Although making baby quilts and creating an e-biz seem like vastly different projects, they have more things in common than one might expect. I can’t promise you that knowing the similarities will make you a world renowned quilter or a millionaire e-preneur. But it will give you five good reasons to appreciate the work of the other.
Here they are:
1. Piecing bits and pieces together.
When a quilter works, he or she must pick out the materials, cut them to shape, and piece them together in order to build the quilt. When an entrepreneur has a vision of a business, he or she must also choose the materials that he or she will need for the business, cut away any extraneous materials or ideas, and then, with careful planning, put each piece of the business together in a coherent fashion.
The final product can be a work of art when the proper amount of time and nurturing goes into the project, whether it is for quilting or to become an online entrepreneur.
2. Patience and Precision
Designing a baby quilt or building an online business both requires patience and precision. These two endeavors start at nothing but an idea within the builder’s mind about what the finished product should be.
Both of these endeavors involve starting from scratch with just a vision of something great and the materials and tools to help make it happen. One must possess patience and endurance, as both of these projects will not come to fruition overnight. Careful planning can mean the difference between a quilting masterpiece and an online business dilemma.
3. Knowledge
You’ll need to know how to make a baby quilt just like you’ll need the know-how to make an e-biz website. Quilting and e-biz both benefit from a good preliminary research on techniques, materials, tools and terms but learning on the go is part of the process too.
There is an abundance of “How-to” manuals for creating baby quilts just as there are multiples upon multiples of manuals on how to make an e-biz site. There are also many real and self-proclaimed gurus and choosing who to follow could be quite frustrating.
4. Pride
An e-biz site as a baby quilt will tolerate occasional ‘oops’ and mistakes. However, there is a limit to that and sloppy work is always costly. Poor quality of an e-biz site destroys credibility, drives away potential customers, and kills profits.
A baby quilt that’s falling apart, with poor construction or with an awful color combination does not tell a very favorable story of its creator and shows lack of care and love.
5. Staying the Course
Making baby quilts and running an e-biz are not ‘get rich easy’ formulas as some might want you to believe. The ‘burnout’ factor is quite high and even though there is no statistical data the numerous ‘ghost’ e-biz sites and unfinished baby quilts can testify for that.
In 2006, the Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine estimated that 27 million Americans, 17 percent of the US households, enjoy quilting as a hobby. With the vast amount of retiring baby boomers this number is growing steadily.
In 2007, the Netcraft Web Server Survey found 108,810,358 distinct websites but how many of them are e-biz sites is unknown. As more and more people are actively seeking to develop new sources of income the e-biz startups are experiencing a significant rise in popularity.
Understanding the similarities between creating a handmade baby quilt and building an Internet business can help you not only in these particular endeavors, but also in anything that you decide to undertake.
Valentina Kaltchev is the founder of TheQuiltFairy.com, an Internet based retailer of handmade baby quilts, baby crib bedding for boys and girls, nursery rugs and customs accessories in contemporary and traditional designs.
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