New year, New goals

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and hoping you have a wonderful new year.

A new year for most people is time to think about and make resolutions for the coming year. I don't think this is the right way to approach things you want to do as most resolutions get broken or forgotten about by the end of January. Instead I take the time to think about where and how I want my year to go, from this I then set myself some goals. Some maybe short term goals whilst others are longer term and may even take a few years.
Once I have set my goals I then break them down into manageable targets.

One of my main goals this year is to lose the weight I put on about 2 years ago. I had a hernia which required surgery so wasn't able to exercise. I put on about 2 - 2..5 stone over 3-4 months. Going by the guides for my height I should be around 9-9.5 stone but I will be happy to get back to my previous weight of 10 stone. At the moment I weigh 12 stone 7lbs.
My goal is to be back at this weight by July 2014. To break this into manageable targets I am aiming to lose 4-5lbs per month which works out to 1lb a week. I think this is very do-able. To help me I have used this site to give me pictures of before and after.

I do have other goals, some to do with business, some personal. One is to blog at least once a month in 2014 so here is my 1st post.

Do you make resolutions or goals. What are yours for 2014?

Does a business really need a logo?

I have now been running Sirinadesigns for 3 years. When I first started the business I tried to research as much as possible about finances, taxes, etc. Since I have been running the business I have been researching marketing and selling. One of the things that I have seen a few times is about logos. Most of the things I have read say that if a company has a logo, which can lead to branding, then customers are more likely to purchase or use their services. This is down to confidence of a company with a logo being more trustworthy than one without. Up until this year I haven't really looked any further into having a logo as I thought that with the type of service I provide a logo wasn't going to make much difference. However this year I have been determined to make the business as well known as I can to try to really get it off the ground. This meant looking at my website design and this in turn led me to a logo. I tried to design one myself but wasn't very successful. I ended up with just the name on a beige background

This was fine in the short term but if it needed resizing or anything, for different websites, then it became distorted plus it didn't look like the logo of a professional business. I then researched logo designs and found most businesses in my sector had logos that could also be added to garments. I then researched different places to get a logo designed professionally. Eventually I found one through facebook, I had actually been following the page quite a while just never thought about using them. I got in contact with Helen Scott - graphic designer last week about having a logo made. After being in contact over the last week via email over designs I have received an email today to say that my final design is ready. I just have to wait for the final invoice and then the files will be mine.
I will then update this blog with my new logo for you all to see.

Here's my new logo

What do you think?
Do businesses need a logo?
Have you done better once you had a logo?

                                                            Follow

Reason for starting your business

Just a short post this week about the various reasons people have for starting their own business.

I 1st thought about starting my own business when I was about 18yrs old. I has always enjoyed sewing and thought it would be easy to just start earning money (I wish it was)
I was already working part time in a shop whilst going to college. Once I left college I found that I needed to start working longer hours so the business idea was put on the back burner. I was always saying I'm going to start my own business but never actually put it into motion. Then my nan passed away and gave me the push to finally start the business. My main motivation this time was that I wanted to make my nan proud of me even if she wasn't actually here to see it or tell me.
Over the last couple of years I have slowly started getting more customers and growing the business. Last year my dad lost his job and struggled to get another one so my money was paying the bills and it was a horrid feeling not knowing if we would have enough money. At the same time the place I work also started to let people go. This has made me even more determined to have a successful business so that I don't have that worry of where will the money be coming from, is there a chance I'm going to lose my job,etc.

So I suppose this post is really to ask what was the main reason/factor behind people starting their business?

Long time no post

Belated Happy New Year to you all.
OK I know that I have said this before but I am a really bad blogger. It is something which just seems to get swept to one side with everything else that I do with regards Sirinadesigns business.
I am hoping that this year I will be better at it. I have a really good feeling that 2013 is going to be good for me both in business and my personal life.
I have already started the year in a more positive frame of mind and I think this is helping. I have made what I think are good changes to my website www.sirinadesigns.co.uk.
I have had a few ideas for a while but have been stuck on the mock up stage for a while and have now pushed myself to finish the mock ups. The next stage is to find some fabric that I feel is right for the designs.
I have also finished the dress for myself that I spoke about in my last post plus some items for the website.
I have started the personal year aiming to lose the weight I have been trying to lose for the last 2 years, I am doing zumba at home and so far this year have already lost 3lbs. Only another 2 stone to go.
I am going to sound like a stuck record but I am going to try to post more often.

