January 2017 Traffic, Income and Goals

January has finished and I did my review. I know things did not go as I had planned them but that's okay. At least I know why and what I can do differently. Writing things down is really helping me. But early in the month I realized I needed some form of accountability. I've got my notes but those are easily ignored. Being an introvert makes me hesitant to just buddy up with a stranger so my blog (and whoever reads it) will be my accountability partner. I've already shared my goals and objectives for this year in my last post. Now, I plan to share my monthly and quarterly reviews. This will include traffic and income reports and wellness reports. Some areas will be more detailed than others since this is a blog focused on creation; particularly creating a successful business.

New Product Line #1 - Body Butters

So, you guys already know I've been experimenting with body butters for two years now. I've finally got the basic formula that I want to use down and have created a few that have just been released. Honestly, I am quite excited. I am loving body butters. I have never used them before, not even store bought. The closest I've come is using lotions that say they contain shea butter and/or cocoa butter to moisturize. They never work like they say they do so I never bothered looking into body butters. I don't know about you but many of us black people have a dry skin problem when fall and winter comes around. One bad enough, in some cases, that regular lotion will not even put a dent in. Many of us have been using petroleum oil since that was the thing to do. But if you know better, petroleum by products are not really good for your health long term. And the skin doesn't really soak them up well.

Well TADA!! Body Butters. My parents have been my main guinea pigs throughout this entire process. They love whatever I come out with because it works better than anything they've tried before. I tried these out on a few other people as well over the years and I am happy with the feedback. I actually got the formula down pat last December but it seemed too late to roll out even one body butter then. Low and behold, in January I got a request for something for muscle aches after working out. I did some research and made a post about it here already. So, one of my body butters will be the Muscle Body Butter, as I call it. Shout out to Work Hard Train Harder for the influence.

Anyway, this is the first new product line I hinted at in my Fall Favorites post. This is also the first new product line since the Massage n' Bath Oils back in 2013. For those I did not make a big to do, but I am doing so now because I missed out. Right now I've got four body butters; Chocolate Mint, Muscle, Lavender and Lemon. I also do custom orders so if you've got a natural scent in mind feel free to contact me and we'll set it up. Plenty of my products have come about because someone asked me for it.

Also, I am planning on more as time goes by so look out for those. Want to know when they are coming out so you can be the first to get them? Sign up for Newsletter to get New Product Updates and more.

~Lashette
Scarlet Moon Creations

Clone Wars

Today’s assignment: publish a post based on your own, personalized take on a Daily Prompt.

So that was today's assignment from Blogging 101. I just went to the Daily Post front page and my prompt is Clone Wars: If you could clone yourself, how would you split up your responsibilities?

You all have no idea how apt this prompt is. I was just thinking that maybe I should give up on Blogging 101 since I didn't have the time for it. But as you can see I persisted. 

My first thought was about how I would clone myself. If I had the choice of how my ability would manifest, I'd choose to clone myself like Naruto does with his Shadow Clone Technique (Kage Bunshin no Jutsu; yes I'm an anime fan). I came to this decision because unlike other types of cloning that I know of, this technique is both temporary and any experience a shadow clone has you will have once the clone has dispersed. For those who have never watched the show here's an example. If I made a clone of myself so that while I got some work done, my clone sat back and read a book, when I get rid of the clone it will feel as if I've done both my work and read the book. How awesome is that? Think of the things I could do? 

Now as to how I would split up my responsibilities, as of now I technically have 3 jobs. I have my day job as a Personal Assistant (check out my IG if you want to get little peeks at that), I also run Scarlet Moon Creations via Etsy and through word-of-mouth, and lastly I am trying to get my event services business up and running. Each of those work positions obviously require multiple tasks. For example, Scarlet Moon Creations entails my creating something, testing it, taking pictures, doing the math for pricing and shipping, posting the product on Etsy and on social media sites for promotion, and finally using the same social media sites as well as this blog as a behind the scenes look at my process. That's a lot of time as each of those tasks have sub tasks and its the same for my other work. Add in  my personal life where there is both work (cleaning, shopping, grooming, etc) and leisure (reading, watching tv or movies, dancing, etc) and I feel like most people do, like there's not enough time in the day. 

