Today I decided to change directions for our blog. Instead of just posting our new items I thought I would write our adventures of starting a family business. You can learn more about our business at:
http://www.gcgems.net/about-us/, but this is probably more than you would ever want to know! :)
I'm actually a high school teacher by trade. I have been teaching for almost 30 years. Presently I teach math to students with disabilities, but have also taught deaf and deaf/blind children. I LOVE what I do. My family (hubby and 4 children) are my first love though. Teaching part-time has been a great opportunity to have the same schedule as they do and also to be at school with them to be a part of their lives. It's been perfect.
Well, in 2008 this crazy thought came to my mind. I need to preface this by saying that one of my children is a gymnast and there was virutally no place to find the clothing and equipment that she needed. Back to the crazy thought. I really wanted my daughter to be able to feel like she was contributing to the cost of her gymnastics (all her siblings had to pay for half of their activities), so I thought about having her help me make gymnastics shorts and we would sell them.
I toyed with how to market them, sell them from our home, online.....I wasn't quite sure what to do. Shortly after that, I was talking with her coach about it and he offered a little space in his gym for me to sell our shorts. It wasn't long and we added grips, leos, and more. My daughter helped me for a little bit. Over the next couple of years the business took on many changes.
It has provided a place for my teens to work during a recession (yes, even my big football/soccer player son:), and is now providing a training ground for my daughter as she prepares to get her business degree so she can open her own salon.
Later we were asked if we had gymnastics jewelry. We looked online and only saw cheap stuff that was made in a factory. It all looked the same. My sister showed me some things she made for a friend and I asked her if she could make some gymnastics designs. We took the necklaces to meets and they were a HUGE hit.
Meanwhile, my father and mother were busy with their own ideas. They took beautiful nature photos and started a website (
http://wildflowerbill.com) to sell them as cards and prints. My mother also had a scrapbooking line that was darling. She was a wonderful artist. We recently lost her to inflammatory breast cancer.
Well, about a year ago my father approached me to see if he could pay someone to create a website for us. It launched in November of 2011. We have combined the talents of all of us to start our GC GEMS business (GC comes from GymCheetah-our gymnastics business). My Dad does our photography, my sister Crystal makes the jewelry, and well I'm......the crazy cheerleader behind it all. Actually, I love technology and love to work on advertising, blogging, tweeting, and website stuff. We are the perfect team.
Our dream is to provide specialty jewelry and cards for those special moments in our lives. Right now we have SO MANY ideas running through our heads that we can't create product fast enough. We all have regular jobs and family, but have loved having this creative outlet.
Our business is slowly growing. We've get excited with each order and try to give each one the person attention it deserves. Please comment on our blog. We LOVE to hear your comments and ideas.
