BUSINESS PLAN

• What are your goals for this business?  The answers to the following questions will determine how you set up your business.  The answers need to be written down on paper or in the computer so you can review them periodically and change/modify as needed. 2.What is the description of your business? ie: "I sell hand dyed hand spun yarn"  "I sell the tools and materials for knitters, weavers and fiber artists to create hand crafted items."  3.  Is this a full time or part time business ?   4.How many shows do you want to do this 1st year?  Be realistic.  You need to consider time off from your "real job", responsibilities at home, travel/show time.  It takes me 7 days to do the SAFF show.  2 days to travel there/set up, 3 days for the show, and 2 days to travel back home (with a bit of shopping on the way home).  5.  How much time can you devote to the business ?   Decide on the number of hours your can realistically spent on administrative duties and on producing product/packaging etc  Setting up the business is a good part of your 1st year goals but include the # of shows you want to do, $ sales goal, goals of products to produce and goals of products to buy/develop/add.  Where do you want the business to be in 5 years?  6.  How are you going to finance the business?  Out of pocket until sales can off set money going out or do you need to borrow money and if so from whom (family/friends/bank)?. 7.  At the show what forms of payment are you going to accept?  Cash only. cash/checks. cash/credit cards. cash/checks/credit cards   You can start out with one form and change/add as you are comfortable/able.  8.  Are you going to do the accounting/bookwork and file tax forms yourself or do you want to have an accountant.  I keep the books and whatever other info my accountant wants and he files the tax forms.  I figure that is his business and he stays up to date on all the tax law changes so for me it is worth the money  to have him do it.  You may be more adept at this than I am but the time to decide is not the week before taxes are due to be filed.  In michigan business taxes are due the end of Feb.  9.  You need to get a state sales tax licence to sell retail and to buy wholesale.  You can go online for your state (generally  State.gov ) and find the sales tax page,etc.  You will also need a federal id number (as a single owner of your business that is generally you soc.sec.number.  10.  Product development-List your current products you want to sell and are making or have bought  ie: buttons, handdyed yarn, etc. include everything.  Next list the items you want to buy to sell or new items to make/develop ie: knitting bags in 2 sizes, felted hats, nuno felted scarfs.  11.  Marketing/Sales - When you first start out you don't have a customer base.  As you do a show for a number of years you will have repeat customers.  Do you want to send them an email to remind them of the show?  If so set out a book so they can write their email address down for you for your mailing list.  Snail mail is fine for those that don't have email . Are you interested in having a web site or blog, being on facebook and/or twitter?  How about selling online at a site like etsy or artfire?  Do you want to sell wholesale to a yarn shop, boutique, gallery?  12.  Personnel- Do you need help at the shows or can you do them alone.  If you want/need help can friends/family help out for free/small payment (with you paying for motel/gas/and their food) or do you need to hire someone and where can you find that person. ( they have to be honest as they will be handling money, and they need to be someone you can spend hours with in a car).  One possible source is a high school/college student intested in fiberart.  13.  Do you want to teach- at shows, in your hone/studio. at local yarn shop, at local community ed program?   14 Do you want to join any local/state/national fiber groups?           If you answer these questions you will have a good idea of what where you want your business to be.   Some of your answers will be in your 5 year goals/future goals rather than 1 year goals.        I had wanted to put this in list order but I seem to be having trouble doing that (ie 1-2-3 down the left side of page with writing after).  Sorry, I am working on my computer skills but the operative word is Working .                                                   

Being a Vender is Hard Work

Before we go any further let me say that being a vender is hard work.  You drive long distances-set up in the cold/rain/heat and tear down in same, have slow show days/times. Loading and unloading ,depending on the amount of display/inventory you have takes time and  is work especially if you are doing it alone. You also have the expense of travel-gas/food/lodging.  You won't get paid for all the time you put in ( you also don't get paid to drive to your regular job and I know some of the nurses who work with me in er drive 45-60 min one way). After you get home you have to unload unless everything stays in a trailer until the next show but you still have to restock at the least. But if you are passionate about your product/business it can also be very rewarding.   It is wonderful to get possitive feedback from customers/people even if they don't buy then, give them a business card to remember you and they may buy later. I often will write on the back of the card what item they were interested in or let them write on the card so they will not only have my business name but a written reminder of the item they especially liked.  Meeting people and other venders is good for exchanging ideas and getting your creative juices flowing.  It is wonderful to notice the things people are wearing that they haave made and you might get a new idea for combining colors that you might not thought of, etc.  You can also share your knowledge with  attendees, and they will remember that you were helpful and are more likely to buy from you, even if it is next year.   You will have good and very good shows if you get the right product mix, the right shows   but it may take time to get there.  You will also have shows that are not worth going back to.  It is hard to know what  shows to do and sometimes it takes a few years for it to be profitable. If at the end of the day you ask yourself "why am I doing this?" and you asnswer because "I love it and I can't not do it and be fulfilled" you will find that it is worth it.   

