#136 A Real Life Crafting Business Story

Have you been thinking about trying to earn additional income from your hobby?

Whether you're ready to take the plunge and turn your hobby into a full time job or you just want to earn a little extra money each month, you're faced with a big decision. Do you make this change or not? Will it be worth it? Will it even work?

When faced with the same decision, Brianna, from Life and Yarn asked herself "what do you care about more than failing?" This helped her realize the decision that needed to be made. She's here to talk about that journey today; how she said goodbye to a career path of more than 10 years and hello to a crafting business she loves.

About The BHooked Podcast
Brittany's primary goal is to inspire you and help you grow in your craft with The BHooked Podcast. Through her own stories and the stories of each special guest, you'll discover tips and tricks to improve your crochet and knitting skills and find inspiration to achieve your hobby goals. When you want to kick back and learn from yarn industry experts, grab some yarn and turn on The BHooked Podcast. There's never a shortage of all things crochet, knitting or yarn.

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Transcript

Brittany 0:00

You're listening to the Be Hooked Podcast, episode 136, with Brittany. Hello there, and welcome to episode 136 of the Be Hooked podcast, the place where we love yarn, we love to learn, and we believe yarn can do more for us than just make pretty things. Now, if you're brand new to the show, first of all, welcome. I'm your host, Brittany, and I spend my days dedicated to helping you get better at your craft. Now, here on the podcast, we focus a lot on crochet and knitting topics, but we also talk a little bit about what it's like to have a crafting business and today is another one of those episodes. I always think it is so fun and super interesting to connect with other crafting business owners to share their stories and to help you potentially do this if having a crafting business or having some additional money coming in on the side as a result of doing what you love. So today I'm joined by Brianna from Life and Yarn, and she is here to share her inspiring story about how she quit her dream life that took her 10 plus years to build in order to do what she loved even more so that she could be present for her family. And I know that is something that so many of us can relate to. Also, we can relate to the struggles of making a decision that's that big. So I'm chatting with Brianna today about her journey. We talk a little bit about what it is like for us to be entrepreneurs and more importantly, how being a crafting business owner is a little bit different for everybody else. We don't talk a lot about specific resources, but I want to let you know that the show notes page for this episode can be found at BeHooked.com slash 136. If you want to connect with Brianna after listening to the episode, I'll have all of her information, her website, and that sort of thing on that page so you can connect with her after hearing today. So I don't want to delay anymore. Here's my chat with Brianna from Life & Yarn. Brianna, hi. Welcome to the show. Hi, thank you so much for having me. It is my pleasure. I am so happy we had the opportunity to connect. You're sort of saving the day here. We had a last minute schedule change. And so we are hopping on the call right before this episode is live. And I think it all happened for a reason because I was so... moved by your story. And I really just want to share that with the other listeners, especially those who are makers, who have a side hustle, or maybe they want to turn that side hustle into their full time job. I think you just have an inspirational story to share. So I'm excited to get into that today.

Brianna 3:33

Oh, thank you so much.

Brittany 3:36

So you have this really inspiring story of somebody who rewrote the expectations of their life. That was one thing that really, really stuck out to me. So where did this whole journey begin for you?

