About Jess (Oct 2024-JAN 2025)
From October 2024 through January 2025, this was my About.
Stories evolve. Perspectives shift. I like to keep things fresh, but I also find growth shows up in the written history. So here I’ll be keeping my previous “Abouts”.
Since the end of my most recent contract at a traditional job in May, I’ve been exploring career opportunities. I’ve been pushing my own boundaries, testing out ideas for whatever my next step could be. These ideas have ebbed and flowed quite a bit, with little clarity on which direction I wanted to pursue. Clarity seems to now be happening, after months and months of networking, studying, reading, and trying.
All this to reiterate (while we await final clarity, together, over the next few weeks), that I’ve been on this earth for nearly 40 years and am rethinking entirely “what I want to be when I grow up”. I’ve had an interesting path to this point - venturing in and out of traditional work, grad school, different cities and places, and over the past couple of years, creative work. One thing I know for sure: regardless of where I end up, I will keep making. Creativity is a critical part of my process for problem solving, positive mental health, and expression.
Always creating.
This creating will look differently than it did when I first started JA Murphy Designs. Pat and I are shifting to more of a hobbyist mentality with our products. My digital designs are still available for sale as print-on-demand gift options on Zazzle, and I’ll continue to add to these items on occasion. I’ll still be making earrings, and will be offering our handmade items for sale here, on my website, directly. This is to reduce administration duties / costs through Etsy. Our inventory isn’t bringing anyone joy by being made and then sitting in a box in our closet, so with that in mind I’ve reduced pricing to encourage sales (note: shipping is no longer free). Please note, however, that if you go to a market and are buying items from folks, running a small, creative, making-business, costs are quite high. Competition is overwhelming with Temu / Shein / Amazon. This isn’t a complaint. I’d like to raise awareness: just because I’m in a position where I’m able to reduce my prices because I’m no longer running cost-benefit analyses, doesn’t mean every maker can or in fact should. Truly handmade items are time-consuming, expensive, and take a strong heart and soul. Support them if you can.
A strong, heartfelt thank you to all who have supported my creativity over the past couple of years, in the form of encouragement, purchases, and feedback. Without you I don’t know where I’d be.
