A New Start

Hi there! Its been a while.

I last posted at Christmas, when I said that i was planning to go self-employed, and sell jewellery on street markets in London. Well my plans for self-employment are well under way. They have taken a few twists and turns, but I now have a new website and on-line shop.

Here is my story

This was home for 5 months.

Having decided to move to London, i set out to find somewhere to live. I knew that it was going to be difficult to find accommodation in London: but i was not expecting it to take 5 months. That was five months being virtually homeless, living in a hostel. During this five months i was making my plans to become self-employed. I knew i wanted a crafty based business, but living in the hostel, limited my choices for businesses. So i went right back to my childhood roots and started making jewellery out of beads and charms.

The decision to go self-employed was not a easy one, especially as i was living under extremely difficult circumstances at the time. But i feel that i want to be able to make my own money, rather than rely on others to provide employment for me. Anybody who has been unemployed during this recession, will tell you that finding new work is not necessary difficult, but the work you find is short term and very unstable. I now have a ridiculous CV with so much temp and seasonal work that, nobody will take me seriously, unless it is more seasonal or temp work. So this is my way of taking control of my life again.

Finding a name for my business was extremely difficult; everything i thought of had already been taken. That was until i hit on the name Lime Locket. The domain name was available, and so was Etsy, Storenvy, twitter and other social media names. So i became Lime Locket and suddenly the business had a focus.

At Lime Locket i am focusing on sourcing lockets, especially vintage style locket. These lockets are supplied to me as simple lockets and it is up to me to put them together and make them suitable to sell. My original concept for selling jewellery was to buy the jewellery ready made, because making them myself was just going to be too difficult living in a hostel. However, i was carrying a set of jewellery pliers with me (as you do) so I just got on with it, and realized that it was absolutely possible to make jewellery and live in a hostel. I also found that i had more control over quality making stuff my self. I then started making more, earring and pendants started coming off my pliers, and slowly my range started to expand.

Luckily for me my search for accommodation ended last month, when i found a room in a lovely shared house in South West London. I can now work solidly on Lime Locket and have space to work on making items in my shop more unique, by making the individual parts myself. Because i feel that for me handmade should mean handmade and not ready made parts beaded together. 

This is going to be a long hard road but i am enjoying every step of this journey.

I have stayed and lived in hostels before, but as a backpacker. This experience living in a hostel, as someone who has nowhere else to go, has made me see the world and myself differently, and i believe i am better off for it. I met people who inspired me to pursue my business ideas, encouraged, and helped me. I learned that it is possible to do almost anything in the most tiny of spaces. Not to mention, i had a ready stream of backpackers to sell my jewellery to. 

So thank you to all the hostellers who have supported me over that last few months.