Hitting the Ground Running
Last spring, as many of you may remember, we made the initial launch of the Minnows online store. With about 100 items in the first posting, I was pumped about making the leap and things went along smoothly for a couple of weeks. Then, as is typically the case with any new venture, we ran into a snag or two. We were transitioning to a new credit card processor, and little did I know when posting the second round of online items, it was not linked properly to the online store. That evening, as customers tried to make purchases, they were unable to check out! Ahhh! I must admit, it was a little embarrassing. At the same time, I’ve had my rounds with new endeavors and expected to run into obstacles. Thus, I had all the best intentions of pressing forward to work out the bugs.
Next, came the transition into the summer months. As many of you with families can probably relate to, with each seasonal shift, our household schedule bears a major adjustment period.
For me, the summer months mean bringing my oldest son (now 8 years old) to work with me a couple days a week and balancing that out with good old summer fun.
In addition to the stark shift in my routine, beginning in June, Minnows also experienced a huge increase in in-store sales! Stay tuned for another blog post about how we accomplished this growth, which continued going strong throughout the holiday season! Needless to say, the online store took a backseat.
As the back-to-school transition rolled around, I had still not yet posted any fresh items in the online store. Although the technical issue that originally set me off track had been resolved, I had unsettling concerns about the platform we originally launched with and had not yet delved back in to determine how I wanted to move forward. Then, toward the end of September, I was approached by Megan Ryan.
One of the first 20 Minnows consignors, Megan has been a loyal supporter for the entire time I’ve been in business! She contacted me to ask whether I would be interested in contracting her for administrative services which she was beginning to offer through her own newly launched small business, AdminAnchor. I knew Megan could be of service because there are SO MANY tasks that I imagine getting done that I simply never get to. Prior to meeting with her though, I wasn’t entirely sure how she would be able to accomplish the tasks I was imagining or whether or not Minnows would be able to take on the expense immediately. I knew in the back of my mind though that the meeting would result in something wonderful that I could not quite yet envision.
About midway through our meeting, after discussing many of the other intricate details of my business, I learned that Megan was very interested in furthering the online store. It was an “aha” moment for me! Believe it or not, this was not even a consideration when I brainstormed the many administrative to-dos that she could potentially help me with only because I didn’t think of it. As soon as she mentioned it though, I knew she was the right fit and that it was the right direction for beginning our work together!
We immediately hit the ground running, mapping out all the parts and pieces that needed to be lined up in order to do it right this time! Megan researched options and determined the best platform for the online store. She came at it from her perspective as a customer, and set out to create the site to be extremely user-friendly, making it easy for all of you to snag the items you want as you see them posted.
In addition to the online store aspect, we are really excited to be launching the full Minnows website! With this comes this blog as well as a wonderful resource page for consignors, complete with two fabulous new videos.
There are many people to thank who contributed their time so generously to the website. Megan Ryan designed the Shop pages and pushed me forward to project completion. My good friend Toño Daal designed the Consign, About Us, and Blog pages. Photographer and videographer, Paul Mackey put an extraordinary amount of time and thoughtfulness into the photos and videos for the website. The video work is an outstanding collaborative effort among Paul and his wife, Michaela Mackey (aka Kiki).
As I write about this experience of having launched the online store and then retreating, it’s all becoming clear that I simply needed to seek out more help from the get go. A project of this kind is most successful when it has many caring, creative hands involved in the making of it.
Thank you for visiting the brand new Minnows website and for reading about my journey. This is what it’s like to be Owning It! Stay tuned.