mastery monday. no fear.

{print by Amanda Cherie on Etsy,; found via Krissie Kramer on Pinterest}

2012 is going to be a great year, dammit. 

• Giants are going to the Superbowl.

• Last week, I sent a bunch of goodies (Rosa Earrings) off for a wedding convention, Bridal University, in Columbia, MO on February 19th. 

• Today, I'm shipping out another round of goodies (more Rosa Earrings) for the first 50 guests at The Swoon bridal event in Dallas, TX on March 24th. 

• Giants beat the 49ers last night & are going to the Superbowl.

• Cardinal House may also be providing ICE's Wedding Day Hooray with some goodies. More info to come on this.

• Oh, and did I mention that THE GIANTS WON!!! Giants & Pats rematch (personally, I'd like another repeat of 2008 if you couldn't tell...)

Okay, okay. I'll knock it off. So, what's to come?

If the sun ever comes back out in the small window of time I have to take photos in the winter afternoons...I'll be getting the Rosa Earrings up & running in the shop. Need to nail down which sites I want to run ads on (let me know if you have any good suggestions). Then I'll be working on securing retailers (again, let me know if there are any local shops you'd like to see Cardinal House goodies in). And, I may actually participate in some of the Atlanta area shows this year.

{found on pinterest}

No fear.

Did you know I still work a bit over 30 hours at the design office each week? 

Yup. 

And then come home to el kiddo? (there are no off-hours in motherhood) 

double-yup.   

I have been working my arse off making things, but very little in actually advertising or marketing. If customers can't find you or haven't heard of you, then what's the point?

I've been putting Cardinal house off to the side for a couple of years. It's what I'd do when I had some free-time (ha!). And for free-time, it's been pretty dang good. 

I excused not wanting to promote the site just yet because didn't feel it was ready. Or, I still need to do this or that. Next month I'll be able to finish that and then I can chat up that retailer. *sigh*

One of those resolutions for 2012...slap the perfectionist me across the face. Seriously. Wake up & go get busy just doing. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. 

I've stalked some comparable biz's for a while now. 

I've always loved this shop and have watched it grow. She's fairly religious & the mushy-mom type. Sooo not my speed. It works for her and that's great. 

This one is pretty new. She's young. I tattled on her because she literally copied above's product pictures to sell her versions with. She actually replaced me at one of my retailers (because her costs were cheaper). Pardon my snotness here but, well, the quality is cheaper. I really don't mean that to be catty as it sounds. But it's comparing apples to oranges. However, that girl's got serious game with her marketing. Not shabby at all for a teenager.


So what has my stalking led me to conclude?
I need to stop being paranoid of taking the leap. Any leap. I need to get out of my comfort zone & get to it. Stop putting things off until I have that line sheet perfected. Because I've done tons (TONS!) of research & come across plenty that keep me wondering how they were picked up by "x" retailer. You know what? They made the leap & just went after the biz. 


So. I am plan to 'bring it' in 2012.

xoxo
-Kat.

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