Tag social media plans

The Brand Overhaul Starts Today

Octojelly Crochet Studio,LLC 1 Comment
If you’ve been following me on any of the socials (https://linktr.ee/OctojellyCrochet) than you’ve seen whispers on what I am about to elaborate on.

Since October of 2023 I have been putting serious research into how social media works for small businesses. I’ve take all of that research and come up with a new marketing plan for the business. I’ll be introducing this plan in phases. Starting with overhauling this website , the Facebook page and the Instagram profile. Phase 2 will be the YouTube, Twitch and TikTok channels. Phases 3 will be new, steady blog series, some revived old ones, and a few new ones, and a steady Twitch schedule. Phase 4 plan involves YouTube videos and a posting schedule.

I’ve decided to open Commissions for late June and July. I may keep them open longer than that, but that depends on how the next 2 months go. I’m currently working on a form to streamline the process. The link for commissions will go live at the end of June. I’ll be sure to announce on all the socials when it does.

I have a couple of new blog series planned. The one I am most excited about is a Friday small business series where I’ll be talking about a fellow small business that I think will appeal to my readers. They  won’t always be a crochet business. If you know a small business that might be interested in this, please let me know.

I will be streaming on Twitch in June. The plan is to stream atleast 2 days a week. Not sure which 2 days, but I will send out a weekly email with the streaming schedule as well as post it on my Instagram.

I have IAWIA on June 2 at Tradition Brewing Company in Newport News, Virginia. There will be a product update in the week afterwards. There will also be a sale June 16-22. More details on that after IAWIA.

If you like the changes, or don’t like the changes, please let me know. If you have suggestions for me, please let me know. I am open to any suggestions.



Impact-Site-Verification: 5642b9d6-f3ce-4c30-a17f-42e2f13659be

Mid- April Check-In

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So…how is everyone doing?

I started a new day job 2 weeks ago. As a result, I’m redoing a lot of my social media plans. Certain things (Youtube/Twitch) are going to be figured out on a week by week schedule now.

Everything else should be on a regular schedule starting in May, as I will be using the rest of this month when not at the day job, hanging out with the kiddo, or making product for the upcoming shows, working on the May social media posts.

In other news, the blog part of this site is now 5 years old. I got the achievement notification last week and didn’t realize it because of how insane the last 2 weeks have been.  Isn’t the notification pretty?

If you follow me on any of the socials, I’m sure you’ve noticed that some of the posts are more cohesive when I post them on a regular basis.

I’ve discovered Canva and how useful it can be. I do promise not to go overboard with it.

I do have 3 shows between May 4 and June 2.  If you are planning on coming to any of the event, make sure to stop by my booth to say hi.

It’s March and Full of Madness

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I am not apologizing for yet another sports title.

So, a few things.

Starting later today, the tea blogs will start back up, daily for now, though those will taper off to 2-3 days a week by the end of the month. Crochet Book blogs will come out on Mondays, and Crafts From Around the World come out on Wednesdays and Fridays. Crochet patterns will come out a few days a week, I’m still working on that schedule. I’m also going to start writing down when I think of the yarns in my collection. That will probably be updated on the weekends.

YouTube videos will be starting this month. I’m thinking How-To videos on Fridays and Vlogs on Mondays. What do you think?

I probably won’t have many behind the scenes blogs going forward, between all the series starting back up, the YouTube channel, and general inventory prep for the shows in May, it’s a lot going on. I will be doing a weekly newsletter for those who join the email list letting all of them know about upcoming product updates, the actual YouTube upload times, and when I’ll be live on Twitch. There will also be more about the sale going on the week of my 39th birthday.

Running a Business is Not for the Faint of Heart.

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I apologize for any rambling. As I write this, it is 1:53 AM EST.

So, for a while now, I’ve been planning blog posts. I have pages of research. What I didn’t have, was motivation to actually write them. Until recently anyways. If you want more information on that, see the 2 blog posts for this one in this category.

