I’ve been a little quiet on this site lately about my life.

If you follow me on social media (mainly Instagram or Facebook), you’ve probably seen my posts about Belles & Bucks. And if you haven’t, well, I’ll give you guys the lowdown in a second.

First, I want to show off this cool new sign.

The first time I heard this was on a podcast, though I can’t remember which one. I’ve reworded it a bit for clarity. Essentially it means that if you aren’t following your own dream, you are probably following someone else’s. Whether you’re working a job you don’t love because someone else’s dream life for you is to be in that career, or you’re just an employee for someone else because you need the money, you are helping to build someone else’s dream.

Think about it this way: pretty much every business ever created was the product of someone’s dream. Somebody at one point in the history of that company decided it was their dream to create that company. Every single person they hired on after that point was helping them grow their company, and build their dream.

So if you are focused on building someone else’s dream – consciously or not – you are not focusing on building your own. And for me, that was a problem.

If you don't build your own dream, you'll spend your life building someone else's. Share on X

Don’t get me wrong, I love the company I work for full-time.

I certainly have rough days at work, but overall I am happy with my employment and the benefits I am afforded. But ever since I was a little kid, I wanted my own business. My ideas were never fully developed back then – they ranged from publishing to interior design to art – but I knew I wanted to work for myself someday. That was my end goal.

When I finally came up with a real plan, I had this sign made to remind me of what I am working toward. Smartsign was super easy to navigate, and once I sent in my proof for my sign, they had it on my doorstep within a couple of weeks.

The aluminum sign they made turned out perfect – the colors look brilliant and I absolutely love it! For now, it is sitting in my office on my desk because unfortunately, I don’t have space to hang it above.

Hopefully when we buy a house in the future I will have a large office space and can build a much bigger desk so everything isn’t so cluttered. And then I’ll have plenty of room above the desk to hang this motivational sign.

What is Belles & Bucks?

Belles & Bucks is my new product-based business (yay, entrepreneurship!). Currently I make greeting cards and invitations. I’m planning to expand that into a larger brand that includes other paper products such as daily planners and bookmarks, and eventually certain clothing and accessories. But for now I’m a one-woman operation with many other responsibilities. I’m testing the waters a bit and working on a lot of ideas behind closed doors. Once I finish school next spring, I will have more time to focus on the business though!

Why start a business now?

When you talk about your dreams and life goals, you probably use phrases like “I wish I could…”, “Someday I want to…”, or “I will…”. But if you think about it, those things are all excuses for why you haven’t accomplished anything yet. Instead of taking action now, you are telling yourself you’ll do it later. And we all know that “I’ll do it later” actually means “I’ll never do it.”

I got tired of telling myself that I wish I could sell products I’ve created. That someday I want to open my own business. That I will follow my dream of working for myself. I knew that if I didn’t take baby steps now, then I would never make progress toward the bigger goal. So for a few days I brainstormed ideas for a brand name. I polled some friends to see which one they liked best, and then I created a logo. That first step of deciding I was going to do it was the biggest obstacle of all.

After that, the rest was easy.

I already knew how to build a website and buy my domain. And I went to my best friend for advice (aka Google) to find out how to legally start a business. I knew I wanted to form an LLC, but I didn’t know how to do it. Luckily, the Secretary of State’s website is pretty straightforward walking you through the process! On August 20th, I became an official business in the State of Indiana.

What happened next?

Here’s the thing about goal planning: you have to set deadlines. Seriously. If you don’t give yourself a deadline, you will continually push things off and find reasons for why you haven’t done it yet. So I set a deadline; October 13 was my launch date. I had a little less than two months to get my site in order and make a couple of product samples.

Sounds simple, right? Hah! For a professional procrastinator such as myself, it was anything but. I did the basics to get ready for launch right away, sure. But then work got hectic with a new hire. And then my college midterms came around. Before I knew it, it was October and nothing was done.

The week leading up to launch was chaotic.

Eventually I got three products done and managed to pull together a few of the important pages of the website. But a lot was still missing and there just wasn’t time to do all the writing that needed done before launch. So I did what any good businesswoman does, and I launched anyway.

Yep, you heard me. I launched the site even though it wasn’t perfect. Even though it wasn’t entirely complete. Even though I knew there wasn’t much to see yet. I launched anyway because sticking to my deadline was important. If I pushed my launch date, I would be disappointing myself. By pushing the first deadline I ever made, it would set a precedent that I could miss deadlines in the future too. And that is not the kind of businesswoman I want to be.

What now?

Right now I am working on designs for holiday cards. I’m hoping to have them up by next weekend, but we will see what cards I get dealt in life this week (don’t shoot me for the pun, I couldn’t help it!). There will be some sales for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, definitely. Keep an eye out for discount codes on Instagram and Facebook.

And then what?

In six months, I will be officially done with undergrad – finally. You can expect to see so much more from Belles & Bucks next spring once my time frees up. I’m looking forward to the next year and where life is headed. Thank you all for following me on this journey.