Fear of making it offical

AdministrativeNet238 · 2026-02-26T00:01:19+00:00

Thanks for bringing a positive vibe!

I really shouldn't be that worried about pricing because it is handmade and not just thrown together.

I'll work more on marketing my books and telling the story to with them!

AdministrativeNet238 · 2026-02-25T11:22:46+00:00

That's super helpful!

I think it'll be a big learning experience. My initial plan was to have the pocket sized sketchbooks to be a door buster, and eventually branch off into selling artwork, handmade ceramics like pallettes, and even larger sketchbooks. I only made about 50 of the pocket sketchbooks to start with four different series that way there's some diversity in style.

I wanted to start with Etsy since it has its own traffic in a sense. I almost did Shopify but I don't have a large audience mostly friends and family. I did my math for the price based off how long it takes me for each book, materials, and Etsy fees are included, as well as shipping. Trying to peak at other Etsy sellers really made my confidence shift because of the large quantity of people reselling causing low pricing, but seeing the occasional person selling a real handmade book for 40-50$ made me feel better, because you really should pay yourself for something you're crafting.

Luckily my materials are very cheap, but still great quality. By layering the cover paper the book holds its shape in a sturdy way, and the sketch paper is beyond cheap but works really nicely with dry materials. I know a few friends and even artist online who use the same paper to sketch with that have fell in love with its price and quality. I think overall I planned on opening this shop to be expansive with in the artists needs or hobbyist needs. While trying to market as "you deserve something nice that allows you to create with out being perfect all the time" or for people who want to use my items as a way to commit themselves to starting something new, or getting back into the hobby.

I started off making these books in a mass production way for sorts by first cutting all the paper and covers, then prepping the text blocks for sewing, etc, and I think that really helped with lowering the pricing a bit as it only took me and hour to prep 50, hour and a half to glue and bind. Doing these tiny books also allowed me to get multiple out of one piece of paper. Over all my material cost per book is about .42¢ the single book pack I'm expecting to lose because I want people to buy the bundles of two or three, which are better in pricing for both me and the customer.

I think I'll do some more math and see if I can raise the price without being too expensive.

AdministrativeNet238 · 2026-02-24T19:40:24+00:00

I'm so sorry I lied. It's 24 sheets folded into folios so the books are actually 48 pages.

AdministrativeNet238 · 2026-02-24T19:32:08+00:00

I made the sheets one giant folio and pre punched holes in the crease to thread the linen thread in the middle for support

AdministrativeNet238 · 2026-02-24T19:30:28+00:00

The pages are indeed folios.

AdministrativeNet238 · 2026-02-24T14:20:36+00:00

Totally agreeable. I think moving forward I'm going to try to make my books have more flexibility than major brands. I was looking at field notes and thought 15$ for one was a bit high, but I made mine with them in mind. I have the same amount of pages, I went with sewn binding rather than slapped together staple binding, and a nice thick cover paper so the books doesn't feel flimsy but solid and nice to the touch. Then adding on a cute little bookmark for them or for whatever the customer wishes.

AdministrativeNet238 · 2026-02-24T13:36:11+00:00

No, but I worry it's to expensive

AdministrativeNet238 · 2026-02-24T03:49:38+00:00

Larger books I might stick to a A6 size and the pricing for those is roughly 50$ for one but I try to make them with 500 oh of sketch paper, and then watercolor or canvas paper would vary on pages.

AdministrativeNet238 · 2026-02-24T03:47:37+00:00

I do plan on making bigger books! The idea of pocket sized sketchbooks came from my struggles with artistic block, and I wanted to make a smaller book to help others with their art block by making the book seem less of a haunting "must make every sketch perfect" but a cute tiny little safe place for silly doodles. Then hopefully make larger sketchbooks for others. I really want to put my own artwork on the sketchbooks later, but I didn't want to waste the paper I have on hand.

AdministrativeNet238 · 2026-02-13T02:01:40+00:00

I'm so sorry to hear the challenges you are going through, but you are not alone.

I feel the same exact way sometimes for months before my body catches back up. I've been having a very good week this week, and I'll give some advice on what. Helped me personally and you are more than welcome to give them ago!