Life getting back on track

Sorry it has been so long since I posted-I meant to post in Oct. Spent last part of Sept and beginning of Oct sutdying and taking what should be my last recertification for my er nursing career.  SAFF was last weekend of Oct.  Got to Asheville and it was in the 70's then Sandy came along and it was in the 40's but we got out of the mountains mon am before snow hit, did run into some wind and a bit of rain on the way home,but not too bad.  Worked one day and was dressing to go to a natural dyeing class, bent over to put my sock on and felt a pull in my back.  Gave it some time and realized I wasn't going to be able to do the class so went in to ER and the dr. gave me some  muscle relaxer and pain med.  Needed a walker to get around at home, saw my dr wed and changed meds.  By Mon I couldn't move due to the pain, called a friend and she helped me out of bed and took me to er where I was admitted for 4 days.  MRI showed a large bulging disc( lumbar 5) that was pressiung on nerves.  So conservative treatment, physical therapy and let the disc go back in.  I am off till Jan 12. which is my projected return to work date.  So I will now blog at least 2-3 times/week.  

CHOOSING A BUSINESS NAME

Now you have decided you really want to become a fiber fesitival vender you need a business name.  You may already have one in mind, if so yea for you.  Sometimes tho it is a real challenge to figure out a business name.  Don't pick out a name that is too cutesy or so far out that people can't pronounce it.  Remember this is a BUSINESS.  Look at that brochure of the fiber event you went to and check out the names of venders listed.  What names do you like-ie: Susan's Fiber Shop, Marlenes Felting Madness are 2 examples of business names with the owners first name in the business name-Marr Haven Wool Farm has the name of the farm as the business name-Hooked on Felt tells the area of fiber interest this business concentrates on.   After you have choosen a name google it -you want a name that 6 other people don't have!!  This is especially important if you think you want to have a web site now or in the future and use the business name as the website name.  If someone else has that domain name you would need to choose another.  If you are going to have a blog, web page, sell online on etsy or another craft storefront it helps to have them all the name of your business.  People don't want to remember 4 different names for one person.                           This post I'll preview so it won't be discomfobulated (that's a word, right?) like the last one became.

BECOMING A FIBER FESTIVAL VENDER

Before the business plan and tax license let's start with the basics.  Do you know what a fiber festival is?  Or have you just read about them in Spin Off or on the net or been to a 5-10 vender event at a local farm?     YOUR HOMEWORK                                                                                                                           Go to a fiber festival ,with at least 50 venders if possible.                                                                        Look at booth design/displays                                                                                                                 Look at quality of products for sale-how does your product compare?                                                      Look at the quantity of product in booths and variety of items for sale.  Are you thinking of selling a number of items or just one -ie: handcrafted hand spindles vs yarn, roving, batts                                                  Look at pricing of similiar products                                                                                                         What makes your product equal to or better than what you see being sold ?                                                Do you have a product not being offered and is there a market for it?                                                     Take pictures, if allowed, and the  venders don't mind.  Take notes, trust me you won't remember everything you think you will remember.  Collect business cards and show brochure.  Check out web sites of venders you especially like.                                                                                                                                  Do you have or can you make/purchase enough product to sell at an event.  Be realastic.                         Do you have an idea of which events you would like to sell at or do you need a list of events to consider?   More in the next post.  Let me know if you have any questions or specific info you want.    

