It's going to be a busy summer

oh my gosh...it's the first warm days of spring.  I'm so excited that it's warm outside.  Usually we have warm days in March, and occasionally in Feb.  This year is already another wacky weather year. 

So what's been going on during this lovely weather?  We have the outdoor work bug.  Last fall we cut down some pear trees that attracted so many bees it made the spring and fall almost impossible to be outside without being stung.  So with those gone we were missing our trees.  This weekend we bought an October Glory Maple tree for our yard and planted it with lots of love.  R found as many worms as he could and put them in the dirt by the tree to help it grow. 

I also sent off my applications for two local art shows.  I've already heard back from the Mackinaw Valley Vineyard, where I'll be selling my flowers and wine charms on July 21.  The other is at our local botanic gardens and that is a juried show.  Not sure when I'll find out about that....but I'll let you know.  Then today I received the application information for an art Fridays event which is also local.  Every 4th Friday from May to August there is an Art on the Boardwalk event.  It's a small boardwalk area next to some lovely local shops.  It draws quite a crowd and I actually think I'd do really well here.  So I plan to apply for all 4 Fridays!  It's a juried show, so if I get in I'll be super busy.  And that means my first show would be in less than two months.  ACK!

I'm super excited, and the creative fire is glowing.  Tonight I set up my little table and get to work.  My to-do list is pages long, but first I need to make stuff.  I'm thinking more wreaths for sure.  Any other suggestions?  I know I need more of everything but what's your favorite thing to see? 

For this week I have new wine charms in the shop.  I had a blast with colors this time around.  I went bright and fun and summery.  We're starting with bright pink then onto an amazing blue. The blue one has those satin beads that make glass look like, well satin. It's too delicious to get the full affect in a photograph.

 Bright Pink wine charm purchase information

Fun Blue wine charm purchase information

what's in a name?

So I've been over my head in behind the scenes business decisions the last two weeks.  I have a to do list and deadlines that are fast approaching which forced me to sit down and get stressed out.  I figure I'll share some of that thought process, as cyclical as it is, with you.

I plan to apply to sell in art shows this summer.  I have two local shows that I have applications ready to be sent in, and was thinking about doing a show up in the Chicago area.  The show up north is near home and I've seen the kinds of crowds it draws.  It's an extremely intimidating show to think about but I've always thought that it is a place that I'd do well at.  I still do.  It would be an excellent opportunity to force myself to really work and get up to speed by August.  The other two local shows are in June and July so by the August I would have my booth down. 

Unfortunately this show requires by business license number in the application.  I plan to get this license and have only been going slowly on it because on it I need to decide if I want to file for a "Doing Business As" certificate.  The DBA is would allow me to open a checking account as Crymson Flower instead of just my legal name.  A DBA takes 3-4 weeks to get. 

This was a harder decision for me to make than I was anticipating. I love the idea of having Crymson Flower be me, even though for practical reasons I probably don't really  need it.  It would really only be valuable if someone were to write a check to Crymson Flower I could then cash that check.  But in reality if someone is writing me a check I would be there to tell them to write it out to me.  I also have a stronger Internet presence as Crymson verses my legal name, Amy McGovern.  This stems from my  natural tendencies to try to be kinda anonymous on the Internet.  But now that I am a business owner I think I need to have my name associated with my business.  I'm proud that I'm working on this business.  It's been a dream for a really long time and I want people to know that Amy McGovern is the person behind Crymson Flower. That there is in fact a person behind this business.  That is also important to me. 

So right now my decision is this.  I'm going to go by Amy McGovern as my business name legally for the paperwork.  I'll still use Crymson Flower as my banner and my Internet presence as I always have but I plan to also have my name more prominently visible.  My banner above now has Amy McGovern on it.  If next year I'm missing or feel the need to use Crymson Flower on the paperwork then I can add it on then.  I've also made the decision to wait on this particular Chicago area art fair.  I sill think I'll do well at this one but I think it's adding too much stress on my already large to do list.  I felt better when I admitted that to myself this morning.  I am looking for a Christmas show in the Chicago area to sell at.  That would give me more time and I'd be able to set up a Christmas tree full of flowers and beaded ornaments.  It would be amazing! 

