Capacity of the small maker - and why it's important to know these things!

This is something that is increasingly cropping up in conversations from those asking how to set up their own shop so thought it might be useful to explain.  I regularly get phone calls or visitors all excited because they have this dream of setting up their own shop and are bouncing away telling me all the fabulous things they will do.  But on digging a little deeper they have often understood how much time they need to do all the fabulous things they describe. 

To give you an example of the capacity issues: a friend of mine - let's call her Lucy - wants to set up a cake shop.  It doesn't have to be cakes, it could be anything that requires your time and expertise to make.  And she is rather good at making cakes, that isn't in question at all as my tummy has enjoyed them!  This is where it gets more tricky for her - capacity. 

For any small business starter you need to know your numbers.  Here's a basic breakdown:

1. How much do you need to bring into your household each month to survive (notice I said survive, you are a startup so work on worst case scenarios as anything else is a bonus in year one)
2. How many hours can you realistically work at your business - you need to sleep, take small people to school, visit your Mum and see your friends from time to time. If it helps keep a little calendar check of your schedule for a week and then work out the hours you do have or could make available.
3. How long does it take you to make each item - if you batch make something then work out a time for 10 or 20 perhaps but as long as you know for example 20 cakes = 2 hours from start to completion.
4. Now you need to work out how much profit you have after selling your work - ignore the time for the minute, just deduct materials cost from selling price.  Remember to include packaging!

You now have your four basic figures to work out if you can survive:

1. Use the time per item and see how many you can make in your available time, eg if 20 cakes takes you 2 hours and you have 6 hours in a day then you can produce 120 cakes
2. Now multiply that number by your profit per item - again, if your cakes have a profit of £1 per cake you have £120 profit per baking day
3. Does that £120 per day multiplied over your working week or month cover what you need to survive?
4. If yes, fantastic; if no what can we change?

I am often accused of being too commercial in my approach to the small craft businesses but the reason is that you do not start out to make a loss! And without knowing your cost base you may well end up in that position.  Many crafters have no intention of turning it into a business, but if you do dream of doing that (and good luck to you) then you do need to keep one eye on the costs.

If you end up with a situation where you realise you cannot produce enough to cover your required income then look to diversify.  In the case of the cake shop, can you sell supplies for cake makers?  Could you get a friend to do some classes in exchange for something?  Rather than you launch your own cake shop can you supply local cafes or shops to start with and build up your customer base?

Capacity is the hidden curse of the small trader - we are required to be all things at the beginning, maker, seller, advertiser, accountant, shopkeeper and the list is endless! This is where it is useful to look to what is sensible, where is your time best spent? What use of your time is going to best move your idea forward? 

Having said all that, there is also an element of risk attached to any start up and you have to decide where your personal risk limit is.  Some are happy to take on a shop lease and work out as they go along, some are more cautious and need to have a full spreadsheet in advance of looking to open.  Neither way is right or wrong, it is an incredibly personal decision.  Whichever route you choose, just make sure you stay on the right side of the balance sheet and have fun discovering your potential!  Also, don't forget there is loads of help out there to bounce ideas and get going.  We love being part of Enterprise Rockers as there are so many supportive and knowledgeble folk in that group, so make sure you take full advantage of the help out there to make your business work for you.


First published by Enterprise Rockers at: http://sme-blog.com/guest-blog/capacity-the-hidden-curse-of-the-small-business-and-how-to-resolve-it

Why credit bothers me

Someone told me yesterday that it appears as if I just randomly pluck ideas out of the air and leave people going err where's this one come from???  So, thought it wise to try and give a little context to the banking comments I've been making recently on twitter.

Credit is not bad, unmanaged credit terrifies me, no credit means you get trapped, a poor credit rating these days means that some aspect of your life are halted.  To explain - these days most of our financial dealings are recorded and stored on credit reference agencies, miss a mortgage payment = black mark, pay your credit cards each month = good mark and so on.  Not that tricky to follow their logic - unless you find yourself out of your depth as so many folk do sadly.  Not always through buying expensive holidays but just through normal life choices.

To simplify:
you have £1,000 coming in each month
your credit bill is £150 per month
normally you pay this, but you can't pay much more
then ..... the washing machine breaks so you need a new one

this is where the crunch comes:
you don't have enough spare each month so you put it on credit
your credit bill goes up, and to pay it you need to cut back on something else

next month the car needs new brakes ..... see above scenario and you can see how quickly the debt problem can escalate very easily without a holiday or new fancy telly to show for it.  All you did was replace an essential item (the washing machine) and fix your car (needed to get to work).

I actually speak from very real experience on this matter, several years ago my then husband got into real difficulties and stopped paying the mortage without me knowing.  The first I knew of it was the estate agent querying why the locks had been changed and then over time unravelled a whole heap of inter-linked debt issues.  So the issue of debt and poor credit has had a real impact on my life, it took years to un-link myself and re-build a credit history of my own because without one you are pretty much sunk these days.

Solution: we should each have our own credit limit based on our ability to repay it, whether this be £1,000, £10,000 or £100,000 the figure is not the important bit.  The important bit is that when you combine all the credit you have from store cards, car loans, credit cards etc the total spend available should not exceed your personal limit.  So, if your personal limit is £20,000 you can have 1 card at £20,000 or 20 at £1,000 but the records should be linked so that you cannot exceed it.

Better solution: we join and start credit unions! These are fantastic ideas, you pay in a fixed amount each week or month and it can be as little as £1 and then you borrow against what you have saved.  But, and this is the clever bit - you always pay that £1 and some of it pays your loan and some of it goes into your savings.  So you can borrow and save at the same time, simple yet effective banking :) 

And then this is the really clever bit, there are hundreds and thousands of small businesses that manage their money effectively and don't want the overdraft or loan facility so if we set up a small business credit union we could actually keep the cash flowing so that none of ever get stung by stupidly high charges that appear out of left field because the Chairman needed to pay for gross neglicence on the part of their brokers that took a gamble that failed.  Most of us curse our business bank statements, get fed of being in a queue to someone abroad that doesn't get the question we ask and generally put up with rubbish service because we have to have a business bank account to legally trade.

Personally, think it's about time we took our own destiny back and create our own bank or credit union and will keep plugging away with the questions and the ideas till we can help each other.  Business, and small business is tough enough these days so let's start helping ourselves!

