Renovations

Enough of the wallowing, self pity and all that crap that goes with it. 


Also enough of eating the chocolate because I'd hate to see the scales after the last week!


It's time to move, time to get on with it.


There's nothing like a new project to distract you from your own thoughts and problems. My little shop has been doing really well in some area's, not so good in others. Now that I am totally reliant on myself and I have a daughter to support I need the whole business to work well. 


I've made a decision. It's a little risky and a whole lot of work to be done in less than 8 weeks, but I'm doing it! I'm going to renovate, re-name and totally overhaul this baby. I'm keeping the stuff that works (i.e. the labels that sell) and I'm turfing what doesn't (i.e. the recycled clothing). 

I've spent today contacting new kids clothing labels to add to my existing range as I'll have to double the amount of stock in here. It's not easy finding them either, especially on a Friday afternoon. I'm looking at Australian and overseas labels and hoping that by adding all these in I will get myself a bunch of new customers and really make a success of this. 


Tomorrow I drop Emily off at her Daddy's for the first time since the separation. I know it will be hard but at least this time it's only a four hour visit and she'll be back for her midday nap. 


I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow and a new blonder me will emerge. I'm going to really concentrate on eating healthy because the last week I've done nothing but eat crap at night and watch bad TV. Lets hope my modem finally arrives tonight because having no internet at home is killing me! 


What are your plans this weekend? 

One Day at a Time

It was an absolutely huge market day and I wish I had of grabbed some photo's, but honestly it was just too busy!

It started at 5:30am with a toddler who decided it was time to get up and sang "mummy mummy mummy" for about 1/2 an hour before I finally dragged my tired ass out of bed.

After that it was go, go, go setting up my market stall and opening the shop for the annual Traders Market Day in Albury. Because we're a twin city with Albury on the NSW side and Wodonga on the VIC side, half the population got the day off with VIC Labour Day and they all came over for a family fun day at QEII Square.

All I can say is it was hugely busy, although I would have liked to be busier. I did better than this time last year but not as good as two years ago. Considering I now have new kid's clothing and shoes in the shop whereas last year there was only recycled kids clothing, I expected a much bigger days trade. But I guess with all the flooding and economy worries, a lot of people weren't spending.

Hubby picked up Emily who hardly slept today and was really grumpy so I decided we needed fish and chips for dinner as I just couldn't deal with sore feet, a grumpy toddler, a frustrated hubby and cooking tonight. But now I feel sooooo guilty that I ate all those chips. It's always when your busy and tired that you give in and go for the easy take away option. To make matters worse I'm sitting here watching The Biggest Looser and all the ads in between are weight loss program ads like Lite 'n' Easy and Weight Watchers!

Tomorrow morning I have to meet with the creative team from Aus Stereo to create my new radio ad. I've been trying to think of something creative and punchy that really gets the message about the shop across to my customers. I'm changing everything about the shop except the name and I'm trying hard to pick up those customers that never came in before because they only bought new and up-market brands. It's really hard changing the reputation of an existing business. When your a new business you have no reputation and so people naturally come in to see the new kid on the block. But when your an existing business and you already have a particular reputation, it is that much harder to convince people to come in and see what's new.

I think this week is going to be a "one day at a time" week. I literally have something major on every day and no time for rest. Here's hoping next week is a little less stressful!

The reason for everything I do......

Fresh

Sometimes it's hard to come up with new ideas. Yesterday I spent most of the day trying to decide on what to put in my window. It shouldn't be hard to do a window. But when it's the end of a season and you've seen the same Gaia Organic Cotton and Eternal Creation Clothing for the last 6 months it's hard to decide what to put in it.

So this is what I picked:

I decided on a handmade mixed with the current season. I have Walnut Melbourne Cruise Shoes in Taupe, a Skeanie cowboy hat, Gaia Organic Cotton Bodysuit, Handmade by Terri Applique singlet, Eternal Creation shirt and shorts, Three Potato Four dress and C for Cat reversible dress. The Mummy and Bubby owl set by A Dor able is one of my favourites. The baby owl has a rattle in it and the mummy owl is the perfect size for a cot throw cushion. The teddy has been with the shop since I bought it last year.

