Winter Preparations Part 3: Direct Sales Strategy

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.

Winter Preparations Part 2: Introducing Crochet Mug Cozies

For the first time in forever I feel like I accomplished a heck of a lot of stuff in a week!  The most exciting part was the discovery of a crochet item I can make fairly quickly... mug cozies.  Aren't they cute?!  I feel a bit bad about copying someone else's idea, but there are patterns published all over the internet and I think there is room for me in the cozy market.

I've also made quite a few candles to add to my online inventory this week.  The rose petal candles really do smell better than a dozen roses.  I highly recommend them to any man who needs to buy a romantic present for a lady.  The green colored black tea candles also smell amazing.  If you want something clean smelling with a hint of spicy, you should give these a burn.

Happy Labor Day!  I'm off to relax, watch TV, and possibly crochet some more cozies!

         

Update on the (hopefully no longer) upcoming 1099 change.

I haven't had time to photograph or post last week's candle batches yet, due to a very busy last two weeks of summer, but did want to take 5 minutes to post a little update on the 1099 reporting change I wrote a blog post about in May. I read an excellent summary of the current status in this article today. It seems that nearly all business owners are in agreement that the increased reporting requirement places a ridiculous burden on small business owners. How do you get the tax information of businesses where your employees spend money while on the road? How do you figure out who to contact from a national chain store? How can you add the added cost of all that tax reporting time into your product without loosing all your customers? But, probably the most pertinent question is... how is the IRS going to handle the millions of additional papers they will have to process each year and make money to pay for the health care bill? Thankfully, the IRS's own National Taxpayer Advocate is in agreement with business owners' objections and included her opinion in her midyear report to Congress. Thanks to this report and the many questions and complaints received by government representatives, two amendment options are now being considered.

Option #1 (Republican): an amendment to repeal the 1099 change and eliminate it all together.

Option #2 (Democrat): this measure would scale back the upcoming changes. Businesses with 25 or fewer employees would be exempt from complying with the new requirements. Businesses with more than 25 employees would only have to send a 1099 to retailers who sell them $5,000 or more in goods (instead of $600) and they would be allowed to exclude credit card charges because the credit card companies would report the information directly.

I don't know about you, but I would be happy with either of these options. As a sole proprietor, I'd be exempt either way! The issue (as usual) is how the government will make up this lost revenue. The Democrats want to eliminate an income deduction for the five largest oil companies. To me, this sounds like a suggestion the Republicans will never accept and, furthermore, one which will directly effect the pocketbook of every American. I'd hate to see health care finally become affordable at the same time that fuel costs double. The Republican amendment claims it will be paid for with money from health care programs created by the reform law. Uhm... wait... I thought the 1099 change was supposed to pay for the health care. Now it can pay for itself? Hmmm...

The House and Senate are in recess right now, but will continue trying to tackle this issue after Labor Day. I'm glad it seems they are making progress, but hope they are able to come up with a solution that could be accepted by everyone.