Summer fun. . .

Ok so this is not really about summer and the fun part was kind of sarcastic. 😏  I am multiple days into working on the facebook pixel connection and setting up the facebook "shop" but in spite of following directions and doing everything right I am having doubts about it working right.  😕  I have always had the shopping template, I previously had the "shop" tab that showed to me and wanted to be set up.  However, since I created the pixel and put it in goimagine things have started changing, not at all surprising really but some of the changes like my shop tab disappearing were not what I expected. 😟 Last week before I started trying to set it up, the shop was clearly visible.

I had prompts and instructions, then I started setting things up and found it to be many steps with many built in delays

waiting for pixel. . .

waiting for updates. . .
waiting for I don't know what. . . now waiting for facebook to crawl all my items I guess

I thought I was doing it right, I thought it was going well yesterday. Then today I go to do the next step and find more delays and more waiting on ? the stars to align. 😅  And noticed that my shop tab is gone, which seemed strange since I was actually in the middle of setting it up, finally. 

After some clicking around in the commerce manager I found a shop setting and prompts to finish. It only shows 3 of the 43 products (so far) but they were all necklaces so I did the suggested "create a collection" thing.

I found a pixel setting that I think should help and speed things along, hopefully, when I found it was off so I turned it on.  Now I'll have to go back to the waiting and see what happens. 😉

Coming Soon. . .

 to a Farmer's market near home   😄

also to a facebook page for all to see  😁

RainbowMaille back in business. . . I have activated and re-created lots of listings on both etsy and goimagine.com I'm not finished yet there are more to come. 😉

I have also been setting up for facebook pixel to sync the facebook page to my goimagine catalog, creating a "shop" on the facebook page that will direct to goimagine for checkout, so that goimagine gets the transaction fees for charity. 😇  It's not complete yet I am waiting on facebook but once it's done I think it will be pretty cool.

My preparation and booth planning is almost done, which is good since markets start in less than 2 weeks. 

Re-Opening plan. . .

I guess this post is technically late as my re-opening plans are already well under way.  😅

• I have been fully vaccinated
• I have scheduled events
• I have edited listings
• I have begun re-activating listings
• I have lots of stuff ready for booth set ups

So I am on-track if not a bit ahead for once.  😁  I plan to finish up a few new wire trees and re-stock some barrettes, but I think the hardest part will be selecting which paintings to take.

It's Official. . .

It is official, I have been accepted and selected to vend at the Russiaville Farmer's Market this summer. ~yay~ 😁 🙌

I am excited about this, but there is a lot to figure out beforehand.  I have an easy up shade but it doesn't have walls and normally we'd rope and stake to the ground but as this is in a paved lot. . .😕 now I need weights of some kind for each leg, 25lbs minimum.  There are a lot of possibilities for weighing down the pop-up but whatever I use also needs to be small, compact, and easy to carry so I can fit it in the car with the rest of the stuff and load/unload myself.  

I am now sure that I will not be taking all the art, as 4 crates takes up too much space in my car and with no wall or rack there is no "up" display space. 😌  I really want to take my corner rack but I don't think it fits in my car, I suppose I could use the husband's truck but I hate driving it.  I am also concerned about booth layout and space, I think both of my tables are too big. I need one to be smaller than the other if I want to make and L shape that still fits inside my tent.  

The good news is since this is a monthly market I have several opportunities to change things around and find what works best.  😎

Planning to get back to work. . .

Ok, so the simple truth is I never really stopped "working" on my business, as a small business owner you never really stop. 😏  

In the months I've been closed I have R&D'd and tested new ideas, new chain patterns, gotten new marketing materials, worked on my social accounts in preparation for launching bigger and better, built my insta-following, researched and chosen markets and events for when I'm fully vaccinated.  

Speaking of which, only a couple more weeks until my second shot and a couple of weeks after that and I'll be out doing events!!! 😁  Excited but nervous, trying to make sure I have everything ready for the booths, also trying to decide what all to display at each event. I have too much stuff to properly display it all in a 10'x10' booth especially outside, so I am I planning on taking a limited selection of paintings, and focusing the display more on the jewelry and wire trees.  At least that is the current plan, these are recurring markets so if at/after the first time there is interest/demand for art I can change up what I take.  I can also allow studio appointments if people want to come see all the art and shop that way. 😇

Working. . .on a plan

I need a new calendar, my big desk blotter calendar ends with June, which is just not helpful when trying to plan a whole summer of events. 😏  😄  I am planning to stick to fairly local events, except for maybe the Meadows again depending on how the dates line up. 😉

I've had 1 vaccine dose so far, the second shot scheduled so my first event will be in June.  I've picked a local farmer's market

• It's not until mid June   👍
• It's only 1 Sunday a month 👍
• It's June - October good weather 👍
• It's only 20 minutes away  👍
• It's only half a day 👍
• I got permission to use goimagine.com materials 😁  👍 
• I'm nervous/excited already 👌

I plan to do some Saturdays at our local Tipton market too.  😉

Summer hope. . .

My first vaccination appointment is next week (finally) I have been waiting nearly a month.  I don't know if I am more nervous or excited, but for me excited and nervous often go together.  😏  I am nervous because I hate needles and I'm concerned about reactions, but I am excited because the last year of _______ has _____, insert your own words I'm pretty sure we all feel the same no matter what words we use. 😉  It has been boring, depressing, frustrating, in stay at home, lockdown, limited access. . .

So my first shot next week will then schedule the second shot and then a couple weeks after that I should be "protected" and safe-er to be in public. 😎  In anticipation of my liberation I have been spending hours looking for and assessing events.  

First, I am glad to see that there are some events being held but past the initial ~yay~ there is so much to consider.  While ideally larger well attended events offer better odds of sales/profits, I am still concerned about larger events especially indoors without mask requirements. 😕 Right now I am mostly considering smaller local farmers market type events, because even if they are not great sales wise at least they are outside/open air.  😎