10 YEARS

I quit my day job 10 years ago and needed everyone to know

10 years ago, I quit my job to run Michelle Starbuck Designs full time, but let's start at the beginning. I started MSD in 2005 when I was the manager of a boutique on Southport (in Chicago). If you don’t know, Southport was the place to be in the early 2000’s. I had no real intentions when it came to my ‘business’ or ‘career’ really. I was 23 and simply thrilled to be living in Chicago. The owners of the boutique let me sell my jewelry at the shop and it was nice to have some extra cash, but I wasn’t taking it very seriously. Honestly, I named my business Michelle Starbuck Designs because I didn’t think I would be able to commit to making jewelry long term. I like having a lot of hobbies and I was certain I would move onto selling hand knit scarves or embroidered socks (sometime, ask me about the year I spent making watches with my roommate). The following year I opened my Etsy shop, that’s right, in 2006 when we still weren’t sure if it was pronounced et-sy or eat-sy. I had to borrow a point and shoot camera to take photos and I’m pretty sure I didn’t even edit them- it’s wonder I had any sales. I might have sold more of the magnets I made from vintage clip on earrings than jewelry. Luckily, my Etsy shop is long closed and there’s no evidence of my early missteps. Don’t even try looking.

In 2007, I had a necklace featured in the local section of Lucky Magazine (rip). Copies of this issue may or may not be within viewing range of where I’m sitting right now- it’s the only press I’ve ever had and I’m embarrassingly still proud of it. It might not have been much, but it was enough to give me the confidence to start reaching out to local stores to see if they would sell my jewelry on consignment. At some point during the next few years I had around 10 stores in Chicago carrying my jewelry and in 2011 I finally got the courage to start doing in person events.  That’s 6 years after I started making jewelry until I participated in an event. Have I mentioned that I’m very risk adverse? I did a few small events that summer and then did Renegade Craft Fair’s holiday show in December. I will never forget that feeling when I looked at how much money I made. I had decided I wouldn’t look at my sales total during the show, I wanted to be surprised at the end. It’s a rule I had for many years and just recently reinstated. I made $3,000 that weekend and it was much more than I had expected. I think my most expensive design was $36 at the time, so I sold A LOT of jewelry.

By 2012, I started to think, hey, I could really make something of this. And so I came up with a list of things that I would need to accomplish before I could quit my job. At this point, I was working at Lillstreet Art Center as the Administration Director so I was able to live off of that salary and save what I made from MSD. My 3 goals were: 1. pay off student loans; 2. save $10K; and 3. have consistent online sales. By 2013, I had neatly checked off each goal, but I was terrified so I upped my savings goal to $15K. And when I had reached it by the end of the year, the time had come, I was out of excuses. I also had made my password at work ‘quitmyjob2013’, which I’m sharing in case you’re looking for a low commitment way to accomplish a goal. I put in my notice in December of 2013 and was asked to work until the end of February 2014 and because I’m a workaholic, I said of course, that sounds great.

And now I’m at the part where I have to say that I don’t feel proud of myself like I thought I would for having made it this far. I’m very good at moving that bar. I keep telling myself, I’ll be proud when I reach 20 years of MSD (in 2025). The thing is, I don’t think it matters if you still have a job while running your own business. It was definitely hard for me because I worked 50+ hours a week and then had to make jewelry after work every night and all weekend. I gave up  doing anything fun in my free time for years and I’m not sure I really noticed it was happening. It didn’t feel any different from the 4 years I spent in college where I graduated with 162 credits, 2 degrees, and had 3 jobs at the same time. I was addicted to being busy, it made me happy.  

So when I went from only having week nights and weekends to work on MSD to having EVERY DAY, certainly I was going to find a better work/life balance, yes? Nope, it was pure chaos for many of those first years, but in the best way possible. I still reminisce about our one bedroom apartment with my studio in the sunroom and my husband’s studio (his name is Steve and you’ll just want to remember his name so I don’t have to say husband all of the time) in the dining room. We had great times there. There was a period of time that he worked for me full time and it was the absolute best. We had no money, but I wouldn’t have changed a thing. Everything was going along in a somewhat predictable fashion until 2020. If you’ve figured out how to move on from the effects of the pandemic, tell me your secrets, because I have not recovered. I went from having someone pack and ship all of my orders and do all of my photography to having to do it all myself. And business still hasn’t returned to a point that I can afford to pay someone else do it again. I know it would free up my time and then maybe I’ll do something amazing with that time that will then make more money, but I’ll reiterate, I’m not a risk taker.  

Towards the end of last year, I thought for sure that was going to be it for MSD. But after talking to several friends and lots of encouragement from Steve, I made the INSANE decision to go to the gem show in Tucson this January. I know my customers missed my designs that were more gemstone heavy and my enamel resin designs haven’t all caught on like I hoped. So I went to the gem show and got to buy anything that caught my eye instead of having a long list a specific measurements and stones and shapes. I was still on the lookout for cool shapes, but not having to worry about them fitting in one of my castings or being the right stone for a seasonal collection was freeing (maybe too freeing? i don’t know, i like rules.) I also got a lot of fancier stones that I’ve always felt I wouldn’t be able to sell because it means a higher price point. But here’s the thing. I’m 41, I own a 100-year-old house that needs lots of work, and I have a dog who’s gone to the vet more in the last 3 years than I have in my entire life. I need to make fancier jewelry at a higher price point.  And it’s something I’ve always wanted to do, but I was too afraid to take the leap. This feels like the right time. 

I’ve had about a week to work on new designs with the stones I brought back from the gem show. This is the first time in a very long time that I haven’t had anything else to work on. I’m getting ready for an event, but making samples and making new work for an event are the same thing to me. But while I have a definite plan and I’m really happy with the direction things are going, I haven’t been able to gauge whether the plan is going to work. I’ll know soon enough, but I’m still stuck with the feeling from last year of not being particularly successful. And it’s left me feeling like I don’t deserve to celebrate being self employed for the last 10 years. I tried coming up with ways I want to celebrate which is usually pretty easy for me. I’m a big fan of little treats as rewards for finishing anything (seriously, anything). And then it occurred to me that the only reason that this anniversary really means anything to me is that I get to go on the internet and say, ’10 years ago, I quit my job…..’. Maybe that’s the wrong reason, or the less healthy reason, but it worked, I’m satisfied. Maybe I’ll get some ice cream too ;)

ps: I don’t have a set plan for what I’ll be doing with these posts. I just knew that this is something I needed to write. For now, I’d definitely be up for answering questions on any topic.  If you’ve ever wanted to pick my brain, but with no pressure because I’m not responding to you personally, I’m turning your question into ‘content’ (insert hard eyeroll). I’m just going to see if anyone actually reads this and if I actually enjoying writing it and see where it goes.

-Michelle