Don't be afraid to try something new! (And sometimes it's okay to monetize a hobby - it's saving my ass right now with the income).

or I would create items that would make people so happy. Check out our Etsy reviews (and our Borbs!) where my shop is RainbowGladeDesigns or at the same name dot com.

This is a long winded way to tell you that you shouldn't be afraid to pivot if you have to. Sometimes the winds are blowing you in a direction that will be fascinating to go. Five years ago, heck ten years ago I couldn't have foreseen what the public would be buying from me now...

It's fascinating that I've come full circle in that way in the last five years. Something created out of grief is helping people who themselves are grieving.

I've estimated that about 15% of our sales are by companion bird owners that have recently lost their feathered friend and are looking for a way to process their own grief. We love our birds as hard as you love your dogs and cats. I know this by the kind reviews we get.

While we thought our market was stressed out people, that isn't really where we are finding buyers. People are adopting them because they're just really cute (I'm biased of course) or they love any or specific parrots and are excited to get a plush of a particular one.

We now have 18 variations of our Worry Borbs (we've sold hundreds) and we're moving into offering birds outside of the parrot family. Owls are coming soon. Well, that's if tariffs don't ruin our supply chain for the materials we need. I hate the orange menace. I might well have to pivot again.

Based on her English Budgie Niblet, we created a weighted adorable parakeet. Five more variations would follow and they had a small but steady market over the next four years. They found a new audience in 2024 when companion bird owners discovered them and started buying them at a rapid pace.

My daughter was depressed having to finish the last two years of her BA in her bedroom rather that on campus so I asked her to help me design a plush that would help people with anxiety. Something fun and weighted to hold. She created drawings that would culminate in our first Worry Borb.

People will tell you not to monetize your hobbies (and it's not bad advice) but I saw a way to make people smile with my little grumpy felt creations. It's how we were all feeling. So I put them up for adoption and sold hundreds. I loved making them and it fed my soul too.

I said good-bye to my Mom from cancer and a beloved pet three days apart in the early days of the pandemic. Deeply sad days. I took up a new hobby to process my grief - handmaking plushes. I showed pics of them and followers asked to buy them.

Then the pandemic hit in 2020. Writers were understandably too stressed to write. Conventions were cancelled. Commissions came to a screaming halt. I did what so many other small businesses did - pivot. I offered my own products on Etsy and my personal website.

An AI book cover was what I was referring to. There are a number of AI art programs people use who don't want to pay for artwork or a cover artist. They are all unethical, and none of the images can be copyrighted in the US.

Seeing some of my (now former) clients switch to AI covers makes me want to throw something. I just unfriend and block.

I never imagined that people would reach out to buy them after I posted the first pics. Some have collected the entire series. Pretty humbling, honestly. They launched other plush lines that I created solo and in partner with my daughter.

Really didn't see that coming back then. I'm still smiling.