I Quit My Job

The last time I wrote a blog post was in 2018. I was 26 years old and a high school art teacher.

I was still teaching in Bixby, juggling a full time job and running Black Moth on the side. My classroom had a pile of skulls next to the sink, if you got done with your art project early you could help clean dead things. When I came back from exploring on my weekend trips I was known to give snakes or other reptiles away after class. Somehow I was never fired but decided to resign after only a few short years in the classroom. I felt there had to be something more for me. 

I was traveling with the Oddities and Curiosities show and met a really cool couple in Kansas City named Price and Melissa. I was shocked to find out they traveled from show to show as a source of income. I found it so inspiring that by the time I made it back to Oklahoma I had decided to pursue my business full time. 

I am not going to sugar coat this. No one thought this was a good idea. I was going to quit a stable job to sell dead things I collect and process. I get it, it doesn't look good. But at this point I have had my business for 4 years and have a few shows under my belt, what could go wrong?

If you were waiting for the plot twist you're wrong. It went great.

So I traveled and booked as many shows as I could. If you said I could set up, I was there. I enjoyed the whirlwind of traveling to so many places but quickly grew tired of never being home. I began to look for a location for a physical storefront in December of 2018. I continued to vend until the end of 2019, signing my lease in January of 2020. 

Again. No one thought this was a good idea. My grandmother was actually mad at me, mad that I signed a lease. So here I am, alone in an empty 3,000 sqft building, with three months to open. Spoiler, March of that year sucked, I didn't open till June 12, 2020. The store was sparse but people came, it was a day I had worked hard for. 

Now, I have been open for almost 3 years, I have a phenomenal team behind me, and I am thankful everyday to be doing something I love. I am 31, what a difference 5 years makes. Follow your dreams kids, even if they are weird. 

Haters gonna hate - Maris Blanchard