Some thoughts on twitter

Another rambling that may be helpful, may not! As always tweak to your own needs, disregard what you disagree with and have fun in your own way :)

Twitter is a fantastic meeting and melting point for the small business owner, you get to chat to like minded, network, find customers, find suppliers and get loads of advice all from merrily clicking away.  I only asked the other day how did small businesses cope without twitter? And genuinely meant it because I have met (on line and then in real life) some fantastic people.  So many of our newer sellers are because of it, I found a helpful solicitor when I needed one, someone to help me with some branding issues and so so many more that the list would be stupidly long.

Why does it work for us?  Because I use it - and that is the simplicity of it.  To get the most out of it you need to play with it, engage with people, chat, share and generally be visible.

Try to imagine you walk into a party where you vaguely know one or two but the rest are strangers, who are you drawn to? Who do you continue to chat with and meet later?  Is it the one that just says 'did you know I sold 3 cars yesterday, I can tell you all about it ...' and then drones on with tedious detail about the engine size etc etc all of which you have absolutely no interest in whatsoever.  Is it the person that every time you say something they've been there, done it better and got the T shirt? Or is it the person that says 'hello, don't think we've met before - how are you?' and then actually has a conversation and a giggle with you?

Hmm not exactly rocket science is it, and that's exactly what twitter is.  There's a mix of car sellers, T shirt wearers and chatters and you can follow or be any or all 3 of these types.  If you are the one who only ever says 'I just listed 3 items on etsy' you're not likely to gain that many followers, let's face it that's quite dull.  Likewise if someone you tweet with just says 'oh no, another disaster why did I bother' they tend to bring you down.  We all have moans, just like in real life but again we have enough misery of our own without hearing other people's all the time!

I try to work on a 1/3 basis of tweets - 1/3 is information such as 'we've just got our lastest offers going'; 1/3 sharing - re-tweeting people, or talking about someone else and 1/3 random drivel - usually about the stupidity of my cat to be honest, but it works for me.  Not saying I'm an expert but that balance seems to work for me and a basic rule of thumb it's probably a good starting point.

Dont't be frightened of it, and just remember that in exactly the same way you wouldn't announce to a room full of strangers about something really intimate and personal don't do it on twitter!  When you tweet, try to imagine that at the party everyone can hear exactly what you say for good and for bad.  So, thinking you're whispering to the woman next to you 'flip, does she really think she can wear that?' is heard by everyone, including the woman in the wrong outfit! 

Gradually, as you would in real life you start conversations with folk and find some utter gems of people that become friends.  I have twitter buddies around the world, and it's great to catch up with them, it's sort of like when you had pen pals at school and talk to people you've not met yet.  Equally I have met some trolls, and if in doubt block and report them - use your instinct about people, don't engage just report.  It's their choice what they put and not up to you to police them, but often if enough report a person they are suspended by twitter so use that facility if necessary.  Please don't say 'you all need to unfollow @bibble-twit' because all you do is give them exposure which is often what they wanted.

You are not obligated to follow anyone, but use your common sense.  Again, the party scenario - and also try and remember that just because you get annoyed by seeing stuff about for example Britain's Got Talent but love tennis there will be followers on your timeline going yuk tennis again.  We can have different interests so don't be rude about others, just go do something else or ignore them for an hour till it's finished!  As in real life your friends will do or like stuff that you just think is odd, they're still your friend just with a different take on things - exactly the same on twitter.

Hope that helps and have fun, Hippo x

How and why we work the way we do!

It has come to my attention that it's not always easy to figure out what we're up to. Not in a horrid secretive way but because we don't really broadcast it that much.  We figured you would rather shop and trade somewhere with lovely things and fabulous makers rather than listen to my political beliefs all day!  So, if you don't do politics or mission statements look away now and coo over some of Silver Ether's bunting (which I have to admit is rather gorgeous).

Firstly - we aim to make a profit.  Profit in community ventures is not an evil thing, however what you do with that profit potentially is.  Any profit made goes straight back into the shop, events, or advertising for everyone.  Like me paying for a website to show off everyone, or getting new banners done to say 'craft fair here today' as they all cost and need paying for.  No one person ever profits from someone else's work or takes a wage.

This is a grass roots group - our main target group is the start up artist or crafter.  The ones that have made a few things for their friends who have said 'you ought to sell that' and thought err how do I do that?  We run low cost events so that everyone can have a go, and even if it doesn't work for them at least they got the chance to try. 

We intend to grow and stay around for a while - we know it's starting to work.  We get a lot of interest from other community groups such as WaveLength in Telford who asked us along to their event to show how disabled people might start working for themselves if that's their choice.

Choice - it's all about your choice.  We don't tell you how much to sell for, we don't tell you what to make or how.  That's down to the makers themselves - we have absolutely no right to challenge their creativity or desires, just as they don't have the right to tell me not to watch Emmerdale!

Makers - we don't really care about your background or what drives you to create.  We just like working with creative people who have a passion for what they do and want to improve and meet like minded.  We have a wide mix of self employed artists including artists who use it to top up pensions, crafters who use it to bolster self esteem after mental illness, crafters that need an extra income on top of disability benefits.  Your background is your story, if you choose to share it that's fine but we would never judge or discriminate.  Some of our most talented crafters have had a varied life journey with many bumps along the way, but they found us somehow and we love working with them.  Also, we don't believe in putting up signs saying this person is disabled - why would we? What does that achieve? The customer is looking for a present for Margaret's birthday, not a back story.

Support - one of the over-riding things coming back to us constantly is the support we offer.  So many of our crafters arrive with hugs and presents saying 'thank you for all your help'.  Truthfully we just see it as helping someone be the best they can be, and if tweaking branding or saying maybe that would be better in yellow helps then we will.  We don't have all the answers, but we certainly have a growing communuity that might!

Community - the Hippos are growing fast and solicitors are working with us to become a legal Community Interest Company which is where we ultimately want to be. We like the challenge we place on the High Street, we like the speed that we can change at because we are grass roots and a bunch of small makers.  We like the community spirit we're building which was brought home today from an event where the venue said 'we tried this before, but obviously having the right people running it makes it work - thank you'.

If you think you could get involved, or have something to share then get in touch - and as many of the crafters already know bribery with cake will always get you an excellent first hug! Hippo x

A basic guide for putting work in the shop

This is not meant as an exhaustive list, things change all the time so please don't take this as set in stone.  However, the principles that apply to us probably apply to other shops and galleries so it may be useful to use this as a starting point for other sites.

Do some research!
Where possible visit the shop/gallery beforehand.  Would you shop there? Can you see your work fitting in with what else is on offer? Do they already stock something similar to you? Which items are likely to be your biggest competition? Does their price range match your work?