I just finished inputting 212 draft titles onto the site. I have roughly 50 more to add, but that can wait until I’ve gotten atleast a couple hours of sleep. I plan to actually write all the blogs over the next couple of weeks, and start posting them on a schedule before the end of the month.

I went to a small business meet-up tonight. I confirmed something that I’ve actually suspected for awhile. I am, currently, the only crocheter, in Hampton Roads, that specializes in TTRPG/Fantasy creatures. I really do need to figure out how to capitalize on that.

I’ve spent the last week or so, updating all of my social media research, and doing more research on YouTube videos. The last time I did YouTube research was 3-4 year ago, so I know what I have is severely out of date. I plan on recording/editing new videos (and re-record) existing ones this month so I can start posting those in March.

I will most likely be updating all of my social medias this month. I’ve sadly, neglected some of them. I am working on changing that and getting on a better update schedule.

If you are in/near Smithfield, Virginia this weekend, I will be at the Wharf Hill Brewing Co. both days selling product. There will be a product update, and a photo update on either Monday or Tuesday next week.

Changes coming

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Hey everyone,

So starting in February, I’ll be posting YouTube videos. I’ve started recording how to make the patterns from the granny square series (https://octojellycrochetstudio.com/?cat=729445598). I’ll also be re-recording the Crochet Tools video that is already up and the Yarn Types Video. With all of that, there will be 22 videos going up on February.

I’ve also been researching older crochet patterns to post on the site and working on posts about my opinion on the yarns in my collection as well ass the crochet books in my collection.

I have taken a small break from the tea posts, but those will be making a come back sometime in March, as I work to make this site more crochet/fiber art oriented. The Crafts around the world series will return in March as well.

I also plan on delving into writing my own patterns this year. I may post some of them onto this blog. I’ll be starting with DnD Monsters. 

What do you think?

Update Time

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Hi Hi.

So I added a newsletter sign up to the site. I don’t plan on having the actual newsletter go live until Feb. 5, but I figured I’d get ahead on getting people to sign up for it.

It is 100% free.

The newsletter with be weekly, on Mondays and contain information about what events I have coming up, and sales I may be planning and when the product updates will be happening.

I decided to have this information in a weekly newsletter, rather than a weekly blog because I don’t really enough going on at the moment to justify an entire blog post every week to it. There will still be a blog post at least once a month with all the business updates for the month though.

In reference to my previous (to this one) blog, Im restructuring my blog schedule as well as streaming lining the rest of my social media posting schedules. I’ve got my fingers crossed, that by doing all of this, it will help with my anxiety. After 6+ years (of it being this bad), you’d think I would have that handled by now.

If you’re going to be in, or near Smithfield, Virginia Feb 10 & 11, I will be at the Small Business Market being held by Wharf Hill Brewery Co. from 1pm to 6pm (Feb 10) and 12pm to 4pm (Feb 11). This will be my next in-person sales event.

My 2 in-person events after this will be in May.

Changes Coming…Maybe?

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So…first off, I would like to apologize. I did not keep to the posting schedule that I had announced just before the new year.

There has been a lot going on, IRL, that has been affecting my mental health. Which, as a result, has killed the majority of my motivation to do a lot of things. I’ve had to put daily reminders in my phone to just do basic things.

I have, very recently, seen my regular doctor about my mental health, so I’m now on an antidepressant and will (soon) starting and things are in the works to help improve my mental health.

My hope, is that I will find the motivation to do daily posts, or at least the motivation to post 2-3 times a week. 

I will also be doing monthly product updates starting in February.Getting the YouTube channel off the ground and getting a stable streaming schedule going are also in the plans for the next 2 months.

I’m hoping to do live shows on Facebook and Instagram over the summer, but I still have some things to figure out for that. If you are not already following my on either of those, please do.

I’ve been playing around with the idea of having an email list. It would be one a month with any major plans, product launches, or in-person shows going on that month. Would that be something you’d be interested in?

