So, I've been trying to go on my dad's recommendation of making cosmetic products, but it's not going very well. All the stuff that I could foresee would be problematic of course continues to be so (my parents, when trying to encourage me to do it, didn't seem to take my complaints and concerns that it was "hard to make" very seriously) and there are other issues, like that it's really difficult to measure the stuff in any kind of consistent way for packaging, and that I can only make a very small amount at a time. It seems to be exactly as I thought -- completely impractical to make, with results that are too low quality in relation to how much one would need to charge to make the stuff profitable.
All in all I'm actually a bit happier lately than I've been in a while, being semi-retired from magic spells. (I still take them if people come around asking for them, but aside from business-related blog posts and occasional Facebook posts, I make no effort whatsoever to acquire clients.) I'd really like to just have a job, that pays a steady wage that's reasonable in relation to what I'm being asked to do. Unfortunately I can't get those kind of jobs in the US -- you're expected to be friendly at levels I cannot perform. And I just do not fare well when trying to sell products I make or perform services -- the perpetual disappointment of not having gotten a sale is too much for me and makes for a very sad Talia, and even when I get a sale is never compensates for how unhappy all the past failures made me.
I'm, of course, concerned about my future, but that's been the case for the last 14 years pretty much. I'm at the point where I just feel that worrying about it is only going to remove happiness from me that I can otherwise be enjoying. So, presently I'm spending money fairly freely, for me, despite not making very much, doing a bunch of sewing and artwork just for my own purposes, and watching a crap-ton of MeTV. (I'm slightly obsessed with Perry Mason.)
Also, this video:
