It's been a few days since the last entry. I came down with something and had to actually stop — not easy, with the list as long as it is, but rest wasn't optional. I'm feeling better now, and easing back in rather than diving.
The tiny win first: the store has a referral program now. Refer a friend who makes a purchase and you get $10 in store credit — and so do they. It's still a work in progress (what isn't?), but it's a real step toward growing this by word of mouth.
The harder file is the layouts. The dream is still to design every page from a blank canvas — fully custom, exactly as I picture it. The practical move right now is a page builder app inside Shopify. It isn't the ideal. Sometimes the best choice is the one that moves things forward without breaking them. The from-scratch dream stays where I left it on Day 4: on the list, not at the top of it.
And the financial reality, plainly: success doesn't happen overnight. Obvious from a distance — harder to accept when you're pouring everything into something you love and wanting instant results anyway. I'm learning to trust the slow, steady climb, and that climb may run through a full-time job or a contract gig to keep the wheels turning while the store grows.
So the plan is unglamorous: recover fully, ship the practical version, keep climbing. The perfect version can wait on the list a while longer.
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