MI. FIBER FESTIVAL and SUZANNE HIGGS

Last weekend we were in Allegan for the Mi. Fiber Festival. It was Hot and Humid setting the booth up having recently rained. We had wonderful weather FRi-Sun which is so unusual for Aug in Mi. It was in the 70's and no rain!! Got to spend an hour Sun with Suzanne Higgs- Hooked on Felt.blogspot. Check out her blog, it's well worth it even tho she hasn't posted in a while due to her family having a huge amount of hurdles in their lives. She makes beautiful hats, nuno felt and bird pods . She had 2 gorgeous sleeveless dresses with shawls in nuno felt in her booth-one in white and the other in copper-absolutely gorgeous. Wish I had my camera along or had come back to take pictures of them. I have long wanted to take a hat making class with her, it's on my short list for next year. Suzanne is very gracious and giving with advise and answering questions. I watched/listened to her interacting with customers and she made everyone feel welcome and no question was "stupid". Starting next week I will be doing posts on being a vendor. Erin, Desigknit.com did her first show in April and did a post on lessons she had learned from that show.She lamented that there was no place to learn about shows as a new vendor so I emailed her to offer advise and decided to do a sseries of posts on this subject. Who inspires you to take a class from them or to spend time with visting at a show? Are there any questions you want answers to regarding being a vendor?

Ann Arbor Art Festival

 Hot,Hot HOT at Ann Arbor for the art fair this year-it was 105 the day the vendors set up and in high 90's on Wed when I was there.  I had been toying with the idea of adding art fairs to my list of places to sell in the near future but this year brought home the fact that setting up outside, especially if you have to do it by yourself, is not always easy or comfortable.  So i've shelved that idea and will look for inside shows instead. Now for the pictures-the first two are from Easy Street Studios, artists I have long admired- Michael and Jane Lewis.  The top one says Cherish Yesterday- Dream Tomorrow- Live Today -along the top, side and bottom.  The second one says Arrange whatever Pieces Come your way. I have to get frames for them yet but will do that this week. The last two pictures were taken thru a gallery window and of are felted pillows and I really liked them.  What do you think?

Silk Necktie Necklace and Brooch

Have been making brooches and necklaces from silk neckties and having great fun.  The brooches can be used on hats,purses, jackets or shirts.  The ones shown are rather big but I've seen people wearing huge felted flower brooches so I'm ok with their size.  The necklace uses part of the tie for the "flower" and then it continues around the neck and snaps behind the flower.  What do you think of them?

Pictures from Co. and N.M.

I gave up trying to download pics while on vacation, internet at motel was too slow.                                     Picture #1 river/stream along mountain road.                                                                                               #2 S curves thru the mountains                                                                                                                    #3 window shopping-vintage velvet/sheer fringed tablecloth that was made into a sleeved poncho                 #4 Bright turquoise pattern on bottom of black skirt                                                                                      #5 even Mc Donalds are adobe in Santa Fe                                                                                                #6 interesting rocks with holes on the way to Madrid                                                                                   #7 Canyon rd in Santa Fe - Buffalo sculpture -White front and dark back                                                    #8  pretty purple flowers outside one of the  galleries                                                                                   #9 fun sculptures outside one of the galleries                                                                                                 #10 sculpture at a Mo. reststop out of traffic barrels.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Downtown Santa Fe

Yesterday I spent 6 hours wandering the streets of downtown Santa Fe.  I can show you some of the pictures I took since Windows has decided to work today, yay.  Santa Fe is very friendly to people and dogs alike.  It is not unusual to see bowls with water for the dogs sitting outside the shops or inside their doorways and some of the galleries have glasses of water set out for people.  I did not see any misbehaved dogs and they are welcome in the shops.  I delight in looking at art that I cannot afford but can certainly enjoy viewing and getting inspiration from the shapes colors.You can find contemporay works,westerndesign, art noveau, and antiques.  Clothing stores abound and there are wonderful one of a kind creations, limited edition, and tourist clothing/tshirts.  Something for everyone.  I ate at the Coyote cafe cantina and had the navajo taco- pulled pork, roasted chicken, ground buffalo, lettuce, tomatoes, tucumcari white tangy cheddar, drunken black beans and chili on a thick tortilla (more like bread than the thin tortillas we normally think of for tacos).  Oh so good and filling-I wasn't hungry again until 7:30 pm and I ate at 11:30!!  I managed to eat 1/3 of the tortilla and most of the topping.  Pictures (someday I'll learn to write under them, maybe -lol) #1 Jill Gully, in Outback Fibers warehouse  #2 a gracious vendor at Estes Park wool festival who let me take her picture, I lover her hat-it has felted band with large embelishment    #3 & 4 downtown Santa Fe mostly adobe buildings No modern hi rises #5 my navajo tacl   

