Digging, Dunging, Promoting...

Well, by now you guys have probably seen some of my Facebook posts from the past couple weeks alluding to news going on in our lives (or as even my last blog hinted). So, before I give the news, I need to give a little history...

8 years ago, Dustin worked at Dell & I worked at a printing company. Our incomes were pretty good (for our age), but we were young, not married yet and that helped. Then, February of 2004 Dustin lost his job at Dell. After that came a long string of small jobs that didn't pan out mingled with bouts of unemployment [and lots of video game playing, as he'll tell you :)] And so begin the journey of living month to month...

5 years ago, my steady income went away when the company I worked for was going under and my hours got cut in half. I decided to start my own freelance company. I wanted so desperately to be creative and work on fun projects and working in printing did not allow me that opportunity. Thus, out of what was deemed necessity... Kismet Creative was born. Dustin was a manager at the local movie theater. Don't let manager mislead you... it was low pay... I know store clerks who get paid more. But we made it. (I also taught college for a few years part-time to help supplement pay)

3.5 years ago, I founded a new company Relish, Inc. - a wedding stationery company with a very cool, unique software twist! (check it out if you haven't before) When it launched, Kismet was growing and Dustin quit the job he hated to work with me to try to build the businesses...

3 years ago (August, 2008) we got the Kismet client that promised to change everything. Then a month later, after hours of work (and turning down other business) - we discovered the company was a scam. They literally were a scam internet company that launched, sold a lot of customers products they never shipped and shut up shop and fled! We were left with a huge hole in our income. HUGE. We borrowed money and the spiral began that got us into debt. Dustin began to look for work.

2 years ago Dustin got his first real job in IT. YAY!!! A real job!! And steady income!! WOO-HOO! Again, it was small pay, but hey - it was in the field he wanted! And he didn't even go to school! :)

1.5 years ago, Dustin left that to get a job with more opportunities. But shortly thereafter, that company had issues and he got a call... We thought he was getting a call to be hired on at a better level (he was just contract) but instead it was to cut his hours in half!! Then... Kismet started going through a rough patch. More debt accrued... :(

1 year ago... Last Summer things began to turn around... :)
Dustin got a job at an amazing company with REAL PAY!!! Best pay he'd had since working at Dell!!! THEN - I got my first regular client for Kismet - a monthly gig with a large company in California. AND Relish got it's first celebrity client and exploded! Because of those two things, both of my companies had best years to date!!!

This year... Dustin has been working his tale off.
Kismet... has been fledgling. Hard for me to say it, but it's true. I had clients go nutso on me. I was sued (I won, but still...) I had lots of clients push off projects because their businesses were hurting. The economy had not hurt me until this year. But some of my clients went out of business, etc. It's been hard to see that. But mostly... the pain of thinking you are about to have a big job and then they cancel on you... that hurts. And having to stay after people to pay you. Yeah, not really in my DNA. I tried hiring someone to help me as an account manager so I wouldn't have to deal with all the managing of the clients, but that didn't work out. Then, my regular monthly client... they put their account "on hold" a few weeks ago. ugh...
Relish: Going great! Still growing. With such a huge concept, we have been a growth stage since Day 1. But, I will say as an example of where we are going... We have been visited by 117 countries in just he past 4 weeks. We send sample orders (and real orders) to places all across the country each week. However, it's not enough to pay me a salary... yet.
So all in all, we are paying our bills and digging our way out of debt. But it's like we have a garden shovel, trying to dig ourselves out of a massive sink hole.

So... all of this to lead up to this past month.

In June, Dustin was approached by a manager in another department at his company. (his name is Jim) Jim asked Dustin if he'd be interested in a position in their department. After a few weeks and 7 interviews (wow!) Dustin got a HUGE promotion. He went from a Level 1 phone tech to a Level 3 Systems Analyst. This is something you don't get without working in the field for many years or without a degree. But Dustin has impressed so many people there - THEY approached him and he got it!!!! :) And it's a raise! Not as much as we'd originally been told, but it's a raise! :) But more importantly, it is an AMAZING resume builder!!! (did I mention he didn't even go to school to do this?!)