In my quest to increase sales for kids clothing online I went to see Mrs Doodlebug to get some artistic help with drawing a bear and coming up with a color scheme for the shop. After we'd told each other our life stories, ate a bowl of cherries, played with her gorgeous baby (who coincidentally has the same name as mine), wondered about how she's English born in August married to an Aussie and I'm an Aussie born in August married to and Irishman who we both met our husbands whilst on holidays immediately getting pregnant and both our husbands have their birthdays in January, we finally put pen to paper and drew the most quirky, whimsical bear I have ever seen. She truly is talented. Mad but talented! We also picked out a new color scheme for the shop but you'll have to wait to see what that is.

Next I helped her with deciding on a Madeit.com shop, Etsy shop or Pinterest. It can be so confusing when you have a great product that your ready to take to the next level and there are so many choices. I suggested she stick to Facebook and Madeit.com and the rest would come when she perfected these. So I was wrapt today when I got and email to say she had opened her Madeit.com Doodlebugs shop!

I think it's great that we can help each other with our businesses. We get to double up on promoting our business through each other and our networks so it's win win.

Potty Talk

This morning my 18 month old started pulling down her pants, doing this strange dance and making this weird whiny sound. "Muuummmmyyyy" she was whining. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with her. So I ignored it.

Half an hour later and I'm in the shower and the same whiny "Muuuummmmyyy" comes through the door. This time the pants are off and she's almost got the nappy off. Next thing she lifts up the toilets seat. I bolt out the shower screaming "noooo!". She of course started crying. Could she want to sit on the toilet? I pop her on and voila! She wee's!

This is something I wasn't prepared for. Talking, yes. Moving to a big bed, yes. Toilet training......seriously at 18 months?? I really didn't think I'd be dealing with it for another 6-12 months. Plenty of time to read up and learn all about it. Plenty of time to stock up on training pants and buy a potty. And I thought it would be me showing her what to do, not her showing me that's she's ready.

Maybe it's because when they stop wearing nappies they're no longer babies. Miss E is the only baby I'm having so I'm trying to hold onto those baby years for as long as possible. On the one hand I'm really proud to have such an advanced child, on the other hand I'm sad that she's growing up so fast.

So tonight I'm spending time researching toilet training and potty's. Fun!

Soon she'll have her own blog!

One Hell of a Day!!!

Seriously what a day! Dropped Miss E off to childcare only to get a phone call an hour later saying she had fallen off a chair and hit her head really hard on their floor and although there was no lump, she was very tired and very unhappy. So I called the only person I could, my Mum. Thank goodness for Mums. She came into the shop immediately and took over so I could race to childcare and find a perfectly OK little girl. But since Mum was already there and I had turned up to collect Miss E, I thought I might as well take her out for the rest of the day and she can spend it with my Mum.


Before we leave it's noted she doesn't have her cardigan and it happens to be one of the coldest summers day since I don't know when (it actually snowed on the mountain today). I was informed she was eating strawberries straight out of the garden and got juice all down the front so they have it in the laundry soaking. Who the hell supervises these kids???


Anyway back to my little shop which was dead from wind, rain and cold to find Mum giving out all the wrong information to a prospective supplier of recycled children's clothing. Great! I inform Mum that Miss E has no cardigan and is cold, hasn't had a nap yet and it's way past her bedtime, and has had three helpings of lunch so no need to feed her. I ask Mum to swing past our place on the way home and pick up a bottle, nappies and cardigan so Miss E would be comfortable, fed and warm for the rest of the day. "Try to get her to bed as soon as you get home because she'll be going mental from being over tired" I say.


At 2pm the phone rings and it's Mum. "I just got Miss E off to bed now. We stopped at the supermarket on the way home because I realised I didn't have the key to your house with me, and I bought some nappies, a bottle and some size 1 winter PJ's because I thought they'd be more useful than a jumper. It's really strange but she didn't want any lunch." The nappies and PJ's were too small and the bottle was the wrong brand! By the way so you think she heard me about Miss E having 3 helpings of lunch so no need to feed her??? Aaarrrggghhh!


At 4pm I close the shop after having a whole 2 customers for the day. I call Mum on the way who informs me Miss E is up and fine. I ask her does she think she's up to getting the groceries if I take her to Aldis now and Mum replies "yes". Wrong!! She was grumpy, tired, running green snotty nose and red swollen eyes. Poor bub. I finally placate her with my wallet. She loves to pull the cards in and out of their slots.


