Natdamelio

[natdamelio]

Final Progress Update

What has been working for creative living are sales, advertising, marketing and more. This semester has taught me a lot about running a business, being independent and entrepreneurship. I think my business Creative Living is working well because I enjoy finding items and repurposing them. What is not working is making a lot of sales due to limited marketing and financial limits. I think Creative Living is coming along well and this project has shown me how difficult running a small business can be. I am learning a lot from running Creative Living like how to respond to customers and other people interested in Creative Living. This course and project have taught me a lot about myself and how much I enjoy running a business. I learned I enjoy working for myself, organizing inventory, being independent and being creative.

[natdamelio]

Progress update

What is working for Creative Living is finding items and reselling them. Creative Living just had its first sale since opening and things are going well. What is not working is finding more items to resell and repurpose as well as finding a steady clientele can be difficult to upkeep. Creative Livings Instagram page is not gaining as many followers as hoped, but this has shown me that promoting and gaining a following can be a difficult task. I think Creative Living is coming along well and this project has shown me how difficult running a small business can be. I am learning a lot from running Creative Living like how to respond to customers and other people interested in Creative Living. What I am learning about myself is that I like working for myself as well as being in charge.

[natdamelio]

Creative Living Progress

What has been working for Creative Living is operating the website as well as managing and following through with Esty orders and online payment. Creating an Instagram page has been a little helpful but also challenging because getting and growing an online following can be challenging due to many factors like competition, promoting, getting the funds to promote your company worldwide and more. I feel Creative Living is coming along well and I am learning a lot of about businesses as well as entrepreneurship. About myself I am learning to be patient with gaining a following with Creative Living and getting its name out there as well as getting orders to come through. I am happy with Creative Living being centred around eco friendliness as well as being creative and repurposing beauty through old items into new one-of-a-kind items.

[natdamelio]

progress on your Start-Up Venture

So far what is working for Creative Living is finding items and reselling them. I have created an Instagram page to promote Creative Living and have taken some steps to spread the word. So far what is not working is figuring out with Esty how to open my own shop and how shipping and mailing works when it comes to delivering the product. I wonder if local drop off options would save me time and money with shipping costs but also understand time and gas can now play a factor. I feel Creative Living is going well and it has taught me a lot about running an online business and making time to be online to answer questions, emails, concerns and more. Creative Living in my opinion has become an important and exciting part of my day when it comes to checking if people have viewed my site or have messaged Creative living for a quote, item, sale, etc. I have learned many things about myself from Creative Living and can’t wait to grow within the next few weeks.

[natdamelio]

Creative Livings progress

What is working for Creative Living is finding “one of a kind” items that local thrift stores offer as well as many platform options for Creative Living to sell from. Things that are not working would be finding one specific platform to sell from as well as building clientele can be a little difficult. I feel Creative Living is coming along quite well and I am excited to keep researching and expanding this small business in hopes of creating something that is special to me and well recognized for the better of the planet. What I am learning about running a business is that there are many different internal and external aspects that each individual business experiences and what is important to be aware of as well like the legal aspects, the target audience, the financial budget and more. Creative Living has taught me that I enjoy being in charge and responsible while running a business as well as it has taught me that you should be prepared for anything that could jeopardize your reputation and or initial mission statement.

[natdamelio]

Creative Livings Financial source

Beyond the $50.00 of personal money that will be invested, the financial sources that Creative Living will be considering are grants, subsidies, or a loan. When thinking about Creative Livings financial source the four factors pointed out by bdc.ca are important to remember especially when applying to grants, subsidies, and loans. Making sure the professional profile of Creative Living is established and well researched is extremely important because when applying for government funding they need proof of commitment and are going to want to make sure you are educated and professional when it comes to running a small business, giving them reassurance that the money they are providing is in good hands. Making sure you know who your clients are, why you chose to be an online business, and your businesses viability is all important and something that the government, bank, or other loan providers are going to want to know. There are many other factors that can affect if you are eligible for grants, loans or subsidies, like how long it can take to make a profit, marketing and how much you are investing in your own business.

[natdamelio]

Creative Living Business operations plan

Creative Livings plan is to source items from local thrift stores like Value Village and Goodwill, as well as online ones like eBay and Etsy. Being an online business without a physical building to work out of can be difficult especially considering limited space when it comes to inventory and organization. By offering one-of-a-kind items this can help keep overhead costs low and inventory at a steady and slow pace. By being a small independent business, this allows myself to have complete control of what is purchased, sold, and requested upon. By only releasing a small number of products each month this allows customers to become excited with anticipation and keeps the uniqueness of Creative Living alive. With releasing only a few items a month this allows time to shop around for new products and items as well as this allows time to complete prior unfinished projects. The only license and permit that may be required would be if Creative Living were to open a pop-up shop with having permission to sell items on the property

[natdamelio]

Local Competition

When it comes to thrifting competition will always be a factor. There will always be a rush to get the best item at a low price when it comes to vintage items as well as hard to find one-of-a-kind items. With my business Creative Living my three biggest competitors I think are Goodwill, Value village and any second-hand store. The difference between Creative living and these other stores is Creative Living is online based and can be commission based while as these other stores are in person and not always full of the best items or the one you are looking for. I think Creative living may have an advantage to its competitors because of social media exposure, pricing and how we can help you find what you think you are looking for. After researching the competition I feel quite confident that creative living has a small advantage point of being small owned and not a corporation.

[natdamelio]

my message map

[natdamelio]

Strength and weaknesses

Some of my strengths are:

My creativity

My positive attitude towards others

Focused

Some of my weaknesses are:

Public speaking

Too detailed oriented

My self-criticism

I would describe my strengths as one of the most Important aspects of me.

My strengths help me in my everyday life to keep a positive attitude towards myself and others when situations can be quite stressful. I would describe my biggest weakness is not using my voice when I can to advocate for myself and others. Everyone has may different strengths and weaknesses that may be considered good for one person and negative for another. A specific area I would like to improve on would be public speaking. Public speaking has never been my favorite thing to do but by feeling confident in myself I believe I will be able to get past this.

[american-life-style-deactivated]