Quick Update

Yes, yes, I know, I promised frequency with this blog and its been sitting. Well, it hasn't been sitting because I haven't been working, I can promise you that. So instead of me waxing poetic today, I'll be posting a progress report. More of my ramblings to come, I'm sure.

One of the biggest hang-ups I've had with getting the website off the ground has been nice looking pictures for the products. If the pictures from my camera phone are fuzzy, small, and off-color, then people viewing the site won't get an accurate idea of what the item looks like. Description alone may not be enough. Plus, its a lot of work, taking the pictures, emailing them to myself, resizing and de-fuzzy-ing, then uploading them to photobucket, then putting them on the site... waaaay too complicated. But at Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, my aunt offered to give me her old digital camera! The screen is broken but the camera and viewfinder still work, so as long as I'm just using it as a regular old camera, then I'm golden! I should be getting that tomorrow at the Winter Stroll. Beautiful pictures, here I come!

Next issue I've been having is packaging for my body scrubs. I tested some of my products on my family last year for Christmas, and everyone had the best stuff to say about the sugar and salt scrubs. The only issue is I got the containers out of a kit, and for the past year I've been trying to find the perfect containers for the stuff. Its been a hard battle with the stores, especially since it needed to be perfect, you know? (Insert eye-rolling at my stubbornness here.) But at Wal-Mart yesterday, trying to find peanut oil for my stepdad to deep fry our turkey in (you heard me right), I found these beautiful glass jars with secure lids that hold about two cups of stuff, it looks like. They're slightly bigger than I wanted, but I'm sick of being picky. They're perfect! They were cheap too, less than two bucks a pop and real glass, so I bought all of them. Now I have seven. I've seen other Wal-Marts carry them, and dollar stores too, just in the past they've only had one or two in stock. Plus, just below where I found these beauties, I saw little glass cups with plastic secure lids, for cooking and such, that hold exactly a cup of stuff. They were slightly cheaper than the jars. I could offer two sizes! They had a lot more of the cooking cups, too.

The only concern I have with glass is that its a bath product, I would hate for it to slip somewhere, break, and someone get hurt. I'd prefer glass over plastic though, its easier to recycle and you can reuse the jars for anything, since glass doesn't hold taste and smell like plastic does. So I was thinking - you know those rubber-ish mats you can buy to put under rugs and sheets and dinner place mats? Buy some of those (cheap at the dollar store), cut to fit the bottom of the container, and glue them into place. Voila! Instant no-slip! Am I a genius or what?

I also plan on working on the website today too. I've been researching new recipes and some cool tips for a brand new section of the site. I hope to get a lot of work done with this rainy Black Friday, since I did a lot of my shopping yesterday and the day before!

Hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving. Happy creating!

BigCartel

Hi everyone, just a quick follow-up post to the one I just made about an hour ago. If you haven't read it, scroll down and read that one first.

Just to get things up and running, and maybe get some money rolling in to help finance the rest of the shop, I registered the name The Green Canopy with both Etsy and BigCartel. I'm using BigCartel more right now, just because they cater to smaller shops, and a basic shop is completely free - no charges for listing items and no percentage comes out of your sale to go to them, like with Etsy. You can upgrade your account and get different features, which is how they make money and sustain their site. (I suggest BigCartel to anyone wanting to sell things online but uneasy about using eBay or Etsy!)

I threw some pictures up on the site and typed up some product descriptions. Like I said, its really only there temporarily, but go check it out! The Green Canopy on BigCartel

The Green Canopy

I was going to talk about something else entirely today, but I was working this morning and something exciting has happened that I had to share! So this topic, which I was going to hold off on til later, is being posted now.

Names!

Every store, every site, every catalogue, every company... every anything has a name. The better the name, the more attracted the guest will be to learn more. When you're selling something, your name is the first thing a potential customer knows about you. If you were walking through a mall and saw a store called The Smelly Foot, would you want to shop there? No Way! But good stores give you a name that is either an explanation of what you'll find inside (which is a good reason to stay away from The Smelly Foot) or leaves you asking the question, "I wonder what they sell in there." Hot Topic is a good example. Its creative and inviting and makes you think that whatever's inside, its going to be cool. Yankee Candle is another good one.