Simultaneously, I received an email from CareerBuilder with a job match. I've been on their list for years and years. Same as with our realtor. I get the emails, I surf the list and that's it - for years now. But this one position caught my eye. It sounded... well, perfect and to me I thought... that means I should not get my hopes up. But hey, what can it hurt to apply? 4 weeks later, after hearing nothing, I'd forgotten about it and moved on. Seriously. Dustin asked if I had looked into jobs and applied for anything else. I was like "I don't WANT a diff job. I just applied to that ONE because it sounded perfect." So... last week they called. And yesterday, I had an interview...

Out of hundreds of applicants, it was narrowed to four. And 24 hours after my interview... they called and hired me. Ready for all the kickers? The things that seem like 'seriously... if you don't believe in my God - you gotta read on...'

• It allows me to do a variety of graphic design projects for marketing pushes. This was the first thing that attracted me to it... the description of what I'd be doing was all the things I LOVE about what I do with Kismet.
• It does not compete with any of my Kismet clients in any way so I can keep doing work for my current Kismet clients without conflict! Second thing I was looking for!
• THE REST ARE PERKS I DID NOT KNOW ABOUT UNTIL THE PAST FEW DAYS:
• The company is located in the same building as my husband's company! Being a one-car family (yes, most people don't know this. Though I do have a car on loan, it's not mine so...) This is an amazing perk! Plus it's all the way in Franklin, so yeah... I thought it'd be cool to both work in Franklin with Dustin, not knowing it was the same exact building!!! He's as excited as me that we are going to be carpool buddies!!! I mean - What are the chances?!!!
• This is a new position in a revamped / new Marketing department. They were previously doing all their advertising out-of-house, but they are redoing their whole image and so they started fresh. My new boss has only been there since April. Everyone is new. I am the first (and only - for now) designer. As it grows, it will be my department and everyone new will be under me. So it was important to him for the person they hired to be a leader.
• I have a $20,000 budget to tell them what all equipment and software I will need. (I know - WHAT?!)
• I get to set my own hours. (reasonably speaking - I can hear you smarty-pants right now)
• I get to work from home sometimes. And as I get more acquainted, I can do it more often. 
• I will be on my own most of the time - no micro-managing. I'll have a partner with the copywriter. And that's about it for now! LOTS of projects to do and just me to churn out the designs. :)
• Oh, what else?! Oh yeah... best pay I've ever had in my life. BY FAR. :)
  The Reschs will have literally QUAD-DRUPLED their income from just a little over a year ago!!! (doesn't even count Relish's profits - because we are re-investing that back into the growing company!)

So... questions and notes...

1. What does this mean for Kismet? 
   I will still be handling current clients because I can manage regular clients stuff. I will not be taking on any new clients (because that entails branding and too much work). I will not be doing any more websites - which I am THRILLED about! :) But I feel SO blessed that I get to keep Kismet and the few clients whom I adore! With the removal of meetings with new/potential clients, eliminating meetings with "clients" who never want to pay me real money (#timewasters), eliminating those clients all together... I should be able to manage the business at it's most basic form very easily. :)
2. What does this mean for Relish?
   Well, I am going to do my best to manage it for now. But as we are ramping into a new season... I understand the reality that we will be needing to hire part-time help. As soon as I get my duckies in a row, I will be hiring someone trustworthy to help me with our baby! :)
   I will still be working on the catalog and the exciting things that are in the works for 2012!!! (just wait!!! It's going to be fantastic!!!)
   AND with this money, we can also invest into the company like we want to. We still feel that Relish is our future, our retirement project if you will. We have investors, a board of directors, a growing list of dealers across the country and several brides from across the world who reinforce the belief in this dream!!! So - taking this position will only help it!!!
3. NOTE: I love Kismet. I love my baby. It was never meant to be forever. I had no idea what it would become. I adore the majority of my clients and I thank them all from the bottom of my heart. My new boss (wow - I now have a boss that's not me!!!) said that it was my wide-range of experience, great portfolio and expertise that got me the job. Do you know what made all of that possible?! KISMET AND RELISH!!! Since I was paying myself - I allowed myself the time it took to learn new things. I taught myself HTML, Blog coding, SEO, etc...  I learned new design tricks! I really refined my gifting. And I could never have done that without owning my own business!
4. Should other entrepreneurs give up and get a corporate gig? 
   I have been blessed to encourage so many of my friends to start their own business!!! So, I want to say clearly... NO!!! Every business is different. My business (Kismet) depends on other small businesses. And while I can claim good things for my company, I could not always get my clients to keep the faith. Thus, the rocking economy has hurt them and in turn - me. Also, in my line of work - I had to constantly try collecting on jobs. SO NOT FUN! :( I have friends that do big bulks of work and that is great for them - easy payment process and steady work. Not so for me. 
5. What really lead to this?
   A year ago, I realize how much I was making hourly with Kismet: Less than minimum wage and it was deflating. :( I talked to our awesome pastors at church about going into a season of "digging & dunging"  - a parable in the bible about not cutting down the tree yet - to dig & dung it and then if you come back and it still isn't producing fruit - then you do something about it. Then, I started praying seriously about what to do next back in December / January. I felt like I was supposed to be doing something different. My back had went out (again) and I was going through physical therapy. Yes, it was from my position but also from STRESS. Then, I had to have surgery for endometriosis. The money it costs... ugh - more debt. Then my birth mother died a month later. And I have a younger brother (I can explain that in a whole other novel - literally) who now has basically no immediate family left but me. I want to be able to be there for him in the future should he need me like I needed people in my life. Dustin & I both want to have more so we can GIVE MORE!!! We want to be a blessing!!! :)
   All this left me to ... WANT MORE. I want to be valued for what I do. I want to live an easier, less stress life (I could write a book on the stress I've been through with Kismet... the lawsuits, etc). I wanted MORE and I feel like God wanted to PROMOTE ME. But how? Now, I know. THIS IS MY PROMOTION! :) 

