Hey all! If you follow my personal Instagram or Facebook page for Kat Curling Design Co, (Which you should if you aren't already because you like me enough to read my blog right?) you've probably seen me mention that I've been revamping the web site for Kat Curling Design Co.  over the past two months. If not, well now you're up to speed haha! Well in my last post  I mentioned that I'm on the cusp of taking the plunge into full time freelance life! Eeek! I'm pumped and equally terrified of course, but I've been prepping mentally and business-wise for the past few years to be honest.

I already know before I even type this post that the title is going to be misleading. I've spent the morning listening to podcasts while working, which is what I do when I'm feeling BLAH and more pessimistic than usual about my current work situation. This usually always leads to the same result; I get really pumped about pursuing my dreams and then wanting to quit my job and create my own dream job and then getting bummed because reality sets in a bit because of worry about money, stability or "adulting". But this time, I knew that I really had to do it. I can't do this anymore. My "job" is getting in the way of my dream at this point. All the time I spend stuck at my office, is time taking away from growing my business. It's getting in the way of me meeting with clients, stopping by the printer or working on the work I have so much passion for. So I don't know what's happening or going to happen in the future. I don't know where I will be in the next 3 months, 6 months or year. I don't know how long it will take me to make that leap into freelance, but I have to do it.  I can't keep putting it off out of fear or other people's fear for me.

So yes, amazing things are coming. I'm not positive what they will be, but failure is not an option. I may shift gears or end up evolving into a business I would've never dreamed, but failure is not something I can do. I believe in myself too much, my passion is too strong and I want to set an example and prove all of my own fears wrong.

Part of the reason why I started blogging was to connect with wonderful people and potentially help them in some way if I could. Whether it was by showing them cute cat pictures (like in my early days) or sharing with them how to style a vintage dress, I like to think that they and you are here because you all like what I write. (Even if it's just to join in on my sarcastic comments.)

When I first started blogging, I wouldn't have imagined that I'd be opening a brick and mortar store and then closing it and then going on adventures selling across Texas. Nor did I think that I'd be sharing with you tips for starting a business or using social media. So I am here today to ask you:
 

In my recent post about freelancing I mentioned that I had recently revamped the Gypsy Beard Web Site! (Swing by and check it out!) I also talked about BRANDING recently as well. So I wanted to dedicate a post to talking about the Gypsy Beard Brand.

So you have a product or a business idea aye? What's the next step? It's time to brand yoself fool. (I hope you said that in your best Mr. T voice) "What's in a brand?" You ask? I'll break it down for you.

There is A LOT going on behind the scenes these past few months! Rebranding is happening, the new Gypsy Beard web site is live, the blog has gotten a huge make over recently (still in progress though) and I've been getting my marketing pants back on and taking a new approach to my business. I've got plans guys. Plans!

This a hard post to write. As a business owner changing directions or realizing that something hasn't succeeded is hard pill to swallow. Over the past 9 months, I've opened a vintage clothing boutique and put my blood, sweat and tears into marketing, photographing, promoting and trying miserably to make something work in the wrong location. (I realize that 9 months isn't a long time in retail but bare with me here.)


Going into this, I knew that my toughest hurdle was going to be my location. My market is not here.  I live in a city where most people spend their free time mudding in their over sized dually trucks or honky tonking. To each their own, but those just aren't my customers. I was going to have to bring people from far away and create my market so to speak.

 I've had it in the back of my head for quite some time that maybe I should just start doing pop up shops and markets but closing down my brick and mortar would feel like I failed. But from a business stand point, it just isn't making sense anymore to stay where I am. And last weekend, when my beautiful tin ceiling began leaking and then a huge piece of ceiling and 100 year old dust and rotted wood turned mud plopped onto the floor in the middle of my shop, I knew it was time.

So, I'm currently looking for a new space and until then doing what I ultimately wanted to do: travel with my shop! It's with a heavy heart that I leave behind my beautiful loft style building and back patio but I cannot force something here that isn't mean to be just for the fear of feeling like I failed. That's just silly. I do feel however that I'm failing my devoted customers. The many people that I've met that have loved my shop have definitely made it worth it. These folks are wonderfully beautiful people! They've been what has kept my doors open this long. But don't worry we will still be around! Just not in the traditional sense! More on that later!

 This past weekend I met the lovely Rachael from VintageMoonFlower. (She makes the prettiest jewelry!) I bought her entire inventory of vintage! We shot the breeze for quite some time and she said to me "If you were in any other city like Dallas, Mckinney or Austin, you would be doing so well!" She confirmed my new desire to travel with my shop. 

