Photo Credit: Katy Murray Photography

Hey! My name's Jessica McGinley! I am the owner and illustrator at JesMarried, and I am working my butt off to grow this business :) I thought it would be cool to get this thing started off with 5 things I'm afraid to tell you guys. Not making this easy on my self...

1. My biz was a secret!

I had JesMarried for a little over a year before I told anyone at my full time job about my business. Actually, I didn't even tell anyone other than my husband, moms/dads & two of my close friends. Finally, a coworker found me on insta (thanks friend recommendations) and she brought it up to me in conversation the next day at work. It's not that I was embarrassed (because she actually loved it) but I had this delusional thought in my head that people would think it was silly that I, Jessica, could think I could start a business OR that maybe my work wasn't as good as other people I work with's work. I know. This is so insane. So ridiculous. I've gotten so much better at this thing called confidence, and now I feel like I can't stop talking about JesMarried!

2. Happy dance

I do a "Cha Ching" dance everytime I get an order from my etsy shop. All my fellow etsy-ians will know what this is. If you have the sound on your phone, every sale you make on etsy will make this legit cha ching sound and it's glorious. I don't know if this qualifies as something I'm afraid to tell you but it's something I don't do in public so kinda counts hahaha. My husband, Chris, joins in too! Now that I'm on my own website off of etsy, somebody can try out what my new sound will be...ehhh??

3. My business is going to die!

I FREAK out when I don't make a sale in a day. I beat my self up if a day or WEEK goes by with no sales. Again, silly, but no sales in my mind makes me feel like it's all goin down. So silly. I'm smh at myself! I'm learning to embrace down time to build the brand.

4. I don't have a personal life anymore

Okay, that's kinda extreme but kinda true. I make time for my husband and my puppies but for the most part, I'm working on the evenings after work and 8am-6pm every Saturday and Sunday. (This is why you guys get all your orders and responses at night) I LOVE IT THOUGH!!!

5. I'm shy

Kinda... unless I know you really well or have a cocktail in hand, I'm shy. I'm starting to involve myself with the Columbus small business community more, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't sooo nervous to meet others makers. I'm forcing myself to show up for myself and you guys, and I guess I'll blog about what comes from that here! So... let's get coffee.. or better yet, cocktails!

So there you have it! 5 things I'm afraid to say in my first blog post!