How amazing it is that my awesome hubby and I are both getting promotions at the exact same time!!! I am so thrilled!!! This will help us get out of debt and into our house so much quicker!!! (our belief date is September, 2012 - believe with us!!!)

All credit to my Lord and Savior for everything He has always done for us. We have NEVER went without. We have had a good home, food and clothes. We have BARELY scraped by many, many months but He has always pulled us through!!! Thank you to those of you who have sown into our lives!!! You are part of this testimony with us! This is just the beginning. There are great things coming!!! Not just for us, but for you too!!! 

The real turnaround began when we began praying financial scriptures EVERY SINGLE DAY. We meditated on them like they were lifelines. We prayed them and soaked them in. We also filled our ears with teaching on finances and breakthroughs, from the likes of our Pastor Jim (Joy Church), Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar, the Copelands and the BRILLIANT Dave Ramsey! Instead of seeing where we were, we saw where we wanted to be. I told God through this whole process... God, I'm not sure why I'm applying to a job. I thought this was my destiny. Finally, last week he revealed to me "everything is not as it seems". The final destination is still the same, but the journey is not always for us to decide! In the end, I now see I was on the right path the whole time. And if something should change again - I know it's because HE is leading me somewhere better. 

If you are struggling with debt, finances or any other challenge... I encourage you to claim the good news the Bible says! There are REAL promises in there that God gives to His children. Seriously - it's not just a book of rules. :) And you can stand on those promises!!! Just like our Pastor says - it probably won't happen overnight, but keep it up and just you wait.. :) I started this new routine over 2 years ago and slowly things began to turn!!! OH - and I tithe. ;) I know that's a sensitive subject - it was for me. Then, I finally trusted God with $10, then with $20 and then with 10%!!! You may think I'm crazy that God talks to me. But here's the deal... if you talk to Him long enough, you will start to hear back! ;) It's not in audible terms. It's creative ideas and unctions He puts in your heart. It's the best relationship you could ever have. I am not going to use this post to talk about how "down" my life could have been this year. But you can probably get it by knowing that within 2 months... I went through therapy for a slipped disc, I was told I may not ever have kids, I had to have invasive surgery, I was sued (went to court), my birth mother died suddenly in a car wreck & my business turned down. Yeah... fun stuff in the natural. But I kept ever closer to God so I could hear HIM, so I could know HIS promises!!! I will post a blog on praying over finances very soon! :)

Okay, enough already with this book. Love you guys. Pray for me on this new adventure! I feel like I'm going back to school! :) haha 

PS: I am also writing my first novel! A few chapters in now! :) But... that's big news for another day.