Brianna 3:50

Well, so I think like every creative, you know, you kind of just grow up being a very creative person. And I never really had a plan of what I wanted to do creatively. I just, I just knew that like, making was always something that I did and through high school I actually took every single elective I possibly could that had to do with art I mean you name it I took it and I was building a very very extensive portfolio um and I wanted to go to art school and when the time came around to start applying for colleges and figuring out what I wanted to do I knew that's what I wanted to do but I had absolutely no idea what to do with it and um I remember talking to my dad, and my dad was like, I'm not paying for art school. He's like, no. What are you going to do? you know, with that degree, you have no, you have no plan for it. And so I was like, well, what do I do? Like, I don't know what to, I don't know. What do I go to college for? And he's like, I don't know, be an architect. And so that's what I, that's what I did. I said, okay. And you know, I, I, I went to my local community college because at this point, you know, this was like a conversation we were having, like right before I was getting ready to graduate. So I had like no plan of where to go. And so I just, I applied to my local community college And I took their civil tech program, which was a combination of engineering and architecture. And that was how it started. And then I transferred for my bachelor's and six and a half years later, I graduated and I skipped my graduation and went right to work. The whole time I was in college, I was working for my grandfather's engineering company. And then I got a really great job for a huge design build firm. And I loved it. And that's what I was doing after I graduated. And, you know, I was collecting my hours to submit to the state so that this way I could start to take my licenses. I was planning a wedding. I was doing all this stuff. And so that was my life for about 10 years. And, yeah. Being an architect in my mind was going to be great because I could get my license, I could work from home, I could have my own private practice and basically create my own schedule, take on as much work as I wanted or didn't want, and I thought it was going to be perfect. And then, flash forward, I'm... Now I'm married and I'm pregnant and I'm, you know, still working like a crazy person. And I mean, I was seven months pregnant and I was crawling around in a house that had burnt down. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, doing inspections and that, that was my life and I loved it. And I still love it. I mean, architecture is just, it's amazing. And then, um, you know, I had my son and I kept working like that. I, you know, I was, I was on my computer. I was working from home now at this point for an architect that I had developed a very good relationship with through my time going to school and then working with that other firm. And, um, life was good. But around my son's first birthday, what had happened was I pulled out my computer, and he started crying. And a light bulb went off that I was spending so much time on my computer working and that he was starting to associate my computer with I don't have mommy. And that was exactly what I didn't want. You know, I wanted to be home with my him and, you know, be present for him. And I thought that this job was what was going to do it for me. And, you know, that career path, and it really wasn't, I mean, if any, if you're familiar with architecture at all, or being, you know, a, you know, an architect in your own private practice, it demands a lot of time and attention, a lot. And, and my so my son wasn't getting the attention that I wanted him to have, or that he was needing. And crochet, life and yarn was something that kind of existed in the background. And at that point, I kind of knew that it was something that I could turn into a business, but I hadn't really figured out how yet. And seeing my son get upset over the computer coming out was when I realized like, all right, I need to make a change. And that was when I started working towards turning life and yarn into a business instead of a hobby. And that was, let's see, he was a year in August of 2017. So now we just had August of 2019 co-pass. So that was about two years ago. So, you know, that's where it started. And how it kind of came about was more so me realizing that the career that I thought was going to be perfect for raising a family and being home wasn't. And it was a shock because I spent 10 plus years chasing that dream. I mean... You know, you need like you need five years, essentially five years worth of hours to just to start to submit to the state to be eligible to take your licensing exams. And there's seven of them to take. You know, so I was I was right there. I you know, as of right now, I have my hours. I have everything in line. I have my degrees. I have all of it. And I just stopped dead in my tracks and said, I can't do it. And I was hard. It was it was it was a hard decision to make. But, you know. I didn't want to not be there for my kids.

Brittany 9:31

Yeah. That is... It's a lot. It is. That was a lot, right? It's really a lot. I tried to condense that. No, I mean, it's just a lot to make that decision and to actually know that that is the right decision. I think when you were going into it, you probably had no idea that it wasn't Oh my

Brianna 9:58

goodness, no. until you're living it, you don't, you don't know. And that's the hardest thing is, is trying to plan for something you don't know. And then once you're in it, realizing it's not working, and then trying to figure out how to change it. Like, it's, it's, it's scary. It's hard,

Brittany 10:42

you know? Right, right. I mean, that is a life changing decision. When I was in a and married and was married at the time, but we didn't have, don't have kids in our lives at this point. And it was still a tough decision to make because I went through five years of college for something completely different for biology, which is like so left field for what I'm doing now. So I can relate in that sense of saying, okay, this really looked great when I thought about it five years ago. But the reality of it is that that's not what I want right now. And it's not what I want anymore. And I think it was, it really took a heart to heart conversation between my husband and I to realize that that was okay to feel that way. And it when you work for yourself, you probably, well, you will work harder than you ever worked before. You will work longer hours than you ever worked before, but you will love every minute of it and it doesn't feel like work. So that's something that was surprising for me. And I still have to try to explain to my family that Yeah, I made this change so that I could have more flexibility and freedom and to do what I love. But at the same time, I sort of have less. Is that something that you experienced too?

Brianna 12:19

Yeah, so I knew... I knew that once I did have children, I wanted to be home with them. So that was why I thought being an architect was the perfect fit because I knew that I can get my license and I knew that I could be in private practice and that I could be home working. What I didn't know was how obsessive I was going to be over it. I mean, I, around the clock was working. Didn't matter what day it was. Didn't matter if it was a holiday. Didn't matter if it was three o'clock in the morning. Like I, I was working and, and I, you know, I love You know, to sit down with somebody and talk to them about their dream home and to be able to, you know, have the privilege of designing it for them and building it for them and like watching it come to life is just, it's amazing. What I didn't know was that that job working from home wasn't going to fit having kids. And so the crochet, which was just kind of a hobby at that point, that this right now, Life in Yarn, is more more of that. You know, I could sit down on the floor with Jack and be working on a project and he's okay with that. It's not my computer. You know, I don't have to, if he, if he grabs it and makes a run for it, you know, it's not the end of the world. If he breaks my computer that has all of these designs and programs on it, you know, then we have a problem, but it just, this is so much more family friendly than what I was doing, you know? And yeah, Trying to explain that to people is difficult. I mean, it's hard. It is.

