RamsdenDesigns

Day 85 - 86

Thankfully the ‘I’m sooo stressed out from uni’ posts haven’t started yet. Uni actually looks do-able but it is only the first week…give me 24 hours and it could be a whole different story.

Today I banked my Made on the Left earnings and promptly spent some of it this evening. I’m so excited I can finally buy supplies in readiness for the Mundaring markets on the 8th and 9th of August.

My soaps made it onto the Style Discovery blog which is a huge thrill.

If somebody could be kind enough to do my sales forecasts for my business plan please raise their hand now…I have chocolate muffins as payment and of course, eternal gratitude.

Day 82 - 84

I’m exhausted but happy today. It’s been day after day for a few days of non stop work; birthdays, parties and markets to do. Today was the Made on the Left market and it was really terrific. In the morning I was pretty nervous as I’d decided to display my soaps without their regular labels and I wasn’t sure if people were going to go for that.

But people really liked the display and responded by buying a lot of soap. I spent the day lapping up the praises of delighted customers…as you do.

My bath bomb display looked very bright and colourful. You can see the disappearing act of the front two bowls, they weren’t completely filled to begin with but were whittled down to almost nothing by the end of the day.

The only draw-back to the day was only having one table to work with. I was forced to cut-out whole ranges such as my bubble bars, solid body bars and gift packs. But Made on the Left only has so much space for each vendor so they can fit in as much variety as possible. Doing a display layout that will work for just one table will be on the cards. 

I’m back at uni tomorrow so expect a lot of ‘I can’t handle the stress’ posts until I finish my degree in December. Just warning ya. Tomorrow I’ll also be banking my earnings and working out how to spend it all.

Day 80

Twenty days to go. The finish line is definitely on my mind.

I’m back to blogging everyday, it’s nice to have that ‘I need something to blog about’ feeling. Today I had a meeting with my new consulting agency to discuss my business plan. It’s an absolute thrill to get advice from such knowledgeable people. I feel they completely get my product and where I want to go with it and it feels like a great fit.

We discussed Angel Investment, cash flows, my SWOT Analysis, marketing strategy and sales forecasts. What I found interesting was the suggestion of doing 3 – 5 different sales forecasts: minimum sales scenarios, likely and great scenarios are some I’m doing. And each needs it’s own cash flow analysis including a cash flow forecast that includes future expenditures for the business such as buying better equipment and large scale marketing projects.

I already have a first draft minimum sales scenario written up and we both feel it’s a completely achievable  goal and in fact the likelihood is that sales will be much better. Retail display options were also discussed and I now have a million ideas in my head. All of them suggested to me and all of them totally fantastic.

As promised I snapped my dehydrated fruit which will be used to decorate two of my bath bombs. Some I cut too thin and they didn’t dry well but it’s no drama to make more.

Friday is Little J’s birthday so I’ll be frantic for the next couple of days getting things ready for her birthday party on Saturday. There’s also the Made on the Left market on Sunday to prepare for as well. All my stock is ready I just need to make up signs and work out my display ideas but it’s still another huge job ahead of me.

Tomorrow, if I can I’ll be working on my business plan and making some bath bombs. That's not likely to happen but if I put it out there as jobs to be done…it may still happen.

Day 74 - 79

Taking such a long break between post wasn’t intentional. And I’ve actually had plenty to blog about but either the computer has been turned off or I’ve been out of town. My beloved computer has been shut down quite a few times this week. Thunderstorms make me very nervous and I get very protective of my delicate computer innards. Not that there has been much storming going on. The weather seems very undecided at the moment, does it want to rain or not? Yes, no, no, yes. The weather appears to have dual personalities at the moment.

I also visited my in-laws for a couple of days too. I get home cooked meals that don’t include packet bases or premade salads from the supermarket. It’s a real treat.

Sunday is the Made on the Left market (it’s also on Saturday but as I won’t be there that day there’s little reason to go so I won’t mention it). I LOVE Made on the Left. It’s always packed, there’s always a great energy and it’s always held in a pub…every point is a bonus. So I’m busy getting things ready and planning the perfect display. I’ve no idea how much stock to take so have decided to take everything.

