Update

A bit of a late night blog today. Been a busy day due to my little boy having an ear infection 😢😢😢

So work wise only a bit of marketing and 1 new product made.

So update on instagram I hace gained 19 followers in 3 days so that is good. But the main thing is that I am getting lots of like on each post and 70% of them are from potential customers and not just other businesses. So the idea about hash tags is working.

I managed to make a new gothic headband/tiara today so that is good. I am pretty pleased with it.

I know the pictures aren’t great. But I am waiting on delivery of a photo box to help me with my pictures.

As sales are still very slow. I set up a sale in my ebay shop which is mostly traditional brand new items.

This is supposed to be my capital to allow me to buy materials to continue making. But due to ebay fees for the shop I need to sell some stock and quickly.

I have posted all my handmade items onto etsy, but again that is really slow to get views and no purchases so far.

So I think the next task is it increase my business on etsy.

Wish me luck

stores.ebay.co.uk/charleneweddingdesigns

Good day 😁😁😁

Had a really good day today. I have got a couple of products made and learnt a few things. 

Lets start with instagram. I have created a seperate business account to my personal one as I didnt want to bore all my friends and family who where not interested in my products. As I had no followers at all I was looking for help to get more. That when I realised I was hash tagging all the wrong things in my pictures.

I realised I needed to look at my business from the point of a customer and think about what kind of tags they would use and look at similar businesses to see how they atract their customers.

To do this I went on a bit of a mission and check out other businesses post with comments on and any that had something like “how do I order” or “can’t wait till back in stock”. I then looked at their tags and started using them. Lets hope it works

Only got a couple of things made today due to having both kids at home.

First is a new steampink bow tie 

Then some more skull earrings

Hopefully more to come tomorrow and some sales!!!

https://www.instagram.com/charlene_wedding_designs
www.etsy.com/uk/shop/charlieweddingdesign
www.facebook.co.uk/charleneweddingdesigns

Hard days

I knew when I decided to start this that some days would be tougher than others, well the last 2 have been really tough.

Currently I am surviving on about 3 hours sleep a night due to my little girl teething and my big boy having nightmares. One of the reasons I decided to work from home was because I know I can’t give my best when I have nights like these and when you are working for someone else I cant help but feel guilty if I am not giving 100%.

Despite this I have still manged to get some products made but there is soo much more I want and need to do to get this business up and running properly. 

I wanted to try my hand at some gothic style jewellery either for weddings or just a night out. As this would be something I could do when the kids where in bed or napping.

So far we have a gothic skull headband, made from recycled jewellery I actually really love this one.

Then we have a pink day of the dead hair comb.

Then finally some gothic skull earrings. I made a few different colours but these are my favourites.

Still I have some new fabric to make some new bags and bow ties I am thinking of doing hair bows and headbands as well but it will be finding the time to fo them.

Sales are still slow at the moment but maybe thats a good thing until I cam spend more time getting my base stock sorted.

Time to take a couple of days to spend with my kids then back on it after the weekend. But this time it will be with 2 kids at home full time!!! Roll on 7 weeks when my oldest goes to school lol.

1 week in

Well alot has been happening this last week trying to get my new business up and running and it is hard work especially with 2 kids in tow.

I have decided to consentrate on getting my product samples done and setting up a base stock first as there is no point offering something for sale if I haven’t got enough of the product ready. 

Doing research on alternative weddings I have found that it is harder to get things from normal channels for the budget bride. Such as ebay, if you type in gothic wedding it is mainly dresses from china and thats about it. So thinking about my own wedding and what things I was searching for I decided one of my products should be Favour Bags. 

If you look online you can get loads of your general organza bags cheap enough or even rustic style ones. But type in gothic and you get a choice of 3 which are basically black bags with either a rose or skull on. 

So I thought lets give it a go. I looked threw my fabric stock and pinked one I had alot of. A red and blue skull and roses theme and I luckily had a child free day (first one in about a year!!) so I cracked on making some. 

What do you think?? I was pretty please with them at first but was then worried about the colour. So going to stick these on ebay and Etsy first then pick a new colour to sell.

Next up hair accessories!!!

First Blog!!!!!

First Blog!!!

AAARRRGGGHHH I am finally doing it and taking the plunge into starting my own Business.

Well where to start I guess I should tell you a bit about myself. I am a mum to 2 gorgeous children and married to an Amazing man.

After working for the Same company for 15 years and travelling the UK with them, working my way up form a Part time staff member to General manager. I met the Man of my Dreams and became Pregnant with my Little boy. Having my son changed my perspective on life. I didn’t want to be working 60/70 hours a week, Leaving the house at 6am and not getting back until 2am. So we decided to move back closer to family and I would look for a Part time job.

Fast forward to 4 years later there was a Wedding, Buying a House and the birth of our Little Girl. I finally felt now was the right time to start my journey to achieving my Dream.

So lets start with what my goal is. I would love to open my own Alternative Wedding shop with a Mix of Gothic, Emo, Steampunk, Rock Chic wedding items as well as dresses. Being realistic I know that without a huge capital this is not going to happen. So lets start small and work our way up.

I wanted to start this blog to invite you along for the journey and to discuss Ideas and projects to help me on my way, Maybe I can help you too with Achieving your Dream. The first thing I have learnt is to ask for help when you need it. I have joined many Facebook groups offering help and advice to start you own business but there is only one I would recommend that really stand outs for me.

If any of you are starting up your own business or want help to increase Sales and interaction please look at the group Effie Moss – Build a Business you Love. Just search for it on Facebook. Effie is an Amazing inspiration to all Small business owners, and her own business Just for Tiny People has grown to be a massive success. If you are looking for Interactive advice not just Pages of writing and an actual person to talk to this is the group for you.

So where do we go from here??? I have started to make some Items of the Alternative Wedding and would love to share them with you and get some Feedback. With a Facebook page set up and a shop set up on Etsy and Ebay Fingers crossed the Dream will soon be a reality.

 

Feel Free to check out my Facebook Pages and shops

Etsy Shop

Ebay Shop

Facebook Page

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