Holiday Boutique - This Saturday December 3rd

I will be at Bathgate Elementary School in Mission Vijeo this Saturday. Please stop by if your local.

Bathgate Elementary School - 27642 Napoli Way, Mission Viejo, CA



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Happy Thanksgiving

I wanted to wish everyone a happy and safe Thanksgiving. My turkey day will be followed by our annual trip to the outlet mall on Black Friday. That's right folks I am one of those people - haha. It's a family tradition now - my mom, aunt and I hit the sales every year now for about 5 years. It's my version of going into a big football game. Get ready and fight your way through.
Here a few photos of table from last year.

Small Business goal setting 2012

via sixwordstoryeveryday.com

I am so close to my sales goal for the year I can taste it! It's a overwhelming feeling. I can't believe what I thought was this crazy goal at the beginning of the year would happen. Of course I have other goals as well but this one gets to me the most. Not without a lot of help, crying, hard work, stress and road blocks this year but it happened.

I wanted to triple my business over last year. To me that was huge. With that being said, I reason I am so close was because I expanded into a whole new market. The wedding market. I began to really sell wedding related items which pushed my sales to meet my goal.

So now I start thinking of 2012. Can I do it again? What should my new sales goal be for 2012? How can I make it happen?

Here is a list of things that I need to look at in order to make this goal a reality. You can ask yourself the same things.

1. Create new/test products on regular basis. This one is going to be hard but I think crucial to my business or any business. If I want customers to return I need to have new things for them to buy and to attract new customers.
2. Streamline where I can.Streamlining anything can help save you time, money and effort in the long run. See what you can streamline in your own business. Can you make something easier or faster? Can you ask for help? Can you order more inventory at one time?
3. Cutting costs.This is a big one for me. I need to start really getting my wholesale accounts for supplies in order. I don't want to have to run to the local retail shop every time I run of of something. Somethings I already buy wholesale. One example is a adhesive. I got through so much of it you would think I could glue a car together by now.
4. Making my name known.You can never get enough of this. It seems easy enough but its harder than you think. I have not done as much of this as I should have this year. The reason - I am scared. I am scared it might actually work and I will get so many orders I don't know if I could keep up ( I still have full time 40 hour week job). That being said if I don't get more orders or new clients how am I going to make my goals? Starting in 2012 I am going to start getting my name out there - in the "real" world and online.

What are your goals for 2012? How are you going to meet them or exceed them?

Steal of the week: Canned Corn

You read correctly. My steal this week is canned corn from Target. Not sure why, but they are having a major sale on canned vegetables and soups. I purchased them at only .49 cents a can. If you have coupons as well these could be free if you like extreme couponing.

Recap of 2nd Holiday Boutique

I had my 2nd Holiday Boutique on Saturday. This one was a bit crazy in the beginning. I arrived what I thought was early but boy was I wrong. There was all kinds of people already there and setting up. This one was crazy for one reason - pick your own spot. Which means the earlier you are the better spot you would get. I lucked out and got a good front corner spot. They provided the table and chair. They table is about half as wide as a regular 6 foot table.  It made my table look pretty full which worked for me.

I also did the one by myself, which in it self is a different experience. Not having anyone to help you does take some of the fun out of it. Luckily my products are small so I don't have lots of bins to carry around. The tables were really close together to fit all of us in one room so I had other vendors to talk to.

All in all it was a good learning experience. I did sell a little more than the last one but still not what I thought I would. I thought more Thanksgiving products would sell since its only next week. I have one more coming up on Dec 3rd. for this year. Not sure if I am going to participate in any next year.

Snapshot of part of my table.

Holiday Boutique - This Saturday November 12

I am going to be at my 2nd holiday boutique this Saturday in Foothill Ranch, CA. If you are local please stop by.

Steal of the week

I wanted to share my steal of the week. I was shopping in Target and I stopped by the shoe area. I don't normally stop the shoe area much anymore since for the longest time I didn't find anything and I am not a big fan of the new setup. Well I found the clearance section and found these wedges. They were my size and fit perfectly. The price - only $3.16! If follow me on Twitter you already saw them but I thought I would share them here as well.

Some other "steals" I found were clearance Halloween cake mixes, frosting & peeps.  I know my family doesn't care what color the cake is as long as its cake. They will be perfect for Thanksgiving.

This might be a fun new post series when I find "steals" while shopping.

Thanksgiving Time

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. What better way to add a bit of fun and whimsy to your table decor than with place cards. All place cards listed below can be customized to match your decor and quantity. Place cards are made from smooth 65 lb. card stock. You can easly write on them with a sharpie, maker or pen.



You can find all place cards here.

Photo template made by Pugly Pixel.

Hello November

Highlights of October:

October was a good month. We had lots of things to keep us busy. It's also been nice to have my parents closer so they can just drive over to spend the day with us.  

• 13 days at the gym
• Purchased the iphone 4s in white, this phone is life changing (in a good way).
• I had my first craft fair for Tiffzippy. 
• Finally took our hot air balloon ride. 
• Made some fun pretzel ghosts for a Halloween potluck.

Plans for November:

• Another local craft fair on November 12th.
• Going to Palm Springs for Thanksgiving - outlet mall shopping on black Friday. 
• Getting ready for the holiday season.