Stories by Stephanie Rosa on Medium

Podcast

Stephanie Rosa — Tue, 06 Dec 2022 23:36:53 GMT

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A day in the life of a small business owner and college student

Stephanie Rosa — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 22:03:15 GMT

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Through a Screen

Stephanie Rosa — Sat, 01 Oct 2022 19:33:22 GMT

I never wanted to be a social media influencer, well I thought I didn’t, but in today’s world, this is the only effective way to market yourself and your products. I went from barely posting anything about myself online, to now posting all of the time. Running an online small business comes with posting on social media platforms all of the time. I use shopify as a website platform, and I would get no traffic to my shop if I didn’t market. No one would be able to see the unique and high quality crystals that I sell if I wasn’t constantly trying to get my business name out there. Between posting new inventory, hosting live sales, running follower giveaways, and constantly creating videos of my crystals, Tik Tok has helped me so much. My job requires me to be on Tik Tok ,Instagram, and Facebook for hours a day. With all of this being said, there is a downfall of constantly being on social media. I have to deal with “keyboard warriors” spreading hate comments amongst my page as everyone else does. Salamanderman4326 had something to say about people who buy “rocks” under a video of me marketing new inventory. Whether it is about my prices, or even just hate about what inventory I carry, hate comments are almost inevitable. I also use social media to research where I can source my crystals from. Social Media is where I can find inventory to purchase as many wholesalers use social media to market themselves. This may sound so easy, but in finding a wholesaler who is either mining the crystals themselves is far from it. There are thousands of “middle-men,” or people who buy crystals from the mining companies, and then double their prices to sell to reseller’s at “wholesale” prices. I mostly find the middle men on Facebook. I try my best to avoid these people as best as I can, but again it takes months of research to find sources. I have also come across many scammers who sell a particular material that is fake, but I can only tell once I have the products in my hands. Although I love what I do, I one day hope to own a physical shop where I can talk to customers face-to-face rather than through a screen.

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The Woods Beneath Me

Stephanie Rosa — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 00:21:38 GMT

It was too damn cold to not keep adding wood to the fire every two hours. That means no sleep for me. Whatever, I don’t need the job anyways, right? Wrong. I need it. Me and momma need it and I need to do this for the both of us. Momma’s cough keeps getting worse, I can hear it. My three dollar alarm clock from the thrift store will be going off in about ten minutes. I may as well just get up now. I tuck momma’s frozen feet back into the blanket and give her a kiss on her forehead. She stopped snoring for that brief thirty seconds, but continued after I walked away. I hate coffee. I only really like the smell of it, but if I don’t get some caffeine running through me, this interview will be hell. I strapped on momma’s old shoes from when she worked at the firm, and got right on my bike. It rained last night and it is still pretty dark outside, but I need to get there. Only one mile through the woods until I see that ugly black pavement. I hate riding on the road as the rich people with cars speed right by me. I’m just jealous, okay? I am about a half mile until I get to the road, and then a mile to get to the stupid interview. Um, why is there a random red pickup truck on momma’s property? “Excuse me,” I say. An older bearded man pops his round face out from behind a tree. “Oh, hello ma’am. I uhm just got stuck here. You see I was trying to go hunting and my tire got stuck in the mud,” he says. “You can’t hunt here sir, it’s private property,” I say to him snarkily. “Alright, well I’ll be on my way right after I get the old girl outta here. Would you mind just hoppin in the driver seat to give it gas while I push it from the back,” he says. Who calls their truck their “old girl?” Ew. “Alright,” I say to him. I rest my bike on the side of a tree and walk over to his driver side door. As I open the door to his rusty red truck I feel his hand on the back of my head. He bangs my head into the rearview mirror on his truck. Boom. Lights out. It’s even colder now. I wake up to the what looks like a dirtier version of me and momma’s cabin. Literally there was dirt everywhere. My wrists were burning from being held together by a dirty white rope. At least I don’t have to go to my interview.

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How it happened

Stephanie Rosa — Sat, 17 Sep 2022 19:30:54 GMT

They are going to live in seperate houses? I didn’t understand divorce when I was nine years old. I kind of just went along with it. Why did my friends get to have both of their parents living in one house, and mine were in seperate houses. I travelled back and forth between houses because that was the plan. I also didn’t really have a say in the matter. I never felt like I had a “home,” just houses I would live in for some time. My belongings were always seperated, and I was always travelling alone. I didn’t have a sibling to relate with. This made me extremely independent and reliant on my own mind to keep me entertained. Anxiety got the best of me during this time of lots of changes, and ever since then, I have been different.

It still gets the best of me. OCD added itself to my diagnoses as well, but we don’t have to talk about that long list. I am still travelling back and forth twelve years later, except now I am on the hunt for my own “home.” I am not looking for a house, but a home. I also have a little step brother who brightens any dark day. He is three years old now and although he is only my half brother, we couldn’t be more alike. His birth changed me too. I always wanted a sibling, specifically a brother. He truly ismy biggest blessing.

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