Canadian Small Business Women

Connection, Synergy, Community

Setting up a Craft Booth

How you booth is set-up can have an impact on your sales. It’s what makes a customers “stop and look” or “keep on walking”.   Remember you only have 3-5 seconds to grab your customer’s attention.
Colour:
Choose a colour that makes your display pop. Sometimes your products may have enough colour and a simple black table cloth will work perfect. For example, the photo on the left uses red to draw you in to the products, while the photo on the right uses black to guide you into the product.
 
Levels:
Include levels in your display to draw visitors to your booth. From a distance your booth may look empty if all your products are lying flat on the table. Tilt or position your products to face the customer.
 
Signage:
Customers will admire from a far. Be sure to include a banner or sign showing your business name and what you make. Prices are important, be sure to price your products, it may be a ‘turn off’ if customers always have to ask ‘how much’. This is especially helpful when you may be busy with another customer.

Display Bins:
Get creative – baskets, coloured bowls, vintage materials, racks and bins.  There are so many inexpensive creative ways to display your products.
The biggest tip about your display is practice.  Demo it in your home and take pictures.  At the end of the show, remember to pack your display neatly so it’s ready for the next show.
Happy Crafting.

Jacqueline Hunter is the Director at Craftadian. In addition to hosting annual Craftadian Handmade Markets, Jacqueline is a resource for Handmade Business owners by offering online courses, work shops and support. She showcases, supports and promotes Canadian artists, artisans and designers.

Connect with Jacqueline

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Summer Do's For The Perfect Workspace

HRT-boardroom

Summer is the perfect season to edit spaces. In doing so we keep it feeling fresh, clean and cool. The same should be done with our work-space.

Take a good look around the area that you are working in. Are you walking around things, moving one pile from area to area? Is there too much furniture in the space, too many trinkets, too much paper? De-clutter table tops. Clearing away excess items will give the space an instant lift. Take some time to evaluate what you really need to have around you to accomplish your tasks.

Pay attention to the colours in your space. Working with your corporate colours in the interior, analyze how it relates to summer! If you need to throw in some white to cool the colours down – do so! or add a complementary colour to make your logo pop.  A little bling and sparkle will keep the space bright – cool blue glass to hold pens, a lime green plant holder, a simple crystal vase (and of course indulge in flowers!).

Bring a bit of the exterior in to the interior — be mindful of the spaces that lead directly outside. Bring some of the colours from outside to inside. This might be as simple as a landscape photo, a plant or the colour of files you use! You won’t feel as confined, restricted and desk-bound.

If (like me) you need to have many of the things you’re working on at hand, try to contain them in file folders, envelopes, boxes. Then neatly organize them on a side credenza or perhaps a wall file holder/shelf. They are still accessible but away from your immediate work.

Your immediate work space should have just what you’re working on (oh and I must have a little notebook as I’m forever entering new passwords when sourcing or a phone call comes in and I jot notes). Clear off as much as the surface as possible – this doesn’t mean it has to be sterile and empty. You may be able to clear it enough to accommodate a beautiful plant – a nice visual rest point in the space where paper seems to gather.

The space surrounding your work-surface also needs to be cleared up. If you have too many pieces of furniture around – take some away. Open the space up, be sure your walking path is always clear and your project items accessible.

Meeting spaces should also be clutter-free. Keep the focus on the people, the interaction and the presentation at hand. The boardroom shown here demonstrates simplicity and attention requirements for this space.

Change your light-bulbs to a cool day white – definitely more seasonal and easier to work in.

Experience the many benefits to clearing a desk, tidying a bookshelf, filing paperwork and enjoying the luxury of free space. It will energize you and allow your creative to surface more quickly.

Enjoy the season and challenge yourself to be comfortable no matter what the temperature is outside!

Karen Klucowicz is the lead designer with Erotica Interiors Inc. – a full service design studio that helps bring peoples’ passions alive through interior design – creating sensual private or commercial spaces. 

connect with karen via

www.EroticaInteriors.com 

facebook   https://www.facebook.com/pages/Erotica-Interiors/373175062771124

twitter @EroticaInterior

Tell All With Your Work Space

Karen K

Your business interior should be a direct reflection of your corporate brand. Whether you work from home, a corporate office or a retail space, and, whether or not you have clients coming directly to your space, the environment you work in should tell your story. It will keep you in a positive, focused head-space to stay creative.

The investment in your corporate branding – logo, business cards, promotional materials – must be consistent with the presentation of your business setting. We’ll look at a few here.

Colour – one of my favourite subjects! Space colour is a background to profile your business. If your space merchandises products then a neutral colour is often the way to go for walls, flooring and display units; if your business is a service then work with the colours from your logo – it might be a tint or a shade of one of the colours in it or a complementary colour – make sure you feel good surrounded by that colour.

Space planning  Obviously every business has different function, furnishings, and fixture requirements. Let’s focus on the core work space for the administrative side of things – your desk or workcounter.  Hopefully you are able to devote a specific space – this is step one in terms of being focused. Step two would be make sure the surface you are using makes you feel comfortable – not only in the function capabilities but in terms of aesthetics.

For instance I tend to work in a contemporary style so my desk surface is a crisp white narrow desk with minimal detail and two small pencil drawers. This type of space reminds me to keep things orderly (with the flow of paper work required sometimes a real challenge!), the white provides a blank canvas for me when pulling schemes together with colours, textures and style.

In a corporate environment you may choose to work with casegoods that are reflective of your business (if you have the option make sure it is reflective of you!). In an executive office reflecting a “corporate” business the furniture may need to be very formal however the colour can project what you need to say – warm gold-tone woods or cool gray finishes say two very different things about you and about the business. Determine what best suits and make a statement!

Feed your creative soul.

Details in design are critical to reflecting your brand. Surround yourself or profile items in your space that tell your story and inspire you. This might be books displayed on your desktop, art on the walls, or a little vignette of products that you particularly like to sell. By keeping these items in your line of vision it will remind you of the value of your service or business and likely unleash your sales-guru, and, let’s face it – we are all in sales.

From network to new work

Our logo, the business card and our personal presentation start the branding experience for your company. Doesn’t it make sense that if the person your networking with has an interest they will also have an expectation of your space?

Enjoy your space, have fun with it and keep it sexy!

Karen Klucowicz is the lead designer with Erotica Interiors Inc. – a full service design studio that helps bring peoples’ passions alive through interior design – creating sexy private or commercial spaces.  Connect with Karen via www.EroticaInteriors.com or on Facebook  or on  twitter

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