which puts it pretty well and without all of the drama of the I-had-it-worse-than-you bullshit. I am not looking for pity, just for folks to join me in celebration. Anyway, I have wanted for a long time to incorporate my personal life with my "business" life. I feel like I have always been fighting between choosing to be professional vs. being fun. Being professional equaling fitting the mold and doing things the same way everyone else does, and being fun meaning, well, being me! My major problem is I can't even imagine being one of those fake people who puts on a stupid facade and hides who they really are from the rest of the world. (Go read that link if you have no clue what I am talking about.

I think a lot of us are really afraid to admit we are lame. It is SO easy to be whatever you want. Thank you World Wide Web. But I digress.

My point is that in this past year and a half I started accepting who I was. I didn't avoid it, I rolled around in it, and slowly but surely, who I was online began to match who I was IRL. It has the most amazing transformation I have ever been through. Twitter especially helped me not only feel out what it would be like being myself but also in helping me realize I like who I am.

And it keeps getting better!

Today, I landed my first purchase order with ThinkGeek.com! And they were the ones who contacted ME! *squuueee!* I got an email from them expressing interest back on April 23rd, 2010. I nearly passed out.

And it still keeps getting better! (I know - you all might want to catch your breath and pace yourself, cuz this next one is HUGE!)

Guess what Lesley and I made?

THIS!!!! ---> G33Kmade

In a very literal story of one thing leading to another G33kmade is a celebration of us REAL AND ORIGINAL artist/crafter/parents/children/clowns/notreallyclonwsRORYisafraidofclowns/friends/whinersandmoaners-type folks. We create things. We are driven. We do not care what ANYONE thinks of our obsession with perfect. What we create with our hands is a reflection of who we are, of WHAT we are. Many of us started by creating things for friends and family, and whether we did it because we cared or because we were short on cash and couldn't actually *buy* people things like normal people has nothing to do with it. Our creations are and continue to be the stories of what we have LIVED and DREAMED.

MY POINT... G33kmade is a celebration of real people. Of what we make. Of what we obsess about. Not only the what we made, but how we made it, and if you're lucky (and we happen to know) why we made it.

I'm so excited, I'm all tingly! <3