by Sara Tams of sarah + abraham
When I announced in May that I could no longer continue running OMHG, it probably came as a big surprise to many of you. It was a pretty sudden decision on my part, too. As I mentioned when I first launched this blog in February, OMHG came about when I won a free blog package from Susie at Zee Studio. I absolutely loved the design that Susie came up with and wanted to do it justice by filling the blog with amazing content.
I quickly became consumed with OMHG – always thinking about features to add and always on the lookout for ideas for content. I was so proud of every post. OMHG was beautiful and brimming with useful information.
And then one day I started to feel overwhelmed with work and out of balance. I wasn’t exercising much and wasn’t eating a healthy diet. I didn’t have as much time for my family as I would have liked. I also hadn’t been giving much energy or creativity to my business, sarah + abraham. I was simply filling orders and not doing any marketing or adding any new products.
So I decided right then that I had to put a stop to it. As much as I loved OMHG, as much as I was proud of it, as much as I would have loved to continue with it, I had to let it go. And once I made the decision, that was it, I was done. I sent an email to the contributors to let them know and then shortly after that I made the announcement.
I spent a lot of time talking with people who were interested in purchasing OMHG, and I received four great offers. I made my decision about who to sell OMHG to based on who I thought was most likely to continue OMHG in the spirit in which it was created and do great things with it.
Once we had an agreement in place, I began to really enjoy spending my newly found free time with my family. And then slowly I got back into the swing of things with sarah + abraham. I started blogging again at my sarah + abraham blog. I set up some trades with professional photographers and added their amazing new product photos to my website. I began offering some new invitation designs. And most recently I started offering personalized plates and bowls, which have been very well received.
I’m looking forward to adding more new products over the next few months, I hope to continue doing photography trades and improving my own photography skills, and I’ve decided to make my sarah + abraham blog less business-focused and more “customer friendly.” I’ve also decided to offer more value to my customers through unique products and content and to not rely so heavily on discounts and promotions to boost sales.
Right now my schedule feels just right. I try to get most of my work done in the mornings while my kids are at summer camps or entertaining themselves. As soon as I feel caught up enough with work, I spend the rest of the afternoon and the evening with my family. I’m getting much better about not working on the weekends and not thinking about work when I’m not working.
I’m really looking forward to being a monthly contributor here at OMHG, and I’m especially excited about being able to enjoy reading OMHG without all of the responsibilities that go along with being the editor!