As a general rule shops and galleries have lots to do in the background so just turning up with boxes of items with no prior warning will not get you the audience you would like.  Try to chat to the owners first, find out how they like to be approached - or, if at all. And once you know this, follow the guidelines they give you.  If they ask for 5 examples don't turn up with 20 - all  this says is you can't follow instructions and therefore puts in question your ability to work with us.

Be aware of your prices - most galleries and shops will want to know your trade price.  They then put a percentage mark up on to create the retail price.  If you have really strong views about your sale prices say so, but be aware that if the gallery doesn't agree they are under no obligation to stock your work.

Don't be offended if they say no - sadly we say no to more than we say yes to.  Mainly because we already stock similar work, it doesn't quite fit our audience or practical things like it would require specific display that we just don't have room for.  It's not personal though.  We are not saying we don't like you or your work is rubbish - we're just saying that at this time it doesn't fit in for a variety of reasons.  Ask us for feedback on why not - is it something that can be overcome in the future?  Also, please remember that sometimes our location restricts what will sell or won't sell.  We have seen the most amazing pieces that would work in an urban gallery setting but not with us - each shop/gallery knows their own audience and can usually signpost you to somewhere where the customer audience would be perfect for you.  We're not out to stop folk sellling - but need to ensure your work is sold in the most appropriate place for you.

Shops and galleries are in business - we need to know that the work we stock has a chance of selling because without sales none of us keep going so bear this in mind if you don't get the reaction you wanted.  Listen to the feedback, it's not criticism it's feedback - big difference and it's there to help you.  Sometimes we ask people to have a craft stall with us first because we're just not sure of public reaction.  This is not a no - this is a genuine we're not sure so want to test your work out first before stocking it.

Also, and this is important try to do some research on what people think of the shop from a trader and customer point of view.  If all the comments you see are 'what a lovely place to shop, so glad I found you' then chances are they will look after you too.  If all the comments are 'please can you reply to my complaint' chances are something's not quite right.  Use your instinct, you are about to leave work in the hands of strangers and trust that they sell it for you.  We have come across some horror stories in our time which is why we always try to be as open and honest as possible. 

Be clear on what you want out of the agreement - because it is an agreement between the shop and you.  You as the crafter have the right to say sorry I don't want to leave this with you as equally the shop have the right to say I like the blue ones but not the yellow ones.  Negotiation and communication are part of building a working relationship.

Visit the shop - everyone is busy, everyone has loads of demands on their time but just as you expect the shop to sell your work they expect some interaction in return too.  Don't just turn up when you want your sales money, try to keep in touch or just pop in to say hello.  We know from experience that the more folk pop in and check how things are going the more they get out of the arrangement.  They can see customer reaction to their work, see what sells well and what's struggling.  Also rotating and freshening your stock helps you and the shop.  A strong relationship really helps in the future too, especially to those bribing me with cake :)

Be clear on what promotion you expect and ask the questions, again this is an agreement between two parties and you as the crafter have the right to query things.  Without crafters we can't survive, without shops stocking work crafters would struggle - it's a two way process so remember that when you get all excited about being in your first shop then get home and think err I didn't ask whether they would actually put my stock out or just leave it in a cupboard?!

It's your first craft fair stall - don't panic!

This is not meant as an exhaustive list of things to do or not do, and those of you that are more experienced will probably chuckle at some of the things you forgot on your first outing!

Firstly - don't panic! Easier said than done when you are surrounded by fabulous stalls that seemed to take no effort, but everyone started somewhere.  Each crafter had their first stall somewhere - however slick and organised they may look today.

If you get chance go to an event, look around, talk to the stall holders.  We all borrow ideas - especially regarding display from each other but far nicer to say 'wow that looks really good, think I  may need to borrow that idea' because chances are you'll bump into each other later.

Look at stalls and think about it with your own stock in mind.  Do you need to show off smaller items, or would yours look better hung up? Do you need people to be able to try or taste work on offer? Also, don't forget we never stop learning new things so don't expect to get it exactly right first time out.  Expect to use each event to learn something new.

One of the things often overlooked is making sure people know what your work is for or does.  Might sound daft but if you sell chalk boards make sure one is hung up with a piece of chalk and something written on it - you have now explained the function without having to tell everyone! Plus if you are shy it saves you explaining each time.

Change - again might sound obvious but if all your items are rounded up to the nearest 50p do you really need lots of small change? Plus, make life simple for yourself - round sales figures up or down to make your cash handling simpler. 

Card readers - unless you already have one do not rush into a contract until you are sure it's worth it.  Sadly you might lose a few sales, but the costs are quite high until you know you can justify it.  Make sure you know where the nearest cash point is and offer to take a holding deposit while the customer goes to the cashpoint if necessary.

Tables, chairs etc - find out from the venue what is provided and what size.  Also, it is worth asking if you have access to wall space or back boards to hang work on.  Many venues don't but if they do then take full advantage to create your display.  If you have a bad back or need to be seated for any length of time I would always advise you bring your own chair to be sure you're comfortable.

Power - if you need power it's best to ask the organisers in advance.  Depending on the size of the venue this is often something they have little or no control over but if they know they can work with you.  Arriving with 20 minutes to set up demanding a power socket is not going to make you their favourite person!

Temperatures - might sound obvious but make sure you are warm enough! If a venue is likely to be cold take a piece of cardboard or old offcut of carpet to stand on to stop the cold striking up at you.  There is absolutely nothing worse than being cold while trying to be pleasant to customers.

Practice getting your stuff in the car - will your table, chair, 5 boxes, dog, child going to Nanny's actually all fit in?  Also, try and pack so that tables come out of the boot first to help you set up more easily (don't forget to take the child to Nanny's either).

Leaflets, business cards, flyers - it would be wise to print off some simple A5 leaflets that tell people who you are and where else they can buy from you with the details you want them to find such as your Folksy shop or facebook to contact you.

Layout - you will probably be stood behind your stall all day but have you looked at it through a customer's eyes?  Stand at the front, make sure you can see everything, is it priced up, can you reach things to look at them, does it look interesting?  Or, if you have a willing assistant set it up at home first and ask them to look objectively.  Mixing height is a good way of making a stall look interesting.  Concentrate on using your most attractive items to draw folk in, or maybe you have an unusual gimmick that draws conversation?  Anything that gets folk to stop, chat and engage is helpful.  Don't forget, you don't have to stand behind a table all day - you can often change layouts to make it a little different.

