So Much FUN!

I am having such a good time with this. Even if my business doesn't succeed, even if i loose a ton of money, I am having so much fun.

Last night I hid about 15 pendants around the city. Each one was exciting! I hid one on the subway, one on the bus, some on the street, one at Starbucks and one on a mailbox.

The one on the mailbox was still there after a few hours! Part of me wants to stay behind and watch peoples expressions, but the other part of me doesn't want to be discovered.

I was so excited I thought I was going to throw up. I just had that nervous ball of energy in my stomach.

I am going to go out today and hide some more.

I'm Launched!

I did it. The website is done. All business stuff are in order except for one thing, but I need more money for that. It's time to generate some income!

THE WEBSITE IS UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LOSTJEWELS.COM

November 10, 2007! I'll mark the date!

I am going downtown tonight and will start to drop jewels tonight!

I am so friggin excited I'm about to pee my pants. I can't believe it has taken this long to get this going. Now I just have to wait for my first official sale. And I am not gonna blog until it happens.

Yippey for LOST JEWELS!!!!!

SO CLOSE!!!!

I realize I havent blogged in a while but thats cause I've been busy WORKING!

I AM ALMOST READY TO LAUNCH!!! I am so excited!

The website is almost finished. I even made a little video with my friend Alex as a pirate to put on the front page.





I am trying to embed it here.

Anyway, I have all of my business documents, and ID's and product. I have a few people already selling a little bit, but I'll let you know when I make my first official website sale.

I should be hiding jewels by next week!!!! fingers crossed!

same ol same ol, workin hard!

Just working hard so I can begin selling. I have finished stringing and I am bagging. Each bag gets one pendant, with deluxe leather adjustable cord, I stick one small sticker on the back of each pendant which says lostjewels.com, then a lost jewels sticker and then the "you have been chosen" card, along with another card explaining word-of-mouth advertising.

I need to make up new cards for each of the ten different ones I will be selling on the website. I got my federal tax ID number and am waiting on my state tax ID number.

I am waiting for my new passport so I can get NY drivers licence.

I started quick-books but still need to open a business bank account.


Its so strange how quick you think it is to start-up a business, but it just keeps taking forever and ever. I feel like I get a little bit closer with every day of work. I hope all of the work pays off in the end, but it kinda seems like a big crap-shoot.

I would like to get some video of me working on my stuff and post it here because I do everything out of an 8' x 9' room. I like to call it the worlds tinniest factory. I think that might be interesting to people to see how much I do out of such a small space.

I also need to finish the website. I have decided to only start with 10 pendants for sale and twice a year, add new products, such as earrings, bracelets and necklaces. I feel like if I wait to launch until I have more products, it will take too long.

I set a goal start date for OCT 1st. I think I can get all the things that need to be done, finished by that date. Then I get to take the long awaited walk of giving away pendants!

Most people think I am crazy to just give them away, but I think its like spending advertising money instead, and I also think it is something different that could create a buzz about it.

I love the idea and I am so excited to implement it.

So Much Hard Work

I've been stringing my pendants like crazy. I think I have about one thousand pendants strung. i put them all on nice leather with adjustable cords, with really nice, deluxe knots. They all look really good.

I got my new printer so that i can print a bunch of the things I need to print, in-house. I have been printing the inserts for the bags for the pendants. I also tried printing some business cards but it got all smeary. I think the cards I am using are too glossy. I have to go to staples to get more blank cards, with matte finish and also some blank label pages to print lostjewels.com tiny stickers on the back of all the pendants. My sister Emma gave me this tip. In case people loose all the cards, they will still know where it came from on the actual pendant itself.

I got a federal tax ID number and also a state tax ID number. I am just waiting for confirmation in the mail. I have also sent in for my new passport so eventually I can get a NY drivers licence.

I am struggling with the idea of having a bunch more products on the site before i launch or should I just launch and then add products? I need a little more time to think on this. I have been making a bunch of earrings but I either need to go buy more beads or make some more beads. Ugh. All I need is more work.

Oh Boy

This last week I have been stringing pendants like mad. I only need to string about 200 more. I am out of leather cord and need to spend about a hundred on new leather cord. I also need to get a new printer. Mine sucks and I am gonna have to spend about $200 on a good new one. Ug. I am just getting tired of spending money. I am going out of town this weekend so I may have to buy some of this stuff when I get back. I hope to sell a few pendants this weekend though. Perhaps generate a little bit more money to buy the stuff I need.

I am going to look into getting a tax id number right now.

