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About Heaven
Sent Inspirations... Well, its not all About Me!
are craft departments of:
About Me:
My name is Maxine, Owner of Heaven Sent Inspirations. I am a west coast
Artist, and self taught graphic designer from Salem, Oregon. I am an at home Mom to my son, whom I adore and is my life motivation.
I have
taken my passion for watercolors, registered my artwork with the Library of
Congress and reproduced my artwork and placed it into the many blank craft products you will find
here. I have
completed commission work upon special request and painted outdoor historic buildings,
Quilt Tour Homes
and in the past have sold my artwork on Ebay, Museums, outdoor markets, craft & Christmas
bazaars, gift shows, gift shops, specialty stores, colleges and Churches...
and direct to the public!
Business
Experience: I have 20 years executive retail security management from a major US
retailer. My career was very hectic,
traveling,
managing people, schedules, investigating profit/loss
reports, thefts, inventory control, training, hiring and more.
Customer
satisfaction was most important to this company, it made a big impression and
something that I feel strongly about when I make purchases, thus my
hope to provide the same service here. I
appreciate customers who have taken time to write to me about the
satisfaction, which you can read if you have a moment at:
customer testimonials.
How It Began:
At the 20 year point, I left my career trying to
balance a demanding job and my newly adopted baby boy. Going from one extreme
to another, for
fun I went back to art classes where I enjoyed painting and to have some "mommy
time". I was encouraged by my art teacher and mentor to sell my artwork as note cards
which she had done successfully herself. I was running up a printing bill at Kinkos,
learned to manipulate their machines to get two cards on one page, and
realized that I could pay for an at home printer for the cost of the copies.
I was then asked to print cards for my
teacher and fellow students from home. I set out to sell my artwork locally at craft shows which did very well. Ok, so what else
could I put my artwork into and sell??? The hunt for blank craft
supplies began and I expanding my art lines into bookmarks, paperweights &
coasters.
I attended a marketing seminar at the Chamber of
Commerce and was encouraged by a marketing strategist who said "I had talent
and not all people who have an idea are talented and can make it work".
I knew I could only sell my artwork locally and he agreed
that the internet was the was to go with it, which was great news since I had already
began to design my own website to sell my note cards which I called "Greetings
By Maxine".
So I had a website, but the challenge was to
bring interested people in to buy my artwork. You can have a website but
no one can find you if you don't advertise. After awhile, the
expenses were greater than the sales and I actually called my web host company
and had them cancel my account. They immediately deleted my
website that day.
The next morning with regret, I was reflecting on
the years hard work building my website and was remembering that the day
before when I was surfing for blank craft supplies at other websites, I
was immediately leaving the site when I found that it was a
pre-made artwork, not supplies. I was also frustrated for the time it
took to search each website for blank specialty supplies and in order to buy
one type of craft supply I had to pay their very high minimum orders in large
bulk to get the best price.
Suddenly, my heart started to race when I
realized I should
specialize in selling something unique that I had not found out there on the internet...to
sell many lines of blank craft supplies from my hard to find suppliers
at one place!
I believe that I had a "Heaven Sent Inspiration"
right then.
I
called my web host as soon as they opened and asked if they
could re-install my website and 24 hours later, I began adding craft supplies for sale and within two weeks orders
were coming in! I have I am grateful that I listened because that day I changed the business name from "Greetings By
Maxine" to "Heaven Sent Inspirations" and I have felt blessed since
and I am greatful daily.
Reflections: My baby boy is now in 3rd grade, I paint as a hobby
(when I get a chance) and I never imagined
that I could work from home while he was in school and still have time to volunteer
to do art with the kids in his class. Coming from the career field, I
respect parents who balance their lives between career and family, I get it,
and I have a greater admiration for at home moms and dads whom their children
are their careers. They are on duty 24-7, they don't get a pay check
they can count on, there is no company pension or a retirement plan, no paid
vacations, and they can't call in sick, they just receive benefits that their
time and devotion will have an invested a future, the greatest compensation
when done well.
I never dreamed that I would be one of the those "at home mom's with a
successful internet company" that you hear about. I see that every
aspect of my work experience and training applies to managing
my business and being organized to balance both work and being a mom. I
encourage you to follow your "inspiration", use your talents
and my advise would be to
be flexible as it may not end up being what you planned... it may be even greater
than what you ever expected!
I look forward to assisting you, I am not
interested in your taking your ideas, let me know if I can offer you some
suggestions, my wish for you is have great success and to take what you have
learned from someone else who helped you and pay it forward,
Take care, Maxine ;0)
3Commit to the Lord everything you
do,
Then your plans will
succeed...
Proverbs 16:3
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