A physical store also has a storefront to invite customers in. When dealing with online stores, websites, Etsy shops, etc., the only thing you really have to go on is the name. Coming up with the perfect name is a big step, and this morning, I think I did it.

It started with me doodling names on a piece of paper, just willing something to hit me. Its tough, because the name has to be good. It has to get the concept across, but at the same time not be lame. It needs to be something I won't be embarassed telling people when they ask. This is what I came up with this morning:

First: Black Spiral. It just sort of popped into my head, and I instantly hated it. Its not a bad name for, say, a rock band. Or an evil ritual. That's just it - it sounds evil. I don't want to make that impression. So I tried to make it sound less bad... and thought of Golden Spiral - which is just as bad, just not evil. Its too goody goody, it sounds like the Golden Compass, and it makes me think of Gryffindors bouncing around in their tower. I don't want the name to be evil, but I don't want to give that impression either! A name I was going with for a while was Memory Lane, and I don't exactly remember where I came up with it. I liked it at first, it was cute, it sounded like a brand name for something. Its lost its appeal to me though, as most of the names do. I never planned on having Gazing Skyward as the shop name, just the working-blog name, so I didn't even consider that as an option.

There was one, however, that I thought of this morning that I did like: The Green Canopy. I actually thought of it while staring at the decorations in the gym (green paper trees; the theme of the book fair is SAFARI), but thinking about it, it works. The green part can be a representation of the "green" and "organic" approach and feel I'm trying to utilize in the shop. And then there's the word Canopy. You can think of a canopy, like a tent, that you have parties under or hide from the hot sun under. Or a canopy of a circus, the big top, a place of fun and excitement. Or, the one that first came to mind, a canopy of leaves in a forest - helped along by the adjective "green". A canopy of leaves is relaxing, soothing, with its filtered light and filtered sound. Its practically magical. The Druids of the Celtic people thought groves of oak trees, with their green canopies covering them, were places of serious magic. So overall, the name The Green Canopy conjures thoughts and feelings of fun, relaxation, oneness, and magic. I think I can get behind that for a shop name. Now, to see if its taken!

Well, the website names are all available; I tried www.thegreencanopy.com, www.thegreencanopy.org, www.greencanopy.com, and www.greencanopy.org. So any way, I get a domain name. Yay! I tried google, and the only things that came up were pictures of forest canopies. A good start... And its available on Etsy too, and gmail has greencanopy taken but not thegreencanopy, and its available for blogger too! Last check, and one of the most important: Yahoo. If its not available there, then I can't buid the website right away, and that screws up the entire plan. So, lets check. Cross your fingers!

Aaaaaaaaand......

Its good! We're good! The Green Canopy is all registered under all the sites I need (so far). I haven't picked a name so far that's had everything unregistered everywhere. I think this is a good sign.

Concept and Motivation

Today's topic is about concept for a business, but before I get into that, I want to "blog" about something else.

I got an email this morning with the day all planned out by astrological correspondences. (As many of you know, or will soon figure out, I'm very much interested in metaphysical phenomenon and "freaky stuff", as my mom calls it.) I found today to be particularly interesting regarding not only the work I've been doing on the shop, but also with Halloween being tomorrow.

"Last night at 1:45 a.m. the Moon moved into its void of course motion. It will remain in this... until 6:41 p.m. this evening... During this time you will feel a difference in the energy... It will be a great day for re-collecting the experiences that you have had over the last couple of days. It will be a great day for organizing your office, re-covering materials which may need further investigation, gathering your ideas and drafting them. This will be a great day for examining the changes which are occurring in your life."

I thought this was interesting, as this is exactly what I plan to be doing- not only working on the shop, but trying to reorganize my life as well. I have a lot of paper work and research to be doing today, and it seems like its the perfect day to do it.