Craft fairs=decision time

First I want to apologise for not blogging for so long but I have had a couple of craft fairs and have been so busy trying to get ready for them. Now I am wondering why I bothered.
The 1st event I attended was a pamper evening at a school. This was arranged through the PTA and they said they had such a successful event last year they had to extend it by an hour. They were also offering pamper treatments alongside the stalls. When I arrived it all looked really goo, plenty of variation on the type of stalls selling items. However when people started to arrive all they seemed interested in was the free drink and the treatments. Hardly anyone even looked at the stalls let alone buy anything. I just thought oh well onto the next one.
The 2nd event I had booked was at a helicopter museum. I attended an event just before Xmas at the same venue but due to the weather (event was held in between snow storms) hardly anyone attended. I thought I would give it another shot with better weather. But this time the turnout was even worse, I think there was only about 3 women all day and I need women to buy my items. It was a 2 day event but I couldn't face the 2nd day so didn't bother going back. I know that's not really the attitude to have when running a business but I weighed up the time I would lose sitting there against what I could accomplish at home working.
I have got another event booked for August at a steam event where they have a craft marque. Hopefully that event will be better.
I have however decided after all these let downs that if I don't sell anything (or even just a few things) at the next event then I am going to give up craft fairs and card making to concentrate on the sewing side of my business. I have already started to scale down the card making side anyway but this will be the final test.
I am going to try to get into a few trade wedding shows to see if that helps my business as this is the route that I want to go down anyway.

Business not personal

One of the biggest lessons that I am learning whilst setting up my business is that some people ask things but then never get back to you. This is down to business and not meant personally towards you.
I have had a few email queries asking about my clothing alterations and how much I charge for certain jobs, once I have given them a rough price (I always tell the customer it is a rough price as until I have seen the item I cannot say the exact price or even if it is possible for the alteration to be done)
I do offer a free consultation for all customers to assess the work required and give a definite price but after the email some customers don't even want to take me up on this offer.
I know that I am not charging too much as other people charge more than me but I think I charge a fair price for my skills.
I have also had people ask if I could do an alteration but then tell me what needs doing or how long they think it will take me - I just think that if they know this information why do they not do the alteration themselves?
However I think that all this is down to business decisions and money decisions not personal feelings towards myself. If I took all these no replies personally then I would have given up by now.
I am however getting quite a few jobs through google and my website so people obviously think my prices are OK.
I am getting bigger jobs as well so am going to have to look at getting some sort of warehouse/workshop to work from as my current workshop is not big enough (if you know of anywhere in the Bristol area please let me know)

Introducing Sirinadesigns

My last post was about me so I thought I would now introduce my company Sirinadesigns.
Sirinadesigns was started in January 2010. I have been talking about starting a business for about 5 years but never felt confident in my own sewing abilities.
I was taught to sew by my Nan when I was about 7 years old and have been sewing ever since. I then went on to do a GNVQ in art & design at college followed by two NVQ's in pattern cutting but still didn't feel my work was good enough to sell.
I made my best friends wedding dress in 2005 and had lots of lovely compliments about it on the day and I was happy with the results but then life got in the way and the business plans were put on hold.
Just after christmas 2009 my Nan fell ill and was taken into hospital at the end of January 2009. Sadly on Febuary 9th 2009 she passed away (the doctors informed us afterwards that she was riddled with cancer) and I couldn't face going into my sewing room as that was the space I shared with Nan.
Eventually towards the end of 2009 I had some sewing that just couldn't wait any longer which forced me back into sewing, which was actually a good thing. I have been sewing regularly ever since and feel close to my Nan when I am in the room.
In January 2010 I decided that I had been talking the talk for long enough and it was time to walk the walk so I launched Sirinadesigns. It is named after my Nan and my Mum (Iris and Tina)
I have got a lot more confidence in my own sewing abilities now and know that I have got what it takes to make beautiful clothes. I hope now that people also like my items and start to buy.
I am primarily a dressmaker but also do alterations and handmade cards.
Sorry for the long post but that is Sirinadesigns introduced.

Kelly (AKA Sirinadesigns)