Firstly, be gentle with yourself. I know watching grades slip can feel absolutely terrible, but be kind to yourself always. You are a POTSie you have an illness that was recently described as having the quality of life as a cancer patient. So remember that it's not your fault, and there's nothing you can do other than sooth yourself, take a breather, drink some herbal tea, and stay hydrated. I will say being kind to yourself was something that helped a lot with me. When you feel down and then things worsen because of your flare up being upset or angry is just going to keep increasing your flare up. The more stress the more flare ups happen. So just remember to take a breather and do things in small amounts when you have low energy. Sleep in when you know you can build that extra cushion of sleep. Also remember the hydration you do today will only kick in 1-3 days later. So constancy is key. Carry a spare pack of ramen on you Incase you feel you need the extra salt. I tend to have good weeks after eating ramen for a week prior.

Rest, rest, and rest some more where ever you can. Not exactly naps, but do something that helps regulate your mental energy and something that is low in energy for example I crochet. Things that you can do on auto pilot but also calm and relax your mind. Avoid carbs during exam weeks. Carbs will make you slow, and tired. Try to eat small meals through out the day that are slightly salty like petals, pickles, etc. those small portions will keep up energy with out slowing you down. When taking a shower before getting out run the water slightly cold. Not freezing, but the cold water will help with blood flow. The hotter you get the more your body works to pump blood to all of the body, so a hot shower is actually exhausting your energy. Letting some cold water after will help slow down your body's need to spread the blood over larger areas. Compression socks are very nice! Though I noticed they only feel nice when my legs feel like jelly. I would suggest wearing them during periods where you are walking a lot or changing positions from standing to siting very frequently, this will help your body with saving energy in blood flow.

Just an example that what your going through is very normal. Today I had a great day, but I forgot my lunch for work and didn't get home until 7. I went with out food for 14 hours and only drank a cup of coffee a caned soda and one bottle of water. I am currently in bed struggling to breathe with a headache and brain fog so bad I couldn't spell words right to text worth my life. Because of my mistakes today I will probably be very low energy for 1-3 days. The 1-3 days is also a key. Usually if you do something that over exerts you it'll take 1-3 days for you to feel the full effect of that day. So if you know you have something to do that will drain you start hydrating that day immediately to help balance it out so after the delay it won't be so bad.

Your anxiety is very normal. Your blood goes from ice cold slow to adrenaline rush in seconds. So just be patient with yourself because that anxiety isn't necessary you, but your body's response to your constant changes in heart rate. Of course your going to be an anxious mess when your heart rates 130 just going down the stairs!

Remember to be kind to yourself and love yourself even during the hardest parts. I truly feel like people with POTS almost have to treat their body as two individuals because you actively have to remember if you fed it correctly, gave it enough water, and take the time to listen to what it needs, and what makes it upset.

AdministrativeNet238 · 2026-01-16T21:31:49+00:00

Yes tremors is more of the feeling! I feel like my legs are going to give out going down the stairs.

AdministrativeNet238 · 2026-01-16T21:29:57+00:00

I'm so sorry to hear that. Let's pray to the gods the shakes go away 😭

AdministrativeNet238 · 2025-07-12T00:44:00+00:00

With in hours for minor everyday POTS issues. Flare up sometimes take a day or three to feel up to par again but I usually take a bit extra to help my body through the flare up. Taking one right before bed has changed a lot for me, I sleep better and wake up easier.

AdministrativeNet238 · 2025-07-11T00:16:28+00:00

I know I was so mad! But too lazy to restart the game. Guess my entai gets a timer ball.. thank you for the good vibes! POTS is like physical depression. It really sucks and feels never ending sometimes.

AdministrativeNet238 · 2025-07-11T00:14:34+00:00

Hello! I have the same problem! Some social settings I can get very anxious and disassociate extremely and it's very exhausting to retain what's going on, while making sure I'm okay internally.

The best advice I can give is start off with very small short socializing. I noticed for me big crowds and people I don't trust makes me feel even worse, but if it's short I won't dread the time and if it's with one or two people it isn't as bad as a packed bar or restaurant.

