Newsletter & Coffee Talk

 A few weeks ago I announced that I would be launching a newsletter as a way to better bring information and updates to all of you, and I am really excited to say that the first newsletter will be sent tomorrow! My friend and fellow designer, Brooke, helped me create a really beautiful template by coding it all nice & nice. Thank you Brooke!

So now that I have it basically finished, I want to share a few thoughts I have on the process.

First off, what is the purpose of my newsletter? As I began typing it, I really felt like I was sharing things two people might discuss while sipping caffé lattes at a local coffee house. It felt casual, comfortable and personal. I realized that I view this blog as the more formal form of communication, as if I was giving a presentation to a large audience at a conference. On the other hand, the newsletter is like all of the informal conversations that happen between friends before-hand. The newsletter is where I share with you how I feel, what I'm excited/nervous about, and what my big plans are. Maybe, in the future, you'll hear me formally address some of the topics here on the blog, and sometimes you'll hear about things that go on behind the scenes that are just between us coffee sipping friends.

So if you're interested in having coffee with me, once or twice a month, I invite you to sign up for the newsletter.

I'll also share some insights around my blog, shop, and products. It's important for me to give an accurate view of what it's like to grow a business, and the things that work and things that don't. I plan on offering up which blog posts were the most popular, what shop products sold the most, and what new products and offers I have available. Maybe I'll call this section of the newsletter a trend update?

So if you're interested in hearing about the posts and products that have been the most popular, I invite you to sign up for the newsletter.

If you want to hear about sales, promotions, and new items, I invite you to sign up for the newsletter.

And above all else, if you want to hear me talk, unguarded and openly, about the strategy, dreams, and goals for my business, I invite you to join the newsletter.

Sign up today, so that you get the very first newsletter, which is being sent out tomorrow!

Designers Care: Growing a Second Brand

As you (hopefully) know, Designers Care was a HUGE part of 2012 for me. It’s pretty crazy to think that something that happened in mid-November could have such a huge impact on the entire year, but it most certainly did.

I learned a whole lot about business in just a single month with Designers Care, and what I’ve learned has helped me really sit and hash things out for both Believe Notes and Designers Care. Since I know a lot of people had eyes on Designers Care, and tons of designers participated by donating designs, I wanted to take some time to really talk through the behind-the-scenes things that went into getting the business up and running in the first place, and then all of the things that have happened since.

First – let’s start with how it got up and running.

I wanted to create a shop that would sell products that were great quality and fairly inexpensive to make, so that I would be able to donate as much as possible. I also wanted flexibility to be able to sell small quantities and a variety of options, which would eliminate big printing costs. Having stamps created allowed me to spend a one-time fee for the creation of the stamps, and then use the stamps over and over with different colors, papers, inks, sizes etc.

Starting up was fairly easy, with all thanks going to the Minted designer community for setting up a fund where people donated. I also received very generous donations from companies such as Simon’s Stamps, French Paper Company, and Envelopes.com, which helped provide me with enough paper, envelopes and stamps to get the shop up and running. Whatever wasn’t donated was covered by the fund, and luckily we had enough to get through the first wave of orders.

Fast forward to now, and I’m finding myself having to figure out the future of this shop. I’ve run out of almost all of my initial materials (except for the stamps) and there really isn’t enough money left to replenish everything. I also realize that the business isn’t set up legally (as a charitable donation with an appropriate Tax ID), and there are no real business processes or policies in place. There is also a challenge around the fact that I donated my time (and a LOT of it) to actually stamp all of the cards, and it was incredibly time consuming and began to take money away from Believe Notes (since I had to turn down paying design projects due to the time it took for me to handle Designers Care).

During the month of December, I spent a lot of time thinking about the future of Designers Care and where I wanted to see the shop go. Closing down was never an option, since I genuinely believe in the purpose and message, but I knew I needed to make changes. I considered options such as creating a Designers Care Zazzle or Society 6 shop, which would remove me from having to spend so much time stamping, but at the end of the day, I stand by the original purpose of the shop, which is to have high quality, hand stamped designs. So there won’t really be any product changes moving forward, but there will be a lot of thought around business models and whatnot.