So what I've learned this past month: changing directions isn't failure, it's just smart business. You adapt and learn what does and doesn't work. Once I accepted that, I've allowed myself to truly be excited about what is in the future for Gypsy Beard Studio.  I mean, I'm going to get to set up at amazing music festivals and markets where people are genuinely excited about what I have! I'm going to meet so many wonderful people and experience so many new things!

So keep an eye out for us. We'll soon be coming to a town near you in our traveling vintage shop! I plan to try to be at the Mckinney Trades Days and First Monday very frequently. The hunt is on for the perfect trailer/rv/van now!

Any suggestions for great markets / places to set up shop? I know I have some crafty friends out!

 

Are you planning or thinking about planning an awesome grand opening event? Are you on a budget? Well who isn't these days if they have a small business?! I wanted to share a little bit about my experience with my recent grand opening of my shop Gypsy Beard Studio! I was on a very, very tight budget and timeline. Luckily I had lots of friends and family that helped pitch in on bringing food and decorating. An hour before our grand opening when I was in the bathroom changing into my dress and feeling nauseous, they were the ones helping me pull it (and myself) all together. Thanks guys!

Step 1. Planning
Before you start anything,  I hope you have some sort of brand established for your business. In my recent post, Starting A Business On A Budget, I talk about the importance of this.  Having a brand says a lot of about who you are and creates a great first impression with your potential customers. Keep your brand in mind in all promotional and marketing materials you use. Have a logo that you use on everything so that customers will instantly recognize you or your products.

At this point you'll want to check with your city to see if you will need any special permits or permissions to have a large event. Most likely you won't have an issue. Make sure that your location has sufficient parking and space to accommodate your turnout. You don't want to step on anyone's toes by hogging all of the parking on the street.  (This wasn't an issue I was very worried about since nearly every business downtown shuts down after 5 PM and luckily we had several back up parking lots.)

Pick your date, time, location and what the event will entail as soon as possible and start spreading the word. Work out a daily schedule of to do's for several weeks leading up to the event. Plan a vague schedule for how you want to the night to go. If you'll be having food and drinks plan your menu and consider reaching out to sponsors for such items. Consider joining your local Chamber of Commerce. They will work wonders for you in terms of spreading the word about your business and offering advice. Which leads me to my topic:

Create A Buzz

One of the very first things I did when I got the keys to my store was paint the name of my store, coming soon and pretty doodles all over the windows. I also attached balloons to the inside side of the windows to get peoples attention. (I saw this on pinterest and immediately knew that I wanted to do it.) People were intrigued because we were different and had a very unique name for our small country town. The created a little bit of buzz about us! People were curious to know what a place with a weird name like "Gypsy Beard Studio" could be. Our Google Analytics showed so many people looking us up from their phones as they would drive by and see our name and web site on the windows. It was kinda neat!

Social media and word of mouth are your two biggest allies. Not only are they free, they are where your customers are at. Create an event page on your Facebook page and invite anyone and everyone. Tell friends and family and have them share the event for you and invite people as well. Tell the barista at the coffee shop and the cashier at the grocery store. Tell your dog groomer and your hair stylist. Literally, tell everyone. At some point they will mention you to someone else.

 Old school flyers are still one of the greatest ways to get the word out! Make or have someone make a flyer for your event and plaster it everywhere possible. Think about where your potential customers hang out and frequent. For me that was the local book stores, college, thrift stores, bars, tattoo shops and coffee shops. In the places that I wasn't technically "allowed" to leave a flyer, I still did. lol I made mini flyers that I could hide in books, on magazine racks, taped to the inside of bathroom stalls and bathroom counters in restaurants and stores, and cars in parking lots of stores with your potential customers.

I'm quite a fan of guerrilla and non traditional marketing and advertising. Try to think outside the box when it comes to advertising. Peak their interested and make them want to know more.

• Draw your shop name, web site or hashtag in chalk on every sidewalk you see. 
• Have someone in a bear costume walk around town with a sign for your shop. 
• Creating a video or doing something that goes viral is a great way to advertise. How can you do something similar to the ice bucket challenge? 
•  Have someone park their classic car or VW van in front of your store with "GRAND OPENING" on the windows or balloons attached to it.
• Leave stickers with your web site URL or hashtag in random places like public restrooms, bathrooms,
• People are more apt to share and promote things that evoke an emotional response. How can you reach them emotionally?

Create a hashtag for your event and encourage your friends and family to start using it when they Tweet or post pictures  about the event before hand and DURING. Having a photo booth encourages people to take selfies and have fun. Hang a sign with your hashtag. A great idea is use a service to display a live feed of tweets and posts with your hashtag on a screen or on the wall with a projector.  It encourages people to post more tweets and photos and gives them something to do/enjoy while there. There are a few websites that allow you to do this such as Twitterfall.com and Visibletweets.com .