Talk to customers - craft fairs are a social outing for both you and the customer, they are usually really interested in how or why you make things so take the opportunity to share what you do.  Sitting down all day with your nose in a book will not gain you the highest sales of the day!  If you are able to actually demonstrate what you make then do it - people love to watch crafters at work, plus it proves that you really did make all the gorgeous things you have on display.

Share - make sure you take your details to share amongst the other stall holders and get their details too.  It's surprising how many times the same faces pop up so it's far nicer to be able to chat to them between events and possibly share ideas or suggestions.

Be realistic about what you expect from events - unless you are very lucky and have a loyal audience you are unlikely to make your fortune on your first outing.  Or, is it more realistic to use events to generate new business leads?  If you have food products be sensible about quantities and use by dates.  It is better to sell out of a smaller volume than have to take home 50 unsold cakes (however happy your 6 year old is with this idea!).

If there was something that was really bad make sure you tell the organisers - sometimes they are unaware of your issues and without being told they can't put it right for next time.

Above all - HAVE FUN!! You chose to do the event, you spent the time making your goods and you paid to be there.  There will always be good and bad events, grumpy and happy stall holder, organised and disorganised event organisers.  Trust your instinct, if you think it's not right for you then don't book.  There are many different events for different audiences and in time you will find where you best fit.

Hope this helps, and if you have other bits to add in please do so.  Hippo x

What a difference a week makes!

Wow, what a difference a week really does make!  Last week I was a tad miffed at the lack of co-operation we were on the receiving end and this week it's like dealing with a different company - in a really good way :)

It would appear that me raising quite valid grumps was listened to, and actions are already becoming quite visible on site.  Hurrah!! So, now we are back to a bouncy happy Hippo which is probably a relief to some.  And then the most awesome people turned up with some new work for the shop so it was a double whammy of a good week.

This is a piece by Andy O'Boyle who creates the most fabulous pieces out of cast bronze, and according to his daughter Daddy is amazing (which he is) and that he uses earwax to create his work.  Not entirely sure that bit is true, but the end results are simply stunning and the tactility is such a lovely thing to have in the shop.  What was lovely about meeting Andy was that his daughter is right, Daddy is amazing, and because he was very much in agreement with us that art should be accessible.  He was uncomfortable with folk not being able to touch his work, after all if you see something of this scale your first reaction is always going to be to touch it so he seemed quite relieved that you cannot find a 'do not touch' sign anywhere in our shop.  Art should be accessible, it's not always something that should be locked away and merely admired by those in white gloves nodding and muttering 'yes I can see what he is trying to express here'.  Andy creates fun in these bronzes, there is a subtle whimsy coming out of the fact that he is extremely good at what he does and therefore is comfortable in his own work.  Next time you visit, come give the ducklings a pat on the head!

 

 

And then Katherine arrived!  We've known Katherine for just over a year now, from doing a craft fair many moons ago where I had always admired her skill in both design and the quality of her products.  And we're not the only ones to notice, since we last met she's racked up several major clients so we were extremely touched that she was happy leaving her work with us.  Katherine uses her own designs to create the most gorgeous silk scarves, ties, glasses cases and basically anything else she can think of  - and each with amazing levels of detail and quality of finish.  Again, she was of the opinion that her work needs to be touched and felt so again she was relieved not to see 'do not touch' signs around the shop.  Her attitude is very much one of it's silk, you need to be able to see it and touch it to appreciate it so please don't just fold them up in a cabinet.  And already, in true Hippo style we've put her in touch with people that might like their own designs on some of her work.  Almost forgot, she also runs courses and has offered to run some for us later in the year.  With her skills and attitude I can see folk walking away with some amazing designs they didn't realise they were capable of.

 

 

So, a week really does make a big difference to a tired and slightly frazzled brain! We started the week feeling ignored and on the hunt for new sellers and ended the week on an even fuller shop of amazing work and inclusion on site posters.  And the best bit is, it's only February so what else can we achieve in 2013?  Apologies as there are loads more new sellers that I will be showcasing over the coming weeks, so please don't feel left out if I can't get to your favourite for a while! Hippo xx

You distract them while I draw a Hippo!

We seem to have reached a plateau, normally when people say this it is seen as a negative in that you are no longer moving forward or learning something.  But in this case I see it as a positive.  We seem to have figured out our client base and are now attracting some amazing new crafters to the shop and to our events and so many are returning customers which is even more proof that what we do, we do well.  The icing on the cake is when our regulars pop in with friends and you hear them say 'this is what I wanted to show you, isn't it gorgeous?'.  Then we really know we're doing something right.

But .... we have learnt that no-one will do the work for you, and to be honest never expected it. We are an independent trader, and as such must stand or fall on our own merits and hard work, but we did expect a little better communication and promotion within the site we're on.  This may seem slightly trite but to give you an example of what we are up against.  We are based at a gorgeous farm shop in the middle of the Shropshire countryside but we are neither employees or outsiders.  We pay rent for the shop and try to support and promote any activities the site are doing as that helps everyone.  The ToyShop is independent too and we always advertise any specials they are organising.  The site is not big enough for one part to go off doing their own thing without damaging another.  So, we foolishly anticipated joint advertising of events.  But no, a simple thing like their blackboard which welcomes you to the site only includes elements that they own.  Might seem sensible, after all why should you advertise something you do not get direct benefit from?  You have your own site to promote, and that should always be your priority - we understand that.  However, we had a customer in on Sunday saying I didn't want veg and thought they only sold food till my friend told me you were here too.  She then went on to say that actually she had bought some food for her tea as it all looked rather lovely.  My point is, had they decided to advertise the whole site rather than just their own elements they would be attracting a wider audience who then impulse buy their gorgeous food and intend to return.  We get a lot of customers saying the same thing, had they realised there was more than just a farm shop they would have been down sooner and now they know where we all are will be back with their friends. 

Two of our crafters that supply the shop and are close enough to walk to us (that's how local we really do work) came through the farm shop asking why she didn't see our name anywhere and how on earth would people realise their work was being sold? We had to explain the scenario discussed above that because we are not strictly part of the site we don't get included. One cup of tea and much huffing later we were already giggling and plotting how to plant Hippos in the celery or other such subversive acts!

The other message coming back loud and clear was that folk like the craft markets we put on.  While handing out leaflets to customers the reactions were pretty much all along the lines of 'oh I'm so glad you're doing those again, we love bringing our friends up here then' one lady was really impressed that we normally have a live acoustic set going as her children were fascinated by live musicians.  Generally everyone was saying what a lovely atmosphere it created and trying to work out when their friends and family were visiting and could they all pop up for lunch. 

