Okay...I know I promised Part 3 but I felt a real need to share this experience with you all so hopefully you will be forewarned and forearmed so it won't happen to you.
Over the few months I have been learning about images, picture quality, how to treat a photo and the pain that is photoshop. I had built up a folder of shop and post images all painstakingly treated and cropped by my unprofessional eye as I learnt the demon that is photoshop, as I have said I thought I was IT savvy but really I am not. Hours and hours of work and frustration...blood sweat and lots of tears.
So all my precious files and images were carefully filed so I knew where they all were at a few clicks of my mouse...and then it happened the worst of the worst happened!!!!
I had taken some new photos of our new Willow Work collection in my high tech photo box that hubby made, its a cardboard box with the front cut out and push led lights stuck to the top!!! It works a flipping treat and saved me £40...believe me when setting up your own business every single penny does really count.
So a new folder on my external hard drive was created and my photos numbered and saved. I opened photoshop and started the pain of masking and treating each photo ready to upload onto Momma Parker. This in itself is time consuming for me as I only have the basic skills taught to me by my wonderful friend who is a graphic designer. I can hear him in my ear everytime I do something wrong or get lost and frustrated, for him it is easy for me it is a nightmare but I am getting there slowly.
The first photo took three attempts...I don't know what I pressed but my sausage fingers pressed some silly short cut key and now photoshop was trying to do something that I didn't want it to do...and CTRL Z my trusty friend did not want to work. This happened twice..if I knew what key I was inadvertently pressing I would have removed it with some form of kitchen implement...no other option but to start again from scratch...three times.....
The second photo went quite well although the masking wasn't the easiest as there were so many little nooks and crannies around the product that I was down to brush size 2!!!! But I got there....
I decided to take a much needed rest, have a cig and five minutes candy crush whilst I thought of a description for each new product....
Feeling refreshed I clicked onto my external hard drive in the menu ...but it wasn't there....the link had disappeared...it was plugged in and whirring away but it wasn't in the menu list. I unplugged it and plugged it back in to try again...nothing not a thing...just a whirring piece of tech with all my two months of hard worked carefully filled and stored on it!!!! OH GREAT!!! I felt like my arm had been chopped off I had lost everything absolutely everything.
I burst into tears I will admit...all that hard work, all that learning all that I had achieved gone...puff no more. I felt sick...all rational thinking went out the window and I was a defeated wreck. Cigs lots of cigs...
Hang on I am a Reiki Master I will push all my power of positive thinking and healing into this small piece of IT kit and it will spring into life...yeah like that is going to work this time...I knew it in my heart it wouldn't work because I knew the Universe was teaching me a lesson. Although I didn't agree with the f**king universe at this point in time I did know in my heart of hearts that this was all destined and meant to happen...because it is about the effort, the trials the heartbreak the energy. It is all about building the foundations and they have to be strong not matter what no matter what area of your life. If they are not strong, if you haven't learnt your lesson they will crumble away. Nothing is given to us on a plate.
So what did I do. I took it all on board I pulled my socks up, retrieved what I could and carried on. I created a new collection Willow Works and two new products. I replaced as many photos as I could and thought ok Universe you are not keeping me down...I believe in this throw everything you want at me...no one looking at the shop, no money to buy stock, tired and skint I will keep on going because I am strong and each day I evolve and learn something new..and you know what if it doesn't work no one can say I didn't try.
So the lesson from part 2.5 is please please please never give up. Dust yourselves down take it on the chin and keep going....how would you feel if your success was just round the corner and you had given up!
Loads of Love Momma P always here for you all xxx dream big