Product development wise I’m having fun dehydrating fruit which will be the toppers for a couple of my new design bath bombs.

Strawberries for my strawberry scented bath bombs and bananas for the banana split bombs. This is pre dehydration, obviously. I loved how they turned out too. Pics tomorrow…I promise.

I’m also taking the bold step of trying to find Angel Investors for launching my business into the retail market. It’s a confusing process and there are absolutely no guarantees but thought I’d blog about what I do so other interested crafters can gain some knowledge from it. Whether I get funding or not Big B and I are working on plans to get my business launched anyway. It’s almost as if I’m working on two separate business plans; one for if I get funding and the other for if I don’t. Obviously the non-funded version has a longer time line to launch and will most likely involve me getting a full-time job to fund everything but it feels good to know it’ll happen either way.

Tomorrow is my first proper business meeting to work on my business plan with my consulting agency. I’m very excited about that and have been working on my plan already but really need help in some areas. Like what’s a market analysis? And how do I find out who my exact target market is?

Day 64

I’m not ready to talk much about what my two year old did to some of my soaps today. I guess all I need to write is…pen,  fresh soaps, stabbing motion.

There are actual exciting things in the pipeline but I’m not ready to write about those either.

So I guess I’ll leave you with a newly updated Calendar page with four markets that are happening in the next four weeks.

Treasury Fever

The lovely Smith & Bird put me in a Treasury she created showcasing West Australian Artists/crafters.

Made On The Left Market

Was on Saturday and I really enjoyed myself. We drove down to Bunbury where it was being held on the Friday before. The traffic was pretty bad, it being Good Friday, one of the busiest travelling days of the year. But despite the traffic we still got there in 2 hours.

We had the luxury of taking 2 cars with us as everything didn’t fit into one car. Big B in the car full of soaps and myself in the car full of kids. What was great about the travelling was with Big B driving in front of me I was able to just relax and not worry about constantly checking the speed gage.

The market itself was great. It was further proof that I’m on the right track in terms of soaps and they were really well received. This time I sold them for $3.50 each and people didn’t bat an eye at the price….but that's because compared to other soaps selling out there they are an excellent price. I’m still not 100% happy with how my soaps look yet, some I wasn’t happy with how they looked colour wise and others I thought could have looked prettier/more enticing. I’ll keep them at $3.50 for now until I make more batches and see how I go. Some particular soaps I feel will have to made in smaller batches so I’m able to really make them as attractive as I want.

An interesting thing I noticed about my display was at the beginning I had my cold process ‘Honey I Sunk The Toy’ soap mixed in with the same sort melt and pour soap. The melt and pour soap is a different colour and also wrapped in plastic. I was really surprised that it wasn’t selling, before my toy soaps had sold very quickly but this time I’d only had one sale. On a whim I removed the melt and pour version from display leaving just the original soap in a more consistent display. After that I stared selling them. I guess the addition of another similar but different soap was confusing to customers and put them off. It’s also reinforcement that my display style is working for customers and encouraging them to buy.

What didn’t sell was my gift packs but I think they need more work to attract buyers.

Overall I’m happy with the day and am looking forward to applying for more markets, working on updating my online stores and polishing my brand image over the next few weeks.

Thinking Ahead…

…about Christmas

Yep already. The thing with soap is the longer it sits, the better it gets. Using the water reduction technique I can get a really nice soap after 2 weeks, an awesome soap after 4 and the best soap ever made after 6 months. This is also true with bath bombs, they work great the day after they’re made but work even better 4 months after they’re made.

So I need to start thinking now, about how many soaps I’ll need for the Christmas rush and what markets I’ll want to do. At the moment I’m thinking of doing every market I can think of up until Christmas, with the exception of the next 5 – 6 weeks while I build my stock levels up. Until then I’ll just do the MOTL market in Bunbury and stock up my Made It and Etsy shops which are pitiful at the moment.