Because this is the rub, by getting people onto site they go for lunch they use the playbarn and generally potter around the whole site.  They may have come for a craft fair but are delighted to find so many other elements to the site so is it really that dangerous to be including us on their advertising?  We love being where we are, the scope to work with so many amazing artists is incredible and as a landlord (apart from the communication) we couldn't ask for better but the frustrated Hippo is growing daily which is a shame as it can so easily be rectified just by using a piece of chalk and adding us to a blackboard.  We shall keep plugging away, keep working with awesome crafters and listening to very contented customers and meanwhile always keep a piece of chalk in my pocket in case the chance arises to add a Hippo or two to the blackboards! 

The Crafters' Dilemma

We have reached a bit of a mid point dilemma with the Hippos and it's all to do with buyer's perceptions, crafter's capacity and pricing structures.  We set out with the noble intentions of only stocking hand crafted items from local makers and in the beginning it was great.  People were keen to get involved, stock was arriving constantly and folk were eager to see what new things we had in stock.

But then capacity problems hit us.  Hand crafters by their very nature take time to make, and many of them have to have jobs to support their lives.  All quite understandable, after all the gas board don't care how beautiful your work is they just want their payment.  And then we hit another aspect.  As we came to learn about our customer base it became clearer what would and would not sell.  This is no reflection on the care and skill of our makers, just the harsh reality of some things sell in some places and not others.

So, we took the decision to buy in some things such as books, magazines, and other items that have been bought in that our makers cannot make such as jossticks and soapstone carvings from around the world.  We are heading towards a 3 way split between those crafters that are professional and can work to lead times, hand crafters who are essentially hobbyists and a third from items bought in.  The bought in items allow us to have constant stock so the shop doesn't look empty and takes the pressure off us chasing already frazzled hand crafters.  We took the decision to not buy in items that someone makes, so for instance we would never re-sell bags as we have several textiles crafters that supply us.  However, we potentially hit the dilemma of if customers want the bags (for example) but our crafters cannot supply them due to personal capacity issues what do we do?  Do we stick rigidly to our ideals but not pay our rent or do we buy in to cover the shortage till our makers bring new stock.  And then, what if customers prefer the bought in items?  And worse still, if we start hard chasing crafters we remove the fun and very essence of why they started in the first place. Eek is the word rattling round my head most days.

And then we turn to our customers.  This was a startling discover on Sunday. A very pleasant lady and her daughter came into the shop, we had a lovely chat about how the majority of the work is handmade locally and she was impressed with that.  She then went on to say that it's a shame that the High Street is full of items brought in from China and how lovely to see different things sourced locally.  But here's the rub, what she actually bought were items that I had bought in from China - didn't have the heart to remind her that these pieces were not made locally but it got me wondering.  Are customers so used to what a craft shop should look like that they are unable to distinguish between the items and worse are we wasting our time by having this ethos?

There are 3 key issues facing the Hippos and sadly they all settle ultimately with the sordid topic of coin or money. 
1.  Hand crafters take time to produce, they cannot mass market otherwise they would be a factory and not handmade but that may leave us with an empty shop if we stick rigidly to our ethos.
2.  Customers whether we like it or not do seem taken in by items brought in from abroad, as shown by my Sunday customer and there is a sense of safety in having seen something before - new scares some people.
3.  If we bypass the hobbyist crafter just to stay in business they may never get the chance to be seen and that would be disastrous for all the up and coming crafters we come across and completely defeat what we wanted to achieve.

Time is an issue too, what was supposed to be a shared venture is actually me running round like a headless chicken trying to stay afloat.  We would love to become a social enterprise but so far the social seems to be missing somewhat, and the longer it continues the more likely it is that the Hippos become a business like any other because we will have invested so much time and money that why on earth would we hand it over?  It's like if you own a house and someone lives there rent free while you're doing it up, and once all the hard work is done they say oh great I live here so that means I can have half doesn't it?  Err no, we didn't see you with the paintbrush at 3am or not eating one night because the cupboards were empty and no money to buy food.  The flip side is no-one forced us to do this, but it is a little sad when the inital promises of support and shared ideals haven't materialised, but again real life takes over and don't think any of us envisaged just how hard a slog it is to get momentum for a new start up. 

We're doing quite well for a start up business in a recession and all things considered we should be around for quite some time to come.  Hard lessons are being learnt and they are not necessarily the ones I expected.  However, the dreamer and idealist in me will just keep popping up ideas so that somehow we will achieve the crafting village that was first envisaged but it may be a new project and the shop remain as our business separate to it.  The momentum is definitely building, more and more are getting really interested in what we're up to but the hand crafters' dilemma will still remain and it's up to us to balance it so that they get a chance, we stay in business and the customer's enjoy shopping with us. 

The sordid topic of coin

We've hit a bit of a snag! Not a major one, but if we don't address it soon it will become a major one and possibly close us down which would be a crying shame as we are so so close to being really sustainable.

The snag:  we need to create an income to pay all our bills but we're not quite managing it yet.

Possible solutions:
    increase the % we charge all our sellers
    only deal with what we call professional crafters
    buy in items to re-sell
    close down

With each of these options there is a plus and a minus, some obvious and some not so obvious.  If we increase the % we charge all our sellers then all the prices need to go up to ensure that what each crafter wants for their item is what they receive which may well put customers off.  Also, some sellers may be uncomfortable with this idea as they have an idea of what the market will bear for their work so either need to reduce what they are happy to receive or use an alternative retail outlet.

Only deal with professional crafters - the reason this option is on the table is because if each seller sold at least £150 pcm all the %s add up quite nicely to pay the bills.  However, a small crafter often produces smaller quantities or lower value items due to their capacity issues as most have a main job while they try to transition to becoming a full time crafter.  The obvious snag here is that if we only deal with professional crafters we lose the ability to offer hobby crafters the chance to show off their work and gain valuable feedback to take them to the next level.  If we had sufficient stock from everyone it would probably work, which takes us back to potentially only dealing with professional crafters who have the capacity and means of production to produce in volume.  And, again if we asked smaller crafters to produce in volume it takes away the fun and the reason they started - often to escape the 9-5 pressures of an external employer which is the role we would have to take on and that in turn would mean they say I didn't sign up for this.

Buy in items to re-sell - the obvious thing here is that it completely goes against what we stand for in that we want to offer locally hand made original work and buck the trend of only finding the same things everywhere.  However, we do stock some items that are not hand made already such as books and kits so allowing a small element of stock to be re-sold items isn't quite such a horrific thought.  But obviously we can't buy in items that one of our crafters currently makes, the easiest example is dreamcatchers. 

