lesson learning is ongoing

This seems quite apt at the moment!  We organised our first craft fair with our name on the weekend and some things were good and some were not so good - but we're not that stupid or arrogant not to recognise and learn from the not so good.

What was good - the crafters as ever were the most lovely bunch of people you could ever hope to be stuck with on a dreary afternoon.  All had made their most wonderful things, decked out their stalls in red, white and blue and generally come along with the most fab attitude.  Feedback was that it was a very well organised event, stall holders were great and the networking invaluable.  And as Hippos we seem to be building a wonderful group of dedicated people keen to see crafting develop and grow which is great.

What was not so good - footfall.  We had advertised as best we could, but it seemed that all in our town had decided to disappear for the weekend.  We even had the local press photographer tell us that too, as well as others who had come through town to see us said that people were noticeable by their absence! 

What we learned - to keep trying! Had a bit of a personal thump earlier when I found out that someone was having a pop and kind of took it personally.  However, it's not personal - well one comment was but we will assume they had been on the gin he he! But we're not that daft to believe that a good day out with lovely people makes up for spending on a stall where you don't sell much because I would be grumpy too, so completely understood their frustrations.  So, we shall re-group and take the good bits (of which there were loads) and try and put right the not so good bits (but please don't blame us for the weather!). 

And a huge thank you as always to those that help behind the scenes that you may not hear from, you know who you are ... and we know where you live!!!

Don't fib - don't get squished, simple!

Been a weird couple of months this self employed lark!  At first it was really exciting because it was new, then I started to panic because we were struggling to sell and now we seem to have reached a secondary stage of exciting where sales are picking up and the network building is truly amazing.

To begin with, it was all new and shiny and loads to keep me occupied and out of mischief.  You see, that is the curse of the Hippo - boredom! Never leave a Hippo unattended for too long, goodness knows what might happen.  And never fib to a Hippo either - that's been a weird one too.  I trust that when people say I'll do that, then they will.  However, in business there is always a plan b, c, d required and have been a little taken aback at some of the not so well disguised attempts to take advantage of this.  But ... did you know more people are killed by Hippos than lions, that's because when they get annoyed they charge and squish you! So if you don't want to get squished, don't fib - simple.  Usually placid and full of ideas, but not so happy when they smell a rat and keep digging and digging until they find where the smell is coming from, yep bullshit is usually the main cause!

That said, am truly loving this self employed lark and have met some people along the way that hopefully wil become lifelong friends and the learning curve, wow! Years of business school could not have prepared me for what I've already learnt - both about the business itself and myself in a business environment or more accurately how to add a little colour and  cunning plans into it.

You see, ours is not a truly corporate world.  Yes, we have our branding or as someone said 'those Hippos get everywhere' and yes we have to play with numbers and pay bills because we are a proper business in that sense.  But it doesn't mean we have to lose our identity or purpose just because we have to play with a calculator once in a while.  If anything it's made me feel even stronger about what we are doing - especially when I hear horror stories of other crafters being fleeced.  And the idea of supporting others to set up is gently building and taking shape and can't wait to get out there and start sharing.  But as ever the impatience is growing - see, you should never leave a Hippo unattended with ideas, it's dangerous.

Vistaprint business cards - and how to save money

Are you one of the army of small business users that want to get cheaper business cards but using loads of images which means vistaprint gets expensive? Aha, we have a cunning plan!

This is a copy of my business card:

But, how many images or text boxes can you see?

Hippo logo, Hippo background, 4 text boxes at least? All of which vistaprint charge for ...

nope, there is only one!

How to get round their pricing:

open publisher or photoshop, drop all the images and text boxes you want and play around till you're happy with the finished result and then save it as a SINGLE IMAGE which you upload to their site.  You are then charged for only 1 upload because it only recognises 1 graphic and saves you loads!!

Happy playing :)

Trust - are you in or out of the sandpit?

Trust is one of those words that we use constantly, and usually from a negative perspective 'I don't trust them, do you remember when ....'

It's tricky isn't it?  Do you really want to be the one that assumes everyone is out to get you, or using you for their own ends or do you want to be the one that is secure enough in themselves that others letting you down is their loss not yours?

This is written because since we have taken the Hippos to a new level of working, ie actually running it as a business, we have come across some lovely and some err not so lovely people! There are those crafters who embody the spirit of crafting - like our Hippo-ettes who were chosen on a highly scientific basis of 'ooh, we like working with them' no fancy CVs no artists' statements twaddle just a gut instinct of them being lovely.  Then there are those that I call the fast buck crafters - the ones that think they can make a load of money quickly by taking ideas off everyone else and never crediting other crafters or artists. 

Time will show the real crafters but sadly the casualities along the way are building from what we can see.  Also the fast buck crew are usually the ones doing nothing but complaining that everyone else has stolen their ideas. They bore me, and they also annoy me because the genuinely creative are the least likely to shout 'look what I made' which is partly why we opened the shop so that we can do it for them.  I am not perfect, made many mistakes along the way but would never deliberately create gain off the back of someone else.  As Pooh Bear says 'it's much nicer with two' or three, or four or in fact loads of you.  The Hippos welcome all that want to play but closes the door to those not wanting to play nicely.  We banish you from our sandpit so nyah! And on that highly adult response, I am off to the making shed :)