Scroll down this page for a little bit about me. You’ll also. see my first blog post on this platform about being a creative and small business owner and the link to my new e-book, Hashtag GOALS! Want to connect on social media? Find me on instagram @tryjoybutdonttryme .
MEGACON PRESENTS
My hope is that this platform will be a place where you feel “seen” as I share my thoughts and experiences on various topics.
✓ real
✓ relatable
✓ relevant
It’s Connie aka MegaCon, affectionately known as “Con,” among other nicknames that I’ve collected over the years. I’m a daughter, sister, aunt, godmother, friend, girl boss (by accident), and ultimately, A CREATIVE GIVING HERSELF THE FREEDOM TO CREATE.
From the kid in school who got in trouble for talking too much, to the isolated young adult who didn’t speak up enough. I was silenced by several life experiences throughout my teenage and young adult years. But since my late 20s, I’ve been giving myself the freedom to SPEAK UP AND SPEAK OUT through different avenues of creativity.
I know this is a reintroduction for some, and although brief, hopefully an initial introduction to others:
I’m a 30 somethin’ black girl from Chester, Pennsylvania; a sleepy girl by day and a working professional by night. I love all things fantasy and fiction, Marvel movies, audiobooks, puzzles, travel, good food, and spending time with family and friends.
I’ve been a creative in some capacity my entire life, from cutting and resewing my own clothes, to DIY projects, cooking, performing and of course, writing. This blog is one of those creative outlets and I hope that at some point when you come across my content, you feel SEEN!
So welcome [back] to And SEEN! The Blog.
Small Business Woes
When I launched my brand in 2021, we were still in the thick of the pandemic and I was working from home full time. Remote work gave me the flexibility to put a lot of time and energy into my brand AND I was really motivated. A few months later, I transitioned to an in-person position. I was maintaining at first but didn’t realize how much it would impact my brand. My free time that I was using to make content and promote products, was now spent getting ready for work, traveling to work, working overtime, and recovering with sleep to do it all over again.
Now, my stationery brand was a side hustle. But it wasn’t just about profit; it was about providing people with products that would serve as tools for them to use on their journey to self-love and healing. But, after changing jobs, and just the nature of the work I was doing–I had a hard time being consistent and keeping the creativity flowing. I started really beating myself about my lack of consistency with posting and launching new products. I felt like I was letting people down and had to give myself grace. I thought to myself “I see why people give up.”
Less than 20% of small businesses make it past the start-up stage and often fail within the first year. How many times have you gone to a business’ social media pages to see that they haven’t posted in months, or clicked on their website and it turned out to be inactive? That used to frustrate me as a customer and now, as a business owner I GET IT. It’s hard to work a full-time job every day, take care of a home and a family, take care of yourself, socialize with friends AND promote and run a business. And don’t get me started on the costs. All that talk about “using your job to fund your business” is not as simple as it sounds. One of the things I strongly dislike about social media…some of the advice is not realistic.
Anyway, last summer—I decided to do a final sale to get rid of my inventory and then I shut down my website in November 2024. I was paying for it but not doing the work to generate sales. Ultimately, just throwing money away. I went back and forth about deactivating the website specifically, for fear of feeling like a failure. Then I realized that my brand didn’t fail. Technically, I made it over a statistical hump by keeping things up and running for more than a year.
Try Joy, my stationery brand, launched in May 2021. A week into my launch, I’d made my bi-weekly paycheck. By the end of the summer, I had completely sold out of my signature product, the “Journal with Joy” Affirmation Journal. I released several other products that sold out over time including candles, face masks, key chains, ink pens, stickers and tee shirts. All were hits, no misses! But even then, I could see why people give up.
My message to anyone reading this:
Don’t beat yourself about not being able to give things your all, all the time. You are no good to yourself, or the things you are passionate about when you try to pour from an empty cup. Give yourself grace.
With love,
Megacon
a simple guide to goal setting and achieving for all ages
© All Rights Reserved 2025