Outback Fibers -Estes Park Wool Festval

Got into Colo. Thur night and stayed in Colorado Springs. After turning on the tv in my motel room I was greeted by the weatherman talking about tornado,thunderstorm and flashflood warnings all in the area where I was staying and I looked at the sliding glass doors leading to the small patio outside my room and thought "not a good place to be in a tornado". None of that developed thankfully and Fri I went to "the middle of nowhere" ss Jill Gully had described where she now lives and has her business, Outback Fiber . I spent a delightful houur picking out fiber from her vast selection. My laptop has decided to not work so I can't post the picture I took of Jill in the warehous or any other pictures I have taken. I drove up to Ft. Collins where I was staying Fri/Sat (I couldn't find a room in Estes Park when I was making reservations. Sat I drove thru the montains along winding hairpin curves with a bubbling stream along the road and the occasional fisherman in the water-very picturesque and I could have enjoyed it more if I wasn't driving . I stopped periodically as I wasn't willing to take the curves as fast as the locals and some others. Looking up at the mountains makes you realize how small you are in comparison and marvel at the work that was done to put in the road. The wool festival wasn't as large as I had been expecting. There was only one building of vendors. I counted 51 vendors. Though not a large number of vendors all of the items for sale was of high quality. I was very pleased when a weaver of wonderful clothing (out of my price range) complimented me on the pin I was wearing (one I made with the handwveen fabric and beads and sell). I did find a number of different rovings that I had to have. On thhe way home I passed a Goodwill store and stopped by on a whim only to find a 1/2 price sale of everything going on. I was good and only bought 2 paperback books but I did find 1 silk blouse and 2 silk dresses to use for nuno felting. Today I am in Santa Fe,N.M. Will post more later this week.

Window Shopping Inspiration and Decadent Dessert

Yesterday I went to Traverse City to window shop and get craft supplies.  Found a pretty beige shirt/jacket with crochet embellishment and a lovely colorful long sleeve mesh top.  The beige on beige with the different crochet designs contrasting with the fabric worked well and could be used on many items we make or already have ie. shirts, jackets, purses, hats.  The crocheted motifs can be dyed to match or contrast the item they were embellishing.  The dyed shirt went from cool blue on the bottom to orange flames on top with pleasing graduation of the colors. (It looks like the shirt has woven sleeves but that is the  flowing vest that gives it that appearance).  Hope they inspire you to make something wonderful.                                          In a little walkway I saw a tree surrounded with knit/crochet and a sign saying it was a work in progress and to please respect that. Had seen pics on the web of similiar pojects but never in person. hearts have "I Love" messages embroidered on them, wonder if there are carved hearts under the knit panels. Have any of you seen similiar decorated items in your neighborhood or done a project like this?  Please share your story and pics.                                                                                                                                           Now on to the decadent dessert, I ate at Poppycocks on Front st. and noticed the pastry display when i entered.  Oh the eye candy, key lime pie, cakes, tarts, chocolate creations, creme brule.  I knew right away that I wanted dessert so only ate 1/2 of my parmesean crusted whitefish sandwich on sour dough even tho it was very good. It had tomato (would have sworn it was fresh from the garden if it wasn't May and too soon for that),lettuce, red onions, and a lemon leek aioli complementing the fresh fish.  I choose the polka dot chocolate mousse tart. It was layers of cake,strawberries,choc. mousse, choc. ganache 3" high wrapped in a shell of dark chocolate with white choc polka dots topped with a ring of  choc. and a fresh strawberry on top with whipped cream along side, Definite eye appealing presentation and so so rich and decant and delicious and worth every calorie.

Shepherd's Harvest

Shepherd's Harvest was wonderful this year- great sunny days and no rain on Fri. setting up (yea).  Nice customers both new and old.  It's always nice to have someone say that  they loved what they bought last year.  There were some new vendors that I enjoyed getting to know. I have some pics of our set up at the show and of the trailer loaded after the show (soap,honey, candles yet to be put in).  The back of the vehicle is also loaded like anyones going on a trip with out suicases, cooler, projects, snacks.                               Haven't kept up with posting and I am going to make an effort to post at least weekly.  Will have some pics soon to show you as I'm very excited to be going to the Wool Festival at Estes Park, Co. June 9-10 and then on to my favorite city Santa Fe, NM.  I plan on visiting fiber shops  along the way as I encounter them and will let you know what wonderful things I find,  

SPRING IS HERE-AGAIN

When I moved into this house several years ago there was a grapevine wreath in the alcove going out the living room door onto the porch and birds had built a nest there.  The previous owners said birds had nested there for several years raising their young.  I had 5 cats at the time and as the first spring came for me 3 of those cats would stand at the windowed door onto the deck and watch the birds.  A pair of birds came and must have noticed my cats with "lunch" expressions watching them and decided to go elsewhere to rasise their young.  By last year I was down to 2 cats and they were content to lay on the back of the couch.  A pair of birds came and 3 eggs were laid and sat upon but one morning I looked out to find them broken and empty on the deck. So again I have birds that nested , laid eggs and now there are 2 baby birds growing up in the nest. It will be a joy to watch them grow and hopefully nothing interferes with their reaching adulthood.   

