ENTRY TWO: The Start
I’m planning to follow a simple method (can you tell I like ‘simplicity’). It’ll be as follows — What I did, What I learnt, What I spent, What I earned and next weeks focus. Some weeks I may share a lot and others just whats needed, ultimately always sharing authentically. I will also try my best to back track on things that I have already set up through the initial conception period of Simple Prints back in 2018.
Currently I have a monthly goal, which is to sell 6 custom illustrations a month. This factors in current expenses and the consideration that I am adjusting to a new on the move lifestyle.
Welcome to the first ‘proper’ weekly entry;
I’d like to focus on adding more structure for Simple Prints — I find myself losing track of time and can spend way to long on some things that really don’t need as much attention as I give them. I think thats a part of the joys of being a creative too though, so it’s not all bad. BUT I do think it’s important to put a business hat on, as at the end of the day the goal is to make this (Simple Prints) make money. I believe what is going to help move the needle forward is good systems, so that’s why more structure is on the cards.
Describing this week of work in one word would have to be ‘disorganised’. Documenting though is a good start I think — it’s giving me perspective, highlighting what I’m working on and where my energy is going. I’m also trying to give myself some space, we’ve been travelling now for just over a month and we have little to no structure in our day-to-day and I never know what the wifi coverage is going to be like, so I’m trying not to be too hard on myself.
That’s enough of a ramble, I hope you’ll begin to get a real feel for my personality with these entries. I welcome any feedback, support or questions you may have. My email is sam@simplestudios.nz
What I did:
- Shared Simple Prints website link in Facebook groups; ‘Small Business Connect NZ, Women in Business NZ
- Put a question in Small Business Connect asking how to improve my email marketing, ended up having a genuinely helpful conversation with Lisa from Wild Mustard
- Made lots of instagram stories with Michelle from Meh Designs for our upcoming collaboration, launching on the 18th July!
- Worked on website updates for said collaboration, learnt how to create bundles with the Simple Bundles shopify app
- Made a reel and shared it on instagram of the beautiful scenes i’ve been experiencing while travelling, you can watch it here. Definitely need to work on my reel skills, I’ve released a lot of attachment to the metrics of them though. I see it more as a game now, to figure out how to create engaging content rather than the ‘I’m not good enough, no one wants to watch my stuff’ stories I used to tell myself (Most of the time, sometimes spending an 1 hr creating content for it to get 5 likes kinda sucks haha)
- Practiced some drawing on procreate (Really loved doing this)
- Made more website updates
- Found a mock up for the Meh Designs x Simple Prints Collab from Stykke Studio, really love their work!
- Made my own font on procreate for a new offer I have in the works, this was super cool and much easier than I thought it was going to be! I used calligraphr
- Registered to The Hive, in hopes to expand my brand awareness and bring in more orders!
What I learnt:
I learnt a few technical things this week, such as creating my own font and setting up bundles in shopify. Figuring these things out felt really good. Going forward I think bundles will be great to explore to increase order values once I have other less customised products for customers to purchase. Learning how to make a font was also cool but I think it may be a bit premature to start trying to add a new offer. Instead I need to focus on generating sales for the offers I already have.
What I spent:
Costs are all in NZD and are from the week just been. 03–09, July, 2023
- Printing Costs — $5.00
- Stykke Studios Mockup, Double Frame — $5.78
- Stykke Studios Mockup, Living Room — $12.61
- Networking Group, She Is Unleashed (Kim is so supportive, Mt Maunganui Based)— $17.99
Total: $41.38
What I earned:
This ones short and sweet, I had no orders come through so it was $0. Not letting it get to me. That’s the reality of business, income can fluctuate and that’s ok
For Next Week:
Alright that’s this weeks entry, I hope this is interesting?
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I have a list of things to focus on next week. I’m going to jot them down as a way of starting a new week with more structure, it’ll be good to see what I actually achieve in next weeks entry.
- Organise gift for charity; Care For Families NZ
- Set up an abandoned cart flow
- Do some target audience research
- Organise collaboration offer on the website, make sure social content is also prepared
Ok that’s really it now. If you made it this far, thank you! See you next Sunday
Sam x
