Lessons Learned In 2023 From This Very Grateful Small Business Owner
My shop only officially launched on October 13th, 2023, at the Everything To Do With Sex Show, so I really only have 2.5 months of experience doing this, but in this time, I have already learned some very valuable things, both about business and about myself.
The first thing I learned is that, apparently, some people really like me. Enough that they're not only willing, but happy, to rock the SunnyGrrrl brand IRL. That means more to me than you could ever know. I mean, sure floggers are cool, but I didn't make those. My logos and my t-shirts, I made those, and people like them! Which makes me feel good, so thank you. 🙏 It also makes me feel good that some people were even willing to purchase and try out items I clearly didn't make, just because I vouched for them. That's incredible to me, and I'm honestly humbled by the response! Thank you so much for that. 🙏
The second thing I learned, which I already kinda suspected, is that if I don't constantly hype my shop and products, people are not going to come here. I knew going into this that self-promotion was going to have to be a large part of things if my shop was going to be successful in any way, and it's not something I've ever been very comfortable with. Therefore, I also knew I was going to have to get over it. 🙄
I didn't excel at promoting my shop in the past 2.5 months, but I did do better at promoting it than I have with any of my other ventures or creations, so I'm proud of my progress. I don't want to run social media ads to sell thousands of products at this point in time, so I feel proud of each and every visitor and sale I get to this shop. I feel like they're harder won than if I were running targeted ads. Due to the products I sell, I doubt I'd be approved to run social media ads, so currently, I'm basing my business model 100% on word of mouth and putting business cards in people's hands. They don't call it a side hustle for nothing! 😅
The third, and biggest thing I learned, both about business and myself, is that drop shipping is stressful, and I like mailing stuff. I like choosing the packaging and going to the post office. So the no brainer here is to not drop ship products, and to instead have a small stock of the coolest things I find on the internet, that I mail directly to you, from Sunnyland, with my own two hands.
This means things might sell out and that my "Sunny's Finds" collection will be smaller and slower to expand, but I really want to do vendor fairs, and have a flagship store one day, so this seems like the best way forward. 😊
The first of these products are my Technicolour Dream Floggers, which I just got my first shipment of! I'm so proud of them! So many people were interested in these that they just made the most sense!
Full disclosure: I only have about a dozen of these in stock and I expect them to go fairly quickly, so if you want one this round, you better get it now! E-mail me at sunnygrrrlcanada@gmail.com to save on shipping and arrange for pickup in the Barrie area!
Thank you so much for a busy past 2.5 months! I hope to bring even cooler things to this brand and shop in 2024! Stay tuned!
📺😊✌️
~*Sunny*~