RIVERDANCE

Riverdance was AWESOME- Two friends went with me Sat to see the show at the Wharton Center in East Lansing.  The intricate footwork/dancing was amasing.  It was dizzying watching their feet/legs move.  I have the tape of their preformance but live is so much better. This is their final tour in the USA so I am so glad I got to see them.  The hard work it takes for them to get to dance at this level boggles my mind.  While I knew when I was 3-4 years old that I wanted to be a nurse I didn't have to do anything special except study in school and get decent grades, which was expected of me no matter what I wanted to be.  But these dancers started learning to dance/train when they were 3-4 years old!  They had competitions to win and always new steps and dances to learn while the rest of us were playing.  Such dedication to their dreams from such an early age amazes me.  How many people are in college today not knowing what they want to be when they "grow up" but these dancers knew at an early age what they wanted to be in life and went after it.  I thank them for the joy they give those of who are fortunate to watch them. 

The Road Less Traveled

This morning I was looking out my kitchen window and watched my young neighbor start off for school.  He is a 3rd or 4th grader and typical for a young boy he chose not to walk down the driveway that had only about and inch of snow but walked thru the yard with more than a foot of snow with higher drifts.  At times he really struggled to get thru the drifts but he trugged on and made it to the road and then ran off down the road.  It reminded me that as creative people we need to sometimes go not down the roads that  are easy and known to us but to try new things even if we struggle at first learning a new technique.  The pictures I took near Brimley,MI a few weeks ago when I went up there to visit friends.  Snow covered and beautiful.

Lucky Day

At 11a.m. I went to the Secretary of States offfice to see if I needed to get a new title for my car now that I have it payed off. I walked in and there was no one sitting in the chairs or leaning against the wall waiting, no one at the counter having their business being taken care of.  An unheard of  occurance  was that there was no one in the office but the clerk behind the desk and me!!!  There have always been people waiting whenever I went in to get my driver's license renewed or new plates no matter the day of the week or time of  day,  Another part of my Lucky Day was enjoying the sun streaming thru the car windows and when I was out walking.  Beautiful SUN.  Have not seen enough of the sun this winter so I enjoy it when it is here. 

Taxes are done and so is ACLS

I have spent a portion of most of my days off this month studying for ACLS (advanced cardiac life support).  It is something as an er nurse that I have to recert in every 2 years, and I always stress about it.  Real life situations are different than the testing and as I get older I like tests less and less.  So the good news is that I am done for 2 years,yahoo, and should only have to take it once more before I (hopefully) retire.  Still have to do the Pediatric equivelant of acls this fall and trauma course next year. I spent Friday evening surfing blogs on the net.  It was so nice to not have anything I had to study for or do.   My taxes are done and ready to take to accountant Tue.  Spent the weekend doing them.  I really need to do the paperwork at least every month  instead of tying up 2 days getting it together.  I always start out good in Jan. (easy as there are few receipts to keep tract of) but by the time I'm done with the first fiber show I tend to forget all about entering the info into the ledger! I was happy with how the show year ended so now I have to spend Feb creating since I haven't gotten anything done in Jan.   The bracelets and pins/brooches sold very well so need to  make more of those.  Have some ideas for different designs that I need to try out.     

Two for Tuesday-Books made into Movies

Two recent movies that have been made from books are THE HELP by Kathryn Stockett and THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO by Steig Larsson. Both of them are on my list to read and see. Will have to rent The Help as it's no longer at my local theater but hope The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo stays here until next week so I can see that on "the big screen". Everyone that I've talked to that has read or seen either or both books/movies have loved them. One of the docs I work with had rented the Swedish film with subtext and he loved it and now we have it out in English so that's even better. The Help is Kathryn Stockett's first book but Steig Larsson wrote two other books before he died, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest and they are on my list to read also.