While I am thick in the middle of launching the larry. line and teaching myself how to run a small business, all sorts of unforeseen challenges are coming up. Building a website (which I am learning to do on my own), clever marketing plans, and protecting my assets (such as business relationships, and acquiring small business insurance). Not to mention being creative and coming up with original designs! I’ve come across a couple of resources that I think might help other entrepreneurs with their small businesses:
- Small Business Insurance - Researching the best Canadian rates is step one. I can’t stress the importance of proper research enough.
- Website Building – Someone tipped me off to Moonfruit, which is a website building software that is extremely easy to use. You can use their 14-day free trial to test it out; I’ve been working on my site for 2 days and it’s already nearly finished. It’s perfect for small business owners because you can update it whenever you want, don’t have to shell out to a web/tech guy to build and maintain your site for you, and have complete control over the finished result. These guys aren’t Canadian, but the price is right.
The larry. site will be launching soon, and my first sale of the season will be in d a c e‘s studio for their annual collaborative sale! Will post details on that ASAP. More tips to come on marketing initiatives for small businesses, but here’s one teaser: take part in collaborative sales with many of your favourite designers under one roof.
Published by Terri on August 7, 2008
in News.
I will admit it, I am a coffee snob and a coffee addict. Coffee to me is like cocaine to the average teen celebrity. I recognize and appreciate a quality coffee from a classy establishment.
So, I shouldn’t really need to explain why I indulge in the anti-Starbucks movement, but I will anyway: their exploitation of music, horrible coffee, cookie-cutter corporate culture, and pamphlets on “fair trade” practices are often infuriating.
In my neighborhood, I have several different options for obtaining my caffeine fix. Trees Coffee on Granville (superb), Finch’s Coffee on Homer and Pender (delightful), the little no-name coffee shop owned by the old Armenian man on Richards and Pender (charmingly Armenian). Lately, however, I have basically been living at my boyfriend’s…so, enter Benny’s Bagels.
Continue reading ‘The Little Persian Girl and the Starbucks Solution’
Dear Vancouver Fashion Designers:
Please know that you are doing a fantastic job. I understand art and artists, and that what you do takes love and a great deal of caring. I understand that demonstrating your work can be highly nerve-racking, and producing a fashion show to present your designs is no easy feat.
I would like nothing but the best to come for Vancouver designers – I want our city to be on the map as much as the next gal – HOWEVER: you need to get organized. Every fashion show, every single time you represent yourself as a designer, you MUST provide context. People need to know exactly what you do and how you’ve come to do it. Every single time you meet someone and represent yourself as a professional, they expect to see you act professionally. If you would like to make your living as a serious fashion designer, then you need to look at successful models both locally and around the world for inspiration and knowledge. It is your duty as an artistic entrepreneur to show the world your skills and be taken seriously, and that begins with taking yourself seriously.
Here are some essential elements that can help you build a fashionable empire:
- Build media awareness, and document any articles and press you receive. Use this press to leverage yourself and your image; it might get you that next interview with an even bigger publication.
- Make it easy for the journalist. This means organizing your press kit materials and providing media with TOO MUCH information. This way, they have more opportunities and angles to develop their story. Remember: writers are artists too, and artists should try to stick together. If a journalist gave you fabrics and a bobbin with no thread, you wouldn’t be able to sew your outfit together. Why would you expect the media to sew together a story about you without the threads they need?
- There is no need to do a fashion show if you cannot afford to gather press materials. Seriously. Go big, or go home. There is a reason why people produce fashion shows, and it is not because they feel like participating in a fashion week for the joy of it. Fashion shows are meant to harness media and buyer attention, so you have to hone your corporate edge and give these anonymous viewers what they came for. Always be over-prepared because in the business world, anything could happen.
- Look the part. There’s a fine line between effortlessly-chic and unfashionably-casual; you don’t want to be looking the latter when attempting to sell customers, media and buyers on your designs.
I will be posting tips as I observe more of what’s going on, little bits and pieces to (hopefully) come of some help to you on your way. If you have any questions in the meantime, don’t hesitate to email me! Ask us questions; that’s what we’re here for.
Love, Pariya
*Ed. note – One more point to add, which is so important: you need a website if you want your business to grow! Develop an online presence because if media can’t find information about you on the web, it makes our job very difficult. Especially if we want to write that big story and can’t find your phone number or email address…
