I’m doing a study on friendship and I’m almost at the end of it. Now, even though I don’t personally think I have a hard time making and keeping friends, I am actually learning a LOT about being a friend. I’m embarrassed to admit that I have had the Dale Carnegie book “How To Make Friends & Influence People” on my “must read” list for about 2 or 3 years now and even though that list keeps growing, I often pass over this particular book when I go to the list to pick a new book to read. 🙁
Maybe this summer I’ll read it…
The study I am doing quoted Dale Carnegie’s book and at the end of it, basically summarized what the “steps to friendship” are (in the author’s opinion). They all make good sense to me and I have no qualms with them. By the way, the author is Selwyn Hughes.
So what does this have to do with anything Etsy-related? Well, I recently started a new Etsy shop – Screen Quotes – where I sell typography prints that I create.
I initially got the idea while shooting the breeze with some friends and laughing about some of the statements we had heard some reality TV stars make.
I have been writing calligraphy for years and recently ventured into the realm of digital art prints so it immediately occurred to me that I could try and sell these prints on Etsy. The calligraphy I do is primarily for weddings and very personalized so the reality TV quotes seemed like a perfect fit.
Now just about anyone can tell you that there isn’t always very much substance in reality TV but I confess, I indulge in some of the shows anyway… The Amazing Race is my favorite but I have also been known to indulge in some Real Housewives drama just to “unwind my mind” 🙂
Over the last couple of weeks though I began to feel the urge to create a line of prints that were more meaningful than the humorous and sometimes outrageous reality TV quotes. So I started to create prints based on inspirational quotes and Bible verses.
After doing this study on friendship, I was inspired to add a new line of quotes about friendship too. I am pretty excited about this and I bought some really old books with quotes from a local library book sale and as I pore over them I feel inspired to crea
te something so positive.
I plan to use these (and other references) as sources for the friendship quotes (giving proper attribution, of course).
Some are funny, most are deep, but all are inspirational.
I hope buyers on Etsy who are looking for positive messages and inspiration will be drawn to them. I’ll let you know how it goes. For me, it’s kind of therapeutic to be a part of putting that “goodness” out there.
So what have I learned about being a friend?
- Step 1: Be friendly – but not just for the purpose of gaining a friend
- Step 2: Allow time for friendships to develop – in friendship, I should not force any doors open
- Step 3: Be prepared to be hurt – there is no perfection in true friendships, and on this side of eternity, no relationship will be free from pain …Oh so true…
- Step 4: If I feel something isn’t right, I ought to love my friend enough to confront him or her about it – I should do an internal check by asking myself if I’m prepared to lose this friend in the interest of the truth… If I’m not, then I don’t have a true friendship. Period.
- Step 5: Allow my friend to have other friends as well – self-explanatory. In general, suffocating a friend is responsible for the death of many-a-friendship.
Question Time
Now it’s your turn to share… What is the inspiration behind one of your own product lines that you’re particularly excited about?
I’d really like to know so please leave a comment below and let’s talk. 🙂