On the way home I get McDonald's because hubby is buggered and there's no way I'm cooking after that. Miss E refuses to eat, insists on sitting on my knee watching Ra Ra the noisy lion over and over, and then refuses to put on her PJ's. Following her down the hallway she sees Daddy and makes a dash for him. She tumbles down three tiled steps before I could stop her and pierces her lip with her tooth. Bugger!!! We spend the next hour with a cold face washer, dummy, bottle, stuffed toys and Ra Ra trying to calm her down. Thank God it only took 10 minutes to actually get her to sleep.

A bit of a fat lip :-(

Tomorrow she is supposed to get her 18 month vaccination but somehow I think I'll be rescheduling. All I can say is Thank God today is over and now I'm off to bed........Goodnight!

Al Olio

It's been a gruelling couple of days at the shop. I have my summer sale on and people have been going crazy over the recycled children's clothing. Weird because it sat there for the last 4-5 months and didn't budge, now all of a sudden it's on sale and they're swarming like bee's. I don't think I could have fitted any more women in my shop this morning. Mum's with kids, there mum's tagging along watching the little ones who insist on trying to run off out the door (luckily I have a child gate locking them in).

By 11am (I open at 10am) I had met my sales target for the day. Brilliant! Now I can sit back and relax. Wrong, wrong wrong! I check my emails and 3 suppliers want me to go to viewings of Summer 2012/13 stock. What! This summer is not even over. This is something I've learnt. You buy 6 months in advance and designers design 9-12 months in advance. Lucky I'm an organiser so planning this far in advance is kind of fun. Although I've already forgotten what I bought for winter 2012.......

Hubby had an overnight installation job (he works in IT) so I feel like I've hardly seen him the last couple of days. We wave at each other in the driveway and kiss each other when we get a second. Because of the type of work he does and who he works for he often has trips away. Unfortunately we are both away one week or another for most of February and Miss E will be in a one parent household for most of the month. Great timing since she's decided to be super clingy now.

So to unwind tonight I thought I'd make myself a late supper of Spagetti Al Olio with a little chilli, relax in front of my laptop and catch up on my blog. I love cooking. There's something so relaxing and cathartic about creating something special to sit and enjoy at the end of a hectic day. Well I put way too much chilli in the spagetti and now my mouth in on fire! All I can do is laugh.

Life is busy and throws us challenges every day. It's how we handle them that matters.  How do you unwind?

Webisphere

Why do teenagers persist in hitting my light box sign out the front of my shop? Is it because they can reach it when they jump high enough? Is it because it's so boring walking down the street with a bunch of hormonal, pimple faced friends and that's the only exciting thing they can think of to do? It drives me crazy! I'm just waiting for it to explode one day and fall all over their little heads.....wishful thinking.....

This is the front of my little shop Bearly Worn in Albury

Speaking of the shop, I spent about two hours yesterday conversing with my favourite web geek Fiona who gave me loads of tips and tricks to organically get my website on the first page of the Google searches.

Two days ago I wrote down some goals for 2012 and one of them was to get at least one online sale per day. Children's clothing on-line is incredibly competitive so it's great to find out exactly how Google works and how to get my website up there without paying Google $500 a month for AdWords.

Basically it's a popularity contest and the more my site is written about and linked to the better. So now I'm trawling for kids fashion reviews and blogs that I can leave comments on and link to my site to get it up there. I've also got myself a gravatar (globally recognised avatar) so that every time I do make a comment my picture comes up.

So my next step is modernising my logo and home page. I'm starting with my Bear. It's not that there's anything wrong with the little fella but he's just a bit drab and watercolor-like. Maybe old-fashioned is more the point. I inherited him when I bought the shop and if the rest of the place can have a face lift, so can he! So, I'm calling on my friend Mrs Doodlebug who does amazing work and hopefully she can come up with something for me. God I haven't even asked her what it'll cost me yet!

Step 3 is to get my web geek Fiona  to update my artwork and logo on-line. I've decided to change around some of the wording so that it says New and Recycled Children's Clothing instead of the other way around.

Which brings me back to my damn light box.....what to do with that? Do I bother being charged a fortune to change it or will people not really notice it or care? Is it more important to update what's on-line and my business cards etc? Or should I be a perfectionist and update all of it?

At the end of the day it all comes down to dollars and cents so I guess I'll prioritise as usual and start with "A" and move my way down the list.

Best case scenario the ratbag teens hit it and it breaks and the insurance company pays for it........but that is wishful thinking!