The Road to NSS: Early April update, the panic edition

I've decided to update this to-do and expense list on a weekly basis. It'll help keep me on my feet and hopefully help others in the future! And maybe it will make you feel like you're more on top of things...because at least you're not as behind as poor little me! :)

NEED TO DO:
- more card designs to finish in progress. 3 more left to do.
- photograph new cards
- edit photographs of new cards
- revise wholesale catalog still in progress
- continue researching stores still in progress
- finalize and print mailers done!
- continue working on and finalizing booth design in progress
- print new business cards
- work on press kits in progress
- create elements for booth still in progress
- design booth freebies done!
- order booth freebies done!
- design and print stickers for display cards
- create print versions of my mother's card line still in progress
- select new Voyages postcards, greeting cards and print samples still in progress (we may not do greeting cards for Voyages)
- create stamp for new card line in progress
- launch new website done! (no, this was not on the other to-do lists but I love adding things that are finished just so I can cross them off my list.)
- 3 samples of all cards in progress

The damage so far:

Booth fee = $2376.00
FLOR tiles (at 25% off with free shipping) = $360.63
Clip-on lamps from Home Depot = $119.76
Electricity = $113.50
Carbon copy wholesale order forms = $42.70
Printing costs for mailer = $51.28
LOUIE Awards submission = $150.00
Labels for cards = $11.73
Freebies = $101.93 (not so free after all, I guess!)

Total as of April 3, 2014 = $3327.53

Bestsellers

Happy New Year! We rang in the New Year in Montreal (after a weeklong trip in Ontario that took us to Kingston, Toronto, Niagara Falls, and St. Jacobs - Canada's Amish Country) with a group of Russian ex-pats whom Mitya had met during the Russian elections protest. We had dinner at one girl's apartment in LaSalle, and then left at 11:30 to go to the Old Port to see the fireworks at midnight. Little did we know...the trains were not running as frequently, which meant that we got out of the Champ de Mars metro at 11:55. (By the way, all of the metro stations "near" the Old Port are at least a 10 minute walk.) We all ("we" meaning not only the people we were with, but everyone in the trains) rushed out of the train, up the stairs, past the turnstiles and the police who were laughing at us, up and down more stairs, uphill outside, and made it to Place Jacques Cartier 5 seconds before midnight! My thought as I was running and gasping for air: I really need to exercise more!

I'm taking this week to work on my winter line and a few other projects. (On a side note, I feel like I'm the only person who's ready to go back to work after the holidays. I started emailing some of my stores yesterday and today and then I paused and realized that they might not be ready yet!) I also took some time last night to calculate my sales figures for each design, and I was a little surprised by some of the results! (These are sales to my wholesale and consignment customers, Etsy, and the craft fair.) Here's what I found (because I'm a geek for this kind of stuff and hopefully you are too):

Top 5 bestsellers:

1. Smoke Signals Birthday
2. Heart Bubbles
3. Crossroads of Love
4. Elephant Birthday
5. I Heart U Tic Tac Toe

I was actually really surprised that the Smoke Signals Birthday card was the top-selling card of 2011. I felt that it had been ignored since moving to Montreal (along with my other English language cards), but I guess I was wrong!

I was also surprised that the Tic Tac Toe card made it into the top five as well. I wasn't aware that I'd been selling so many of them.

Interesting note: all of the top 5 cards are either birthday or love cards. Maybe that's what I do best? Or maybe that's what people need all year round.

And here are the next 5 bestsellers:

6. Close Encounter with Rudolph
7. Kentile Floors Birthday
8. Hanukkah Origami Candles
9. Birthday Bubbles
10. Wedding Lovebirds

I knew I'd been selling a lot of Rudolph this year (which made me really happy, since Rudolph has been on my line since almost the beginning, in fall 2007 - and his first realization was back in winter 1996, and this is the first year that he's been in more than 2 stores) but I didn't know that he broke into the top 10. I'm very pleased about that, especially since it's a seasonal card. The same goes for the Hanukkah Origami Candles card.

I was also surprised to see the Kentile Floors card in the top 10. I know there was a big rush for it in the spring, but the demand has died down since then (again, something I attribute to moving to Montreal - and not meant as an offense, just a realistic observation). But I love this card, especially since it reminds me of my old neighborhood in Brooklyn, so I'm happy to see it here.

Another thing that I noticed, and which is kind of obvious, was that the top 5 selling cards were all designs that were in my line at the beginning (or close to the beginning) of 2011. Cards that were introduced later obviously didn't receive as many sales.

So, that's my wrap-up. It'll be interesting to see what 2012 brings. May it bring the best for all of you!