Still Down and Out with the Crud, but Getting Better!

Okay, here I am complaining again about this terrible crud that has taken me over for the past two weeks.

Yes, that's right. TWO WEEKS! 14 days I've been coughing and wheezing till my head wants to explode!

This has just knocked me on my ass! I know the cold has turned into a sinus infection and bronchitis and I've never had it this bad. So, finally on some antibiotics and I'm faking it till I'm making it!

Last week I set out with some goals for myself. Let's see how I did...

1. Set up the inside of the curio cabinet & redo the space

2. Make a creative DIY sign for the resale space (thanks to Van of ThriftCore for that one!

3. Organize merchandise for flea market

4. Get a sales tax number for business

5. Sign up for Website Design class

6. Mark additional items that will go in the curio & space

Well, despite that I spent most of the week flat out on the couch, I didn't do too bad. I signed up for the Website Design class and flew through my first two lessons and got flying colors on my quizzes!

I didn't get to the flea market merchandise or the sales tax number, but both required too much physical or mental exertion that I was just unable to do either. I'll get to them this week.

I'm not sure I have the space for a sign in my resale spot, so that's on hold for now.

So, here's my goals for this week:

1. Sales tax number

2. Organize flea market merchandise and seek out somewhere to sell it

3. Make some shelf tags for promoting merchandise

4. Investigate some lighting for the curio cabinet

5. Decorate for Valentine's Day in the Co-op

6. Talk to Van of about advertising/promo of blog

So, that's good for this week. On top of these goals, I'm seeking a full time job...again, yet, still. Unemployment is going to run out soon. Also seeking a part time job to get some additional cash. Have some major paperwork to go through and organize for tax season! Yay!

Wish me luck...and check out my homemade Button Board to set up in the curio!

Taaaa Daaaaa!

Here it is! Our long wished-for curio cabinet for the co-op space. It went in on Monday and I put items in it and will be making it more jazzy as time moves on. Hopefully we'll have better sales of our little stuff.

I'm hoping to get some lucite risers to make use of the tallness of the space on these shelves, so that's probably next after I do some shelf tags with some info about items we're selling.

So, come in and have a look!

Patience and Tenacity and a Weekly Goal List!

After two days of an all out seek and find, and thinking we weren't going to find anything...we did! Not in a thrift store or an auction, not at a big box retail store or consignment shop. On Craigslist. Found the perfect curio cabinet last night on the site that was absolutely perfect in style and shape.

Contacted the owner, got directions, made an offer and picked it up today!

A bit touch and go trying to get it in the Jeep Compass...thought that front passenger seat went flat down and it doesn't! Hopefully it will fit in my Honda Fit tomorrow! My seat lays flat, so it ought to.

Joanne blurted out the quote this morning when we headed out to get it, "Good things come to those who wait." I thought she was right, but I've been searching like a dog now for the past five weeks! Patience and tenacity...

Now all I have to do is get it over to my space tomorrow and set it up...so, although I'm not back to feeling a hundred percent, I'm better and if I can avoid a horrid coughing jag while carrying one end (thanks to friend Cindy for helping out with the other end!) I'll be so happy! I do now, however, have quite a lot to work on this week...so here's my list of goals to accomplish:

1. Set up the inside of the curio cabinet & redo the space

2. Make a creative DIY sign for the resale space (thanks to Van of ThriftCore for that one!

3. Organize merchandise for flea market

4. Get a sales tax number for business

5. Sign up for Website Design class

6. Mark additional items that will go in the curio & space

Feeling a Tad Better...

My last post was six days ago and I know I said I was going to post daily, but I have been under the blanket of bronchitis! Nyquil, Ludens Cough Drops, Puffs w/Lotion...that's been my world these last few days.

Wasn't upright long enough to write much at all and rather than bore you with drivel, and believe me...there's been drivel here...I decided not to write anything.

Now, you know we've been looking for a curio cabinet for our resale space due to several thefts we've had our first month in the co-op. Yesterday, we were supposed to head to Harrisburg to the PA Farm Show, but thought it may be too much with how I'd been feeling all week. We thought it best to stay somewhat local and go on a curio search.

Staying on task isn't my strong point, so Joanne had to tell me several times to focus. We went from one thrift store to another to another and nothing! However, there were a few things we picked up to resell.

A pair of great Inland Glass carafe's, a Good Season's shaker, a Pyrex juice carafe, a Dansk Kobenstyle enameled casserole pan, a melmac divided bowl and a great carry basket.

There were some things not brought home...

