In my last blog update, I blogged about winter doldrums, slower than usual sales and my plan to look back on what worked in 2009, what didn't perform up to expectations and how I would plan ahead for my busy selling season.
I'm really glad I used my "down-time" to put together a game-plan for the coming year. Just when you think winter will never end, spring is quickly forcing winter out the door. The snow piles are dwindling (no they are nowhere close to being gone, at least not yet) and many have already turned their attention to spring. With St Patrick's Day looming, followed up quickly by Easter, I found I needed to get a few ideas into gear because all of sudden, there are requests from some of my brick & mortar shops, my Etsy shop needs replenishing.... and this year I didn't have to scramble for solutions.
I spent most of Sunday creating jewelry, and planning out my displays at one of my local consignment galleries. In addition, I created a couple of green sea glass pieces just in time for St. Patty's Day... these will go into my Etsy shop during this week and I began working on a few items for my 2nd B&M shop, as I look to load up on what seems to be selling well there.
In the meantime, it's time to start considering what shows I will do during the spring and early summer. Once again, I hope to cut back on my shows (unless hubby wants to do them solo this year ...lol) The Handmade Faire is a MUST-DO show and OM Baby has so much potential. Those are two shows I try to pencil in to my calendar every year. There are also a couple local shows that seem to make sense for my product line, that I really need to be attending and in early summer, there are a couple of sea glass festivals that I would love to attend.
I'm hoping to limit my spring/summer shows to 5 or 6, so I can concentrate on my online shops and the shops I consign to. I'm also going to be looking at several possibilities to consign my sea glass creations over the next few weeks. I'd like to add 1 or 2 new opportunities for the warm weather, but it'll probably be tough to limit the amount to just a couple stores.
So in the matter of just a handful of days, it seems everything and everyone went from winter shut-ins to "let's get this party started". Thankfully, I'm more prepared this year than in previous years and I'm able to get product out where it's needed while things are still on the slower side.
Finally, I've actually followed through on a couple of my business New Year's resolutions : )
'til next time....
R
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