Got a ton done

I had the day off and I got a ton of lostjewels stuff done. I ordered stickers that will go in each of the bags. I think they turned out pretty cute. That is kind of what I want the logo to look like as well.


I love it. It looks all old fashioned and cute.

I also glued all the bails on the pendants. I still have the one-of-a-kinds to glue.



I also cut a bunch of leather to leangth. They come in rolls of 100 yards and need to be cut for each necklace.

I still need to:
make the cards for each bag
buy more leather
buy sterling silver chain
register business with county clerk
before that get NY drivers licence
before that get new passport
write business plan
figure out quickbooks
finish web site

Thats all I can think of for now..

Maggie

Big News for Lost Jewels

Lost Jewels is now a sole proprietor and not a partnership. This move is good for all who are involved. Shauna has too much on her plate to take this business on.

So Lost Jewels will be solely my responsibility from now on.

What a different business this is becoming.

Maggie
CEO and only employee of Lost Jewels

Shauna needs to come back

I feel very stuck without her. We have a lot that needs to be done but I feel like we need to get on the same page about stuff before we can proceed. Like... we need to glue the bails to the pendants but my space is too small and fumey to do it in.

My bedroom in NYC is 8ft by 9ft. and in it I have everything from my personal life, my clothes, my bed and it also happens to be our little factory right now. Ideally we will rent some space somewhere as we expand but for now this seems to be our only option.

I think we should also set a goal date as to when we are going to launch. I think it may get us working harder, with a deadline in mind. I feel like this is taking forever, but maybe it just does take a really long time.



Come back Shauna!!!


-maggie

Bails!!!

We got the bails today and I have glued about fifty but now I am starting to get a headache and I need to go to work. There has to be a better way to ventilate this whole thing. Shauna returns Thursday so we will figure everything out then.

best wishes!
maggie

Nothing

I got a notice today that I have a package waiting at the post office so its probably the bails. I'll go down there tomorrow and pick them up.

Nothing else new. Just waiting for shauna to get back so we can regroup and keep moving forward.

No New News

We are kind of at a halt until Shauna gets back as I need help on the design of the website. I had planned out the map and the banner to detail, and they are now completed but as far as the actual layout of the site I think we need to do more work on it so its on the back shelf for now.

We are still waiting for the bails to arrive.

Everyday I learn what an enduring task starting a business is. It takes forever and I just can't wait until we are able to take that first walk of hiding jewels around the city. I know we can't do it until everything is perfect and ready.

Shauna has found a place near her home to sell one of a kinds this weekend so hopefully we can generate a little bit more business capital. We need it. I think we have spent all we have and there isn't as much coming in as last summer.

I guess i will keep string one-of a kinds if I have extra time to work on business stuff.

Enjoy Saturday!

Maggie Faris
CEO, Lost Jewels

Website

I have been working a lot on the website and pictures of our products for the website.

I just finished the banner for the top of the website and I think it looks pretty good.



There will be a treasure map that will be the main navigation of the site and that is almost done as well. I got a little stuck on what buttons to make and how they should look so I think i may wait on that until Shauna comes back.

It should be a busy weekend so i don't plan on getting much done for business. I am just waiting for our bails to come in the mail.



Bails are the metal part that are glued on the back of glass pendants so there is a hole to put the chain or leather cord through to hang around your neck.

We bought a thousand of the wrong size and are just waiting for the larger size so we can begin to stick em to the pendants.

Until next time,

Maggie Faris
CEO Lost Jewels

The First Blog

This is the first blog in the beginning of a business venture called Lost Jewels. Our idea began a few months ago and we have been working towards starting our business up as soon as possible.

I, Maggie Faris, have joined, in partnership, with Shauna Lane to form Lost Jewels. We are both waitresses at a comedy club and both stand-up comics. I have been working in glass arts, as well, for about five years. We decided we wanted a different source of income than waitressing as waitressing sucks ass. I love making jewelry and glass and Shauna loves to sell so we thought it to be a perfect partnership.

Since we have come together our business ideas have evolved into Lost Jewels, a collection of glass jewelry. Our uniquiness comes from the fact that we vow to give away 5% of our inventory in a fun way. In order to get our business off the ground we plan on hiding one-of-a-kind pendants, along with a card detailing the lost jewels story through-out New York City.

At this point I am working on the website (lostjewels.com) and Shauna is working on our Business Plan. We would like to try to bootstrap our money and not have any outside investors.

We are very excited about our new adventure and are just looking for a way to document our steps of growth which is why we chose to blog about it.

Thanks for reading,
Maggie Faris
CEO Lost Jewels