It goes on to say:

"The Moon's path through Scorpio has a way of reminding you how important it is to transcend, transform and move through the fears which can keep you hiding from yourself and from moving forward in your life or simply just living life... I am here to remind you that Scorpio energy has
the power to influence you to take back your power... Scorpio energy can change anything. This is the most important thing to remember... as you step forward onto this new path...! Today will be another great day filled with opportunity to let go of the past and to draft out what you would like your future to look like!

At exactly 6:42 p.m. this evening the Moon will shift her gears and move into the zodiac sign of Sagittarius. You will feel the influences of this truth bearing, free spirited and happy go lucky energy until early Sunday morning. You may find this energy is fun loving. You may feel the
most fulfilled when you are discovering new things, sharing your philosophy with others and most of all discovering the truth of what you believe... This positive energy has provided opportunities to surface around you so that you would take actions to restructure things in your life."

It looks like today is the perfect day to be doing what I plan to do. Over the next few days, I need to dedicate myself to having fun and releasing some stress (yay Halloween!!!) so today is the day to buckle down and get enough stuff done so that I can take the long weekend off. :-) (If you want to get personal, there's more about this topic in my personal journal.)

Anyway, enough theory. On to today's official topic: concept.

When you're starting a new venture, whether its opening a store, starting a business, creating some work of art, etc, its important - probably the most important - for you to have some sort of concept before you begin the project.

This was especially tough for me when I first started. I knew I wanted to make things and sell them. Okay, so the first step was: what things? I decided on homemade crafts, things that could be useful. Spa products are easy, so I started with those. It grew from there. I wanted to make magical items too, to play into my spiritual practices, and because all the magical stores in my area charge so much for handmade items. I didn't want to do the same, so I had two ideas now: spa stuff, and magical stuff.

I can sew, and I make costumes for myself and my friends for parties, faires, and games. I do a pretty good job, if I do say so myself, and I knew I could make money off of that too. Now it seemed like things were getting a little out of hand. The list so far was:

• spa products
• magical tools
• clothes and costumes

Could I really come up with a concept to fit all these ideas? On top of all that, I didn't want to limit myself to just these items when thinking of a concept. What if I wanted to sell jewelry? Or picture frames? Or personal artwork? The list was growing and I was sinking under the weight of finding a concept, a thesis, a business statement to fit all these things.

In fact, I'm still tweaking and perfecting the concept. I know that I want my products to be as natural, organic, and homemade as possible. I know that I want my shop to be green and eco-friendly. I know that I want my products to be funky and original and unique. I want to offer both homemade products and personalized services. Its really important to me that everything I sell be affordable and wallet- friendly too, since I know what its like to be living beyond your means and still need to purchase things. I want to be a community for people to gather. I know that one day, I want to have a physical, brick-and-mortar type store. And I know that I need to keep my concept open enough for change and growth later down the line.

Sounds like a lot? That's because it is. I know I'll probably need to trim things at some point, but the good thing about the above statements are they aren't all part of the concept - or at least they don't have to be. Some things, like being green, are just store practices and policies. Others, like having a physical store in the future, are goals but not necessarily concepts. So I do still have some work to do, but at least I have a picture of what I want to do with this project. Its always better to have too many ideas, versus not enough.

Astrological information came directly from Andrea Klim of Turn To The Stars. Credit goes to her for the interpretations in the quotes. I only cut things out, I didn't edit what she said at all.

product pipeline

Today, I went into storage and pulled out all my old equipment, along with products I'd already made. Wrapped soaps, scented bath salts, colorful candles, and sewn teabags were all packaged away with the mixing bowls, scent and color bases, bamboo spoons, and my trusty postal weight scale. It was like getting out your old winter jacket, only to find $20 in the pocket; or better yet, finding a cardboard box in the back of the closet filled with pictures and momentos from years ago. I haven't seen this stuff all summer due to an inconvenient living situation, and now that I'm getting back into the swing of things, seeing the items I worked on all those months ago is feeding an excitement deep in me for this project again.

