I had an absolute blast this weekend crocheting mug cozies and watching TV. So, you can expect to see a bunch of them on my website before Christmas. I have piles of leftover yarn from beanies, scarves and little clutch purses I've made for myself and family since I re-took up crocheting about 8 years ago. This is the pile I've decided to start with for my mug cozies. There is plenty more where that came from, but I'm still hoping to turn those basketfulls into something beautiful for me at some point... when I'm not crocheting to make a little extra money. Hmmm... I wonder when that is going to happen?I'm really starting to get excited for the winter. I may not have gotten samples to local retail stores in time to get extra wholesale orders this winter, but I am confident that my two loyal vendors, Midnight Sun and Hempwise, will place orders and I think I have some good ideas for increasing my direct sales both locally and online. First of all, I've been fortunate enough to receive some free advertising from a local e-news source in exchange for weekly submissions from my new poetry blog and some free candle and soap prizes for their readers. Google Analytics has taught me that the ad is indeed working... people are visiting my site. Now I just need to have a more plentiful product line for them to choose from... at least that is my theory on why there haven't been any purchases yet. Also, it's not quite winter aka candle gifting season.
Speaking of candle gifting season, I may have a pseudo sattelite salesperson in Bakersfield this winter. I am just starting to figure out the details, but a very kind Homemade by Hoyt fan has offered to take a few samples around to show her friends, take orders, and call me with the details. Naturally, I offered her my 15% referral discount on anything she wants to order and said there will be gifts involved as well if the orders are plentiful. If you are reading this and are interested in doing the same... contact me. I'd love to have your help spreading the word about my products!
The last thing I plan to do is out of pure optimism that increased online presence truly does mean increased sales. I created my first treasury last week on etsy. It is a collection of coffee related items I thought would make a nice gift with my frappuccino recycled jar candle. You see, I'm starting Christmas shopping super early this year in order to spread out the cost... so I thought I would encourage you to do the same... and to buy from the artists on etsy. So, I plan to create a new treasury at least once a month to inspire my customers' Christmas shoping. I figure it must be good karma at the very least... people include me in theirs sometimes, so it's about time I do the same.
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