Small Business Recap 2012

via sixwordstoryeveryday.com

I posted my business goals for 2012 back in December of 2011. I also did a recap in April this year. Now its the end of 2012 and lets see how I did. 

Goals:

1. Create new/test products on regular basis. I don't think I will ever be happy with the amount of products I create/test. I found through out the year this is not really a goal but good business practice for growing your business. You and I should always be thinking out of the box and keep coming up with new ideas.   
2. Streamline where I can. I am going to mark this goal complete! I streamlined my paper inventory which really helped. I also started shipping free paper color samples to customers which has helped a lot for them to see and touch the paper before ordering. No more surprise colors when your order comes in the mail. I FINALLY (I put finally in all caps since I must have been living under a rock for not starting this sooner!) started using paypal for shipping. Talk about streamlining! Just printing shipping labels at home has saved me money, time and gas. I still go to the post office for international orders but that is fine by me.
3. Cutting costs. This one is kinda part of #2. Streamlining and cutting costs go hand in hand. I will also say I made good progress for this goal with shipping via paypal.  
4. Making my name known. I make some progress, but again I don't think it could ever be enough. I reached out to local vendors (only had a couple of replies), I advertised on a wedding blog which I know brought traffic to my site but not sure how many sales came from it. A new goal for 2013 is to open my own online store other than etsy and artfire. I just feel its time, I don't want to have all my eggs in one basket.

Another goal I had was my sales goal for the year. I am happy to report I made it! I didn't make it until late December but I made it and that is what counts.

Recap: March Photo A Day

I did it, I completed the March Photo A Day Challenge. I took a photo of something each day for the 31 days of March. I started off strong but it did get harder as the month went on. I am happy I tried it for a month, I am taking April off. I am not sure if I would it again but it is fun to have all the photos to look back on. I will be scrapbooking this just fun. Below you can see all the photos I took in order.

click to see a larger view

Bridal Expo Recap

I attended my first bridal expo as a vendor this past weekend. I am glad I did but now I need to wait and see if it was worth it. I have mixed feels from the show. I thought the attendance was a little low for the size of the event. It's turns around I was right, the expo vendor said. You don't sell anything at these events it's all for the referral. I thought it would be good to do a expo in the beginning of the year since most brides start their planning around now. My mom came with me to help out. It was nice to have her there to talk to when it was slow.

I handed out a good number of cards and coupons but didn't get the response from brides I was looking for. I did hear "cute" a lot just like when I attended the craft fairs. I really think it's the area I live in. My online sales will tell you that as well, I sell much more to the east coast then I do the west. I knew that going in but I had to try. I spend money, time and energy getting everything ready but as a small business you have to try things at least once.

Now for the rest of the leg work. I handed out cards and coupons but the nice thing about this show was the email list you get after the show is over. For being a vendor at the expo I received a email list of every bride that signed up - even if they didn't attend. So now I am entering the world of email marketing. This is something new to me, I signed up with Mail Chimp to send my emails out. I am going to try and get my first emails out by next week.