So I took a little hiatus there of around a year because I had a baby in late 2018. Woo! That baby is now a walking, chattering person (albeit still quite a small one) and in March 2020 it finally felt possible to begin returning to work. “No no no” said a frankly odious new acquaintance, Covid-19. “Now is really the worst time to decide you’d like to start new projects, contact past clients and fire up instagram with all that new work.” Like pretty much everyone else, my life has been thrown out of whack in myriad ways, some little and trifling, some huge and affecting. It feels like just after pulling myself up out of the chaos of the first year as a mother (which also threw me completely) I’ve been pushed over by the new bully in town. I should add that
I am lucky and grateful to be in good health and the hardship of spending time at home with my family isn’t making me want to throw anything out of a window.
A lot of my client work (let’s say practically all) that I had lined up to start in Spring has been shelved. All of my stockists are shut, although INDIEZEB in Edinburgh is still trading online. It’s not what I hoped to return to – and like so many other creatives and freelancers (as well as gosh, just about everyone) – I don’t have much of a safety net if I have no work and I can’t sell anything. It’s a familiar story just now. But here’s the thing. What do I do about it?
It’s genuinely difficult to unpick the right thing to do when there is no clear path.
Many of my stockists have an online presence but most have ceased trading completely either due to stock being entombed in closed shops, social distancing being impossible in the workplace, or because of the risks associated with going to a post office and sending items in the post. I’ve seen some folk in my position close their online shops for similar reasons, but in direct contrast I’ve also seen people creating new products in response to the lockdown and sending out orders regardless.
This is uncharted territory – there be dragons – so responses to it are also untested and untried. With no real clarity in the news or from other services, I am left to make a decision about what to do about my own online shop. It’s difficult to make an informed decision with so much misinformation (thanks, Boris). In light of new information, I might change my approach, but since I’m forced decide whether to
a) send out orders to earn a little money to help pay bills, but potentially put myself – and others - at some kind of risk, or
b) cease all online trading completely and lose any potential income.
It’s quite the conundrum. Currently I am keeping my online shops open.
I am still sending out orders, but only by visiting the post office once a week. I’m taking all the recommended precautions to reduce any risks of infection and spreading of Covid-19. As a minimum, I am hand-washing after opening any post these days and being mindful of how easily germs can transfer. When I am out, I ‘pretend’ that everything from outside my flat is covered in some kind of germ-infused dust and it’s transferred to everything it touches. That really helps up my vigilance with sanitising and hand-washing. It feels grubby to even suggest it, but since I have no other paid work on, now is the time to commission something or ask about future projects. Drop me a line, browse the shop, scroll back through my instagram, cruise the dark depths of my facebook page and enjoy travelling to a different time.