Take all the free press you can get!

Write up a press release or have one written for you and submit to your local paper. I did this and had the editor in my shop the next day interviewing me and we were featured in Saturday morning's paper! While I knew that most of my demographic didn't read the newspaper, it turns out their parents and grand parents do! It created a lot of community interest and I had folks from the chamber of commerce and city popping in my doors just to welcome me.  Most newspapers these days also integrate their news onto their social media platforms which turned out to be a big plus for us because people were liking the story and commenting on it on Facebook.

Get in touch with local radio stations. Most of them are more than happy to give your business a shout out for free. No need to purchase air time! I happened to meet a local DJ here in town that has given me shout outs more than once.

A lot of businesses do an official ribbon cutting with members of the local chamber of commerce or the mayor present. I didn't push to do anything like this, but it would definitely be a great idea and opportunity for businesses. Having prominent city officials or even a popular local musician present will always draw a larger crowd.

My last bit of advice is to quote that old song, "let give them something to talk about".  Make this a memorable event for everyone. Get people talking about you. Whether through live music, door prizes or food, get the conversation going about you. This will get people in your door faster than you can imagine.

If you have any questions please send them my way in the comments or via email: info@gypsybeard.com .

Have you ever thrown a grand opening or done any of your own guerrilla marketing?  Share your experience and tips! I'd love to know what DID and DIDN'T work for you.

So.

2015, let's just say that its been rough so far. Financially and personally. The novelty of owning a my own business is wearing off and I feel myself finally caving a bit to the exhaustion of working two jobs 7 days a week. The shop has been open almost 6 months so the "new car" smell has worn off and its really time to start treating it like a business, and not just my "dream". Even though my shop is both my dream and my business, it's been pretty easy to sit back and enjoy the fun of it all. But now that we aren't so new anymore and people are starting to know who we are, it's a different battle.  We have to tweak our advertising and bring in new products to get people coming back as well as get new customers in my door.


This was also the first year that I filed my taxes as a contract worked PLUS a business owner.  (I'm technically a contract worker at my day job. ugh!) That was a HUGE change for me this year and definitely a learning experience. Though it could've definitely gone worse, it was not like the previous years where I got my refund and was able to to cover all those extra costs and debts. I have to treat my money very different now that I am a business owner.

I've been following the podcast "Love Being Boss" by two wonderful biz ladies that I really admire: Kathleen Shannon and Emily Thompson. Anyways, this particular podcast titled "What To Do When You're Freaking Out About Money", which I am and was doing at the time. (Don't you just love when you come across the right inspirational post at exactly the right time when you need it?!)  And this quote stood out to me:


Basically, you should treat money like energy. In the science world, or Wikipedia, energy is defined like this: energy is a property of objects, transferable among them via fundamental interactions, which can be converted into different forms but not created or destroyed.

Something that I have been obsessing over lately is the word: QUALITY.


 I'm not a perfectionist, and I'll be honest, I've put work out there in all aspects of my work that I know could've been better or that wasn't true to me. Whether its because of clients wishes or lack of time, putting out work that doesn't live up to your standards is no fun and it haunts you. You wake up in the middle of the night with epiphanies of how you could have/ should have done something differently. Whether the work is awesome or not, I still will always be my own worst critic.

Anyways, back to the word QUALITY. In bold and all caps. Something I want to strive for more than ever is quality in my work, presentation and image. During my MUCH needed vacation from my office day job I plan on focusing a lot on ways to do that. From the content of my portfolio, footers on my invoices to the look of my new web site (coming soon!) I want to radiate quality.

Blogging is another aspect that I want to apply this concept to its fullest. I want everything that I write to be meaningful and helpful to you all. I want to inspire you all and show you what I'm all about. 

This all means stepping back and planning and taking the time to effectively see my goals and what it will take to reach those goals instead of spontaneously doing things like I usually do. I do love me some planning so I'm excited to see what methods work best for me.


What does QUALITY mean to you and how do you measure it in your work and life?

I took the weekend off so I'm bit behind on the Feel Good Blogging challenge. So sue me. haha.
 
I've been compiling a list of helpful & life changing resources for creative business owners and bloggers for quite some time now, with the intention of sharing with you all. Today's challenge was the perfect opportunity to put it out there.  I've known for quite some time now that my ultimate goal has been to "quit my day job" and start my own business. I've done tons of reading and researching the how's, the whats and the why's of it all. It's scary and exhilarating taking the plunge so I'm happy to share some of the incredible blogs, apps, books and people that have pep talked, inspired and taught me along the way.