Brittany 13:58

Yeah. So I'm curious, what did life in yarn look like in those very early days? Because I think that's another thing you really have to think about when you're making this decision, just because you... have all of this set up, it doesn't mean it's an actual job that's earning you money yet. It takes a little while. It takes quite a bit of building to get to that point. So what did it look like then and how is that different from what it is today?

Brianna 14:25

I've always – I've appreciated forever. I mean I can't even tell you when I learned. I know I learned very young from my grandma and – That's that. And then I picked it up and put it down multiple times. But when I was pregnant with Jack, I wanted to make him something like everybody does. I wanted to make him a baby blanket or whatever. And so I picked it back up again and I kind of became obsessed with it as just something to do in my spare time. But it was after he was born when work slowed down just ever so slightly because, you know, I wasn't running around and going on job sites with a newborn. I then had started my little Instagram account to just kind of share things and that was when I started stumbling across other makers that had blogs or were getting sponsored by yarn companies and you know they were you know as soon as finding about about affiliate links and all these different ways that people were taking a hobby and somehow able to make some sort of a you know an income from it whether it was replacing something or not I you know I don't know but I saw that and Jack was only a few months old and I was kind of just like, wow, that's pretty cool. And so I came up with Life in Yarn and I bought the website and I made the Instagram handle and the Facebook and everything that goes along with it, the email. And originally what I had wanted it to be is I just kind of wanted to share what I was making. I didn't necessarily want to be doing patterns or designs or anything like that. And The life part of Life & Yarn was I wanted to be like a mommy blogger, which never really happened because, you know, life. And, you know, that was kind of where it started. But it wasn't until, you know, I had decided to try to transition out of working and just be a stay-at-home mom that I decided I really wanted to pursue Life & Yarn as more of a business to have some sort of, you know, a secondary income coming in other than, you know, my husband because, you know, Didn't want to be stressing him out that much. And I figured, hey, you know what? If I could pay the car insurance one month or if I can handle food shopping, it just makes it that much easier for him. And that was kind of where it started. And then it's just been growing. And it's been amazing. It really

Brittany 16:41

has. So where did you transition to today? I know you're doing some patterns and that sort of thing. Is that like your primary thing? model

Brianna 16:52

yes there that uh so I yeah I at one point thought that I could get into markets and make things over and over again and I discovered very quickly that I am not built for that um me too and so I started doing oh my goodness I don't know how people do it they're amazing you're like if you can make the same hat over and over again and go and sell them to people you're a superstar I can't do it right I'm not do it um but so it was Jack was about a year when I decided to start transitioning out of working full-time. So that was in 2017. By the time he was two, so the summer of 2018, was when I was buttoning up all of my contracts and the last of my jobs. September of 2018 was the first month that I didn't take in any more work professionally. So this past September actually is a year of life and yarn being full time. I'm still kind of figuring it out. I mean, you know, like I just read, I just changed all of like my brand colors. I've just redid my blog layout. There's a lot of stuff. It's, it's still growing and changing, but now it's, This past year, it's been full-time for me. That doesn't necessarily mean full-time income, but it's been all I'm doing, and it's growing. I really, really, really, really like to design garments. Every once in a while, I'll do some accessories or something, a blanket or whatever, but I love garments. I want to make stuff that I can wear on a regular basis, you know, and that's comfortable. And that's kind of where it is. You know, I'm a garment person. I love the free patterns. I've been doing the free patterns. It's funny, but I feel like people kind of appreciate the free patterns more than you would think. You know, they're willing to share them all over the place, which is great.

Brittany 18:47

Yeah. But that's where it is now. That's cool. I think there really is... a journey that a business goes on. And the way it looks when you've made that first decision is gonna be radically different from one, two, three, five years from now, it constantly changes. And that's something that I, I am still learning today, even being in business. Well, I've been doing this full time for two years, almost, well, going up on three years now. And things are still changing and looking different. And I think that's a part of the process. It's also really important for somebody to know that you don't have to have it all figured out on day one. Oh, no. I still don't have it

Brianna 19:33

figured out. I still don't have it figured out. Definitely don't. I will be very honest.