While I still have some big fish to fry, I’ll be making the following changes in the very near future:

• Orders will only be filled on Saturdays and will ship on Mondays
• I will no longer be donating 100% of the money. While I haven’t worked out the exact percentages, I need to take out enough of the earnings to cover raw materials and operating fees
• Prices and shipping will increase slightly
• Suggested paper & ink color pairings will be on each listing

As I move forward in working through changes with Designers Care, I do plan to accept new designs. I will certainly make it clear and known when I am ready to accept new designs – I know so many of you are interested, and I am so appreciative of that!

Thank you to everybody that has helped Designers Care come so far, and thank you in advance for all you’ll do to help move the brand forward!

new items for sale in the shop!

I'm super excited to have my shop back up and running, with some fresh new designs as well as some of the old favorites. The shop might look just a tad different, hopefully a little cleaner and more consistent - that's because I've decided to change how I display my items. I wanted to make sure all of the details of the designs were viewable to my potential customers, and I just wasn't getting that crispness before - but now I am, and I hope it's appreciated! 

You might also notice some pricing and quantity changes. This isn't because I'm getting greedy and wanted to increase the prices, it's because I'm using better quality papers in more options (thick 100% recycled, lovely pearl shimmer, and linen textured - all for the same price!). I've also increased the number of items in each set - for example, folded note cards went from sets of 24 to sets of 30. 

Here are some of the new business/calling cards that are now available for purchase:

Chic Floral 

Mod Colors

Summer Set

Vineyard

Post Holiday Update



Miss Juliet, waiting for company, at my parents home, on Christmas morning


Thank you, everybody, for making this holiday season such a great one! Business was booming, music was playing, and love was overflowing. I'm actually a little sad about taking down all of my holiday card listings from the shop - but they'll be back next year, and believe it or not, but I'm already thinking up new ideas for the holiday 2012 line!
For those of you that remember my previous posts (here and here), where I gushed over all the white and gold watches, I'm excited that now only does he actually read my blog, but that my husband also took the hint & I'm now sporting a new Michael Kors watch! It's the silicone/rubber banded one I lusted for in this post; and despite the bad reviews, I am absolutely in love with it. *Sigh*, I might just have to buy myself a second watch, that isn't silicone, just to make sure this one doesn't get too worn.

Anyway, we spent our holidays with friends and family, jumping from house to house to house. I love seeing everybody, but I am definitely wondering when we'll be able to stay in one place for an entire festivity. The jumping around is exhausting. Maybe someday I'll have a big enough house to host EVERYBODY in.
Hope you’re all enjoying your after-holiday-lull! I’m sure enjoying the time to catch up and relax!

A Moment With Believe Notes...

Right now it's 9:13am and a brisk 40 degrees on this sunny Saturday morning. My husband picked up some flowers and bagels on his way home from work this morning - I think that's my favorite part about the weekends, having breakfast with my husband. Sometimes he brings me the paper, although I never really touch it, unless it's the Sunday paper, and then I tear into it with a pair of scissors, clipping out coupons I'll probably never use.

We've already had our coffee & breakfast, so now I'm working on another holiday card design - there will probably be a few more cards added to the shop in the next few days. I'm also hoping to revamp the selection of stationery I have for sale in time for the holidays - some lovely stationery would make a pretty good gift, right? I thought so, too!

My dog just brought me her rope toy to play with. Doesn't this dog ever relax?

I feel old. I know I'm not, but I feel like I am. Next weekend is my best friends wedding and I cannot believe it. I almost don't want it to come, because then it'll be over! It's silly to wish for life to slow down, because it's a wish that I know won't come true. Oh well.

My dog is toy obsessed. They say she would have made a great K-9 because of her intense focus. She cannot greet somebody unless she has a toy in her mouth. She will not eat unless there is a toy near her food bowl. When it thunders, she takes her toys in the bathroom with her as she hides. She will not go to bed unless she has a toy to cuddle with. I love her a ton, but maybe not as much as she loves her toys.

