It was always my expectation that I wouldn't have a 'summer holiday' after my final year in education; I've lost count of the times I'd be told there's no such thing as a summer break in the "real world". Therefore, I always expected to dive straight into a long houred job once I'd left uni, so I made sure to really make use of my 'last' summer holiday in 2017.
I finished uni at the start of June. It's now the middle of August and I have found that this was definitely not the case. Despite my best efforts, I'm still stuck in a 7-hour bar tending job which means I have a LOT of free time. For the first month, I enjoyed having so much free time as I meant I could really buckle down and do lots of important business work. I ramped up my social media presence, re-took pictures for the majority of my products and set up my first ever Kickstarter campaign, which was a success! (You can check out post-funding updates here: https://kck.st/2Pf79v0).
I've even re-branded my entire shop. My sloths characters are easily my most popular product, so I decided to use them as the face of The Art Cave Creations. I've updated my whole Etsy shop and website to appear more professional and I'm currently pushing my newsletter to attract a bigger following which will hopefully translate to more sales. I've updated my product packaging and added new products to try encourage repeat buyers. My brand has grown so much in the past 2 months and I'm very proud of how far I've come.
Since a couple of months have passed, I've found that my Etsy sales are increasing, and I send out orders regularly - however it's still not enough to need to devote myself full-time.
From the start of third year, it was always my plan to get a part-time job when I left, as I would finally have the time to do all the things I wanted to: save for a house, buy furniture and more pets, travel etc., all of which require one thing - money. I've been actively applying and interviewing for jobs since the start of April and it's HARD. I was under the impression that because I get such glowing remarks about my customer service and personality at my current job, I would get another customer service job easy. Oh how laughable that seems now. The majority of jobs I'm interested in require prior experience which my 3 years as a bar tender don't cover, or they lose interest when they discover I'm 21 and they can hire someone else for a cheaper wage. The most frustrating part is that they never give you feedback, or a reason for why they're not hiring you, so it's all down to my imagination to try figure out why and how to improve. Even interviews that I thought couldn't have gone any better, that my luck was finally turning around - still no.
It's annoying to see my peers move out and move on with their lives whilst I'm stuck with very basic pay - but The Art Cave Creations has given me purpose and drive, so I don't feel entirely redundant at least.
I also passed my driving test at the end of July, so that's something else I've achieved with my time off!
My advice for anyone approaching third year would to be look at your options as early as possible. If you want to work in the field you have studied, make sure you check out what the next steps are early, so that you have time to resolve any issues that might prevent you from getting there. If you want to work a part-time customer service/retail job like me, make sure you have experience, whether it's work-experience, Christmas temping or a job you've already had. I presumed that 3 years at the same bar job would make me appear committed and loyal, however I've found out too late that it's closed a lot of doors to only have experience in one area.
*shameless plug* If you would like to help give me and my shop a little push into financially independent adulthood, please check out my shiny(ish), updated shop: etsy.com/theartcavecreations
Every single order increases my enthusiasm to grow TACC into a full time career!
As always, let me know if there's anything you want to read about on this blog and I will try my best to accomadate!
Bronte