Submitted an advertisement to be published in the next JN issue (this Friday), and plan to put another ad in the JN Celebrate Guide in March. Hopefully these adds will reach a wide audience and we can gain some new clientele for this summer. I'm excited to see how it turns out. The gift basket business is really slow, so being in the business of providing candy buffets has been keeping me busy and I'm looking forward to something new and challenging.Here's what the ad looks like:
We set up the whole bar area at my parents' house as a giant candy buffet with various retro candies. We were able to get a lollipop stand, although it only came in natural wood color, so I sanded and painted it white to have a more elegant look to it - I think it turned out pretty well. Also, we were able to get a screen/divider from my Nana's old condo and put a white sheet over it for the background of the picture which added to the professional look of the display. I went with my dad on Sunday and got a new phone for the business with a (248) area code (West Bloomfield, where my parents live, and the home base for the candy buffet business).
I'm excited to get into something new, while still offering my gift baskets online and for centerpieces or hotel guest gift baskets.
I was able to put a free listing in yellowpages.com for candy buffet services and design an ad with Google Adwords Express, using my parents' address and reaching an audience within 35 miles of their address. I think I should go to the bank though and put the business checking account into the name of "Sugar High" using the DBA certificate because the account is still in the old name "Emily's Sugar High" and there may be problems if people write checks to the company in the name of "Sugar High." So far it hasn't been an issue and I've been able to deposit checks, but you never know, better safe than sorry.
I bought some more candy from Nassau but it hasn't been delivered yet, I ordered black and white candy to do a more elegant wedding type candy buffet. I want to show that Sugar High is versatile and can achieve different looks with the buffets. I also ordered 2 black aprons from Amazon.com and plan to screen print the Sugar High logo on them to have as attendant uniforms to where at the events/parties. I think that will turn out well and makes for a good uniform on top of all black clothing. I also am thinking I'll have to get new business cards with the new business phone number on them, or maybe go for glossy postcards to hand out instead of business cards, which can have pictures on them and give a bit more information to potential clients.
All in all, there is much work ahead, but work that I am passionate about and there's nothing better than that...