I do have 3 more in-person shows scheduled for the first half of 2024. They are as follows:

  1. Small Business Showcase : Wharf Hill Brewing Co.      Smithfield, Virginia. February 10 & 11 1pm to 6pm
  2. Bacons Castle Village Faire : Bacons Castle         Surry, Virginia. May 4 10am to 4pm
  3. Tidewater ComiCon : Virginia Beach Convention Center  Virginia Beach, Virginia May 18-19 10:30am to 6pm/11:30am to 5pm

Small Business and the Introvert

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I’ve been trying to write this one for awhile.

Running a small business is already difficult. Running one as an introvert is just that much harder.

I’ve been an introvert since my teens. I learned to hide it in my 20s, and finally gave into it in my 30s, after I had my son.

There are still people who don’t believe that I’m an introvert, and think I’m actually a social butterfly. I’m really not.

Being a small business owner, you have to put yourself out there. Especially in the early days. If you can start right out the gate with a extrovert friend who is willing to be the face of the company – for free, that’s awesome. For the rest of us, we have to suck up dealing with people for a few hours during shows/conventions/markets, and putting ourselves on social media.

I had an event on Saturday, I talked to a lot of people. There’s a lot of things that I should be doing today. I haven’t done any of them. It’s been 25 hours since I got back from the event. I spent 10 hours of that asleep. My other half lest night already knew that I wasn’t going to be talkative. My social battery was empty, and I don’t mean, less than 2% of power left in it. I mean, in DnD terms, that my HP was at 0 and I had failed 2 of my 3 death saving throws, empty. I still wasn’t back to full health this morning, but I pulled it together enough to go get groceries and grab the kiddo from my mom’s.

I will probably not have a full social battery until later this week, thought I do need to leave the house tomorrow for appts and I plan on doing a stream tomorrow night since I won’t have to get up early on Tuesday.

I have another event this coming Saturday in Courtland, Virginia. It ill be my last show for 2023. My first event for 2024 will be ConVival 2024 in Williamsburg, Virginia. Follow me on any of my other social medias for more information on those.

September Update

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How is everyone on this hotter than necessary Friday?

I’m in the process of updating the shop product selections. I have already added a few Desk Gremlins and a Zombie Cthulhu. I will be adding stress eggs, potion bottles, and keychain octojelly to the shop today and tomorrow.

I have removed a couple of nessies, gremlins and the dragons from the Desk Buddy section as they are now at The Village Knittery at Old Hilton Village in Newport News, Virginia. If you are local, you should absolutely check them out. They are open Wednesday through Saturday. Please check their Facebook page for the hours.

I have started working on larger one-off pieces, including a winged Cthulhu and a Phoenix.

I’ve also revived my big project of crocheting all the monsters in the 5E Monster Manuel for Dungeons and Dragons. I have at the time of this writing, 59 of the 313 patterns I will need to make all the monsters in the book that aren’t in the appendices. You can follow me on Instagram (http://www.instagram.com/octojellycrochetstudio) if you’re interested in following along with this project.

I will have my next live sales event in 40 days in Richmond, Va. I will be at the Pumpkin Witch Market at Diversity Richmond on October 15 from 12pm to 5pm. Come out and say hi if you’re in the area

I have been working on improving my presence on the various social media platforms now that I am not currently working a day job. This crochet business is currently my only source of income. I am working on finding a part-time day job, but I would really like to get this business to the point where I have a steady income.

I’ve been adding my Twitch stream to YouTube to build my presence there, I do plan on recording some actually YouTube how-to/Informative videos soon.

I’ve been doing some more up-to-date research on growing my Instagram/Facebook/TikTok presence and I hope to implement some things soon.

The tea blog series will continue on Monday and I will have some actual crochet and fiber related content soon.

Is there anything you would like to see me cover in the blog or on YouTube? Suggestions are always welcome.