Real Life and Small Business
Last July, I launched a clearance sale, and the follow through from that sale was going to be an updated line of products replacing the old designs and stock.
The plan continues to hold that way, only it now has a different timeline because real life and small business can lead to big caveats. Held Gear is truly small. Tiny. To support myself, I need other income.
At the end of July, there was a family emergency, and in that moment all the plates I was spinning came falling. Sometimes you can break the plates and incur no blame.
My Father passed away and this led to a deep meditation before I had to spring to action, fly to Arizona and help my Mother through it. This is life. Suddenly one big plate comes and it’s the one you have to focus on. Let alone grieving, I am back to spinning plates in Philadelphia, and Held Gear continues to receive sales and traffic from search engines. It’s a tiny business, and it’s okay if it is.
That said, I want to make stronger impressions when new visitors find the website. I want to spend more time building it out and improving the whole presentation. I’ve got it so close!
Real life is the income part. Until this provides my income, it’s always just a small plate in the routine. This routine is coming to a climax, however. One by one, I am setting them down, and by the end of the year, this business will be a stronger focus.
How I’m doing that is for me to know and you to find out : P
A customer from five years ago came around a couple of weeks ago and bought two belts on Etsy, one for herself and her husband. She even paid the excessive Canadian shipping. The fans of this brand are few, but they are real. And I need to highlight their testimonials on this very website. My to-do list never ends, and that’s great!
There is not presently any advertising, all sales come from past customers, or random searches. The fact that customers come back after five and ten years tells me that Held Gear is worth keeping up with. Whenever I want to accelerate sales, I will do that.
The clearance items will remain on clearance until they are gone. Those prices are at least 50% off.
All of those products are good, they just didn’t work out as desired. For example, the Snow Ermine is nice and durable, and people gravitate toward its timeless style. However, the strap is very firm and kinks when wrapped in a circle. I will replace that with a 2-ply strap, instead of 3-ply. It’s amazing how much more pliant the 2-ply is. There are also alternative white straps in the catalog that I want to consider.
The Groove will probably come back with modest design changes. The Sky belts are gone, however, I will select a new blue strap to replace it. Also, a green will be coming. I really want all the colors of the rainbow, but it’s expensive to build and inventory these things.
A successful clearance sale means there is more room in the product closet, and cash available to invest in new materials. Then I have to work harder to create the demand.
Real life, once again, comes back into it. At this time, I leave it to be continued. The caveat of making Held Gear a stronger focus later is to right now do the bare minimum for a while longer.
I’ll be back with more news soon. Thanks for checking in.
-Sean