There is a big argument for supporting fair trade and giving workers around the world a fair deal, and we want to do that too.  If we ask crafters to reduce their costs they in turn have little or no chance of making it for themselves and we would be doing them such an injustice that quite frankly we would deserve to be closed down.  There is also the argument that we are in retail, we do have to compete with the real world and maybe the fight can't be won, maybe we were a little too ambitious in our thinking.  Or maybe we just got the figures wrong in the first place. 

But here's the rub - we are just so so close to making it work that with a few tweaks here and there it's almost touchable.  But, at what point do we draw the line and say we are unable to subsidise anymore.  Because up till now we've taken the hit, we've never taken a wage or even been paid for our work to allow for the cashflow to build up.  We don't expect sympathy, it was our choice after all but we did anticipate it turning around slowly so that the early months of not taking payment would eventually turn around but sadly it's not turning that fast and our food cupboards are constantly empty!

So, to all you crafters out there - we'd love to hear a suggestion or solution.  If you were working for a company that continually didn't pay you yet expected you to work a 60 hour week I can imagine what most of your reactions would be! Sorry if this sounds pessimistic for the Hippos, but we will work something out and I suspect the simplest one is to put the % up so that everyone can get involved if they choose to.  But if someone has an out of the box solution that we didn't consider then please shout up, Hippo xx

Humble Hippo saying thank you lots to fab folk!

Today was mainly spent button thumping - or web site building to give it it's proper name.  We now have a new shiny website to showcase the amazing and talented folk that make up the Hippo Family.  And then it dawned on the small brain that we have so many people to say thank you to that this post would rumble on for pages and be like a Gwyneth Paltrow acceptance speech if I did that.  So, I will try to narrow it down to the core bits.

Firstly, we trundled along to Apley Farm Shop with a few humble possessions, a fingers crossed attitude of 'hope this works' and a few Hippo-ettes trundling along with us.  So, firstly thank you to Clare's Prints for allowing us to fill our walls with her fab pictures in those early days.

Then the fun really started! Err, this is a big space folks and we don't actually have a lot of stock.  And then, from nowhere this voice popped round the corner saying 'hello, I do paintings, do you want to have a look?' Being blissfully ignorant of who this person was, or what they did we just said 'ooh yes please'.  And then this amazing array of pictures turned up from Simon along with various helpful things like browsers for prints.  Then there was Maureen who giggled her way into the shop with the most amazing quilts ever, and again then turned up with helpful things so we could show them off better.  We cannot thank them, and others that joined in the early days enough.

Here we were, two strangers just arrived to take on a lease who they didn't know and all these amazing artists trusted us with their stock that had taken them hours to produce.  In some cases the work they use to raise funds for their charities which means so much to them and now to us, thank you John and Kath. 

I look at the button thumping done today and realise that we are incredibly fortunate to be trusted with some fabulous work, have and continue to meet some lovely people who are just so talented it's jaw dropping on times.  From about 3 Hippo-ettes we have grown to almost 30 in a matter of four months and most have been like Simon, Maureen and John just popping their head round the door to say hello.
Apologies if you now feel like calling me Gwyneth, but this is a truly Humbled Hippo at how much we've gained in terms of new friends just from putting up that sign that says 'Hello, we are open so please pop in and say hello'.  Hippo xx

Facebook for small businesses

This is meant to be helpful to those just starting out using facebook for their small business, but equally may be useful as a reminder to some.  Not saying this is an exhaustive list, just some helpful things we picked up along the way!

Is is a page or a person?
This might seem like a daft question, but what we've found is that some don't set up a page for their business which means they can't be 'tagged' in posts and we can't direct traffic to them.

How to set up a page:
while logged into your personal account enter this in the search bar: http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php

go through the various choices depending on what you want to set up and there's your page done!
make sure you add some pictures, your contact details, about you etc etc BEFORE you start going after likers - give them a reason to like your page.
once you do start advertising your page you need 30 likes from people not pages in order to secure the URL which means the name then becomes yours - once this name is set it can't be changed, so make sure you search through beforehand that the name is avaiable.  And where possible try to make it short to avoid folk typing in the wrong name when searching for you.
Does your page look pretty?
Pretty obvious question yes?  Well in some cases no.  If you're asking folk to come along and 'like' so make it personal, show people what you want them to see.  If you want to say you're the best hairdresser out there show some of your best work, or your salon with happy customers.  It's sometimes hard to think from the other side so often it's better to ask a friend if they would find it interesting.  It's easy to miss something obvious or simple because you do it all day, every day so always ask for outside opinions.

you're got your page - how do I get the likes?
This is tricky - you require patience now!  There are various sites out there offering '1,000 likes in 10 minutes' however from personal experience I would avoid them.  Why? Because visitors aren't that daft, if you set up 2 weeks ago and suddenly have 500 likes if can look a little odd, better to let it grow slowly and steadily and be able to know that all those likes are there because they are genuine and you get the chance to interact and be seen to interact with them.  If you're in any doubt have a look at our facebook page, full of pics and happy banter. 

However, one sure fire way to get people coming over to you is to share.  Might seem a really simple thing, but if you are the one saying 'wow look what I found when I visited @fredscats' people don't think you only care about yourself.  There are hundreds of pages out there all competing with you, stand out by being lovely!

How to tag posts:
This is one that a lot don't realise but it's dead simple!  Firstly, if you want to tag another page on one of your posts you have to 'like' them so make sure you've done that bit first.  So, using @fredscats as an example pop over to their page, like it and say hello to them so they know where the like came from.  Because in order to raise likes they have to come from a person, Fred's Cats won't know that 'Abi Smith' is 'Hair is Lovely' so what you say is:

Hello from @hairislovely, thanks for the gift today it was really kind of you, see you soon Abi' or similar depending on how you met them.

notice the @ sign?  This is the magic symbol for tagging!  If you want to include a page you must put the @ sign in front of their name, if you have already liked them it will immediately start to find them from your list of likes.  If it doesn't find them, it means you haven't liked them so go back, like them and tag them again.

Also when you share pictures make sure you add a comment to the effect of: 'We just had to share @fredscats pic, it's so cute!' that way you not only share the picture but you tell folk who you are, where the picture came from and you also tell the other person you shared it because it will now pop up on their timeline.  This is what you're trying to achieve, pop up on as many timelines as possible.  Those statistics that mean not a lot?  The reach is about how many people saw your post, and if you are new you won't get it on your own but by sharing and cross promoting you increase their audience and yours.  If you are asking people to trust you as a brand, a business or an enterprise they want to know you will share and help because that adds trust, it proves you're human and not just about yourself.