That is my business plan as of right now.  Today I feel good about it.  Now onto more flowery goodnesses.  Here's my newest lily.  Off white petals tipped with dark purple seed beads.  The center is a small pop of red and blue faceted glass beads.  I wasn't sure about this flower.  When I put the beads together I thought it would be an ok flower, but when the petals came together I got very excited.  I think this one looks best paired with other flowers both beaded and fresh.

click here for purchase information

sneak peak friday

It was a bit of a slow week on the blog this week.  I've been hemming and hawing about some behind the scenes business decisions.  Nothing big, well kinda, but I like to make them bigger than they really are.  Things like whether or not I should make Crymson Flower my official business name, and if not should I change up my internet presence name.  I'm looking into shows and how to legally be a business in different cities and counties other than my own.  I also added pages to my blog.  If you want to know about how to take care of your flowers, or a little bit about me, or how to contact me check out the pages at the top.

But really what would affect you is what I'm thinking about with my shop.  I've decided to take the plunge into my higher priced items.  Right now the most expensive piece in my shop is $30.  Yep you can get an amazing flower for only $30.  I know I'm capable of more though.  I have plans to make a line of wedding flowers, I'm still in the designing process for these.  What's happening more quickly and what I've really been excited about the last couple weeks are wreaths.  They take a bit longer to make so I won't have a ton of them in the shop all at once.  But boy oh boy do I have ideas for different wreaths.  Here's the first sneak peak of what this wreath looked like a week ago.  Today it looks just about done.  Expect it in the shop next week.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend.  Enjoy warmer weather and the feeling of spring in the air.

taking care of business

Today was a busy day.  I started the day with a list of goals, register for my EIN, call the county clerks office to figure out what I need, call my phone company, and brainstorm website ideas.  That's a pretty good list considering I also had to play several games of dinosaurs vs trucks and dinosaurs in the tent...and go grocery shopping.

I joined a team on Etsy, actually I joined a couple of them in my attempts at socializing in social media.  But the one team I'm actually participating in is a marketing team filled with very helpful people.  Basically a team on Etsy is a private forum, you apply to get in, some take everyone some are more specific.  Anyway there is a thread in there called, what are you doing to build your business today?  I posted my goals which gave me the kick in the butt to actually accomplish more than I thought possible today.

I now have my official EIN!  Step one check!  I called the county clerks office and figured out the process of getting my DBA certificate.  I decided to go all out and officially name my business Crymson Flower instead of just going by my name. Now I need to get down the the office fill out a form then advertise in the local newspaper for a couple weeks.  Then I'm good to go!!!  I didn't get to calling the phone company, instead I took advantage of the first sunny day in ages.  I snapped all new pics of several flowers and a sneak peak of a new project.  So it's not just this week that there are new flowers in the shop...next week too!

Speaking of new flowers here's some close up pretty pictures of the new red's in Crymson Flower.  A lily and rose.  I must have made them around Valentine's based on the color.  What's nice about them is that they aren't just valentine flowers, they can be Christmas flowers, or even everyday flowers.

 French beaded Red Lily purchase information

French beaded Red and Pink rose purchase information

it's a plan

Apparently writing business plans are all the rage now a days.  Ok they always were the thing to do, I just always ignored that little part of what I would need to do if I ever started up my business.  I've been doing some reading up on said business plan and decided to give it a go.  I ended up with 5 pages of handwritten scribble detailing the beginning parts  of what will be my business plan for 2013.

Here's how I went about it.  I wrote down 4-5 major goals I want accomplished by the end of the calendar year.  Big ones, but not unattainable ones.  I didn't write that I wanted to quit my day job or to have made enough bucks to buy a small island.  I did write that I wanted my site to be getting about 50 hits daily.  That doesn't seem like a lot but right now I'm struggling for 10.  So it's a good goal.  I also wrote that I'd like to make some money, not that I expect to be in the black this year, but I want to have at least sold some pieces.   I also added in some smaller goals, mostly regarding inventory.  What I want in my shop by the end of the year type stuff.  The important part about this list was that the goals needed to be measurable.  I need a number of flowers I want in the store by a certain date.  OR a product line in the store by a certain time.  Daily hits can be measured in my Stats page. 

Ok great I have goals.  Phew, that was tough.  The tougher part was brainstorming how to attain these goals.  The biggest one is getting out there and finding people, finding my audience.  It's possible and like C says I need to figure out who would buy a flower and where they hang out on Internet and go there.  So I have ideas, lists of places to try.  I have lists of art shows to apply to.  And that's as far as I've gotten after 5 pages of scribble.  I still have ideas and deadlines to make for products and smaller things that need to get done.  Then I should type it up so that I can read it again in a couple weeks when I need to reassess what needs to be worked on right now. 

It feels good to have it all written down.  More doable and less scary.  Because really its this business side of business that I find intimidating.  But that's ok because I read a quote that said If it doesn't scare you a little it's not worth doing.