Apps - These are random apps that have come in handy so often! Whether your keeping up with hours, making lists or blogging, these apps have really enhanced my work flow and creativity!

Any.do - I love making lists, and so far this is my favorite. I like that it syncs with you account online so that you can access it from your computer or phone.
What The Font -  Imagine seeing a cool sign or lettering on a book. This app let's you take a picture of the fonts and helps you identify them!
Scanner Pro - How many times have you needed something scanned but didn't have access to a scanner?
Fax Burner - Need to fax said scanned documnet? lol Another handy office function. If you are a freelancer or you work from home, a fax machine may not be in your budget.  This comes in handy!

Blogs - These are blogs and people that I follow on a weekly basis for business, marketing and design inspiration, advice and tutorials.

Alex Beadon (of course!)
Braid Creative
Marie Forreleo
 Love Grows Design

 
Books - If you are business owner, blogger or freelancer, all of these books are incredible. From advice about financial issues to creative exercises and inspiration these books are absolutely a must!

1. Creative Inc
2. How To Blog For Profit Without Selling Your Soul
3. My So Called Freelance Life
4. Grow Your Handmade Business
5. The Handmade Marketplace
6. The Anti 9 To 5 Guide 

Do you have any blogs, books or resources that you'd recommend? I'm always on the look out for new and inspiring things!

As I mentioned yesterday I'm taking part in the Feel Good Blogging Challenge! The first post in the challenge was about making introductions about yourself and your blog. You can still join in! It's never too late to be a part of something that helps you and your blog grow! Today's post is about sharing my story of what I do and why I do it.


Flash back to elementary school, and you will find an Nsync obsessed 9 year old. This was the dial up era and "You've got mail!" was a household thing. I discovered the world of web design and blogging. I was constantly checking out Nsync fan sites and blogs. Does anyone else remember using Expages, Angelfire or Homestead? lol

Fast forward a year or so. I had created several fan sites dedicated to different bands, online pets and actors. I guess in the 90's it was a pretty impressive thing for a 10 year old to be doing what I was doing, but it was just something that made me happy and excited. Being an obsessed "teeny bopper" was not my proudest moment to confess, but it did get my interest stirred in the design world. A relative of mine handed me off my first copy of a popular design software and I was in heaven learning to manipulate photos, learn flash and html and create pretty things.

The rest is kind of a long story that entails different experiences in learning different programs, numerous Xanga and Livejournal accounts, making LOTS OF MISTAKES creatively and professionally, and random freelance jobs in high school. I've never once wanted to do anything else with my life. I've known since I was in elementary that I was going to be a designer. My family always encouraged me and pushed me to follow my dreams. I'll never forget the day they bought me my first Macbook. It still makes me happy.

I guess I've always been drawn to technology and design. Now today I'm proud to say that I've worked with many clients creating web sites and brands. Taking a business with no web presence or brand to something fantastic and seeing the response and results from their customers is incredible. One of my big clients from last year had a very basic web site. Since we've completely revamped it and help create their brand their business has thrived and their sales are through the roof.  I love helping businesses "be all that they can be" and stand out amongst their competitors.


Each time a start up company comes to me with their ideas, I'm immediately reminded of the excitement I felt when I first started my own business. It's thrilling to be a part of someone's beginning and hopefully success. In a sense I am responsible for creating their image. It's a beautiful thing. You make such bonds and build relationships with wonderful people. You also learn a lot about products and businesses you would've otherwise never knew existed. (I.E. assault rifles, cattle, dermatology, roller derby and the list goes on lol)

Where I am at now, is somewhat of my ultimate dream come true, to own my own brick and mortar business. The fact that I can combine my love for design and vintage clothing into one location is incredible to me. Though they are two separate businesses technically,I like to think that Gypsy Beard Studio is a bit like Andy Warhol's factory, minus the drugs and shenanigans lol...) I get to use my love for blogging and photography on a daily basis as well to help promote my business and work. It couldn't get much better honestly.

I still have a very long ways to go. By no means do I have any of my crap together. Running a business is very new to me. I'm not making ridiculous amounts of money and there's no way I could support myself 100% yet. Since my store has only been open 2 months, there is very little profit involved with overhead costs and I don't expect there to be just yet. It's a constant battle of trying to build my customer base, advertise and bring in more products. But I'm heading in the right direction and I love what I am doing with all of my heart. Can one really complain about that? I think not.

Now if I could just figure out this work/life balance...... lol

What is your story? What is your passion for? I'd love to hear! Leave a comment!