Hope that helps, but if not please add bits!  Hippo xx

We are having a shuffle around!

We are aware that the Hippo names have probably caused a little confusion over the months, wasn't intentional just a natural progression of things!

It started with the idea that Chez Hippo would make the glass and Little Hippo Presents would be the shop selling the glass and work from other makers and that this side of it would become the community business.  However, it's got a little muddlling over time.  So, we've decided to re-name things properly so folk can follow our logic (or not I hear the hecklers from the back - Sarah, Justine and Rachel I will see you lot after class!)

Ahem, drum roll please .....

The shop will still be called Little Hippo Presents, because after all I am Little Hippo and I am presenting other fantabulous work from superb makers so that name still makes sense.  Plus I get to tweet as #happyhippo #busyhippo and all the other hash tags that keep appearing.

The glass will be made under the name of The Glass Shed:

still exactly the same products, still available from the shop just under a new name is all.  It just makes life easier when we try to explain how the names are split, the fact that yes the Hippo's sell their own product but they are a seperate maker as well and the umbrella organisation is a different entity.  Also if we want to do craft fairs we can now ask 'do you want us as the Hippos, a community group or as The Glass Shed, a separate maker?'

 

Might seem like we're being a bit pedantic over names, but as things progress with Little Hippo and the other projects that are bubbling away it just seemed appropriate to do this - plus it was getting confusing as anything thinking 'am I putting this post as us the maker, or us the shop??' 

 

You may have noticed that the blog name has changed too, it now reads as Little Hippo Presents, again to allow The Glass Shed it's own blog should it want one - though quite what a shed would write about is anyone's guess!

 

Hope that's not too confusing, or if anything settled some existing confusion we previously created!  See you all soon, Hippo xx

 

We sincerely apologise for being viable!

Hippo's on a slight rant, so step away now if you are just tucking into your tea and winding down for the evening!

I am getting increasingly cross that people seem to be missing the point of what we are trying to do, or rather what we are actually doing - and more's the point, winning!

We are a community business, in extemely simple terms we take work from other artists and makers and sell it in the shop for a percentage commission of the sale price.  We take this % because we have bills to pay such as rent, card machine and packaging to sell their lovely work to happy customers.  What we are not is a pity case.  We only stock work that is well made, by hand and by brilliant local makers who will hopefully each make the transition from hobby crafter to professional crafter (but only if they choose to - that's their decision to make not ours to impose).  Sellers or Hippo-ettes offer time to support the shop, either in delivering leaflets for events, marshalling cars at events, or working in the shop for the day.  No staff are paid, we all do it to support the wider ethos of the Hippos.

What irks me somewhat is that because we have a great shop, in a great location full of fabulous things that are so well made we are sometimes viewed as a purely commercial venture.  We didn't set out to look like a community business, we set out to look like a good place to come and buy some quality gifts - and not surprisingly, we're doing just that.  Yes we do make money, not much though!  Yes, we do have a very decent turnover, and yes we have hit breakeven after only 3 months trading which is no mean feat in this climate.  But that's because everyone works like mad in the background as a group.  We have to beg, borrow and barter our way through it all.  One of our painters who is world known lends us an easel to stand his work on because we don't have the resources to purchase one! 

However, because we don't look like a 'needy' group, we all work extremely hard at what we do.  We don't ask for charity - of course we'll accept the easel and other such helpful things but we want to be a proper trading community business.  So, my apologies for not putting posters all round the shop showing you all the people that are actually helped by customers loving what they make, my apologies for trading effectively and not requiring external grant funding because we got our budget right, and my apologies for us working hard and not just going cap in hand to councils for a hand out because we can't get our business model right.

Here endeth the rant! I will now go off to find some chocolate and watch drivel on telly while thinking of our next cunning plan to put a Hippo on your High Street too!  Hippo x

The Hippo Pages

A new cunning plan from the small brain!

We've all seen this image:

But ... what if it looked like this:

 

And what if, it contained a listing for as many crafters as we can find?  It's quite a simple idea really, in the same way that people used to have a listing in the Yellow Pages crafters could have a listing in the Hippo Pages.  That way, crafters get some advertising and those looking for a crafter know where to look for them.  Not sure on the details as yet, because with all these things it starts as a small, easy to manage project and before you know it it's snowballed and become a whole entity in itself! However, the snowballing would be rather fantastic if it did happen :)

Because we ultimately want to become a self sustaining co-operative it may become a brilliant project element of the business in it's own right - time will tell.  But for the time being I will stick to chuntering with my facebook and twitter buddies and we will begin to shape the first Hippo Pages - will let you know how it all goes.  Hippo x

finding that USP

It's taken us a while to figure out who we are, who we sell to and more importantly why people buy from us.  In the early days of business you are so caught up with the shiny bits like 'wow, that's my branding on that bag' that you don't really get chance to sit back and analyse it.  Or more importantly, you don't really twig why you should analyse it.  There you are with a shop full of beautiful things that you adore, so why shouldn't shoppers adore them too?  But, that only works if your shoppers are exactly like you!

We twigged a few weeks ago that our USP or unique selling point is the stories behind the product.  In reality there are hundreds of fantastic photographers selling up and down the country so why buy ours?  The reason is  that we can tell you who took it, the giggle he had trying to set up a tripod in the snow and the daft sheep that were trying to escape while he balanced on the gate.  And, we can tell you his name, point out the track across the field he takes to get to us and the fact that it turns out he taught one of my friends at school.  Now you start to get our USP - and we can do that for all our products.

I was taught a long time ago by a fantastic PR guru the importance of connection, but didn't realise the importance of this till now.  People buy from people and love being able to chat and meet the makers.  We have a really unique service because we can say 'hang on, I'll call and see if they're in and able to pop down for a chat' when the customer asks 'is it possible to make that slightly bigger?'.  And while the customer goes across to the cafe for a coffee, the maker will trundle down to meet them.  Now, that's customer service by the Hippos!

The other thing that comes back to us loud and clear and on a regular basis is that our crafters love meeting up with each other, they like being part of the Hippo family as we have now become.  Our last craft fair on Sunday was full of hugs and 'how lovely to see you again' along with the err bribery of cake so that I would put people next to each other! We seem to be gaining a really fabulous bunch of happy makers that all share, get along really well and the amount of pitching in for gazebos by committee is fantastic. 

