New business name…The Poker Machine
Things are going OK over here at Indian Giver HQ…busy time with the races in Melbourne.
I’ve had the last three weeks off since working at St Kilda FC and now about to start a two-month contract with NAB.
Indian Giver appointments are solid, I’m doing around 15 – 20 a week. Now that I’m going back to full time work, I’m looking at employing my sister to manage the showroom once a week. This way I can give people the option to come in during the week; if not, they can come after hours or on the weekends with me. While I’d prefer people to book dresses online without trying them on, it’s proving that this isn’t the case. People want to try them on in person.
I must admit, I’m starting to doubt where I am going with the business. Whilst it’s proving to be working, it’s very labour intensive. My dad, who is my rock, is questioning whether I should continue. Now that he has doubt, so do I…
He sees on a daily basis all the hard work I put into it and feels like it’s a lot of work compared to what I’m turning over finanically. Dad has been in business for over 30 years and he understands the dedication involved.
I’m reminding him that it’s only been nine months and I need to give it another six months at least. I’m now funding the business on my own and I need to decide whether or not I can keep throwing money into it. At the moment I feel like Indian Giver is a poker machine….it’s gobbling all my money and never paying out! I need a feature!
I appreciate that the business was never going to be able to buy me a Range Rover in my first year, however, I was hoping that it would be turning over more money now than what it is.
Anyway, time will tell and I need to sit tight and have one more crack.
Exiting the teepee
I’ve recently received an email from my contact at WILLOW (one of the designers) informing me that they can no longer stock to Indian Giver.
Due to WILLOW opening a second retail store in Melbourne, they’re stopping to stock to several large boutiques in Melbourne.
As a small fish in the fashion world, I feel very insignificant and it’s obviously not even worth arguing the case as there’s nothing that can be done. The likes of Myer and online stores such as netaporter are such huge investors for these designers and unfortuntaly they have the power and are able to call the shots.
As I explained to WILLOW, if they were smart, they’d continue to stock to me, because at the moment, through renting I’m educating a market that currently won’t even walk into a retail store. My market understands how fickle the industry is and in this time of financial worry, they don’t want to be making the financial committment. At least through borrowing, consumers can build an emotional attachment with a brand and when they’re ready to buy, they’ll be familar with a brand and more than likely go into their store to buy.
Anyway, as I said, my hands are tied and there is nothing I can do except to search for new designers…Thoughts anyone?
I am actually going to send a survey to all my subscribers to see what designers they would like to see inside the teepee…
Fire up Stevie…
I have had a week off and have had NO motivation to pump up Indian Giver…instead I sat on the couch all of Tuesday and Wednesday and watched this seasons Grey’s Anatomy! We are at the moment that’s going to tell me if Indian Giver is viable and worth continuing, but no I’m too interested to see whats happening inside Seattle Grace!
My brain is fried, I have no money to market IG and running out of innovative ideas to get the word out there and QUICK! Any ideas?
I need to refocus and do everything in my power and BUDGET to get IG out there.
I’m finding emailing my database of 2500 isn’t enough…I need to get in the faces of all my magazines and get it out there!!!!
If anyone has done any cheap marketing and can share your ideas, I’d love to hear from you.
I’m back…
A crazy 10 weeks of my life has come to an end. Finally, after working in football for five years, did I get to see what it was like to work for a team that made the Grand Final. Whilst the result wasn’t what we’d hoped, it was still good to experience September action.
My contract with St Kilda FC has now concluded and I’m back to being a lady of leisure. Let’s hope the break in between jobs isn’t as long as last time.
Indian Giver is starting to get busy. With the main Spring Racing Carnival only weeks away, girls are starting to think about what to wear.
Now that I am not working full time I will be able to go back to doing appointments during the day and now not just after hours.
Three new designers have come on board, so it’s exciting to keep increasing the range.
Now that I have time on my hands I am going to ramp up the PR and incentives over the next few weeks.
At my wick’s end
Trying to juggle manage working for an AFL club that has made a Grand Final, a business that is going NUTS leading into Spring Racing, and a boyfriend is proving all a little too hard!!!!!
With Saints in the GF, I’ve been burning the candle at both ends. Literally at work at 7am and not walking out of there until 9pm each night.
When I get home from the Saints, it’s a quick hello to Pete who has been so patient with me and then into the IG office to respond to the emails that just keep coming in.
I only have two more weeks at the Saints, so hopefully it will all calm down after then. So apologies for the lack of love with my blog posts.
So much has been happening…I’ve had two dresses returned that have been completely trashed and unwearable. Both hirers did not take out insurance, so they were liable to pay full retail minus the hire cost.
One was fine about this and understood the T&Cs, however I have another one threatening legal action! Have to love those that just tick a box and don’t actually read terms and conditions.
