What do you mean it's been 3 months???
Jan 13, 2020
WHERE DOES THE TIME GO? You guys, I swear it feels like we opened yesterday. I was talking with a customer the other day when they asked how long we had been opened. I casually said, ‘A little over two months,’ when I suddenly realized that was totally incorrect, and we had, in fact, just hit the 3 month mark! That’s 1/4 of a year! Like, if a year were a pizza and I took 1/4 of it, people would be say, ‘that’s a lot of pizza and maybe you shouldn’t be so selfish,’ because it’s THAT solid a chunk of time!
That said, these last few months have been incredible. To be candid, I was a chicken shit and didn’t want to be too flashy about our opening. As a first time business owner, I was worried that if my shit wasn’t together, customers would have a terrible first time experience and then never come back. Thus, the only real press-like-event that I did was with Offline Premium members where we did a soft opening on 10/2 and 10/3, ahead of our grand opening on 10/5. We also ran the same Offline Premium deal for the month of October (free pint/wine glass to paint or etch), so that we could catch the people that didn’t get into the soft opening lottery, but still wanted to check us out. Based on those Offline Premium deals, a very kind writeup by Bites of Bull City, and a lovely feature by Shop Durham, we’ve actually had a really great word-of-mouth turnout. There are also a number of bloggers and influencers that have apparently come in and written about us, but we haven’t been able to track down all of them to thank them for their support. Wherever and whoever you are, this is one grateful lady business owner. Without the support of community members like you, small businesses fail, and it’s literally the most heartbreaking fate I can imagine.
In summary, people have been great, I’ve been learning a TON as an owner/boss/manager about both myself, management styles, and in general how to run a business (but I’m no expert yet, so you should still cut me some slack). Aaaaand yeah, that’s been the last 3 months.
Looking forward, I have a lot of things in the works. Some of them have kicked off already, and some of them are a work in progress. Here are a few things:
- We’ve started hosting makers to come in and teach classes! I’d love to do at least one class a week. So far, we’ve had the talented Jeanette Egan (J Egan Designs) teach a couple wood burning classes, and Heather from Blossom & Bone Florals. Do yourself a favor and follow these two on Instagram. They will blow your mind with their gorgeous works.
- We’ve added new crafts! Right now our seasonal craft is no-sew blankets, and we’ll be adding more ‘cozy’ crafts in the coming weeks as I’m able to get the materials in and make the instructions. Stay tuned and of course follow us on Instagram to be the first to hear when they’re out. As a permanent fixture, we’ve also been teaming up with One Crafty Bull to start offering some faux leather earring kits. These are EXCLUSIVELY at Crafts & Drafts right now, and I’m going to brag about that as long as I can because it’s the coolest thing I’ll ever be able to say and it probably won’t last long, haha.
- We’ve got PACKAGE DEALS in the works. We’ve been working one on one with people wanting to throw baby showers, bridal showers, and corporate events, but we’d like to streamline our offerings and our prices so that we can spread the word far and wide to those wanting to host events here. Stay tuned for that because I think it’s going to be hot fire (insert hot fire emoji that I can’t use right now because I’m typing on my laptop).
Here’s to a great 2020 for Crafts & Drafts NC and for all of our supporters.
Love to you all,
Virginia George, Owner