Tag small business

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

Convival 2024 : Vendor Thoughts

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So the newest gaming convention was this past weekend in Williamsburg, Va. While I do the usual post-convention mental exhaustion and deal with need to be away from people (which is always a thing, even with non-negotiables such as a child), I figured I would let you know my thoughts on how it went.

Though it was created in response to changes (drama) made with a convention in Virginia Beach, it had a good turn out and minimal hiccups.

The hotel was clean, but definitely on the older side. It’s vibe kinda reminded me of those hotels you find on the side of the highway that are clean, but haven’t been updated in a couple of decades. Honestly didn’t surprise me though, as most newer hotels don’t build spaces for conventions/conferences/big events into their buildings.

Table fees ($90) were actually really low by convention standards, but first a first year show, very reasonable. My overall sales were just over 3x the table fee and I have a few custom order requests to look at and build quotes for. I enjoyed it and definitely plan on coming back next year.

I met some new vendors that I hadn’t met before and re-met vendors I had crossed paths with at other shows, but didn’t have a chance to talk to before.

There was more downtime that I would have liked, but I did get a chance to get some future planning done.

I have 3 more shows on the books so far for 2024. More details on those shows later.

There will be a shop update this week, as I’ll be putting everything that didn’t sell at Convival in the online shop. I am also open for commissions.

Chaos Week: January

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You ever have one of those weeks were you know you have a lot to do, and that list just seems to be getting longer by the minute?

That’s me this week. Also, sorry this is late, I meant to have this ready to post this morning and this got out of hand.

My kiddo is being home schooled while some things with him get figured out. I was informed 2-sih hours ago that he’ll be having an assessment on Wednesday. While I would have preferred said assessment was in the morning, they have in scheduled for in the afternoon.

It’s fine, I’ll make it work.

Thursday is the day before my first convention for 2024. It’s also a Den Meeting (Boy Scouts) and my monthly Small Business Meet-Up. I’ve enlisted my mother for help with the logistics with that as the 2 events to overlap. 

I also need to prep all the Friday home school stuff to give to her so that she will have it, as he will be spending the weekend with her.

Friday thru Sunday I will be vending at Convival 2024 at the Clarion Hotel in Williamsburg, Va. This will be their first year, but so far it looks like it will be fun and a good turn out. If you are going to be in the area, multi-day and single day passes will be available at the door. Events kick off at 3pm on Friday and end 3pm on Sunday. For more information can be found at https://convivialva.com/.

I will have the contents of the shop, as well as dice bags, scarves, hats, and more amigurumi that haven’t made it into the shop yet with me. I will be taking custom orders as well.

I do have some ultra big news in regards to the business.

I’ve been accepted as a vendor for the Tidewater ComiCon. They are (to date) the largest ComiCon in Coastal Virginia. This will be there’s 10th year. The show will be at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. I’m uber excited about being accepted. This show is May 18-19. I plan on debuting some new products at this show. More info to follow as the show gets closer.

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.

June Update

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Greeting and Salutations,

Just a quickish update while I take a break from product prep for Cosplay World Richmond Aug 4-5 in Richmond, Virginia.

So I gave in and ordered business cards with a QR code of to my Linktr.ee since I have more than 4 social media links now.

I also had to make a new Instagram account as the old one is still linked to the original Facebook page. My 100+ messages to Facebook Customer Service have gone unanswered and I really needed to be able to edit the shop section. The old Instagram page will be permanently deleted as of July 11, the new one can be found by looking up OctojellyCrochetStudio.

I also started the paperwork to convert the business into an LLC. As the business’ is currently a sole prop, a lot of the basic paperwork , like a DBA and a License to sell for the Virginia Department of Taxation, is already completed.

As I need to make a few changes to the business, once the LLC process is finished, I will be doing regular social media updates starting late July/early August.

The goal is for this business to be the majority of my income withing the next 2-3 years.

Running a business is hard

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If someone ever tells you that running a business is easy, they either have a staff who does 99% of the work for them, or they have no idea what they are actually doing, especially if they don’t understand that not all business run into the same cookie cutter set up.

The three most important things that I have learned about running a business : it’s hard, burnout is most definitely a thing, and staying organized in a way that works for you, takes time to figure out.

I’ve had this blog for 4 years now, and it’s only been in the last 2 years that I’ve really done anything with it. Most of the changes took place in the last year. Despite me making multiple blog update schedules, over the last year, I still have yet to follow through with any of them.

My on-line business started on Etsy, before I moved it to this site. I only started doing in-person selling events in the last year. I’m still trying to find time to create YouTube tutorials. Add Facebook/Instagram/TikTok and Twitter to that social media list and I have my hands full.

Not to mention the full-time job I already have and my currently 5.5 year old son, and its a wonder I’m still trying to get this business off the ground.

I do have a plan to make this my main source if income in the next 2-3 years. I also plan on changing this business from a sole-proprietorship business to a LLC business before the end of this year. I need to do a little more research on that though, before I start that process.

World View

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So I do my best to stay away from the political.

With what is going on in Ukraine right now, it’s affecting everyone, whether you want to admit it or not.

While I know that I should be pushing my products, I’m not going to do that today.

I’m going to recommend, if you shop on Etsy, to look at the digital files available from Ukraine. They may not be able to get you physical products, but digital items are available for download almost immediately, and it will help those business owners have income in these troubling times.