Working on my Business!!

Another week & no time to blog again.  I also can’t seem to get in the Christmas Spirit.  I’m super tired from work & all I want to do it work on making Stella a real business so days in the office drag along so slowly.  It’s been awhile since I blogged about business plans so here are some updates.

Our website needs some loving but we are slowly getting there.  I need to magically become a fancy graphic designer.  Online sales are slow and we appreciate everyone we have.  With time restraints I’m having a hard time updating the new items we make, I’m hoping in the New Year to dedicate more time to this.

Last week we had a small booth on a local farmers market with other vendors, the first time we did this we did rather well.  This week not so much, I was a little disappointed however it was freezing and who wants to stand outside looking at jewelry when they can be inside with hot chocolate.  However the night was not a total bust.  After the event we went to the Tuned Out Christmas Party at a local bar.  We had the jewelry with us & sold 6 pieces while at the bar.  Guess I just need to take the jewelry to the bar from now on J Liquor can only help sales right?

Sunday my friend Kristin kindly included our pieces in a photo shoot, we are super excited to see all the shots.  Here’s a sneak peak;

Thank you Kristin & Krystal.

I'll be back with a fun fashion post tomorrow for Friday Fancies.  This week its all about the Sparkle!!  

working on my business update

The new logo!!  What do you think?

To continue building Stella Jewelry I felt a new logo was in order, luckily my business partner Tricia was on board too.  My friend Taryn created the logo above and I am in love.  The clean likes and fun font are just what I wanted!  

I love the chic yet modern look and feel it represents my grown brand really well.

Along with making the logo she also made us a blog button for advertising.

Check out emyselfandi.com to see it in action.

Today we also had a trunk show at Plantagenet Rose, Roanoke, which went really well. Thank you to all those that came out.  I loved being able to show off the new logo.

working on my business!

Did anyone get the title of the blog? "working on my fitness business"? Ok lame? I just couldn't get the fergie song out of my head when I started writing this blog lol.

I have spent most of this week thinking, talking, working on my business.  It was almost two years ago when we decided to really do something with jewelry, back then I wasn't passionate and didn't have confidence.  Things are different now, I'm motivated to create the life I want.  So my business partner and I are planning to do a soft launch on April 1st, with new advertising, a full etsy shop, new logo and lots new jewelry. This seems really soon but I'm impatient and want to dig right into my business.

This post could get long, I will try not to write too much :)

The Logo:

So this is our current logo which I LOVE, however the colors and the shape haven't been the easiest to work with on price tags etc. Plus I can be a little OCD and need everything to be symmetrical.  Thankfully my friend Taryn, who designed this logo, was willing to help me with a new logo to re-launch the right way.  We talked about new colors and using clean lines and fonts.  I am really looking forward to seeing her designs.

Displays:

We hadn't updated the displays at Plantagenet Rose pretty much since January which is somewhat unprofessional.  People are shopping for Spring and they don't want to see the same display or merchandise they saw during the holidays.  My plan from now on is to keep the displays relevant and update them every month.

How lovely are the handcrafted wooden earring holders?

My Mum purchased them from a company in Colorado.

Also, I love the cream bases we used for our display.  My Parents so kindly made them for us and they are perfect, clean color, clean lines, perfect for the new style we are going for.

Website:

This weekend my friend, Jenna, took pictures of our spring stock for the website!  Luckily there is some really interesting places in downtown Roanoke.  I wanted to go with something that related to Roanoke and a little rustic.  We decided the area by the railroad was perfect.  I can't wait to see the outcome and how they look on an all new website!

Selling:

In the past we have had giveaways on facebook and through other sites and they have always increased traffic to our website. Unfortunately we have not put any effort into online selling.  These giveaways are fun and get our name out there but don't show people where they can buy/see our merchandise.  So finally I found the time/effort to take some pictures of our current stock and get them loaded on to Etsy.

I am proud to say we now have 16 items on Etsy.  It may not seem like a lot but it takes me about 15 mins to add one item.  That has to get faster the more I do it, at least I hope anyway! 