As you can tell, my mind is all over the place this morning. Coffee, I need you right now!

Juliet napping with her favorite ball

Living Room Update

Does anybody remember the saga of my sofa from over the summer?

It all started with this post, where I sadly admitted that my sofa was indeed broken.  Mr. Law and I argued a bit about what new sofa to get as a replacement, and eventually we decided on the brown leather sofa. Of course, it didn't fit through our front door, as I updated you all in this post. And then, finally, after well over a month, we got our sofa delivered safe and sound, and I began my quest for completing the living room. In this previous post, I drooled over all sorts of things I wanted to my living room - front bright rugs to pillows to coffee tables.

Oh, and I also remember mentioning our "weekend" project of installing our built-in unit. Well, it took much longer than we thought, but it's about 90% finished now, and I thought I'd share some pictures. I think I might also devote an entire post to how we went about the TV unit, since it was kinda awesome.

Here are some pictures of our living room before and after the updates....

Before:

 

After:

Looking sharp, right? I LOVE all the changes and I'd say right now the living room is about 80% finished. Aside from the new sofa and TV unit, you might notice our lack of area rug. We moved the previous area rug into the dining room, where it seems to be staying, and the orange one I loved (and still love) is making me nervous - too much orange? It was on sale back when I wrote the post, which made it even more appealing to me, but now that it's full price, I seem less motivated to add that POP of color.

I did, however, purchase the amazing decorative pillows from Martha and Ash, as mentioned/showed in my previous post.  The ladies at Martha and Ash were awesome to work with, and I can't lie, I kinda have a crush on ALL of their pillows! I would most definitely purchase from them again - the pillows I have are the perfect shade of orange, they are a good high quality (I love the down inserts, even if they make my husband sneeze), and they improve my quality of nap. Overall four thumbs up!


Now I'm off to work on a few things, and hopefully I'll be back to posting a little later today!

The Itch Up Catch Up

I was woken up last night by a throbbing in my hand and came to realize that my hand had swollen and my wedding rings were cutting off circulation to my finger. Quick trip to the bathroom, and a little Windex later, I got my rings off and went back to bed. I got up this morning to go to work and freaked when I saw myself in the mirror - I'm all puffy and swollen, with either a hive or a bug bite smack in the middle of my forehead. Fabulous. I feel a little like an elephant, and an itchy one at that.

Pinterest

And since my face/head seems to be taking the brunt of this latest allergic reaction, I feel a little like sticking my face into a bucket of ice water.

Pinterest

So, instead of scratching non-stop, I am hoping to get myself some meds (I'm rarely happy about pills, but right now I am!) work on some things around the house, upload some pictures of my recent finished design projects, maybe get some wedding designs together for the newest Minted Challenge, work on my holiday card line, hit the food stores so that I can eat something with my rice for dinner tonight, and then maybe I can do some laundry. Too much? You're right, I'll be lucky if I can get two of those things done.

Oh, and also, I now have a Twitter! Follow me at @BelieveNotes! I'm still futsing around a bit, but loving Twitter so far!

So, depending on how I feel today, you might be in for a few more posts! Keep checking back :)

A Moment With Believe Notes...

At this very moment, on September 17, 2011, I am printing a custom project for a friend, working on sending out a few digital proofs of other custom orders, and sipping on pumpkin pie spice coffee. While I am in my office, feeling pretty zen, my husband is on the other side of our home in the living room. He's playing some sort of video game while yelling at our dog who keeps crying to be played with. Poor thing wants to go outside and enjoy this beautiful day - and my poor husband seems to never be able to get away from nagging (as he says).

As I'm here, working away, I'll hear a little bark from the other room, followed by a "Shutup!", followed by a long groan (my dog groans as communication) followed by a "Darn! Stop yelling at me!". HA - I love the total role reversal of my husband telling the dog to stop yelling at him.

