Prompt of the Day (Nov 21): The Business of Being Born is a passion project. Are you pursuing a passion project?
I suppose that aside from being my “business”, Drifting Sun has really been a giant passion project of sorts for me. I have never known what I really wanted to do with my life, per se. I knew all of my interests. I knew what I didn’t want to do, maybe. But pinpointing it down to one niche, I could never seem to do.
I went to college and got a degree in Integrative Art, but after graduation, what did that even mean? I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do the whole time I was working toward my degree. I knew I wanted to do something. But figuring out what, I could never seem to do.
After my husband and I moved into our current residence, I had graduated college and hadn’t gone out to find a job yet. We weren’t rich or “set”, but the good news was his income allowed me to stay at home and not work right away. The idea of a homemaker was always sort of a romantic notion, but I had always been driven to do something more with my life. I have always wanted to be a mother and I greatly wanted to be able to do something that would allow me to eventually stay at home with my children. I wanted to contribute and do my part. Even though simply maintaining a household can be quite demanding work and is definitely a job in and unto itself, I was unsatisfied with this. As a woman, I wanted to be able to support myself in some way, shape, or form. I wanted to feel like I was doing my part. We had no children yet to take care of and weren’t planning on having any until we were married; I had time to pursue what I wanted to do. If I could only figure out what it was.
During college, I had started sewing in my spare time. I started making purses, blankets, curtains, etc. I would make them for my friends and myself. I eventually started ironing little “Handmade by Missie Sue” labels in them. After college, I was able to focus more on improving my sewing skills since it was what I was doing at the time for creativity. I ended up starting an eBay store and trying to sell my “duds”. Around the same time I came upon screen printing and it seemed to utilize so many of my learned college skills, so in 2005 I formed Drifting Sun, my handmade clothing and silk screen printing services business…or was it? To this day, Drifting Sun, like it’s founder, is technically without a definite purpose. I print t-shirts for people; I print my own prints; I sell band shirts; I sell purses and earrings and odds and ends I make. Drifting Sun basically is whatever I make it…literally.
I have recently taken a hiatus of sorts from the biz while I was pregnant with and had my daughter. I printed 2 jobs while I was pregnant, which I got assistance with because I was afraid of the fumes in my printing shop. I have printed 1 job since and am planning on printing one here before Christmas. I suppose this feels right. I do enjoy printing my own designs immensely more than I do those commissioned for businesses, and groups, etc. I can do both, but lacking space and money makes it a slow process, but I continue.
Drifting Sun has been a battle with myself; it has been a project I have been trying to get fully passionate about, but like its owner, is a bit unclassified and without direction. Where do I focus?
“How can I go forward when I don’t know which way I’m facing?” - John Lennon
I feel I am at somewhat of a stand still. Sometimes I question if I am capable of such lofty endeavors. Not only is it hard single-handedly establishing and running a business, it is also hard to be a stay at home mother and even harder to have your significant other away about 70% of the time, so sometimes I get a little discouraged, but I press on. I believe that Drifting Sun is a beautiful vision and it deserves my all. Logically, I understand that it can't have this, but I still can give it my best. I don’t feel I have yet given it that. So I continue until it feels right. I continue to see if I can have my cake and eat it too. And so the saga continues---here’s to finding my niche with Drifting Sun, and to Drifting Sun finding its niche in the world of small businesses. 
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