Well this ended up being a long post, hopefully some of you enjoyed reading about my current business adventures!  If you didn't I apologize for boring you for 15 mins :)

Happy International Womens Day.

So its a little after midnight but March 08, 2011 was International Women's Day.  I will admit I don't know much about the organization but basically they celebrate and bring awareness to women's equality and rights.

So while I read up a little bit about the organization, which you can do here, I thought about a women who inspires me! 

I know some of you are going to read this and think, wow she inspires you? shes always moody and is stuck up, and from the way she looks sometimes in tabloids I don't blame you for thinking that.  However, there is so much more to this women, I know cause we are friends!

www.allure.com

Ok we aren't friends, I can dream of meeting my living idol right? 

For better or worse I have always loved Victoria Beckham's style, clothes, hair, shoes, make up and honestly that has not changed in the last decade as she grew up and changed my taste did too, and thank god! lol  .............Although I still love glitter lol  However not only is she one of the most fashionable people.  I admire her for lots of other reasons, some superficially and some a little deeper:

* She is an amazing business women, she has branded herself and her husband over the years, much like style, her brands evolved.
* She is funny, don't let the pout fool you, you would look like that with a hundred people taking your picture every time you get out of the car. 
* Shes British :)
* She seems to be a great mother and a great wife and stands by her husband. Who of course is hot! How could not admire her taste in men when shes married to David Beckham.
* She has overcome a lot of issues from death threats, tabloid gossip and hatred just for being who she is. I admire the strength she must have to continue to deal with these things.
* She was a Spice Girl ~ girl power!
* She doesn't take herself to seriously.
* She goes for what she wants and doesn't seem to give up until she gets it.
* She really has become an amazing designer, I love her structured dresses and now has a gorgeous bag line.
* She really is Posh and always has perfect hair.

Starting to create....

So as my first week not working at my part time job comes to an end I thought I would go over the baby steps I’ve taken to create my new life and career.

The weekend ~ As I mentioned, I went to Charleston SC to get away for a couple of days and see a friend.  It was a great break and I was able to find some cute beads for my business.  I also had a bunch of ideas for a photo shoot for my summer collection by the water and downtown.

Monday ~ I spent the Morning with my Mum shopping for things for her store.  Then went to Blacksburg with Tricia (friends/business partner) to visit Beadsburg only to find out after 30 mins of the GPS taking us all over that the store was closed on Monday’s lol 

Then I got to see the beautiful baby Brianna.  Rachel and Matt definitely made one cute little love muffin!!  I fell in love immediately and cannot wait until she is around 1 or 2 yrs old and can talk and be animated J

 Isn't she the cutest!!!!

Although, I didn’t get to much business stuff done it was great to have a day off and see some of my favorite people.  My life needed this; I see some of my friends a lot and others never.  Working less will hopefully make it easier for me to make time for people who I care about.

Tuesday ~ I met up with Jenna a friend and photographer (she a new blogger at http://birdseyeviewoflife.blogspot.com/ go follow her) to talk about a photo shoot for my Spring Jewelry Collection.  We spent most of the time talking, like girls do,  but did come up with some great concepts.  Right now, I am leaning towards a very girly tea party think a little Alice in Wonderland.  Lots of tea cups and clocks with the model in a cute spring dress, or just a cute downtown photo shoot.  I want something bright and fun.  Another idea was to convince a local Cupcake store to let us shoot there for some of the pictures! I am indecisive so I need to think about this some more.  Let me know your opinions! I would love to hear them.

Wednesday ~ I got quite a bit of the Spring Collection started.   Not completed but started and there is a clear direction I am going in.  I want the collection to be girly and feminine with some pieces that have a little edge to them.   

Bad Blackberry pick but this is a piece I'm currently working on.

Thursday ~ Continued to work on my Spring Collection and placed some supply orders.

Friday ~ I plan to relax and not doing anything business or work related.  Just a good chill night maybe go see No Strings Attached.  Has anyone seen it?