Brittany 19:40

Right.

Brianna 19:41

There are still a lot of changes going on.

Brittany 19:43

Yeah. And I echo that as well. I mean, like I said, it's a learning process for everybody. Not because you don't know what you're doing. It's that what you have to offer your community is different. It's different for every person. And you just have to listen to your community. community and respond with what they want.

Brianna 20:06

Yes. You know, it's funny about that. So I know when I was first starting, I Googled everything and Google does not have all the answers. I mean, there's no one way to go about doing any of this. And I mean, I remember messaging random people and being like, how'd you do that? You know, where'd you find that? Or how'd you do this? And I can't tell you how many times I got, you know, oh, I don't know. I just did it. And now... now that I've had some more experience with things, I'm starting to realize, you know, those answers weren't just somebody not wanting to help me. It was, they didn't, they really couldn't help. You know, there's, there's no set way to go about trying to build a creative business like this. There's really not. I mean, it's all trial and error and you just kind of have to do it. And it's, it's scary. It's definitely scary, but it's worth it. It's couldn't and I never ever would have thought you know three four or five years ago when I was designing houses that I loved I never ever thought that I could find something that I would love more and I did and it's amazing it's absolutely amazing

Brittany 21:16

yeah now you said something to me previously that like really really stuck with me you said some of the questions going through your mind while you were making that decision to leave 10 plus years of building what you thought was your dream life to just doing a complete 180 and working for yourself on a creative business. You said some of the questions going through your mind were what scares you more than failure or what do you care more about than failing? Talk me through how you answered those because I think that is a great self-assessment for anybody who's looking to make this kind of transition.

Brianna 21:55

As scary as some decisions can be, I feel like you need to be happy and you have to look at, look at your life where it is now and say, am I happy? And if you are still doing the same thing that you're doing a year from now, five years from now, 10 years from now, you know, are you, are you still going to be happy? And if you're not going to be happy with it, are you going to be okay with that? And you know, how much does that scare you? Right. So what scared me was I did not want to be the type of mom that was gone all the time. I didn't want to be the type of mom that was pushing my kids to the side because I had a deadline to meet or I was on the phone with a client and had to worry. Right. So, for example, right now, my toddler is running around with my mom. I can hear them playing somewhere in the house and I have our newest one sleeping in my lap. He's he was seven weeks old yesterday. That's not something that I couldn't do before. But, you know, depending on the client. Yeah. I would lose a lot of time that I could be spending with my husband because, you know, I'd have some crazy job going on and, you know, I'd be working on it all week and then all weekend and then getting emails from clients at eight o'clock at night because that's the first moment they've had to sit down and look at. And I need to try and get back to them right away because, you know, they're essentially they're paying you a lot of money to build their dream home. They want an answer. And that's what scared me more. It was it was the time that I was putting into something that I felt like wasn't as important as the time that I should have been putting into, you know, my husband and my kids and the rest of my family. So that was like the driving force behind it. You know, that's what scared me. Yeah. You know, and I, I knew that if I didn't change it and suddenly, you know, I'm looking back and Jack's, you know, now he's three, but say, you know, I'm looking back and he's five or he's 10 and I'm looking at things that I didn't get to experience with him because all of my time went into work. Right. I, I wouldn't have been happy about that. So.

Brittany 24:28

Yeah. And that's what really resonated with me when I read that is that you were able to identify what you care more about than failing because being an entrepreneur, starting a business from scratch, not knowing the answers, failing is a humongous part of that journey.

Brianna 24:49

I can always go back to what I was doing. I mean, it would be hard because, you know, the The computer programs, there's a new one every single year that it's updated. You know, there's new products coming out all the time, styles changing. And, you know, different materials are coming out that people are using. And, you know, so I mean, trying to play catch up there would be difficult. But the information there is so much easier to find than the information that you need to try and start up a business as an entrepreneur. And so I know that if I decided tomorrow, I don't want to do this anymore. I know that I can jump back into the field. Would it be difficult? Yes. But that's a lot easier than deciding in 10 years. You know, when you have, you know, a family and you've got a mortgage and you have, you know, all these other things going on, it's a lot harder than to make a change. And so it was, you know. do it or don't at that point in time a couple years ago for me

