Holiday season is upon us

Yet another year is coming to an end as the holiday season is now upon us. Shopping for the perfect gifts, parties at work or with family and friends, and plenty of eggnog to go around. Christmas is one of my favorite holidays because I love the festive decorations and music but most of all I enjoy the gathering of friends and family.

May it be Christmas or Kwanzaa or Hanukkah... or whatever wonderful celebration it is that you celebrate, happy holidays to all. Don't let the pressure of finding the most expensive or perfect gift get in the way of having fun with the ones you love.

President Obama support Small Business Saturday

In 2010, in an effort to support small businesses, American Express promoted the new shopping day as a counterpart to Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Since then, more and more publicity has helped support this day and the small businesses in every city. This year, President Obama showed his support while shopping for Christmas gifts. It's good to know that there is such a strong support for small business owners.

Read the full article: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-buys-books-promote-independent-shops-192649796--finance.html

'Tis the Holiday Season

Now that Halloween is over, the next big crafting projects are Christmas related; decorations, gifts, and paper crafts. I'll be selling at the Starbucks Holiday Bazaar the first week of December, at Starbucks headquarters. Unfortunately it's not open to the public but it is open to the 4000 employees in the building. There are other holiday shows happening soon that you can shop at for great gifts AND support local businesses!

EtsyRain hosts an annual Holiday Show at McCaw Hall: http://etsyrain.com/shows/etsyrain-2012-handmade-holiday-show

Happy shopping and happy holidays!

What did I get myself into?!

Upon graduating from college with a Bachelor's, I had every intention of going back to school for my Masters in Teaching and pursue my desire to teach high school students about expressing their feelings through creative writing. I found myself in a state employee job that I was not very happy with and my educational plans for an MIT was put on the back shelf.

I felt like I woke up one morning and decided to create Trizanh after some friends urged my creativity. I felt like I had a new passion for a viable goal for myself. I was going to start my own small business of making purses. I knew it was going to be hard but I was going to do it. My unhappiness at the full time job continued to consume me and I decided it was time to take the plunge into full entrepreneurship. I quit, got a part time job at Starbucks and focused my energy on branding my business. Almost three years later, Trizanh has grown a lot but there is still a lot of work to do and no guarantee that it will be successful enough for me to live comfortably. Also moonlighting as a wedding coordinator (Weddings with Anh), I "accidentally fell" into the idea of becoming a Project Manager. I already enjoy the job and do part of it for both Trizanh and Weddings with Anh so why not go all the way with a Master's degree to make myself more legit?

As a partner of Starbucks, I have wonderful benefits including help with tuition for school. I went for it and applied to the graduate program at City University for my Masters in Project Management. Now that school is in session, I have not given much attention to Trizanh and now I feel like I got myself into more than I can handle.

Already applying my skills to my own life, I have to divide my time between school and business, in hopes that I don't fail at one or the other... or both. Please excuse me if I seem scattered or chaotic in the months to come. Fret not for I shall continue to create one of a kind purses and Trizanh will only grow stronger as a business as I continue to apply my knowledge to building the brand.

Starbucks Farmer's Market

During August and September, in the plaza of Starbucks' head quarters, a weekly Farmer's Market hosted by the famous Seattle based coffee company provides excitement in the SoDo area. Every Friday from 11-2, vendors of all sorts come out to set up shop. Although it is not as big as the surrounding neighborhood Farmer's Markets, the second annual market hosted by Starbucks is a great way for the company to support other small businesses. Flowers, food, and crafts can all be found in front of the Siren's eye.

In addition to hosting a weekly market during the summer, Starbucks is putting on a holiday show in December. Unlike the summer market, vendors do pay a fee to participate in the holiday show but proceeds to to the CUP fund for Starbucks employees. As a partner of the company, the CUP fund is reserved for emergencies that come up for partners in a financial bind when accidents occur.

Come on down on Fridays in September to check out the Farmer's Market and more details to come about the holiday show.

Farewell, Happy Delusions

About four years ago, I was eating dinner at a neighborhood Italian restaurant. The waitress was a very nice  woman that I really liked. It came up that we were both knitters, we both lived in Renton, and we both loved Harry Potter. She introduced herself as Mary and told me that she just opened a small gift boutique around the corner and that I should come by sometime. The area was new to me so I could not locate her shop, Happy Delusions, in my mental GPS. After desserts and a signed credit card slip, we said our goodbyes and we promised each other to meet again at Happy Delusions.

A couple of months go by and I take time out to wonder around Downtown Renton to look for this shop. Sure enough, around the corner from the restaurant sat a fairly large looking store with a big sign that read Happy Delusions. I walked in expecting Mary not to remember me because I can only imagine the number of people she meets at both jobs. She greeted me as I walked up to the register and I quickly remind her of how we met and our love for Harry Potter. Mary chuckled and said that she remembered me and was glad that I came by for a visit.

We chatted about knitting and she knew that I was experimenting in making knitted bags to sell. At the time, I had only made a handful for friends and thought it would be fun to sell some. I looked around at the cute store and saw all the wonderful gifts that were crafted by local artists and businesses. Mary asked for a photo sample of my purses, now called the Checker Collection, and that we would work something out. I rushed home to make some purses and had some photos done. I sent them off to Mary and soon after she asked for me to bring some in. After making a couple more, I came in with a handful to display. She signed me up to rent a wall space to call my own and I was able to decorate it anyway I wanted.

Months go by and in between making more Checker bags, I came up with another line which is now known as the Formal Collection. After my hard work and creative energy flowing, I was happy to have a full wall of two different lines of bags that I designed and created. However, the reality of losing money every month on renting the wall space and not selling bags began to add up. One bag sold here and there but during first six months of selling at Happy Delusions, I was losing a lot of money very quickly. I decided to bite the bullet and end my time at the store but Mary, believing in me and my products took me off that contract and began a consignment contract. During this time, we also became good friends and I occasionally joined her in a knitting session outside on a sunny day.

Three years later the hobby is now a small business in hopes to become a bigger production of unique handbags. Thanks to Mary and Happy Delusions for getting this ball of yarn rollin'. Good luck with your future happy delusions,

Mt. Ties

About a month ago I decided to start shopping on eBay to buy used ties in bulk because I knew of a fellow small business owner/professional crafter that was successful in purchasing bulk ties on eBay. I found a couple of listings within my price range and found a seller that was shipping from Everett. Once I was successful with the bid and my random selection of ties were sent to me, I awaited for my first lot of ties to arrive. Upon opening the box I found a note from the seller offering more ties from their inventory. I contacted the seller and learned that they were in Monroe, about an hour away from Seattle. I found myself in Everett this previous weekend and made an appointment to swing by their place to check out the stock. I figured I could not go wrong when I heard that they have over 1000 ties.

Along a main road in Monroe is a cute lavender house that you cannot miss. The couple, Lisa and George, were very nice and welcoming as we entered their home. Lisa took out bin after bin of ties that she had collected for a quilting project which she gave up on. Each tie was bagged and coded by size and length. I spent about an hour shuffling through ties, with Ryo (my silent business partner) keeping track of how many ties I was picking out. George provided garbage bags to store my ties in for easy transportation. In the end I decided to finish off at 400 for a good number. We excused ourselves as we ran to the ATM to withdraw money since the couple did not have a means of taking credit cards. When we returned, Lisa pointed out that she forgot to show me a stack of ties she did not categorize. In 10 minutes I found 30 more that she was glad to be rid of. On a hot summer evening, we left the lavender house with three bags full of 430 ties for a bargain. Thanks to Lisa and George for helping this crazy purse maker in making more Formal bags.