Along with the items and equipment, I found my product binder too. It was a small three-ring binder where I kept all the information on each product I made: materials and equipment needed for the creation, packaging ideas, pricing and order options, and customization ideas. I made sure to keep a record of inventory and approximate creation time, too. Everything I need to know is on the product page in that little black binder. Its like my crafter's bible!

After all this time, I've found that if you're some kind of seller, keeping detailed notes on the items you sell will solve so many problems later on. All your information is kept clear and organized and in one place for all sorts of reference. Keeping your books will be easier as well, knowing how much you spend to make an item and how much you sell it for. Calculating profit is easy, clear, and straightforward.

So, while looking through my product binder, I started brainstorming other ideas for items I could sell. Having a solid product base is very important. My product base is solid but pretty small, so I'm thinking of other items I could easily make and sell, ones that fit the concept for the shop (but concept will be another entry altogether). My items are fun, quirky, useful and affordable, and so I need to think along these lines when brainstorming ideas.

When tossing around product ideas, one of my favorite activities is to walk through the craft section of Walmart. A lot of people will tell you to browse other stores or websites that sell similar items or have similar concepts, but I'm not a big fan of that idea. If you want to be original and set yourself apart from other sellers, you need to come up with original and creative ideas on your own. And as much as I hate Walmart, I'll go to the craft section of the local store and just browse, taking materials off the shelves and combining them to see what combinations and crafts I come up with. I've had a few really ingenius ideas stemming from this method. Plus, this way, you can bargain shop for materials at the same time. Go through a discount bin and see just what you can make using $5, $3, or even just a buck. You'll be surprised at the things you can come up with when you're pushing your mind to be creative.

The Start of an Adventure

As a child, my mother said my head was "always in the clouds", but nowadays I don't see that as a bad thing. When I would cloud-watch, I would daydream vivid images of myself and what my life could be one day. I would gaze at the sky and see potential in those clouds, for the daydreams and images they provoked in me showed me all that I could make out of myself.

To a child, clouds are mystical and magical. We don't know where they come from or what they're made out of, or even how they move most of the time. They're big and fluffy and white, and they are just floating without a care. Clouds are freeform; they change their shape constantly, and in doing so they change what they are and what they could be. Adult cloudgazers are surprised at the abstract images they see in this weather phenomenon, but children, with their open and expanded mind, aren't surprised in the least. Its like a form of divination for them, and perhaps we'd all be better for it if we took the time to lay in the grass and just cloud-gazed, too.

The potential I saw in myself when I compared my ambitions to the clouds was momentous, but not until recently did I actually attempt to put that potential to good use. In my life, in the past couple years, a series of events that may seem bad at first glance has led me to this point in my life now: I inspect the negative events and find in them a cloud's silver lining. Financial problems, an indecisive future career path, and a general restlessness have all culminated in one spectacular idea, and now I am finally embarking on this idea path with the fervor and eagerness of a child.

Over the course of the next month or so, I will be doing extensive work on a website business that I hope to launch and run myself. I've always loved working with my hands, being my own boss, and being able to make people smile with either my actions or gifts. Thus, an idea for a shop was born in my mind, and has only been gathering steam over the past year.

In the past, I've worked on this idea. I've built websites. I've made sample products and taken pictures. But for whatever reason, things have fallen through. I've finally decided that a combination of poor planning and a lack of motivation were my downfalls, and thus, the blog Gazing Skyward was born to keep me on track with my life's project.

This blog will also be a way of storing information that I'll need in the future, such as good tips and resources. I'll post at least three times a week, possibly more, with progress and updates for myself and my readers. I aim to be able to help others with this blog and give them a reason and a way to gaze at the clouds and into themselves to jumpstart their dreams.

Thanks for reading so far. I hope that over the course of this project, I learn things about myself and my future, and that you, the reader, learn something from my successes and mistakes. Most importantly, I hope that all our dreams, both mine and yours, finally get out of our heads and off the ground, to soar and take off into the clouds.