Brittany 25:45

yeah yeah I think it's important to have that peace of mind too but how might somebody listening be able to make that same self-assessment that you went through that you kind of talked us through that can help them through a big decision right now like I know there are a lot of people in the audience who have a full-time job and who are also trying to make their side hustle maker business something more but they're just afraid or there's something holding them back, how do you recommend they make the right decision for them? I know it's deep, right? It's really difficult and it's different for every person, but I'm curious as somebody who went there first, what would your advice be? It's

Brianna 26:33

definitely different for everybody. So you know what? Honestly, I don't know. I don't I what I the last thing I'm going to say is just do it because I am not a just do it type of person. I mean, I know when I say this is what I did, I'm trying to make it as like, simple and direct as possible. But it was a big decision. And there was a lot of things we talked about. I mean, just just to try to start to do it, you know, we, it was a matter of like, okay, well, if I can try to save, you know, a little bit of money on the car insurance, and the cell phone bills, you know, that I can work X amount of hours less. And I can try and get myself down to part-time. Or how do I save money on food shopping? And just trying to slowly transition out of that while then also trying to build a business. In the background, that's kind of how we did it. And it was a matter of not totally stepping out of where I was comfortable, which was with architecture and design and all of that. And trying to build... life and yarn in the background. So, you know, when we got to that point where I was working, you know, essentially part-time and able to make the same amount of money with life and yarn that I was making with my part-time work doing, you know, the architectural stuff that, you know, that was kind of our signal to know like, all right, I can start to really think about not doing the architecture anymore because if I have that extra time that I'm not doing the architecture I can push life and yarn more you know what I mean yeah definitely was not you know a one two three here's the decision let's do it so I wouldn't ever tell somebody just like walk into your job and quit but if you can try to look for ways to slowly transition out of one thing and into another like then I'd say that's probably the best way to go about doing things does that make sense

Brittany 28:29

yeah it does I don't know That's helpful or not. That's just how we did it. I think it is. I think it's really helpful to understand that you have to be building this before you make the decision because it's not going to be. Yes, 100%. It's not going to be just a snap of your fingers and you're making money on day one. It just doesn't happen that way. So I was building Be Hooked for three years. Let's see. Yeah, three years before I went full time with it. And I was earning some income with it at the time. Yes. that conversation that you have with your family is like a must so that you're on the same page and making the decision. It wasn't just,

Brianna 29:43

it wasn't just my husband and I, and then talking about her. So, I mean, it was my parents too. Like I was terrified, like my parents. Okay. So like my parents, my siblings, like everybody kind of knew about life and yarn. It was, I was just like a little hobby in the background and whatnot. But I remember when I really decided this is it, I'm done. I'm not taking in any more architectural work. I'm finishing up these contracts. I'm done. There's no more of this. It was a terrifying thing because for how long had I been pursuing this career and my family had supported me through all of it and it was scary. Like it was, it was, it was a scary, scary, scary thing. But I mean, I, I'd have to say, I think my parents are more proud of me now and, you know, and my husband are more proud of me now trying to do this, something that's not so safe because I'm a very safe person when it comes to making decisions that, you know, to, to look at, at someone and watch them really trying to follow a dream and actually doing it is, um, It's a huge deal. So while it's scary to think about what you're expected to do and how you're expected to live a life, it's it's definitely very freeing to make the decision to try to follow a dream like that yeah so I wouldn't tell anybody to just to just play it safe all the time with with something like this there's ways there's ways to do it safely but yeah there's always a risk involved

Brittany 31:12

now I'm curious on the other side of that decision we talked about this a little bit that as a new business owner you work crazy hours because it's something that you're really driven about it's part Oh my gosh. Yeah.

Brianna 31:46

it's definitely done both I said yes to a lot in the beginning because I really I just wanted to try to get my foot in the door every single place I possibly could and it was a blessing and it was a curse at the same time like I remember Jack was a few months old and I would get him to go to sleep. And I mean, he was probably closer to a year at this point. And there was things that I said yes to. And I was still working full time. And I was hiding in the bathroom at like three o'clock in the morning, making things and trying to work on stuff and take pictures. You know, it was just it was it was madness. But living like that and trying to do so much definitely taught me that I have to be choosy about where I spend my time and what I say yes to. But there was a lot there's a lot of stuff that I said yes to. that definitely opened some doors and it gave a lot of experiences to me that I wouldn't have had if I had said no. But now at this point, Saying all the yeses and regretting them has led me to a point where now I know what to say yes to and I know what to say no to because now I have more of an idea of where I want my business. So what I would tell somebody is basically, I think you should say yes to as much as you possibly can in the beginning so that this way you can learn when to say no. But learning when to say no is the hard part because you have to look at it as if you're saying no to one thing, then you're there's other opportunities that can come in. And I think too many people will say yes to everything. And then something that they should say yes to comes up. And then they can't because they've said yes to too many things. Does that? Yeah.

