Believe it or not, we have been freezing our tushies off here in Florida. I know it’s a joke relative to what the rest of the country has to deal with, but it’s still quite shocking to us. My husband was commenting on how sexy the women are looking with their long jeans and sweaters. Mind you, these are the same women who would be walking around nearly naked for 350 days out of the year. But something about being different from the norm, makes them seem so much more appealing, even all covered up. You’ll see teenage girls still wearing short skirts and tank tops in freezing temperatures, because they haven’t matured enough to realize that they’d get more attention by being different from their friends than by looking exactly the same. I remember chatting with a young Danish friend, Mathilda, and realizing that she was naturally a blond and dyed her hair brown. It would seem sacrilegious to do that here in the US, where we pay a fortune for blond highlights. But apparently, a brunette in a sea of blond goddesses is a novelty.
This got me thinking about one of my favorite books, Purple Cow, by Seth Godin. It’s a short book and an easy read, as most of Godin’s books are. I really appreciate that style of writing though, direct and to the point, but with enough examples to illustrate important subjects. A Purple Cow is something remarkable, something that makes you stop and say, “Wow…a Purple Cow!” As a business person, you don’t want to look like every other brown spotted cow. You want people to notice and talk about what makes you stand apart from all those other businesses. You might find it hard to believe, but often, being the best face and body artist or the least expensive face and body artist are not necessarily the most significant qualities that will make you stand apart from your competition.
I’ve talked about the Purple Cow in at least one past newsletter, but I think it’s a subject worth revisiting. I think we all go through lulls where business is going along just fine and we don’t want to put in the extra effort to push it to the next level. It’s all too common an occurrence for me to come up with a great idea and then not follow through on it. I’ve had several new products sitting on the shelves in my warehouse that I haven’t even bothered to start packaging and putting up on the website. You should see a few of those new products popping up on the website this month.
As difficult as it may be to imagine at the moment, spring is right around the corner. If you tend to take it easy through the winter months, your business should start picking up right about now. I should say, that the face and body art business will start picking up right about now. Whether that is your business or another local artist’s business, is going to be up to you. Rather than letting your customers find out what makes you special after they’ve hired you, why not tell people about it before they hire you. When local businesses and families start planning their warm weather activities, what is it that will make them hire you instead of another local artist? What makes you a Purple Cow? Figure out what makes you a Purple Cow and create a marketing plan that features your unique offerings. If you’re not a Purple Cow yet, start studying your competition and figure out what they are not offering and that you could offer.
This Valentine’s Day, my husband did something very special for me. I had mentioned to him that Valentine’s Day was my favorite holiday as a child because although I didn’t have many friends in school, I’d always get a Valentine’s card from every student in the class. Of course, it would be thanks to the parents and teachers insisting on everyone giving a card to everyone in the class, but it still made me feel really good. I was in Las Vegas for the Face Painting and Body Art Association Convention for the entire week before Valentine’s Day. During that week, my husband had all of my friends, neighbors and family fill out little Valentine’s cards. He even called Jennifer in Las Vegas and had her get my friends out there to fill out cards for me. I had no idea until he handed me the basket full of Valentine’s cards. It was the most special and memorable Valentine’s Day of my life. And the reason why I mention it here is that it was something that probably cost him little or nothing in terms of money, but its value was immeasurable.
There are extremely inexpensive things that you could do at a party that would create an interactive experience for guests and hosts, and that would make you seem like the ultimate party entertainer. As the economy shifts, more people are realizing that experiences and memories with our loved ones are more important than material things. Here are some examples for creating memorable experiences at your parties.
~ Take photos of the guests as you paint/ tattoo them. You could copy them to a CD for the party hostess, create an online photo album accessible only to the party host and guests, or bring a small photo printer with you to the party and give each guest a photo of themselves. Even if you just take a photo of the guest of honor, you could make a thank you card for the party host and include that photo with the card.
~ Bring a craft project like a T-shirt, a tote bag, or a giant card where all of the party guests can write a message for the guest of honor. Use a 40% or 50% off coupon at Michael’s or Joann Fabrics to get very inexpensive craft materials. You can also find craft project supplies at www.OrientalTrading.com <http://www.OrientalTrading.com>
~ For baby shower henna parties, you can do belly henna design that has an open space where each guest can henna a blessing for the new baby.
~ Baby Showers and 1st Birthday parties are ideal events for having the guests write messages that the child can read later in life. Use pretty scrapbook papers to make small cards for each guest to write their message, and put them into a small decorative box from the dollar store.
I hope I’ve given you all a few things to think about this month, and maybe some good ideas for your business. I’d love to hear other people’s ideas for inexpensive party extras, so I’m going to post this newsletter on the forum. Feel free to reply with some ideas that you use in your business. Even the smallest tidbit of advice can be invaluable to your fellow artists.
Have a wonderfully prosperous month!
Love,
~Erika
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