This Radio Flyer horse was awesome! Kind of reminds me of the days supermarkets had rides for kids out front and you begged your mom for a dime (dating myself, aren't I?) to have a ride before going into the store.

These great melmac cups and bowls were pretty awesome. I'm sad I left these behind.

Hmmmmm...Joanne and I had a bit of a price disagreement over these. I say we could have doubled our money, but she was completely convinced we could buy one cheaper than the price tag. I wanted to pull a 'picker' on these folks and see if they'd negotiate, but nope...Joanne wasn't having any of that!

These chairs were AWESOME! If only we had a bigger resale spot!

This Jabba the Hut was at an auction I worked at today and I couldn't resist showing you this photo!

And this is an awesome T-Rex I took a photo of with Joanne there in the background! Another regret! Oh well, there will be more another time!

Although I'm not feeling great, I'm still coughing up lungs and my body aches from the force of my body trying to expel this infection, I'm better than I was all week long. Now, I'm not going to say anything much, but after a Craigslist search, we may have found what we needed...stay tuned!

Making Up For Lost Post & Some More Goals for 2012

I missed yesterday with a post because we've both been sick, so today I'm putting up two of them and have thought hard about goals for 2012. As one who is part of that 13 million unemployed statistic, I think I have to amp up my sales and my resume.

For years I've wanted to do a website for my freelance writing and now I'd love to do one for this business. A friend of mine wanted me to go into the business with him and do the sales part of it and he'd do the website part. As much as I may seem outgoing and friendly, sales aren't my forte. I probably could do it if I knew more about the 'behind the scenes' part of the web design as it would give me confidence to talk to people about what I or my partner could do for them.

(This image is from Mark Fasel Design at www.markfaseldesign.com)

So, this winter I'm taking an online website design course. Not only will it give me some idea of what goes into making a website, but it will give me something else on my resume to use to sell myself. I'm not a dud when it comes to computers, but I'm also not a 'geek' and I mean that in a good way...as someone who really knows their way around a control panel in one of these things...so, this is a great start to a new year!

A Bit Under The Weather, We Are!

Well, I missed posting something new yesterday...Joanne's been sick for a few days with a horrible cold that she's caught from who knows where...everyone's got it or had it or got it again! And she spent Friday night on the recliner sofa and we both spend the day in our jammies there yesterday! Literally slept the day away.

I am on the bridge of getting sick. I can feel something in my chest and throat and there's some coughing and a thick sense of exhaustion. So, we both fell asleep on the recliners last night with the TV on. Today, Joanne feels she's over the hump of this plague-like disease and I'm just moving a bit slower than usual.

Our plan yesterday was to head out and look for a curio cabinet. We are in desperate need of one and we thought there might be one at the co-op to purchase with a lock and an alarm already and I'd have to move it all of about 2 feet to my space, but alas, the dealer wasn't interested in selling.

So, we have to put our plans off a week or so...I may be at an auction working next week, so that puts us in a pinch...but, we'll see what happens.

Till next post...I leave you with a few shots of our space as it is now...any suggestions?

Browsing

Thought I'd take you for a bit of window shopping at my co-op.

I Think We've Branded Ourselves

As a freelance writer, I've had the opportunity to work with some organizations that have branded themselves and their products. After taking a marketing class elective in college (I was an art major) and learned a few things about being consistent with your business message and I've tried to focus on that for our own business, albeit however small.

When starting out with our reselling, we put our stuff on line using Etsy, a site that sells only handmade, vintage or crafts and art supplies. The costs for doing this are much, much less than Ebay and are more economical for a small seller like us.

We purchased a banner graphic (via an Etsy seller) for our Etsy Shop and Facebook page and took some time in picking out the font and design. Something simple and to the point without a lot of flash.

Although we've not done business cards, we'll be sure to use this as our design.

We also use string tags for all our merchandise wherever possible. On the back we were printing "Rozenjoze Serious Junk" and then putting the item description and price on the front with our booth ID. I was cutting some pieces of decorative card stock and pasting them onto the tags to jazz things up.

To make things go a bit faster, I found some reasonably priced stamps and inks to fancy them all out. And to really make it all professional, we purchased a self-inking stamp with our name and this blog address. We want people to see that we're all about honesty, integrity and good info about collectibles and antiques. We also want to stand out and think this helps us do just that.

Organization and Double-Duty

I'm still working on the direction of this blog, but think one way to go is some helpful hints on how to resell, what works for me and maybe start some dialog, so I can learn from my readers.

