Thursday, November 4, 2010

Fake Halloween and More Business Developments

I hope you all had a happy Halloween. Blueberry got a ladybug costume handed down from a friend, which is great, but we didn't get around to putting it on her on Halloween, mostly because we didn't go anywhere that she needed to be costumed. So November 2nd rolled around and I finally got her dressed up and took pictures. And I'm so glad I did. Here she is from the front:





And the back.



I think I will participate more fully in Blueberry's future Halloweens, particularly when she is old enough to look forward to the tricking and the treating.

In an amazing coincidence, Blueberry's friend Almond* (Hamer Adventures blog in "These Blogs Are Great" section in the right column) was also a ladybug this Halloween.

I've been living and breathing my new business. I keep putting off telling you about it because I want to be at a certain state of readiness, but I don't know what this certain state is. There's always one more thing I want to do before I update you. Well, I would like you to come along with me on this journey and the journey has started so you'll have to run alongside this slow-moving train and hop on. I'll give you a hand.


In the previous post I stated that I had chosen the company name. Shortly thereafter, I dropped the name because the .com was taken, or maybe the .net, or maybe the blog name. I can't remember. So I went back to the drawing board and came up with another name for my upcycled crafts/environmental blog business.


My business is called Verdant Violet. Verdant because it's a green/eco-friendly effort and Violet because it's Blueberry's middle name, and she is the main inspiration for this new direction in my life.


I bought verdantviolet.com. It doesn't have my website on it yet, but it's my .com. You'll just have to trust me. Late Edit: By now, it may redirect to the still skeletal Verdant Violet blog, but that's only if I followed the cryptic directions correctly.

Even later edit: Apparently I did it backwards and the blog redirects to the parked domain name. What? Whatever, it's late and I'm tired and I will figure it out tomorrow.

The next day: By jove, I think I've got it.


I opened my crafts shop on Etsy and I've made one sale. That's okay because I have done zero marketing so far - I'm trying to build up inventory and flesh out a lot of details first. And that one sale is the first time I've ever sold anything that I've made**, so I was over the moon about it.

I would love to know any thoughts you have about the company name, or questions about product descriptions or whatever crosses your mind. It would really help me out as I am but a fledgling entrepreneur and I need your feedback.


*Names changed.

**Unless you count the Psychology Association of Chico State bake sales and I don't remember for certain if I ever baked anything for that. I do believe I bought muffins from Costco, and did I get to keep the money? No. So does that count? No.

4 comments:

Amacrine said...

I am very excited about this endeavor. Go, Hazel! covjvg

Giggles Murkowski said...

I love the PACS shout out!

Congratulations on moving ahead - you are doing so much, I love it!

Can't wait for the website to be up!

Tanya Cothran said...

I LOVE the items you have on your etsy site! Let us know when it's officially ready to go and I'll promote it to all the new moms in my life. Great stuff Hazel!

Hazel Spupspe said...

Thanks for the positive feedback everyone! It's my bread and butter!

Kate*, thanks for offering to spread the word! That is so nice! You could tell your new moms about the Etsy site anytime. I am posting new items as I make them, so the selection will keep getting bigger, and if anyone has a particular color, pattern or theme they'd like to see, I would be happy to make it and list it, with no obligation to buy on their part. I would be glad to hear their ideas, if nothing else. You could also wait a while to tell them; that would be fine by me. :)

*Name changed.