Tag small business

BrittanyDinosaur

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BrittanyDinosaur is a small shop for many nerdy needs. It all started with a dinosaur jacket and has just grown from there as new hobbies and skills were gained. From hand sewn dice bags to cute frosted glass cups and shadow boxes, so there are gifts or items for everyone’s interests.

https://brittanydinosaur.etsy.com

She also, for those of you in the Virginia area runs D&D games with Rouge Game Masters.

She uses alot of different mediums in her work and does 3-D printing.

Her 3-D prints will be available on this site within the next few days.

If you run a small business or know someone who does, please send me an email at octojellycrochetstudio@outlook.com with the business name, any info you would like me to mention and any links you would like me to add.

Upcoming Plans

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So, I touched on this a little in my monthly newsletter. If you haven’t signed up, I do ask that you do, as I announce sales and updates  there usually a week or two before I announce on Social Media.

2024 has been an interesting whirlwind of things (so far) for me.

While I have done slightly less (and yes I’m counting the 3 upcoming in this count) shows compared to 2023, I’m actually less than $200 away from what I made all of last year.  All but 2 of the shows I’ve done this year were new to me and larger (in visitor count) to the 2023 shows.

A side effect of this is that I’ve actually put more thought into my display set up for indoor shows. It definitely looks more cohesive and less haphazard now.

If you haven’t noticed the updated header on the website yet, I now have a Commissions page. It’s still evolving, but there’s now a form for inquiries. I do plan to add specific forms for Dragons and Chthulu in the coming months.

There will be one product update in November, once all the shows for 2024 are finished. I just have too much product to make in the next 3 months (plus a kid and a day job) and won’t have time to add product  to the website before then.

I’ve decided not to start posting on YouTube until after Jan 1 2025. This is before many reasons. A few of those reasons are because of the kiddo being under foot when I’m not at my day job. He starts school in a week, so I’m planning on getting some recording done then. Twitch streams will start back up then as well.

I’m going to be trying something a little different with the social media content starting Sept 1. Follow me on Insta/Facebook for more on that. I’m still working out all of those details, so I’ll share more on that next week.

If you need to find me on my socials, use https://linktr.ee/OctojellyCrochet

The Brand Overhaul Starts Today

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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

Tidewater ComiCon 2024 : My Thoughts

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So I’ve been trying to write this since Sunday night.

I had a wonderful time at Tidewater ComiCon. I saw some current friends and made a few new ones. I also found a couple of vendors that I think other people will like. I’ll mention them in a bit.

As always after an event of this size, Vendor Fatigue is absolutely a thing, and if anyone tells you otherwise, they probably don’t do busy shows. This is being written 2 days after the show and I’m still mentally and physically recovering from it. I apologize now, if I seem to jump around a bit in this post.

As far as the shows for 2024 go, this was my highest money making one yet, coming in at just over $400 in sales. I sold quite a bit more than I thought that I would, and I have some new ideas for products to make for the rest of the shows that I have planned for 2024. Among the ideas is more button-eye creatures and more SteamPunk Cthulhu, possibly dragons/wyverns as well.

There were a lot of really awesome cosplays, though, I did not get pictures as I was swamped with customers when that really interesting once came by my table. I think my favorite that I was as the Mandalorian meets Sally from the Nightmare Before Christmas mashup.

My favorite part of Tidewater Comicon? Anxiety the Octojelly, after 4 years, finally found it’s forever home. I shall miss it at my booths, but I have decided to do more of the odd button eye creatures in it’s honor.

I also discovered, close to the end of the event, that the big QR code I had up to let people find my linktree without a business card, did not , infact, go to my linktree. I will be remedying this before IAWIA on June 2.

Now, onto the vendors I want to give a shout out too:

  1. Brittany Dinosaur I actually know this one personally, and count her and her husband as a couple of my closest friends. She make really great products. Her product lines has cups, shadow boxes, dice bags and glass work. Her shop is found on Etsy.
  2. Trinkets & Toadstools Tidewater ComiCon was the first time I mets them, but I love their products. I purchased earrings and hair sticks from them, and I am obsessed with them. They have a lot of cottagecore themed products.
  3. Jpax Artworks This was his first show. I love his work. I bought 2 octopus prints from him. It’s octopus’, I was not about to not buy them. He doesn’t currently have a shop, but his Instagram (which I have linked), does have information about how to contact him for commissions.
  4. Suitable Beasts The owner is another person, that I know outside the convention world. I met him and his very artistic daughter, at a local small business meetup. He make creatures using suit jackets. I find them delightful.

I highly recommend you check them out. They are delightful business owners, and they all have wonderful products.

The prints from Jpax Artworks and the hairsticks from Trinkets & Toadstools

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.

LeGrange Grey : Dryad Tea

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As I am overly fond of all Earl Grey teas, I opted for this one for Dryad Teas this morning.

The berry scents from this tea, are not overpowering, which I appreciate. The vanilla does a good job of mellowing out the berry scent while combing it with the earl grey to give a nice calming smell while in it’s pre-liquid form.

While it was steeping, I did notice that the earl grey scent did become more prominent.

Taste wise, it’s about what I expect of an earl grey tea. The aftertaste is more fruity than a normal earl grey, but not unpleasant.

It can be purchased here: https://dryadtea.com/products/lagrange-grey?_pos=1&_sid=7f01e41ff&_ss=r. As with all Dryad Teas, it can be purchased in a sample size to try before you commit to a larger ounce size.

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.