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September 29, 2005
Growth is Good ... right?
Well, it's that time of year again! The end of the summer season. The time of mixed feelings where I look forward to packing the clothing inventory back down into nice little boxes that take up much less room, but I still feel sadness at losing my "brick & mortar" store. There is something wonderful about standing there in a 10x10 foot space surrounded by our hard work. And since it's all dyed, it looks freaking awsome too! But it's a lot of work setting up and taking it down every week at Farmer's Market and after a nice long season, I'm looking forward to not heading out at 6am to screw little black hinges to our tent.This time of year I always find myself longing for a true brick and mortar shop. We have decided this will be our end goal, but we will be smart and do it s-l-o-w-l-y. After much painful debate, we have also decided to kill most of our tie-dye inventory. Yup, you heard me right, we're dropping about two-thirds of our tie-dye lines. We will continue to sell the baby items, and a limited number of kid and household things, but most of the adult lines are out the door. We will still keep blanks on hand for special orders, in case a family wants to deck themselves out, but adult T's and so on... gone! gone! gone! I'm even contemplating ebay to unload it. Ack! Someone shoot me, quick!
Don't worry, we aren't going out of business, but we're finally going to take the business places we've been trying to go for two years. We've been trying to expand our yarn selections since fall of 2003, but we were too busy making rainbow swirls to actually accomplish it. So this year is the year! I've been sitting down late at night and paging through sample cards, picking my poisons. We've also started stocking Playsilks! This is something I've been hoping to accomplish for over a year, and it feels so great to finally have them out there!
To top it all off, I've been taking small business classes at the local technical college. They have a small business cert. program and I'm plugging my way through it. I had forgotten somewhere along the way that college was actually work, but in a discussion with Jo last night, she helped me to clarify an important point. It is a lot of work and especially time, somewhat of a precious commodity around here, but I am actually learning something. I am learning lots of useful tips and pointers. I am learning valuable processes. And I am even learning that I knew quite a bit before I started the classes. And it is somewhat of a comfort to know that I really so understand my business, and anyone who has BS'd their way through a small business venture will know what I mean!
So, here's to bright futures, and goodbye to successful pasts! Onward Ho!
May 10, 2005
One Skein Too Many
I have been winding 10 yard skeins of 20# test hemp twine. And cutting, and winding, and cutting, and winding....I've got several pounds of this stuff to cram through. Normally I process the full-size skeins into 10Y, 25Y, and 50Y skeins & balls. This time I've been just going with 10Y skeins. In hindsight, I may need to make at least a few bigger ones for my crochet headband kit I hope to sell this year. I'm sure they use more than 10 yards. I'm debating also doing a scrunchie pattern, but that kit could use several 10Y skeins too though.
Alongside the massive pile of skeins are the scrap bags. The "usable off cuts" (at least 2yd) get measured and tossed in one bag for sale while shorter pieces go into the big 'ole Wal-mart bag of bunk. This year I will actually have enough to implement my "Bag O' Bunk" idea and sell the scraps by weight for scrapbooking, etc. They also make neat confetti paper if you toss them into homemade paper.
I'm so not looking forward to labeling all of these puppies....