I’ll give you an update if more details come to hand, however, I’m standing my ground. This girl has ruined a dress and now I have to call the poor girl who has booked this in for the races to explain that the dress she booked and paid for is no longer in a wearable condition! Obviously I will provide her a full refund or the option to exchange.
Aside from this, I’ve had to get my mum and sister to start doing appointments for me during the day. I’m that busy at work that I can’t do it all at the moment. Anyway, this is only a good sign…Lucky I have a very supporting family.
OK have to get some sleep now…big weekend of Grand Final events…Go Saints…
Hire = Heels…
At the start of September I launched a cross promotion with Tony Bianco: any customer who hired a dress during the month of September received 20% off a pair of Tony Bianco shoes.
All Tony Bianco sales need to be done online through tonybianco.com.au. The reason… to drive traffic to Tony Bianco’s website.
An emailer was created by my graphic designer and sent to the Indian Giver data base (which continues to grow…) and the result has been fantastic.
It was a very good looking email and automatically drew the attention of the receiver.
Customers are delighted when they hear they’re entitled to an additional benefit.
I’m going to continue to do cross promotions…just need to ensure the products I offer fit in with the Indian Giver brand and are beneficial to the customer.
Have you used any cross promotion like this in your businesses? I’d love to hear some other examples of complementary products/services.
My first thief
It’s been over a week now and one particular customer has decided that she liked the dress too much and has chosen not to return it!
Unfortunately, this customer paid by cash and I learnt the hard lesson about not taking credit card details for security or proof of license 
I have her contact number and she has now been avoiding my calls for over seven days. I keep leaving messages and giving her the option to call me before I go to the police.
For any day that a dress is not returned, the hirer signs terms and conditions agreeing that I can charge them the dress hire fee for every day that the dress is returned late. I have her signed proof of T&Cs for reference.
This girl is up to over $800 now!
Thoughts…should I take her to the police? I have her mobile and I believe they would be able to track her details through the phone systems. I am pretty sure the address she gave me is fake! Or do I suck it up and learn a lesson?
I love the Herald Sun
In Sunday’s Herald Sun last weekend, a half page article was dedicated to Indian Giver.
The Herald Sun approached me a couple of weeks ago and wanted to interview and photograph an Indian Giver customer. I got a great friend who works in PR and uses IG regulary to do the interview for me. I knew should would say all the right things and that she did.
It’s a great article and photo. Exposure like this is amazing - by lunch on Sunday the website has already received 800 hits.
Through Google Analytics I can also see where the readers are coming from and if they are unique (new) visitors to the site etc.
I’m going to spend all weekend creating more PR opportunities leading up to Spring Racing Carnival. Working full time doesn’t leave me a lot of time to spend on IG during the week, so I need to use spare time on the weekend as effectively as I can.
Spring is in the air…
With spring only just around the corner, Indian Giver is gearing up for what we hope is going to be our busiest time yet.
I’m working with a couple of brands at the moment to organise some cross promotion leading up to the Spring Racing Carnival.
The first promotion will roll out during September. Anyone who makes an Indian Giver order will receive a 20% off voucher to Tony Bianco shoes. Vouchers will be valid for online sales only, therefore driving traffic to the Tony Bianco website.
An email promoting the offer will be sent to all Indian Giver subscribers and media/contact database and Tony Bianco will also set up a display in the Indian Giver showroom.
Hopefully small promotions like this will encourage consumers to book their dresses in early for Spring Racing.
A family friend runs a solarium/spray tan salon and the week leading up to the carnival we are looking at setting her up in the Indian Giver showroom to spray tan customers. This again will be another promotion that we offer: Book you dress in before October and receive a free spray tan.
I need to get onto a milliner…it would be great to do a hat display in here leading up to the races.
Sharing the love
Trying to find a balance between full time work, Indian Giver and my boyfriend has been hard to manage since working full time.
As soon as I get home from St Kilda FC each day, usually I have at least one Indian Giver appointment a night and if not, I have at least two hours of admin work to do.
On top of this I live with my boyfriend Pete and since working full time, Pete has become my No.3 priority. Even though the Indian Giver office is at our house I’m conscious about the amount of time I spend with IG v Pete.
Pete totally understands and he’s happy to watch ESPN on Foxtel, however I need to make sure I balance Pete and IG time evenly before any potential issues arise.
Pete is heading to Maldives for two weeks this weekend and while I am going to miss him so much, I’m actually looking forward to not having to worry about him and feeling bad for working on Indian Giver.
Again all this is part and parcel of running your own business I guess. I continually tell Pete that if he wants to retire before he is 35 then I need to keep giving IG all the love I can.