Brittany 33:24

Yeah, it's a balancing act. And I, I definitely, I experienced the same thing. I said yes to everything that I possibly could. And at the time, I remember thinking to myself, like, why do I keep saying yes? Why am I doing this? But it made me realize that that I learned when to say no. by saying yes, because I was able to figure out what took me a lot of time to work through or what I didn't really love doing or what didn't really resonate with the people that I was trying to serve in my community. I mean, you have to get to a point where you can learn all that stuff because it's going to be new. It's going to be completely different for you than it was for me and than it was for you. You know, everybody is in a unique situation and they're serving a unique set of people. I'm sure a lot of that does overlap but yeah you become the go-to person for that thing and you figure out what that thing is by saying yes and figuring out what lights you up and what doesn't exactly exactly so

Brianna 34:30

they're a lot better than i did um but no but it is it's it's true I mean, if you're just starting, you should probably try and say yes to as much as you can, because if you don't, then, you know, you won't know what you do and you don't love. Yeah. And I think there's some things you have to learn the hard way.

Brittany 34:46

For sure. Yeah. And I think one thing that I wish I knew then that I know now is to learn to manage my time better. Gosh, when I was doing my...

Brianna 34:58

time management right now is key.

Brittany 35:00

Yeah. It's a real struggle. But what I didn't understand and or just didn't really think about. Mm-hmm. my time a little bit better I would have known realistically there is not a space in time for me to make this commitment at this time so I think that would be my little tidbit of advice as far as saying yes I think it's a great thing to do but be smart about it and try to give that commitment a space in your calendar

Brianna 36:01

oh yeah and I would definitely say you got to give yourself a little bit of wiggle room too because you never know what's going to come up I finally started to get into the swing of things with Jack running around chasing him as a toddler and like really knowing when I could and couldn't do things. And then we found out we were having another baby and, you know, that just changed everything. I mean, right now I'm just totally trying to keep my head above water and readjust to a new, a new normal. And that's fine. And I think that's something else that people as, you know, new business owners and entrepreneurs need to keep in mind is that, you know, you really have to try and be flexible in those early days because things come up all the time. Yeah. Whether it's a new whether it's a new baby or, you know, who knows what? There's always something. And that I think is is a hard thing for a lot of people to accept. I know that I'm like that because I'm you know, your typical type A that wants everything planned out and perfect. And it just doesn't really work with this type of business.

Brittany 37:04

Right. Right. So now I imagine you have probably got some practice in with saying no to things. Oh,

Brianna 37:10

yeah.

Brittany 37:11

How has that been for you? Good.

Brianna 37:15

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's it's definitely been good. I mean, the past. So I I had to do a lot of reevaluating when we found out that we were having another baby because, you know, with Jack, my pregnancy was amazing and not that this one wasn't, but this time around I, I had morning sickness, which was different because I didn't have the Jack and we were both, we were having another boy. So I was totally confused by that. I would have sworn we were having a girl, but, um, you know, I was sick and I was doing a lot. And at that point I was still really, really overwhelmed with so many things that I had said yes to. And that was when I, you know, I remember sitting back and talking to my husband and just being like, I've said too many things to where now, you know, life, you know, day-to-day life just doesn't work. And, and it was really difficult to kind of sit back and look at things. I mean, I wrote, I wrote down a list of all the different things that I was trying to do and marked things off. Do I love this? Do I like it? Or is this just stressing me out? You know, cause if it's going to stress you out and if it's going to just make things more difficult and if you're going to, you know, dread having to do it and drag yourself It should for you to do something. You probably shouldn't be doing it, you know, and that was the position that I was finding myself in with a few different things that I was involved in was just that it would spark that excitement that it should. And so it would take me so much longer to do, you know, a task than I should spend on it. Does that make sense? So like designing something or working with a specific yarn that I didn't love, you you know, that somebody asked for me to promote or, or whatever. And, and you just kind of have to say, you know what, I, it's not going to work and you have to walk away from it. And it's really hard to do something like that because you worry about either offending somebody or hurting feelings or, you know, burning a bridge with a company or a person or, or whatever. But, you have to like sit back and look at all of those little things. And that was what I had to do very, very recently, specifically when I was having my morning sickness. Um, but that put me in a really good position now that we've, we've had the baby, we had him, um, in August and now everything that I have on my plate is something that I love. And that makes me really happy and really excited for the future of life in your, but it definitely took a Um, it was stressful getting there. Yeah.

