Wednesday, April 15, 2009

hard time plans......


its pretty bad here in the hoosier state...and we are feeling the crunch ....im hoping the weather has a lot to do with it....but for now we are hanging in there and doing some things differently.....things that i hope help us in these hard times.....our state is truly hurting....and waiting for worse ahead becasue of the auto industry situation....
but here are some things
THAT SHOULD HELP
***FLUFFING UP all the merchandise as much as possible....rehabbing, repainting,bringing out of the deep corners, refluffing.... like making new wreaths out of the parts and pieces we have...
*****CLEANING , oiling up and small repairs....this kindof thing can make a big difference with our inventory
**REPRICE...this im doing to things that have been here too long....im pricing way lower to just get rid of them..... i like this better than putting so much on sale...
****digging into spare vintage stuff at home to put back on the selling floor...... this has really added up....like a barbie pile i paid 400$$ for and several big oil paintings i never found out about, and some cars we paid a few hundred for....plus lots of little stuff
****MALLS... i dont care for malls , they are so much work for the money... we sell more in a weekend than i will probably get in a month out of the booths.......but in this economy im going into 2 again.....and hoping for 1000 a month, that would be good!!!....from each....we have our garden iron in them....im not trying antiques....the idea of someone else selling our stuff is pretty nice....and im really in a good location in one...countryside on us 30...east of pierceton..... its a really nice mall...
****ETSY... we are trying this...with my dil...and with stuff thats little and just laying around..
***CUTTING BACK ON SPENDING.....I HATE THIS PART...NEEDLESS TO SAY.....im really cutting back on several companies...and watching my ordering ...
****PRICING A BIT LOWER.... especially on average things......
*****and the biggie ONLINE SELLING... with my dil in charge and doing all the work...... who knows...i have resisted this for a long time....but she is proposing a new way to do it, that cuts down the stores cost ...

****CUTTING EXPENSES ..... we dont want to lay off and we cant change our biggest expenses...health insurance, house payments, payroll, etc etc , so we are trying to watch the little things .
im not into panic mode at all.......our retail only down around 4 %.....im a little stressed....but hey im type A so its no biggie to me..im always stressed and worrying and pushing.....i figure WE can just make it work...lol... im more likely to do another swot test than mope around or feel hopeless........i really think we can figure out something that fits our situation.......like we always have.... we have had to change before and we have wonderful customers... the really serious thing for us is the loss of much of our wholesale....the stores and show dealers we used to sell to have just slowed way down or closed....thats hard to change....or fix....i love wholesale the most....but im going for better and better retail.... and i think we have the staff to do that...

the good thing.. is this should build some better habits.... im very good at spending..THATS MY STRONG SUIT .maybe this will teach me to be a little more selective....
so im into HANG IN THERE and hard work and persistence.....

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