It's an amazingly beautiful autumn day here in NYC. I've got all the windows open and a sweatshirt on.

Oh, and now my dog has come to beg me to play. Ohh, Juliet, I love your little face!

Juliet brought me her toy!

And now she tries the puppy-dog-eyes to get me to play with her!

Big Love

I have a pretty busy weekend planned, but I'm looking forward to spending time with my friends and family.

Tonight I am taking my dad to his first ever Dave Matthews Band concert, which we were originally supposed to go to a few weeks back at Governors Island. The original date was postponed, due to Hurricane Irene, and so tonight we will head off for Randall's Island instead. Between my husband and myself, I think we've seen DMB somewhere in the vicinity of 30+ times. Unfortunately we'll probably be seeing less and less as our responsibilities as adults grow more and more. That's ok, because I don't know that we have the stamina anymore for some of the all-day festivals, or for throwing elbows in general admission situations...oh, yes, we do feel old.

Tomorrow I've got some things going on with the family, and then I'm hoping to get into the city for a little Mintie Meetup. I'm looking forward to being able to finally meet some of the people from the Minted Design community that I've been able to talk to through emails and whatnot.

And then on Sunday I've got some more family fun in store. It seems that, for the most part, 2011 has been a year of celebration, which I couldn't be happier about. We've seen lots and lots of family, and it really has not been for any kind of sad events. Instead we've celebrated anniversaries, birthdays, weddings and holidays - there's been a lot of love going around and I hope it stays that way!

I hope you all have some good things planned for this weekend as well!

 

Exciting Things!

Daily Squee

Design has been keeping me super busy lately. Today alone I somehow sold the same item four times! I've also had the pleasure of creating quite a few different custom designs. The more business picks up, the more I learn, which is great because I'm in need of some streamlining.

Next week I start graduate school again - which means that two days a week I'm out of the house from 6:45am until 10:30pm. Definitely long days, but I keep telling myself it's worth it - and it is! However, I'll need to make sure all of my ducks are in a row so that I can keep on top of my growing stationery biz while I'm also juggling school and corporate life.

There are some big things on the way from Believe Notes....the website, while still a work in progress, is almost ready to at least be viewed. I'm also setting up a bunch of wholesale accounts so that I can continue to provide fair prices for high quality designs.

I'm struggling creating a policy around my work, but after having a few rough experiences, I do realize that I need to protect myself and my designs. My time is valuable and I need to make sure that I'm paid fairly for the work & services I provide. It goes against my nature to be too "rigid" or "demanding" but I'm starting to realize that this is a business, and I can't give away things for free, including my time. If anybody has an suggestions for policies, please let me know!

Here's a little glimpse of one of the projects I was recently working on...

Sunday Updates

It's a rainy day in New York. Rainy as in streets flooded, basements ruined, stores closed, and Juliet hiding in the bathroom. She hates thunder.

Luckily, we still have power, and I plan on spending this rainy day bring you a few more vendor reviews, a sneak peek at the new website, and some pictures of recent custom orders. All good things!

Before I dive in, I thought I'd share this picture:

La Mancha at S'MAC in NYC

Yup, if you remember from this previous post, I was afraid I wouldn't get to go to S'MAC for lunch. Luckily my migraine lessened enough for Mr. Law and I to head into the city and grab a quick lunch. I had the La Mancha mac n' cheese, which has fennel, onions and manchego cheese - and since I'm supposed to be gluten free, and they offer gluten free, well indeed, I got mine as gluten free. It was yum! I got the smallest one they offered, the "Nosh" size, and even though it looks really small, this stuff is pretty filling. I couldn't even finish! My husband got the medium, or "Major Munch" size, and couldn't even eat half of his! He enjoyed himself some Cheeseburger mac n' cheese, and man, I've gotta say, his was darn good too!

If you're ever in the area, I'd suggested stopping into S'MAC and having some of their famous mac n' cheese. If you can, go during the day while it's slow. At night the lines wrap around the block!!