{new new new Sailor Moon merch}

So, I have found multiple new sources for North American Sailor Moon merchandise.. I have to admit though, that I am not overly excited about this new merch..

First:

Four shirts available at Hot Topic

Despite the variety of designs/ characters… the shirts really leave something to be desired.  I would have loved them when I was ten years old, but I honestly do not know if I could wear them now (and that is coming from me, who has no problem displaying my geeky loves and wearing clothing that makes me look younger than I am…).  I *might* be able to use them for cutting up, but at $22.50 US… seems a bit pricey for something I could make at home with a printer and transfer paper.  The over all design of them make them look like the should be sold at Hot Topic, which makes me a little sad (especially the Tuxedo Mask one)(and I mean that, as in they are poorly designed with block-y and terrible fonts and generic hearts and squiggles).  But there have been people saying that Hot Topic stores have had key chains, and even dolls!  Maybe the next time we go to Toronto, we will stop by the new Hot Topic there and see if they have anything.
The shirts are licensed by Hybrid Apparel.

Second:

I also found the Hot Topic line of shirts for sale on Amazon.com.. however, they were more expensive than Hot Topic.  I also noticed that there was a lot of key chains and back packs for sale, at what seemed to be normal prices.. Are these official?  Or are these Bootlegs?  With the buzz that is happening right now with Sailor Moon (the re-release of the manga, plus English release of Sailor V, plus the new products in Italy, now this new stuff in North America.. it would make sense that Bootleggers would start making Sailor Moon stuff again too).  I found the key chains at this Amazon seller: ABCTOY4me  and the bags at: Dailyshop3

(While also browsing Amazon, I noticed that they have the *new* covers up for Sailor Moon Vol2 and 3, as well as Codename Sailor V Vol2.)

Lastly, I found that Great Eastern Entertainment, Inc. also has some new product images up, but they are not yet available (prices are not listed yet either).  They include a set of playing cards, a wall scroll, notebook and a binder.

This lower end stuff makes me pretty excited, I would probably buy most (if not all) of those items if I found them in a store at a regular price.   Although I really do want to see some nice quality transformation wands and lockets at prices like $29.99 again.

{fantastic fucking home business advice: ittybiz}

When I first started this adventure that is my home business, I’m not entirely sure that I knew what I was getting myself into.  With little accounting background (I can make balance sheets.. that is a start right?), no business background, and no money to take courses.. I knew that I was going to have to learn a lot of small business stuff myself (aka: the hard way).  Some things I have learned the hard way, and some things I was lucky enough to find online through business advice blogs, forums and anywhere else that I could suck information.

A lot of the *really good* blogs and sites were incredibly dry.  I don’t mind reading a lot of information, but a lot of business advice blogs are well… all business.  In between trying to understand the lengthy and very confusing policies (Paypal is a culprit) and shipping information online (I have actually given up on reading shipping info online it is actually impossible for me), the lengthy and boring business tactics were just too much “not fun”.  I would end up skimming, and probably missing what I was supposed to be learning.

Today, I found another business advice blog/ site.. and instantly fell in love with it.  It is called IttyBiz  It has advice for a lot of different aspects of small businesses, including marketing, and encouraging/ supportive tips.  I read a lot of the posts and found a couple gems that I will keep with me. Not only does it have a lot of great advice, but it isn’t painful to read, and isn’t full of business jargon.  Naomi (the head lady at IttyBiz) even has a few posts discussing swearing, and whether or not (or how) it affects your blog hits, sales and business.  She swears on her blog, and evidently receives hate mail for it.  I have personally received a few questions about my use of swearing, and admittedly try not to swear too much on this blog for the sheepish reasons that she gives in her posts: I don’t want to scare people away with swearing.  But maybe the people I want to attract to my blog want swearing?  I had never really considered it.  I suppose I shouldn’t be afraid to swear on this blog, seeing as other content on my blog is clearly not child-friendly (even my Sailor Moon content is riddled with adult jokes, boobs, and sex).

This post, here, I thought was very helpful, though I really wish I would have read it a few months ago.  It is “4 Myths About Starting Your IttyBiz”.  These are the myths, but you will have to go read Naomi’s article in order to fully understand what they mean.  (Note: only the bold text is taken from IttyBiz, the regular text is my own commentary)

Myth #1: You have to know who your target market is.

