Tuesday, May 3, 2011

A day of achievements

Today really felt like we achieved quite a bit. 

Finally (after what felt like forever since our business was incorporated) we managed to meet with a graphic designer and actually agreed to let him start work on our logo. 

Most of the graphic designers were way above our budget so we couldn't even start to consider these people.  So initially after I turned down one person, she requested that we please meet to discuss because maybe there was a way they could help us.  After all "they understand about starting a new business".  And so we went to meet with them.  I don't know what it was, but she was quite aggressive in her approach and kept insisting we need to discuss our marketing plan and our company strategy and I don't know what else.  We both felt quite flustered because her terminology and approach was just way above our heads and finally when we told her our budget she said "okay, I'll have to discuss with the main man if we are able to match that or not".  And so, because we ran out of time, we left with a "okay so how about you look if you are able to work with our budget and then we can possibly take it from there".  That must have been almost a month ago.  Of course we have not heard from her again.  Our budget is quite a bit less than her incredibly high quote and I'm sure they must have burst out laughing just as soon as we walked out the door.  But then I did turn her down initially...

Then there was another person I was hoping to meet.  His quote (without knowing our budget) was far far more realistic and so we set up a meeting and then thanks to having a cold I had to cancel.  Set it up again, had to cancel - again... And today finally we managed to meet with him.  Wow, what a huge difference in approach.  He didn't initially jump into an aggressive approach of "give me your marketing strategy and blah, blah, blah", but instead we chatted.  Chatted about us, about him, what we were hoping to achieve.  So informal and yet, by the end of it, we both felt he actually made a real effort to get to know us.  And unlike the other person seemed to really understand what it is like to start a brand new business.  And so we agreed that he will create some initial concepts and we can take it from there.  We are both so excited to see what he might come up with. 

And then - we managed to book Bianca's birthday venue.  Bianca actually started inviting friends to her party last term already.  Much to my frustration.  Because I kept telling her that we cannot invite people until such time that we booked a venue and if we had to have it at home, she would not be able to invite all her friends.  And if she invited kids and then have to uninvite them just because our space is too small, that would be quite disappointing for her and for them.  And so I started thinking about where we could have her Harry Potter party and we finally thought if we could have it at the school in their hall (which isn't a huge hall, but a nice space) then that would be perfect and we may as well invite all the kids in her class as well as some of her friends in some of the other classes.  That's the problem with having a kid who is really popular.  And today the school came back to us - we can have the hall for the weekend of her birthday, so we can set up the day before and then have the party the next day.  They have tables and chairs.  They have a kitchen and the only thing we'll need to organise is the ability to show the Harry Potter 1 movie.  And of course the decorations.  Bianca will be absolutely thrilled when I tell her we have the hall.  Oh and best of all, the cost for the hall with the tables and chairs is only $20.  That's it.  That is a huge bargain I think.

So now I need to get my backside into gear and actually start getting things done.  I have all these ideas, but they will take time and even though 1.5 months sound like a long time, I know Bianca's birthday will be here before we know it. But at least it is one thing I can tick off so long...

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