Old and new

Well things surely took a different turn then expected. I am now ready to set forward in 2015 with this new path.

I closed the coffee shop in November. It was ultimately my choice due to circumstances that were beyond my control. Nonetheless, it was still a pretty sad and depressing event. It took me a few weeks to come to terms with what happened, but I am definitely not upset that I tried the experience. If anything I learned I could and DID run a relatively successful growing business. Would I open it again? YES. Mostly because it was growing and actually doing well enough that I still believe it could work. I also enjoyed the work. I can't look back though and not miss some of the people I use to talk to on almost a daily bases. I will wish them the best. 

After some soul searching, I realized I had time to figure other things out in life, but apply what I have learned in the last year towards new goals for this year. I have ventured on my path to craft. I will be posting my creations hopefully. I also started writing my own patterns for knitting. I am going to be working closely with two different alpaca farms to do some freelance work for them with digital media, graphic design, and random other ventures. I have also set up an eBay store and hope to start my own online selling.

2015 is full of possibilities, even if I had not intended 2014 to end the way it did.

~off to drink some tea (too late for coffee!)~

Reflections on Surprise and Delight day 2

Using this blog to reflect on my surprise and delight experience (as stated earlier):

I have decided there were several ways to work this idea this week. I started yesterday (Monday) with implementing several things. I am only on day 2, but I have already noted some features.

I started telling people how much of a discount I gave them, and why they earned it. I have been giving 3% for cash and 5% if you were shopping in the quilt and knit shop too. Although that only averages to a few cents off a drink, people seem to be happy about the savings. I have also noticed that my tips have went up a bit this week so far, which I am not sure if that is reflective of the discount or just happy customers in general. Applying the tips back to the business, I have even saved customers scrounging for change by using my tip jar. 

The second thing I started was a drawing for a free menu item. I have collected names, addresses, and birthdates of customers. Indicating they do not have to be present to win, and I will mail them a certificate. I have only been doing customers that buy something, and I have been doing one entry per day (so repeated purchases gives you an extra chance to win.) This has served to get some smiles and "hope I win." I am planning to mail a thank you note to each of the customers next week.

The third thing I did was start a grateful paper quilt. I haven't had a lot of people hit on this yet, and I did receive one "negative" comment about it will look bad when finished, but I will not let that stop me. I feel once I put the quilt on display, it will be something that will surprise and delight people with happy thoughts.

I have no idea if this will all work or not. Unfortunately things like this take time to build. My simple prayer is that I have the time to get this going, that the negative energies will be quelled by the positive atmosphere I am hoping to install, and that I can make someone's day happier. Wow, after reading that, I realize that the prayer isn't so simple, but I think faith will lead the way.

Surprise and Delight

To be honest the last two weeks have been pretty bad in my little shop! Not bad as in the earth is crashing down in on my roof bad, but bad as in - oh my - kinda way.

So I decided to starting looking into how I can market myself differently. I watched a youtube video by RMC consultants. I learned that my business was -gasp- boring!

See I thought the secret to getting business is to have good customer service and a good product. I still think these are true; however the video made me realize that the third thing is to "surprise and delight."

Now I am trying to figure out how to surprise and delight my customers. I also decided that I will be transparent about my scientific research.

Here's the plan:
1) Blog about what happens.Honestly. I say this because I have to be real about what is going on currently in order to see what has changed after I implement "Surprise and Delight."

2) Facebook it. I have lots of friends that can maybe be an open platform to figure out what to do to surprise and delight customers.

3) Research it. I want to try to find businesses that are surprising and delighting customers already. Preferably in my industry.

4) Implement it. Besides the fact that I like to use it a lot... I have decide when I will implement it. I guess though I have to actually figure out what it is...

5) Evaluate - yes here it is - it. Hopefully "it" will work too!

Alright... so there you go....Time to get to work!

~off to drink more coffee~