I frequently read this as “advice” on many other sites, and it was an aspect of my business that I really hit a wall with.  How was I supposed to know who my target market was before I was even launched?  Should I be picking a target market then making things based on that?  (I really hated that idea a lot).  Eventually, I just decided to drop trying to figure out who my target market was, and just settled on it being everyone (with the exclusion of babies).  Wait, why no babies?  Because I make collectibles, and not chew toys, children can have plushies I make assuming that the child is smart/ old enough to not want to eat the plushie’s eye balls.

Myth #2: You have to know how to price yourself.

I still don’t know how to price myself, and I think that is okay.

Myth #3: You have to have a ridiculous goal.

I certainly do not think that my goals are ridiculous, and if anything, they are very humble.  My main goal with my business is to be able to go down to one shift a week at my “day job” of waitress-ing, and be able to pay most of the bills with my business.  I’m hoping that once I get going with that, I will be able to maintain that until Jerry and I move to Toronto.  Toronto on the other hand, is a whole other set of goals and dreams.

Myth #4: You can wing it.

I think that main point of this “myth” was that it is best to *not* learn things the hard way… with everything anyways.

I think that the best/ most important part of that post is that with a small business you actually have to START.  Just sitting around, reading blogs, and what not, is not the best use of your time, especially if you should be using that time to produce and create.  I admit that this is something that I am still working on.  I get caught up in looking at other people’s stores, blogs, sites, forums…. that I sometimes waste a lot of time doing nothing.  Not that those internet-y things are not beneficial (and still an important aspect to a home business of this sort), but it shouldn’t take up the biggest chunk of your day.  I’ve recently started limiting my internet use, and I still go over a little bit.

Since my decreased internet use, I have been incredibly productive.  My crafting room is back in order, and the house over-all is tidy.  I even organized all of my finished products and made what I am lovingly calling my “Roller Store” (see, because its on wheels, get it?).  Well, I love it.  It makes it really easy for me to see how much I have made, plus if I have anyone come over to buy anything they can clearly see everything.  (I stupidly took pictures with everything close up, maybe I will have another update of the Roller Store with it looking all pretty with signs and everything in proper display, which only takes me about 5 minutes to set up).

I have been productive online though, I have a listing ready to go up on Etsy, and am planning on making another one later today (my action plan is make one a day until Friday or Saturday when I will post all of them, so exciting!).

But, if you are starting a small business, or thinking about it, IttyBiz is a great site for tips, techniques and motivation.  I signed up for e-mail updates (a good way to save some internet time *wink wink*), and look forward to reading from Naomi in the future.

{I hold you sweetly in my head} : La Dispute live

This past Tuesday, I had the joy of seeing one of my all-time-favourite bands, La Dispute (anyone who knows me, knows how hard I fell for this band as soon as I started listening to them).  They played at the London Music Hall, and for only $12, there was no way I was going to miss this show.

the only picture I took that night

Despite being surrounded by high school girls (they surely do not fully appreciate the depth of La Dispute’s music and lyrical mastery I bitterly thought, but to be fair I once was a high school who also thought I understood love and loss too), but it was amazing.  I only wish they had played Last Lost Continent, which the crowd pleaded for at the end of the set.  They did come back for an encore, and apologized for not playing Last Lost Continent due to the fact that it frequently becomes a 45 minute long song live.. personally I would have loved for them to only play that song, the entire time.  It is by far my favourite song by them (and clearly a song loved by many others in the crowd).  I actually didn’t take any pictures during the show, I’m happy that my partner did get a couple.  The crowd was fairly rough (although pretty tame in comparison to other shows we’ve been to), and since we weren’t right in the front, it made taking photos more work than it was worth.  Plus, I think have a rather different view of the necessity of photographs to remember an event, and would rather enjoy shows in the moment, instead of worrying about breaking my camera/ getting a good shot.

photo taken by Korpolfr

photo taken by Korpolfr

photo taken by Korpolfr

One of the girls that was in front of me posted two videos from the night also (I assume it was the one girl in front of me, I saw that she had a camera throughout the show and the angle and view of the show makes perfect sense).  I was happy that this was posted, because the Castle Builders was definitely a highlight of the show for me.

(although the audio quality is terrible, I love seeing and snippets of shows that I attended on youtube later).