Personally, Financially Struggling
My Queen and I have been having hard discussions about our finances, our jobs, our home life and it seems that we are walking through a maze of few options. We like Bloomington. But the shop is not making the revenue it needs to make... and finances are stretched thin trying to compensate. Add to this MILs car issues, and the house that has a wind current on days the windmills turn, and I have to wonder what options are left. I do not want to go into debt further to keep the business going. But when she is actually making soap, she is happy. It is the business stuff that bothers her most.
So...we talked. I will be taking over managing the business as a business part. We worked through a SWOT analysis last night, laid out her current business and her 5 year business plan, and finally wrote out a mission statement. The problem I think is her need to diversify as much as she has. I think she needs to focus on one things and excel at it. She wants to has the kids soaps, the spa products account for about 30% of sales, and she wants to do soap parties. She understands the weaknesses are plentiful and depressing at the same time and wants to address all of them. With diversification, comes weakness and competition.
The location is terrible. Last year the shop did so poorly that it nearly closed 1 week into December before flipping the door to the one by the elevator to increase foot traffic. This increase walk in sales but online sales were still the powerhouse of the business. Now the walk-in traffic is mostly people asking for directions to Fox and Hounds.
This has all changed since May. Etsy changed their policy to include mass manufacturers overseas. This saturated the search results and changed the customer type from the artsy people looking for that very unique item to the bargain shopper looking for the best deal even if the quality is bad. We are addressing this by moving the store to square stores. This takes time though. Once that is done, we will have to invest more money into marketing.
As far as the location though, this is where the hard decision comes in. Do we close it and default on our lease or do we continue with creative financing to live out the 1.5 years left of the lease? Do we find a cheaper location (there aren't many) with better foot traffic or do we move it into the house to turn it back into a home based business? Deliveries to a home become another overhead costs. This idea of rolling it back into a home based business does not appeal to either of us.
Either way, we are both stressed. If it weren't for the fact she loves it, I would suggest closing it all together.
So...we talked. I will be taking over managing the business as a business part. We worked through a SWOT analysis last night, laid out her current business and her 5 year business plan, and finally wrote out a mission statement. The problem I think is her need to diversify as much as she has. I think she needs to focus on one things and excel at it. She wants to has the kids soaps, the spa products account for about 30% of sales, and she wants to do soap parties. She understands the weaknesses are plentiful and depressing at the same time and wants to address all of them. With diversification, comes weakness and competition.
The location is terrible. Last year the shop did so poorly that it nearly closed 1 week into December before flipping the door to the one by the elevator to increase foot traffic. This increase walk in sales but online sales were still the powerhouse of the business. Now the walk-in traffic is mostly people asking for directions to Fox and Hounds.
This has all changed since May. Etsy changed their policy to include mass manufacturers overseas. This saturated the search results and changed the customer type from the artsy people looking for that very unique item to the bargain shopper looking for the best deal even if the quality is bad. We are addressing this by moving the store to square stores. This takes time though. Once that is done, we will have to invest more money into marketing.
As far as the location though, this is where the hard decision comes in. Do we close it and default on our lease or do we continue with creative financing to live out the 1.5 years left of the lease? Do we find a cheaper location (there aren't many) with better foot traffic or do we move it into the house to turn it back into a home based business? Deliveries to a home become another overhead costs. This idea of rolling it back into a home based business does not appeal to either of us.
Either way, we are both stressed. If it weren't for the fact she loves it, I would suggest closing it all together.
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