March 2019
30 March 2019
A lovely sunny day here! Spent the morning giving some overdue attention to my garden. It was a nice break from sitting at a desk and looking at a screen. Spring has definitely sprung.
I've just booked a week in Scotland, staying in Tiree and will visit Coll, Iona and Treshnish Isles. I've been to Tiree before but not the others. Fingers-crossed, I will finally get to see some puffins. Can't wait.
I'm hoping to meet some new makers when I'm there. If anyone has any recommendations, please get in touch.
I've been approved as a business seller on Instagram, which means I can promote products. I'm still learning my way around promotion on Instagram. Getting the likes, but not necessarily the followers. Same on Facebook. Again, any tips, please get in touch.
22 March 2019
Happy one-week anniversary of Peg & Patch. Thank you to everyone who has visited, and to those who have made a purchase.
It's been a busy week, getting a few late additions uploaded to the site. (There will be a couple more today.) With the site live, I've also been able to do more work on the search engine optimisation (SEO) to make sure Peg & Patch pops up when people are searching on Google, Bing, etc. It's another learning opportunity for me; I know a little about SEO but have never needed to do the work before. I've been surprised by how many of the 'easy-to-use' guides are written using technical jargon. (Once a communications professional, always a communications professional.)
I've also started to dabble in social promotion, trying out Facebook and Instagram paid placements. It's really interesting because you can select the location of where your ads will appear — by country or even by city — and then you can watch the user stats on your site to see if there's a correlation between site visitors and where you've advertised. I'm grateful to say that it does work, but I can't help but feel like some master manipulator. LOL. I'd never make it as a marketer if that's how I feel about paying for advertising.
15 March 2019 (PS)
It's been a long but positive first day of Peg & Patch. The fact that it is after 23:00 and I am still awake is remarkable. (Full disclosure: I was very close to an afternoon nap but swung my feet off the couch and onto the floor before it was too late. That and and some self-bribery with the promise of an Easter Cream Egg.)
I'm pleased to report there were a few sales, despite my best efforts to sabotage the business on day one.
- I sent an email to family and friends to let them know that the shop was open. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, it languished in my outbox for around five hours before I noticed.
- To make it worse, there was a typo in that email that languished for five hours, only to be spotted when it finally went out. (Thanks, Mum.)
- When I put the site live, I forgot to take credit card payments out of 'test' mode so people couldn't actually buy anything until someone flagged it. (Thanks, Nan.)
- After putting the site live, I totally forgot that changes to the site would be public as I made them. I was building product pages and leaving them half-finished when I became distracted with various other things. (Yes, including the Easter Cream Egg.)
Good night. And thank you.
15 March 2019
Seven months ago, I decided to open a shop. When I told people, I was expecting a lot of supportive nods and smiles. But what I hadn't expected was just how encouraging everyone would be. It made this idea seem a lot less whimsical and scary. Thank you to my friends, family and colleagues and the talented makers who have all contributed to the creation of Peg & Patch in different ways, but all with positivity and enthusiasm.
Today marks the official launch of Peg & Patch, an online shop that celebrates beautiful, quality goods designed in Scotland and the fantastic makers who create them. I hope you like what you see so far and that you'll pop back again as the site continues to grow.
14 March 2019
Busy adding some new stock that arrived from one of the makers. I really want it to be included when I launch tomorrow.
I love the stuff that I've ordered. I don't think there's anything that I have questioned 'why did I order that' ... phew! But I do think I would order differently if I was to do it again. I think more of fewer things, keeping a narrower line; I see it in the products that I bought later in the buying process. I'm not sure I was aware that I changed my approach, but I see it in what's arriving. And it's not just because I now know how much work goes into loading one product onto the site. (I think that's part of it, but not all of it.)
10 March 2019
It's just after midnight and I've sent out a link and password for a few friends and family to have a look at the site. I've also emailed the makers to let them have a look at their write-ups. It's like the day I sent out the survey about the shop name: a mix of nervousness and relief.
7 March 2019
I should know better than to open a box of stock late at night, if I have any hope of getting a good night's sleep. Oh well. There's always tomorrow night.
Look what's arrived!
Who needs sleep when you've got Harris Tweed goodies
6 March 2019
Whoop! Whoop! Another delivery, and another one expected over the weekend. I think I’m going to launch on 15 March. Hmmm. Ides of March. Wasn’t that when Julius Caesar was assassinated?
Maybe I should try the luck of the Irish, instead.
3 March 2019
The site is in pretty good shape. I'm still waiting for orders from five makers, so trying to decide whether I launch it now, launch it when a few more deliveries arrive or wait until the end of the month. There are pros and cons to all.
I’m leaning towards circulating the URL to family and friends, to let them have a nosey. I’m also relying upon (read: expecting) my communications chums to have a good proofread of everything. And while they are at it, I hope they test the links, navigation, check-out … Just sayin’.