Brittany 39:39

Yeah. And now I have to ask, I know you said this was a little more recently, but do you, do you have any regrets? Like has some of those fears that you had about saying no, did any of that become real?

Brianna 39:55

Um, no.

Brittany 39:57

No. I think that's so important for people to hear, that we build things up in our heads. Yes. It's usually not going to happen. People understand. And I think a lot more people will respect you when you do say no because it's not the right fit.

Brianna 40:15

Yes. It's hard – I mean, the anxiety around having to write an email or send a message or say like this isn't working is terrifying. It's a scary, scary thing to do. I mean, think about like quitting a job. You know, I mean, that's kind of what it is. You know, you're essentially even though it's just a little blip on the radar of something that you're working on in the big picture of everything. It's like you're quitting a job and it's scary. It's hard. And, you know, at the time, I remember, you know, after you send that email or you send that text. message or DM or whatever, you have that moment of like, Oh my goodness, did I really just do that? You know, stomach dropping. Yeah. Yeah. It's the stomach dropping out. And like, I need to take a step outside and take a deep breath and make sure that that was okay. And, you know, it's, it is, you know, those maybe like the first week after you turn something away or, or stop doing something, you might feel like scared or, or wonder if it was the wrong decision but in the long run now I know I I don't I don't regret any of it saying no to anything

Brittany 41:26

yeah I think that's really important to to hear but I also don't want to totally sugarcoat it I remember hearing advice and still to this day where people say say no to more things and more opportunities will open and everything is rainbows and unicorns and yeah sometimes it is no that's not true but it's totally not always the case and Sometimes you might say no to something and realize that you do regret saying no, but there's not a whole lot you can do at that point except for learn from that. And I think it's also important that you don't burn that bridge. So that way, when the opportunity comes up for you and that person or that brand or company to work together again, in a way that it's mutually beneficial, you can still do that.

Brianna 42:17

However it is that you say no or you go about, you know, changing an agreement on something, you have to do it so that no feelings are hurt. And, you know, it's done in a professional manner. And if there is an opportunity in the future, the last thing you want is for somebody to be like, well, you know, they went about not taking this seriously. opportunity or leaving an opportunity in a bad manner. So that's definitely great advice.

Brittany 42:47

For sure. Now, I know that's certainly practical advice from two entrepreneurs to somebody who might be in a similar situation. So as a final word of advice to somebody who's in a familiarly uncomfortable situation, part of their life be it they're about to make that decision to quit their full-time job or go down to part-time what would your final word of advice be to that person to help them find the right answer for them at that time I

Brianna 43:19

think you have to be as honest with yourself as possible you really have to look at what it is you're doing. Does it make you happy? Is it going to make you happy in the future? And I think you just have to be really, really honest about where you are in your life and what you want from it. And I don't think anybody should ever be scared to make a change. But I think when you do try to make a change, especially a big one, something going from like, you know, your normal everyday nine to five that, you know, pays your bills to suddenly turning around and deciding that, you know, You know, you're going to take on trying to build a creative business where there's really no set way to do something that, you know, you make that decision. You know, you don't take it lightly. You know, it takes a lot of planning. And I think that the best thing anybody can do when trying to do something like that is, you know, to try and do as slow and as easy of a transition as possible. Try to keep one foot on each side of the line so that this way you can see when something's not working. The last thing I would recommend somebody, and I know some people say that they've done this before, they'll tell you to do it. Don't just go walk into your job and tell your boss, like quit and walk out because it might feel great in that moment. But when you're, you know, up in the middle of the night and trying to figure out how to, I don't know, do something on your website. And you have no money coming in. You're going to be kicking yourself, you know. So I think be honest with yourself and chase the dream. But at the same time, I think you should also kind of play it safe. And there's there's ways to do that.

Brittany 44:52

Yeah, I think that's great advice. And I love your list tip. The thing that you said you sat down and wrote a list. I am. I'm a list kind of girl. So that totally speaks to my heart. it's one thing to think something it's a completely different thing to write it down and to see it you feel something when you write it down you can say yeah I really don't like that just by writing it down I don't know there's some kind of connection that's made at least for me that when I write something down I all of a sudden realize yes like that is the case so I think even if you're not a list kind of person just try it

Brianna 45:33

another great thing that you can do so like you know what I it's this was a lot it took a long time to you know for me to start to really make this transition but like initially I had a goals list of things that I wanted life and yarn to be and I actually they're all over the place I you know I just randomly will write down a little list and stick it somewhere and forget about it because you know mom life I just get distracted but um there was one of the I came across the other day of goals and I'm looking at some of them. I'm like, wow, I don't care about that anymore. And I, and I think that that's a big thing too, is, you know, sit down and write down some goals that you have and just put it in a corner somewhere and come back to it in a month and then look at it and say, do you really still care about those things as much as you thought you did then? Yeah. You know, and I think that can really help guide somebody to, and figuring out whether or not the change that they want to make is the right one for them.