So, to answer the question, I think I would split myself into 5 (1 me + 4 clones), 1 for each business and the other two for personal business and errands and leisure activities. I think I'd have the original me rotate which I was going to do each day. Note: I'm not sure how this cloning technique works with physical changes to the body so I think I'll keep myself whole for bath time.

Teamwork

There is another new sort of partnership I started this year and it is going quite well. On Etsy, there is the team feature and actually I think it was in 2013 that I was invited to join a local team called Bronx Artisans of Etsy. It wasn't as advance then but this year, led by the wonderful Nellie Escalante, whose shop is Nelesc Designs, we've been doing more to help promote each other. We've now got a Facebook page as well as an Instagram account where we can share our promotions. There are lots of great Etsy shops and artists in the group, so this blog post is basically to shout out and pimp out my team members, enjoy:

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Rebel Orisha:   Instagram
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And many more.... Click the shop images to see their current inventory. And don't forget to find us and other Bronx Artisans of Etsy on Facebook and Instagram.

End of a Partnership

I've delayed writing about this for months. Literally, delayed writing,not just posting. I am only now putting words together. First, I was kind of lost and didn't know what to do. Then I didn't know how to explain what felt like a failure. Now, I only hesitate because I don't want to seem like I'm badmouthing anyone when my intention is only to update and share my experience.

Well from all of that you probably already know what I am about to say. My partnership with R is at an end. It was short but sweet. As a reminder, back in December I asked R to partner with me in the creation and running if an event planning business. They agreed and we excitedly embarked on this new venture. For the first few months if this year we met often, brainstorming and business building. 

Jason Eppink (Flickr)

Then we hit a bit of a snag on my end due to traveling for my day job (like Japan for a month, then LA and Pasadena for another month). Then I got sick and then they got sick and suddenly we haven't met, updated, or anything for months. I buckled down ans tried to get our rhythm back. Our first talk about funding seemed to make R wary. Neither of us are so financially stable enough to carry a new business but we had options to explore, being minority women looking to open our first small business.

Unfortunately from there things fell apart and after a month or two R told me it was probably bet that I go on with the business without her. I was left with a huge feeling of uncertainty since I had been unsure about going into business by myself before which was why I asked R to join me. Also, the way she worded her 'decision' left me unsure as to whether she was completely out of it or not. Lastly, we had spent quite a lot of time coming up with our business plan and other business ideas together. I didn't know if it was ethical to continue with those plans rather than starting from scratch with something that was completely my own.

So, I put it all in the back of my mind and let it percolate. I did talk to a few others to get their opinions and add that to the pot. This all happened back in July. And though I am still unsure about what rights I have to the plans we made, I know I can get a professional opinion about that, and I feel now that I can go on and start a business on my own.

Holiday Boot Camp

Hey guys,

Its been crazy in the crafting world and in the every day world too. This year I joined Etsy's Holiday Boot Camp and boy is it not what I thought. I thought I'd be getting emails once a week with goals or suggestions for how to prepare for the holiday shopping season. I get emails twice a week though and they are done already. Only eight emails though they came with great worksheets. I thought they would be paced out so you'd get a reminder as you gear up for and go through the holiday season. Kinda of like an e-personal trainer or drill sergeant. Guess I'll have to come up with my own way of doing that.

The first email was to set a goal for the season. My goal is too make $350 in profit by the end of the year. I picked this because I have only made two sales in as many years and I'd like to prove to myself that this can be profitable. I want to move towards the goal of having at least some money in my pocket when I finish my job in March next year. I also want to push myself to update and spruce up my shop and business practices.

There are things that I haven't done like finalize my logo and labels, update my product pictures and promote regularly on all social networks, that I should have done by now. My production and promotion processes should be streamlined by now but they are not. I needed the reason and the encouragement that this Holiday Boot Camp can give to focus more in this business and make it a success.

So, it has been 4 weeks now, I think, and a lot of what Etsy has suggested is on my list of things to do. After I thought out my goal, I wrote out (or typed up) a long list of things to do to get ready. Then I separated them into different categories like new listing, product pictures, social promotion and shipping. From there certain actions listed needed to be broken down into even smaller actions, so I did that as well. Now, I need to come up with a timeline and continue to go down that list. One of the things on that list is posting blogs more often about new products and about the Bronx Etsy Team members as well as other crafters and craft ideas I like and enjoy. Look out for those posts. I also plan to post a recap of this Holiday season; how it went and whether or not I reached me goal. See you on the other side.