We see these building blocks as more important than the till receipts.  Get the foundations right, create a happy experience for everyone and people will come back for the next story - and they do! We have a real core of returning shoppers now eager to see what new stuff has been made.  They have a sit, and then tell us stories they know and the spider web of connections is becoming so interwoven that it's now a patchwork of people and stories with overlapping seams everywhere.  The day job has shifted - I am now a storyteller of journeys :)

How we stay in business

Our business idea isn't really that complex to follow, and for anyone that wants to replicate it - feel free to borrow our model.  And if you want help setting it up then please get in touch and we can help you become the next Little Hippo Presents :)

What possibly is slightly different from us compared to others is that no one person makes a living from someone else's work.  Our personal income, as with all the other sellers, comes from their own work sold.  All the percentages taken from sales pay for boring things like rent, telephone, bags, stickers and all the other things we need to operate as a retail outlet.

The Hippos are a community of makers, we all want to make our living from what we make but none of us want to take anything away from another maker.  We started from the position of adding up all our bills, working out how much shelf space we could fit in, how many craft fairs were sensible to do in a year then dividing it equally between folk - and that includes our glass.  As makers selling through the shop we also pay shelf space and also pay our sales percentages towards the bills just like other maker in the shop. 

What we now have to sort out is spreading the time and workload a little better, but that will come as we build the business because it is a business.  We do have to be accountable to our customers, our makers, the tax man just the same way as any other business has to.  The difference is we just choose to use any profits made to make the shop stronger, or put on other workshops, or invest in things that help many.

This is basically the model we work off, each element contributes to the whole which spreads the risk, helps the cashflow and stops us getting bored! 

The reason I felt the need to explain was that someone pointed out that it was fair to take a % as we had to make a living and they seemed really impressed that we don't make a living out of other sellers, we make a living by making things that are sold.  Hope that all makes sense, and see you all soon.  Hippo xx

Behold I give you the internet!

For those of you that follow me on Twitter or facebook you will be aware of my err slight rantings at the ineptness of BT over the last few weeks.  And that is probably the understatement of the century :) However, during all the various phone calls and emails to get us up and running I constantly felt as if I were in an episode of the IT Crowd.  For those of you not familiar with it, this is the episode I mean:

Behold, I give you the internet!

Bless em, not sure BT realised at the time but this is how they actually came across to me.  On a more serious note at all times they were reactive, unable to talk to each other or to me effectively.  Just out of morbid curiosity I looked up what communication actually means and this is what I got:

          "Communication (from Latin "communis", meaning to share) is the activity of conveying information through the exchange of thoughts, messages, or information, as by speech, visuals, signals, writing, or behavior."

Interesting! hmm a couple of key words there - share, convey, exchange and information.  So, a company with the word communication in it would quite rightly be expected to convey and share information to a paying customer? Yes? well actually no - this would appear quite difficult for them.  Even the chap who runs their twitter account was laughing at one point when he told me that the team wouldn't be able to see his notes as they had access to different record logs.  So, if they can't communicate with each other it's not really a surprise that they can't communicate with customers who foolishly hand over shiny pennies for a service that as Jen found out - we don't know what it is, we don't know how to find the elders and it is all shrouded in such mystery that we should just be in awe of the fact it happens at all.  To BT I present to you the elders of the miffed customers, you are unable to find us, you are unable to know what we think and you are unable to talk to us - mainly because you don't try very hard!

My teacher comments for this would read

"you have failed to understand the question.  What you have done is interesting and you tried very hard but next time please make sure you read and understand the question before answering it.  Also, you would have got higher marks had you structured your answer to guide the reader through your train of thought as it felt a little disjointed and muddled at times, almost as if you were panicking to reach the word count and at times I was unsure what you were trying to do.  Your links to other material and quotes from others did not support your arguments, and at times contradicted your original statements but good attempt overall" D+

Before and After!

Before ....

our pitiful belongings brought from the Purple Shed, which looked so lost when we first arrived!  It was really odd that everything echoed, and just so lovely to not be bothered by rain anymore cause we're all snuggly and cosy indoors now :)

 And after ...

See what I mean about the vast space we now get to fill?! And it all got filled up in about 8 weeks, which is pretty awesome really considering we work on buttons for pennies!  21 amazing artists and crafters from the area now sell with us and these photos need updating again to be honest as there's even more stuff in there now!

And apologies to all those expecting a giggle at my ranting at BT, that will be posted up tomorrow, Hippo xx



New Chapter for the Hippos

We found ourselves outgrowing our previous home at the Purple Shed, but wow did we learn so much from it!  Boring things like branding, advertising and marketing - you can have the best product in the world but if no-one knows you have it then you may as well give it to the cat.

So, where are we now?  Well, we now find ourselves in a rather lovely and shiny converted barn on an existing farm shop site at Apley, near Bridgnorth.  With my usual, yeah it'll be fine attitude we packed up our things and trundled down the road with our pitiful bunch of belongings.  It was a slight shock to realise just how much extra space we had gained when what used to cram the Purple Shed didn't even make a dent in this space!  You know when you move from that first one bedroom flat to a real house and think oh maybe that sofa isn't so big after all?! It was that kind of moment. 

Also, we only had a few sellers with us to begin with - 3 in fact, and 8 weeks on and there are now 21 Hippo-ettes with us and they keep coming.  Because it's a real shop, in terms of look, feel and layout we're managing to do rather well.  Not out of the woods yet because essentially we started the Hippos with a £400 loan from my parents and been chugging along on pennies ever since.  But we always knew it would work, always knew that good handcrafted items would sell and knew that there were awesome makers out there.  We just had to put the open sign up and sit patiently and wait.  Yes yes to the heckling from the back from those that really know me. Ok, so it wasn't that patient but given that not everyone who reads this knows me personally allow me the indulgence of pretending I was patient and horribly professional (cakes as bribery for all those that nod at this point!).

The other thing that seems to be happening is we're getting a rather lovely reputation for helping - not doing anything special, just reminding folk that they are good at what they do and offering a few suggestions along the way.  Quite sure that most go home and go flip she's barking, why on earth would that be a good idea?! But can't be doing that bad as gets loads of hugs and thank yous off folk - hmm more bribery perhaps??

So, in an effort to try and be more organised I intend to update this more regularly, get the books a little straighter (any accountants reading this you really can have cake if you help).  Oh, and for those of you that follow the chunterings on Twitter the BT complaint letter is coming next post - and it's a doozie!

see you all soon, and as always many many thanks for allowing the Hippos to flourish even if we do now need to get our own tractor.  Hippo xx