Our Goals for 2013

So….

In our last post in this series, we discussed some of the things that worked good for us in 2012, as well as some of the things that didn’t quite go as well as planned. And so now, with our 2012 assessment done, here’s a sneak peek at what a few of our goals are for 2013

1) Replace My Old Laptop!- I got my 1st laptop computer in April of 2008, (a Dell Vostro) just in time to take it to my very first Quilt Market in Portland, Oregon. I don’t know if it would EVER have been termed as “state of the art”, but the only status it realistically qualifies for now, is as a “boat-anchor“. There’s no way I’ll make it through the development of another pattern with this pile of junk! My AutoCad program has been consistently crashing, if I can get it to start up at all that is, and I’m only having slightly better luck with my Photoshop program. The problem is, the process of choosing a new computer is TOTALLY overwhelming for me! I don’t know a Ram from a gigabyte and they ALL seem great when I’m playing with them at Best Buy, so I’ll be relying on the recommendation of a couple of close family members (one in particular, my son-in-law) as I make my choice, but does anyone out there care to make a recommendation?  🙂 

2) Vend at Our Very 1st Retail Show!- As most of you know, we’ve been vending at the two annual Quilt Markets for some time now (the 2012 Fall Market was my 10th), but increasingly, we’re feeling the pressure to vend at a retail show. To be sure, it’s very flattering to know there’s so many people that want to meet us and see our handiwork in person, but you know what else????

It’s also REALLY scary!!!  Why? Here’s a few of our concerns.

• Retail shows are takeaway shows. No one wants to order patterns. They want to take them home that day and therein lies the problem. I have NO CLUE how much product to bring! Let’s face it, it could be quite costly to bring way too many patterns to a retail show, not only in terms of shipping, but also in printing prior to the show and storage during & potentially after the show. But you know what? It could be equally costly to not have ENOUGH patterns available because you can’t sell what you don’t have on hand! 
• Not only is my current booth layout too small for the increased traffic we’re likely to see at a retail show, but it’s also not likely to be as conducive to retail browsing as it needs to be. How much more room do we need? How should we change the layout? I just don’t know….But here’s the deal….It just so happens that there’s going to be an Original Sewing & Quilting Expo in Raleigh, NC in June of 2013 and that’s practically in our backyard. Doesn’t it seem like that might be the perfect way for us to get our feet wet because…. a) with no shipping or flying, we won’t have as much invested  b) it’ll be WAY easier to experiment with a different booth set up  c) if we run low on a particular pattern, I can just send my husband home for more, and lastly but probably most important, d) since Raleigh is so close, it should be easier to talk one of our friends or family members into helping us out.

 So with all this in mind, it looks like we’ll likely be vending at the Original Sewing & Quilting Expo in Raleigh, NC next June. Can I count on seeing any of YOU there?and now for our biggest, & most ambitious goal of ALL for 2013…

3) Unveil My NEW Website!- That’s right! For a year now we’ve been quietly planning a TOTAL re-design of our website in an effort to make it more efficient and to give it a cleaner, more modern look. It’s a custom WordPress theme and I am really excited about showing it to you! The design work is finally finished and now we are working on the awesome task of importing the pictures and text for each and every page on our site as well as our Blog. It’s quite a job, but it will be so worth it when we’re finished. When will that be? The only promise I’m making is that the BIG UNVEIL will definitely be sometime during 2013, so stay tuned because we’re planning a Grand Opening party, complete with prizes, coupons and other fun stuff!

So… there you have it.  

These are our most important goals for the year 2013.  Next year at this time, we’ll once again analyze how well we met these objectives and share our findings with you here. If you’d like to share a comment about any of these goals  or if you’d like to share one of YOUR goals for the coming year, 
we’d love for you to do so in the space provided below. 

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