Showing posts with label Grant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grant. Show all posts

Monday, December 9, 2013

Small Business Big Wishes

Intuit QuickBooks is granting 11 wishes to small businesses through their Love Our Local Business - Small Business Big Wishes program.

I just entered the Enchanted Pathways Faerie Nursery to be eligible to win their grand prize of  $15,000.00!!

This is what I wished for...

"I would love to be able to go into the retail market. My wish list is to work with a designer to have a 3D cardboard display case designed for my Northern Faerie Line. I would like to have the back and the two sides done with my companies theme, a dark purple sky with funky curly green grasses and climbing purple roses, and then have little toadstools for stands for my faeries to be display on. This will allow my products to have a more professional look and feel in order to be considered a 'handmade product' and not a 'homemade product'."

If you get a chance, sure would love your support by casting your vote for my little nursery by clicking here...Small Business Big Wishes

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Sitting on the Fence Post

You know how when you are just teetering on the edge of life and you just don't know if you have what it takes to take the next big leap? Well I have been teetering with my company for the last few months. I have put all of my ducks in a row and just kind of sat there, contemplating the next step. As I work full time, I must admit that my little Faerie Nursery somedays just takes the back burner.

Well over the past two weeks, I have managed to get myself together, have a few brainstorming sessions with great people and in the end making the decision to jump!

So, I jumped. Here I am now, dangling off the edge, with one wee little finger still hanging on for dear life. I don't know about you, but even when you have surrounded yourself with wonderful friends, family and supporters, it is still hard to say...okay, you are going to be okay and everything will work out just fine.

I have applied for two grants for small businesses here in the Northwest Territories. The first one being for small tools and supplies. Now with this grants, like all grant, I had to come up with a business plan that catered to this specific grant. In the end, I decided to commit to making 80 Faerie Suites (50 small doors and 30 large door {these sets include a magical wooden door, trinket chest filled with goodies and a flower petal faerie}{I already had almost 80 doors cut and in the stages of completion}); 50 Seed Pod Faeries (I already have 15 done so I figured that wasn't unrealistic); 25 Teacup Nurseries (as this is still in the experimental stage, they shouldn't be too hard to make, as well each nursery will come with a matching flower petal faerie); and then 200 hundred flower petal faeries (I have over 50 already in made). Now as I am only one person and each of these creations are lovingly hand made, I figured that I could handle this amount of production. The second grant was for marketing and this is the big one. I was hoping to have everything it takes to have a full trade-show booth; store displays, all printed materials, designer and webpage master time and to top it all off, advertising in the local newspaper and possibly a national magazine.

Well today, I found out that both of the grants have been approved! (Actually the small tools and supplies one was approved and signed off last week). So, now here I sit. Pretty scared, pretty nervous and feeling pretty overwhelmed to tell you the truth.

Today, I have taken that leap of faith. That next step. That saying so-long fence post, I don't need you anymore.

So I hope that each and everyone of you, will join me on this journey. As I said in my Facebook post earlier today when I found out my second grant had been approved...

WORLD....HEAR ME ROAR!!