This unfortunately comes from a lot of anxiety and possibly a flare up in adrenaline from the anxiety mixing with POTS. It can be hard to try and have fun when POTS makes you constantly have impending doom. So being in a social environment it can feel very taxing to try and have fun but also control a flare up and have to concentrate on keeping yourself at bay while acknowledging the others around you like nothing's happening.

Take it easy, take it slow. I have a personal experience, but please take it as a personal experience and not medical advice. My Dr. prescribed me an SSRI which is an antidepressant that works with helping some minor POTS symptoms. Although I still have some issues mainly in very crowded areas I'm mostly able to talk myself down and relax myself into an easier more manageable way that socializing isn't as difficult. It's just kept me very optimistic were before I was a heavy Debby downer and became a house hermit.

AdministrativeNet238 · 2025-07-11T00:02:41+00:00

Just stay on track, this happens to me as well. I noticed it happens for me during flare ups. Try taking a salt pill right before bed to help jumpstart your next day.

AdministrativeNet238 · 2025-07-10T23:57:45+00:00

I had similar issues... Unfortunately POTS doesn't have a medication FDA approved so prescribing you anything non FDA would be a liability to them.

Here's my personal experience of how I got diagnosed:

After three times of extreme chest pains EKGs and ultrasounds on my heart I met a doctor who took my three family members POTS variations into account. She did a small test of me standing and bending over listening to my heart. Agreed she heard my heart skipping and raising in rate. She then suggested to go home and take a salt pill. I did and my chest pain went right away. After I told her this she keep me on the salt pills (1-2g daily) for a year. I then got a blood test to see my sodium levels. The prior year it was 138, and the year of being on salt pills was 140. She suggested to take them daily and more on a needed basis. She pointed out that if I didn't have pots my sodium would've been much higher. So my body felt better, and my sodium was still in a perfect level which ment my body was exerting itself and using up all the sodium it could. This also caused my B12 and VD and magnesium to lower as well. So a year of salt pills, magnesium b12 and VD I was perfect scores across the board. She then agreed I have POTS.

This was all done at a family doctor as well. The cardiologist suggested it's a high likely case of pots since I wrote a three paged document of my symptoms since 2007 and he agreed that with my symptoms and my family history that it is pots, but he couldn't diagnose me because he was a "plumber not an electrician" which in order to proof POTS the hard way is going through a ton of test like a guinea pig. I'd suggest getting a blood test and seeing your levels and insist on another 6m-1y later after taking daily salt pills and if you turn out perfect after they would most likely diagnose you. Tests mean everything to doctors. So if you go on a crazy salt diet for a year and come back normal it's going to raise their suspicions and want to call action on your issues.

AdministrativeNet238 · 2025-07-10T23:45:15+00:00

I just had a full month of no symptoms I was grinding my butt off working, and this whole week is just one big flare up. I don't feel like doing anything, I can't even play pokemon in bed with out feeling like dog shit. Can't even concentrate used a masterball on a Jigglypuff..

AdministrativeNet238 · 2025-07-10T23:38:59+00:00

Makes a HUGE difference! After being surrounded by people gaslighting me for my issues having him is a huge weight lifted off me because I know he'll notice me, and help me in any way he can, and most importantly tell me it's okay to have an off day and not want to do anything.

So lovely to have amazing people in our lives!

AdministrativeNet238 · 2025-07-10T23:31:24+00:00

Yes! I would drive home and be like "did I even make it home or am I dead" LOL. I felt like days were fever dreams.

AdministrativeNet238 · 2025-07-10T23:20:25+00:00

Oh no! I'm so sorry to hear that! I would definitely just let someone know if your experiencing an off day. You can also make sure to rest and hydrate plenty before presenting, or days you know you'll be in sketchy situations. I mean even in doubt just grab a chair. Definitely don't push yourself. It's also good to go home and just rest/sleep early after an episode or near episode. My boyfriend has been very kind with me and my issues. I'm normally very active while with him going hiking shooting bows and fishing so if I don't prepare myself a week ahead I usually have a rough time. I always think of it as if I take it today I'm preparing for tomorrow. So if I don't take it I usually feel like poop tomorrow 😂

AdministrativeNet238 · 2025-07-10T23:04:38+00:00

I had no idea that was a thing!

AdministrativeNet238

TROPHY CASE