3 Dogs Create

The unfortunate truth of owning and running a business.

Running a business is really hard.

What they don’t tell you is that it can cause severe stress and anxiety, and drains you mentally to the point of depression in even the most laid-back people.

People will talk about you, compare you to others, use you, they will view you as a service and not a person anymore.

Friends and family will expect discounts and people will value you and your hard work less than a big chain store.

You have to worry about if you forget to email/message someone back, are they going to think it was on purpose? Did you disappoint them? Will they hold that against you? When in reality you just can’t get to everyone’s messages and emails.

Starting up and running a successful business puts incredible strain on personal lives and relationships, many of which fail because there is just often no work-life balance.

You need to be the director, the worker, the admin, the marketing team, the accountant, the cleaner..... All the while being a parent, a husband or a wife, family support, friend...

There’s a reason you don’t see many people succeed in small businesses after 5-10 years. If they are successful they are overwhelmed.
It takes a toll. It’s freaking exhausting. Especially the past couple of years when so much has been out of our control.

Here’s a small reminder that we are just normal people with hectic lives.

Be kind, be patient, support small businesses…….and hopefully more of us will stick around!

And know that 2022 prices are not 2023 prices.

I copied this from another small business owner that I support!

Please support small business! 🖤🖤🖤

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How 3DogsCreate came to be

This is going to be a little long-winded and I'm not really sure why I have decided to write my story but I have.

I’m Amanda, a divorced dog mom of 3 and those are my boys, from the left Gus, Jax and Boomer. They are the reason I get out of bed every morning, literally. They usually have to go out 5 to 10 minutes before my alarm goes off every single day! I would be lost without these three as****es. I could go on and on about them all day long but I’ll spare you... for now. They are where the name 3DogsCreate came from though.

I’ve always enjoyed doing arts and crafts types of things even though I never really considered myself good at it. I can paint inside the lines (sometimes) and I can see things and recreate them. I never really considered either of those things a talent. I’m only now starting to think of what I do a skill but still not really.

I bought my Cricut while I was on strike in the fall of 2019. Not exactly the best time to make such a large purchase but a) I never said I made good decisions and b) I justified it by saying I could make some extra money selling car decals, that didn’t happen. Once I got my Cricut home I was so overwhelmed and intimidated by it that it took me about 4 months to do my first project.

After that I made a couple decals here and there but nothing really exciting until Covid came in and shut everything down. At that point I started designing masks for myself and my family and friends. I was also decorating my newish house.

I spent the next couple weeks/ months making t-shirts and car decals. At my actual job I would bring my computer and work on recreating designs every break I got. My best friend would tell me all the time that I should start selling my stuff but I was just doing it for fun. Finally he convinced me to start 3DogsCreate. About a week after I set up this page I lost my mind...

At this point I had already been seeing a counselor for a couple of years to help deal with my anxiety and depression. We would work on positive coping skills and I was doing so well even with being in quarantine. Then one day even though I was doing everything right, I was working out, eating right, getting plenty of sleep, all of the things that I was supposed to be doing I still had a breakdown. This breakdown helped me realize that I needed a little more help than just positive coping skills or I needed better ones. I have since then received both. I am currently on medication to help with the depression and anxiety. I have also found the greatest coping skill I could ask for, 3DogsCreate.

After that little “episode” I threw all of me into this business, it was my escape. I quickly learned I could do so much more than just t-shirts or stickers. If I didn’t know how to do something I looked up how to do it, most of the time I just winged it though. Sometimes it worked, other times not so much. I never looked at my mistakes as failures but as learning experiences, how can I make it work next time, what could I have done differently to make it work.

While venturing into tumblers I was introduced to a wonderful woman that guided me through the process of making a tumbler from start to finish. I can only hope to make one half as good as hers some day.

Every time anyone asks if I can do something my answer is almost always, “I don’t see why not” I get excited when you guys come to me with your ideas and trust me to make them for you.

Thank you all for supporting and following this crafting journey.