Monday, April 12, 2010

What gives?

Wow! A whole week and no new posts. How bad is that?

That's bad. I admit. I have been one of those that likes new posts every day. Every few days at the least, to read something new and interesting. And here I go and commit the biggest blogger faux pas of all. Not posting. Bad. Bad me, bad. I will try to keep up with this one. There is still a lot of information to cover.

I have been online, but looking up business information and other things needed to get mine going and off the ground. My business partner has agreed to let me have somewhat 'free rein' over everything and run with it. So I am. Which translates into me being responsible for everything. The funding, the logo, the literature, the manufacturing, the packaging, the marketing- the whole she-bang! Sweet? Yes, but in a way, not so much. Anyone care to guess how time consuming this can be?

Luckily I have a lot of contacts. Good contacts that can help me. I just have to find a way to release some amount of control to them. Delegation is not my strong point. I try to tackle everything head on, do it myself and know it was done to my liking.

Then I had to go and throw down the gauntlet and challenge a friend of mine to get off our asses, get our horses worked and into competition. A new blog was born, the challenge was opened up to anyone wishing to join in and now it's "Game ON!"

A new blog was born (Bitchin' Barn Babes!) to keep tabs of things and create an amount of accountability for us both. Lose the weight, train the horses and go do something.

My pony sat for a couple of days. Not getting worked because I just didn't or couldn't get to him. I did manage to get him out last night. I ground drove him around and around and around, with the practice shafts on and attached. We even trotted some- to read, I had to jog with him. He wanted to stop and walk. I did too in a short time. When did I ever get so out of shape? I also offer up my apologies to the neighbors. Nobody should have to witness a sight such as that...

Next time I will try to wait until you have gone indoors. Otherwise I will move over to the other pasture. I guess we are even though. Your one steer (or was it the bull?) charged the fence as we went by. Not cool. But I have to say- my little guy was unflappable. It did not phase him. He just kept on walking.

12 comments:

  1. Sounds like exciting goings on in your world! Funny that the pony wanted to quit too! .

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  2. He's dropping weight faster than I am, but seems to be able to keep moving longer than I do.

    One question I forgot to put in the OP.

    Are brochures worth it or a waste of time money and resources? Business cards are a must, I know. But what about line cards, brochures and pamphlets?

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  3. I made my brochures in a publisher program then had them printed at Staples , worked slick for me .If I can figure out how I will send you the file I worked on . At the exhibition I was at , in Jan the brochures were the first to run out. I think they are great as they give a better idea of the product ,where a business card needs to be super simple and not cluttered

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  4. I am working on some, but I was wondering if they are a reasonable expense? Time and money...

    I know at the horse shows, we see things plastered everywhere and end up with a ton of fliers, papers, line cards, business cards, etc. I just don't want mine to be like anyone elses and end up round filed. I know at some point they all end up there, but still.

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  5. I think they are worth it , cant quite remember what mine cost , but I do know I have had responses back. I think the flyers(single glossy sheets are not so great , but a brochure with real POP!that fits into a purse or pocket might hang around longer before it gets"filed" another thought is give them out only as asked ,don't just set them out to be taken , I think that weeds out the "grab it cause its there" group and you aren't wasting your materials

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  6. "I think that weeds out the "grab it cause its there" group and you aren't wasting your materials"

    Very wise woman.
    Printing is wonderful, and wasteful, all at the same time. Free Giveaways should be dirt cheap to you. Nothing worse than having to change the darn things, like business cards.
    You know, a number changes, you get a new fax, whatever. Try to keep the info basic and pretty much unchangeable.

    I was going to hijack, but I was distracted by the brilliance of FV.
    TYPical:)

    never mind about the HorseInGarage.

    I'm calmer again. for a MINute.

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  7. I'm a graphic designer by trade.

    Marketing is a tricky thing - I'm trying to figure out how to market my own services as both a freelance designer and riding instructor.

    If you're going to make brochures, make them NICE, please. You are forbidden to use Comic Sans, Arial, Helvetica or Times New Roman. Papyrus is pretty cliche and church-bulletin looking. If you force justify anything I will come over there myself and beat you upside the head.

    If you do make print stuff for people, they like little pocket size things. Make a mini-brochure that folds up to business card size, or a 1/3 page flyer. Use a nice paper that FEELS different.

    If you go the way of schwag, maybe hoofpicks, mane combs or other horse-related items with your farm name & phone number & URL.

    Having a good, up-to-date website is becoming very important.

    I'm about to learn Dreamweaver so that I can go that route...

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  8. Oh, and make all your stuff MATCH: use the same logo, fonts, colors, etc.

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  9. Ummm wait. What business are you starting or advertising? Apparently I missed something.

    I would think brochures would be a good idea, to give people more information...

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  10. So far, for the most part, everything is being aimed at tack shops and such for them to distribute. That sorta changes it up a bit. That makes it all a bit easier to refine the 'target audience' if you will. This means I may be able to include material samples and swatches. Touch it, feel it and picture this...

    CP- I'm almost tempted to force justify something so we can finally meet up, have a few drinks and shoot the breeze! No worries about those fonts. I used Georgia for the blog to try to keep things from being too 'floofy', girly, elegant, elaborate or hard to read. If I want to know about something, I expect to be able to easily read about it. Script is pretty, but sometimes I have issues with deciphering a word, even in context. I hate that.

    I am also trying to keep all options open. Not catering to the English crowd over western, women vs. men or any one breed over another. If it's for a horse or rider, now we're talkin'.

    I may have another feed store lined up to order, a tack store and a shop that carries only products for mini's. On top of a few outstanding orders I need to fill that I am currently working on. They will be shipping out soon.

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  11. CNJ...I have an idea. Going to email you. Remember talking about creating an association for sane horse people????

    I was shopping my pro liability, mortality etc... And I had a thought. lol

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  12. Amy, drop me an email and I will give you more info. Until this is really and officially launched, I'm not elaborating on a lot.

    HP- I seen the email and haven;t had a chance to read it yet. It sounds interesting though! Luch time looms so I will check it out...

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