Today I’m sorting out the shed which is going to be my new workspace. Big B will be pleased as punch that I’ll no longer be clogging up his clean kitchen and the spare bedroom with my soaps and supplies.

And yesterday dad made me some awesome soap moulds which allows me to make 50 soaps at a time, I’ll take a pic today and post it tomorrow.

Alright I'm Famous...Who Wants An Autograph?

Dara emailed me this link today and I thought I'd share it with you. It's a pic of me at the first Made On The Left market where I had a stall.

It's a pretty good pic actually, normally I look way worse than that...and yes, I am that grumpy.

Speaking (writing! Whatever!) of Made On The Left, Ali J and I collaborated on another poster. Personally I love it but I am kinda consumed with jealousy that I like Ali's girl more than my own. Really you're supposed to think your own kids are the most attractive. But her swinging girl just rocks.

 

We're also doing another project together soon too which I'm just as excited about. What's great about working with Ali is not only do her girls rock but she's very honest with critique. So when she says she likes something I know she's telling the truth and not just saying it to make me happy. She'll also tell me if something looks crap (but then I burst into tears and she pats me on the back and gives me a lollypop and calms me down with “Don't cry, you're not totally crap at art”).

Ok so I made the last bit up...

Made on the Left...

...was a terrific success, I learnt so much about what to do next and where I want to take Ramsden Designs. This weekend after the market I took the time to create that list I was writing about and really think about what I want to do next. A couple of the MOTL girls gave me some great advice (and a talking to) about things I could do for the next market. Upmarket in Perth will be here in September and I’m seriously considering applying for that one. I’m sure I can make enough stock for that one and the next MOTL market without losing too much sleep.

One of the things I was most happy about was I sold almost all of my old stock. I’m totally over it and ready to move on to something new. I’ve rethought colours and styles a bit and want a fresh start. I love new beginnings and don’t really like repeating myself too much but I think that will eventually have to change or I’ll never get anywhere.

All the stalls at the market were really great, there are so many talented people out there and every time I had a wonder about I could have spent every cent I was making that day. After a while I just stopped looking because it was getting too tempting. Lucky for me I’m not a jewellery wearer otherwise I think I would have been in serious trouble. I’m so grateful to everyone who took the time to show their work and set up a stall. Without them this market would not have been the success it was. Also amazing was the amount of people who came through the door to buy. It got so busy people were not able to move up and down the aisles and it was such a buzz to think that they were all here because we asked them to come.

While organizing the market has been a huge deal and taken loads of work it was so worth it and I can’t wait to get out there and do it again.

Lessons Learned

1.      I didn’t have enough price variety; most things were $5 – 10 and while I sold loads it doesn’t add up to a huge profit at the end of the day. I needed some higher priced items as well.

2.      My style is all over the place and it lacked a real cohesive presence. While I enjoy bouncing all over the place I really need to focus more.

3.      My purses and cushions were the big hits of the day, there is only 3 purses left and I could have sold more if I’d made more. This doesn’t mean that at the next market they’ll be the big sellers but I’ll make sure I have plenty of them anyway.

4.      Coming home with stock is not losing (got to get that out of my head). Selling out is not winning; it means you didn’t make enough and could have sold more.

5.      My purse designs need more work. I’m happy with them but they could be made even better. I want a real professional finish to them.

6.      I had no packaging; nothing nice anyway. That needs serious work.

7.      Business cards...what was I thinking? They only had my Etsy address, so when I was chatting to someone and wanted them to contact me I had to write my email down. They will need to be redone.

8.      My display was better than Unwrapped but still not good enough. One thing I did notice was things sold better if they were grouped together. At Unwrapped I had my purses all over the display and only sold 2. This time they were grouped together and got loads more attention (the fact that they were dirt cheap had a lot to do with how many sold).

9.      Next time I’m totally having a backboard. Every store with a backboard looked more professional and they could display twice as much stock.