Tuesday 19 November 2013

CANCELLATIONS AND CHRISTMAS

Ive talked about craft fairs before on this blog.  Some are good and some are brilliant and some are just a plain washout, its just part of the game.  You win some you lose some, however when people invite you to a craft fair that is supposedly going to be a big event, especially near to Christmas and then it gets cancelled with about a fortnight's notice that is something that really annoys me and its happened not once, but twice now with the same organisers.

I am using the term "organisers" loosely here as it seems there is one spokesperson for a team of people in our local town who just don't seem to be able to get themselves sorted out, neither do they seem to be able to realise that for those of us who run a business its not the simplest thing to just find another venue or to make up the loss of potential earnings at such short notice. 

I think the problem is that most of the people involved in these events do not actually run business' themselves so have little idea of what is involved in the process. 

I do feel like a bit of a yo yo when this occurs though, I post on my page that Im going to be attending such and such event and then Im having to say its cancelled. 

It will also mean that many of us will no longer wish to be bothered with these organisers as we will all doubt whether the actual events are going to go ahead after all.

So now I am left with the problem again of trying to find another venue at VERY short notice to replace the lost one in order to make sure I can make up my lost earnings so we can have a Christmas.

 

Wednesday 13 November 2013

IMITATION IS THE BEST FORM OF FLATTERY?????

Im sat here wrestling with a bit of a problem.  For a little while now I have had the feeling that a couple of other people on Facebook have been imitating my work.  Now I know that, like the title of this blog says Imitation is supposed to be a form of flattery, in other words, copying something you like is supposed to be a compliment to the original designer, however, I am getting a little bit fed up with providing ideas for my competitors.

Why can they not come up with their own designs??  I have been doing a lot of hard work on the internet, late hours and long ones, researching Egyptian, Celtic and Art Deco styles of jewellery and coming up with some original pieces as a result. 

I also spend a lot of time networking and promoting my page only to find that the same person is trotting along behind me the next day posting similar things about their work and themselves.  Not nice!!!

So if any of them happen to come along and read this blog, and you will know who you are,  just stop it please, make your business grow because of yourself, not because you are hanging off the back of someone else, don't be lazy and use your own imaginations to come up with your OWN designs not mine!!

That's that off my chest.  And now I am off to the workroom to finish some pieces off for the new retail outlet in Weymouth which I am looking forward to visiting next week.  The new owner sounds lovely, we have spoken on the phone and I think we are going to get on very well together.

So a brief blog, but necessary as I cant always say these things on my page as it doesn't look professional but I can rant on here.