Brittany 46:29

Yeah.

Brianna 46:30

And I think if you can do that over the course of an extended period of time, that'll help you decide what you really want to do.

Brittany 46:36

Yeah, I agree. I think that is a great tip and great note to end on. I do want to give listeners a chance to connect with you after they've heard today's episode, because I know that, like I said, there's so many people who might be in a similar situation and I think we can help each other in the community. So where would you send them to see more of what you have going on and to connect with you after listening today?

Brianna 47:00

I'm Life and Yarn everywhere, except for on Instagram. I'm Life and Yarn, but I have a period in between each word. Instagram is, that's my main place. I'm there, you know, I'm on it every day. I'm posting basically every day. That's where, you know, You'll see what I'm working on, you know, behind the scenes, new designs that are coming and just kind of what I'm doing in my day to day life and my stories all the time. And then secondly, is my blog. My blog is my other big spot. So that's, you know, life and yarn dot com. And my newsletter is big. There's a pop-up that'll come up so you can sign up. But I try to keep my newsletter subscribers in the loop with everything that I'm doing. But those are basically my big spots. And that's where you can find me. If you go over to my Instagram, I do have a link in my bio that will bring you directly to my blog. And that has the directory on it that gives you everywhere that I am. That's basically it. Perfect. I'm easy enough to find.

Brittany 47:56

Yes. Okay. So I will have all of that included in the show notes as well. So if you do want to check that out, you can visit that in go directly to those places. And Brianna, thank you so much. It has been such a pleasure to connect with you and to hear your story and to share your story. I know it's going to help somebody who is in a similar situation. And for that, I am really grateful. Thanks for having me. All right. Once again, that was Brianna from Life and Yarn. Be sure to check her out on Instagram where she likes to hang out. Although it's different for every person, One thing I want to point out is that although something might feel scary, we might build something up when we're about to say no to an opportunity that we really want to say yes to, or whether we're ready to make our hobby, our full-time or part-time job, whatever your situation may be, we always build up these decisions in our head so that they seem really scary. We think the absolute worst could possibly happen, and that's not always the case. Yes, it's really uncomfortable to make decisions that we don't want to make or that we're not ready to make. And we do need to take a safe approach, as Brianna mentioned, but I think it's also really helpful to know that on the other side of that decision, no matter what the outcome is, you have learned from that experience and it's time well spent. Whether it be a failure or a success, you learned something, you grew from it, and you probably became a happier person because of it. And remember that we have a wonderful community. And I know there are so many people out there who are willing to help and to listen. We're building you up, friend. We're strengthening you. And we understand what you're going through right now. Now, today's episode was brought to you by my blueprint course, Tunisian Crochet for Beginners. I just want to say a big thank you that you listen to these little sponsor roles here to help fund what happens here behind the scenes of the podcast. Just full disclosure, that's how it works. So my blueprint course was designed to help you learn Tunisian crochet from scratch. So if you maybe have heard of what it's called, but you don't know how to do it or what it is, this course is for you. Tunisian crochet is a slightly different form of crochet that allows you to do different things. You have a little bit more stitch options and the whole process is quite different, although similar in some areas. I like to go to my Tunisian crochet hooks when I need a break from traditional crochet. If I need to shake up things in the routine, Or if my hands are sort of feeling a little fatigue from too much crocheting, the motions are just different enough to help me through that. So if you want to give Tunisian crochet a try, if you want to help the show, just head over to be hooked.com slash T C F B. That stands for Tunisian crochet for beginners. That will redirect you to blueprints page where you can see all of the lessons that are available in that course. And you can sign up if you think it's something that you want to give a try. All right, that wraps up this week's episode of the Be Hooked podcast. Thank you so much for tuning in week after week. If you haven't subscribed, I would love for you to do that because although it doesn't seem like much, it really does help the show. If you just go into your podcast player, hit subscribe, you'll see the new episode every single week and that's a big help. So thank you and I will see you next week, my friend.