Starting to feel a little nervous
Now that I've started with Creative Memories, I have to find people who want to come to my sessions to learn how to scrapbook. I'm feeling a little apprehensive about it all. I'm in a town full of geeky tech college students. There are way more guys here than girls, so I don't know if anyone will really be interested. I've posted fliers and sent out some email, but haven't gotten any responses back. One club, which consists of mostly guys, was not interested at all. That is pulling my hopes down a little.
I have an appointment with the program coordinator for the dorms at RPI tomorrow. I'm hopeful for that, but still a little uncertain. What if she decides that this isn't a good thing for the students? If I can't get the ball rolling I'm afraid that I'll crash. My consultant continues to be really supportive so at least I have her, but I'm surrounded by people who are utterly uninterested in scrapbooks.
On top of that, the product that I was planning to make a killing on isn't going to be released until Nov. 1st instead of Oct. 1st. I'm supposed to make a certain retail min. in order to get a successful start. I'm pretty sure that once I can get a good client base I'll be set, but right now I'm feeling pretty blue. It would help if I knew people out here, but with the move, I know about five people and two of them are my fellow consultants. They obviously are doing well in this company, but I just feel lost and frankly, scared that I won't be able to make an income. I just don't want to be loosing money on this. I of course love scrapbooking so the tools won't be a waste, but I really want to be able to support myself.
There are many times that I read these posts and want to have a conversation with the writer rather than post a jab here, a strategic question there. Plus, your last post left me a bit at sea regarding what you meant and what you're actually doing. It sounded as though this enterprise is actually an MLM like Amway. But in the post before, this sounded like an endeavor that would have an appeal to a particular age and economic demographic in which you are probably nestled.
So you're focusing on the fact that this is something you'll have to take very seriously in order to do well. But that's true with anything. Any work done haphazardly and half-hearted is not going to present well. You'll need to approach *every* aspect of it with enthusiasm at all times.
First things first. You need to identify who your target market is and its potential. If the potential isn't right, determine why and adjust. If it simply isn't a fit, look to the next target market. Each time there isn't a fit, consider the fringe population as that which can be added on to the right market fit as supplementals. I have certain ideas about which ages and interests would be a good fit for your endeavor but I'm not going to hand you my solutions for your work. You're actually in the location and know with what you're dealing. Look at your demographics, analyze them, then develop a plan to exploit the opportunities.
In a previous post, you spoke of volunteering at the library. My impression was that is a fantastic place to volunteer. You'll meet a super cross section of the population. If you're an enthusiastic and outgoing personality, you'll make friends easily and learn more about the city and area. You didn't mention it but this is definitely the time to start visiting churches and to select one as your home. Though that, you will also start meeting potential market share as well as get to know the people as people and develop credibility and identity for yourself.
This start-up time is definitely the time to network your heart out! There's lots more I could say. Come to the workshops and we'll get into more.