When I was laid off this past fall of 2011, it was just natural for me to want to push a bit harder to find a space to sell our wares. I was home, we had easy access to buying, I had the time to work on gathering, cleaning up and pricing inventory. With this time off, came the ability to scope out a few places, see what they charged, what the traffic was like at various antique malls.

Once we were in full swing, I needed some supplies and a plain cardboard box wasn't going to work for me. I needed a tool box! So, off I went one day to the big box store that we have nearby and scoped out what they had in the way of carry-alls for my supplies.

Establishing that I'd take this to and from the co-op, I thought I'd need something with a tray to lift in and out for hooks and brackets, scissors, and such. It also couldn't be super heavy, so I could manage moving out of the house, into the car, out of the car, into the co-op and getting through the narrow hallways of "stuff" to my space without much trouble and then back again.

I got this (the cat was already here):

It's a stackable box with legs and doubles as a step stool! I love anything with a double duty! Made of heavy duty plastic, it has a nice, sturdy handle and is light enough even with my things inside, that I won't necessarily be awkward with it as I carry it to and fro.

A half tray for all the small stuff leaves enough room for all the other essentials, such as our magnifying glass, sticky and string tags, our stamp, tin with business cards of others, measuring tools, a small divided box holding paper clips, tacks, a pen all in one place, hook and loop tape, sticky stuff for hanging things, scotch tape, etc.

Itching to Thrift

***This AWESOME Photo is from DuPagemamas.com - a thrifting blogOk, it's been a few days since I was in a thrift store, but I'm itching to go again. Actually, Joanne and I have been searching for a curio cabinet and we ran into one in Bethlehem, PA the other day for a quick look-see. Nothing.So, I'm thinking I may take a ride and see what I can find. There's a used furniture store in Allentown and a few thrift shops in Quakertown where our Co-op space is...so I may start there and work my way upwards to the Lehigh Valley. Or I could work on down to Souderton to the Care & Share, where there furniture is a bit pricey, but they also have a great thrift shop. What are you searching for these days...? Now that the holidays are over, I'm thinking there may be some clean out in the next few weeks as people settle in with their Christmas presents and start donating. Whatcha think?

Possibilities and Goals

This year is filled with possibilities for us. As I search for a full-time job with benefits, I'm working at the antiques and collectibles. Joanne is working on staying healthy, both physically and emotionally. With metastatic breast cancer & atrial fibrillation, her mental ups and downs can be difficult and play on both of us. We hope to rise above them, so here are some of our goals for our business: 1. Being more organized - making sure our inventory is ready to be priced and easily accessible for updating our space.

2. Using our time wisely - we tend to (okay, more me than her) be a bit fragmented. So, trying to stay on task can be a challenge. This goes with all tasks such as our shopping/thrifting, chores at home, etc. 3. Staying atop of the paperwork - sales taxes, income taxes, income and expense reports, inventory calculations, records of mileage, etc...it's all boring stuff, but it's really important to be sure we're making money or at the very least, breaking even.

4. Being more adventurous in our purchases - we tend to stick with lower purchase prices for fear of making mistakes. It just might be time to make those larger, more expensive purchases. Biting the bullet and spending more may be just the boost our sales could use. 5. Possibly expand our space. We don't want to move quite so fast, but our small area does limit us on what we can sell. Right now, we'll work on getting a curio cabinet to lock the smaller, easier things to swipe, but our idea is to not stay in this teensy place, but to expand and offer our customers some of the great items we have to pass up because of our space limitations.

Something you want to say? Good, bad or otherwise, leave a comment or email us at rozenjoze@verizon.net with BLOG in the subject line.

New Year...New Challenge

Happy New Year ... Welcome to 2012! What's happened to the time as I've gotten older? Seems like the days, weeks, months and years fly by in the blink of an eye!

Well, hopefully this year will be better for everyone. A friend of mine says it's the Year of the Dragon; full of health, wealth and the roaring joy of living! I sure hope so and we are working hard to make it prosperous!

We are still selling out of our space at the East Broad Antiques in Quakertown and December was a learning experience. We made our rent and some profit, but experienced some loss in the manner of shoplifting. It's rough. Nearly $40 of merchandise lifted!

Currently, we are in the process of seeking out a curio cabinet, but it has to be quite specific to our space...no more than about 14 inches deep, 25 inches wide and squared off, not angled sides. The cabinets have to be locked and alarmed.

So, this has been a challenge to find one that's reasonably priced within these parameters.I have faith we'll find something soon, but keeping my fingers crossed that we don't lose anymore items from the space.

With the new year, we are committed to more posts here about our searches for vintage treasures and if there's something you're looking for, interested in and want to know more, just ask us and we'll see what we can do to get what you need!