wee moosie

 www.handmadeartspace.com

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trying to raise interest in our products, increase links and communication....it seems like a new world.........in some ways a strange one in which I talk to no-one and yet lots of people  are friends ......silence from them all.....and then out of the blue a comment appears form someone and a complete stranger suddenly feels like a long lost friend. The numbers of followers increase , the numbers of friends increase ,,,,but no sales for our social enterprise...so do we have to go to trade shows and sell like a tile company to big stores?? Think so ...much as I am loving this blogging ...it is strangely therapeutic...a social network as they call it....but an unusual one...

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CIC or Ltd company

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so if we are not being funded by the council after 8 years of hiting our head off the wall ...meetings...presentations...and so on ...and we are not being fundd by trusts because they are nervous of our involvement in enterprise ...is there any point being a charity ...if we could make enough money in ... say a community interest company...then we could support the causes we fight,,,without applying for grants...monitoring , reporting and justifying...but then again if we were a ltd company ...just an ordinary on then we could decide to profit share ...when we feel we can ...it would be like teh old philanthropists model...question of course is ....are we going to make a profit that can run our organisation ...currently we have 135 people with special needs who come every week which needs financed every year to the tune of £55 K ...so are we going to make that.......????  xx

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Image by Shayan (USA) via Flickr

social enterprises are struggling

apparently two of the local social enterprises have struggled this year and gone bust ...heard from the funder that we thought was going to support us ....they feel that we had a large part of our business plan was social enterprise therefore vulnerable to going bust too ....great....!! as you can imagine ...we feel we shouldn't be judged by their failure, but we will have to now work harder to prove the social enterprise idea works ......

old buildings

just got some bad news that we are not getting funded by one of our major sponsors because they are nervous about us buying a big old building....this leaves us with a dilemma...should we rent to buy and renovate whilst renting....and borrow from the bank or just find a medium sized new building and rent that ??

Still looking for acrylic display stands online to provide us with a look for the SECC...so our reclaim and renovate is not appreciated today .... all feeling a bit low ....Jess is making cake and biscuit badges to cheer us all up!!

www.handmadeartspace.com

Just trying to tell the story of wot we do at artspace .....dragon's den drifting through from the kitchen and wondrin...what wud duncan bannatyne say to me .....you haven't a clue.....I'm out..... ?? luckily the old british spirit seeps thro ........keep right on to the end of the road, keep right on to the end.........dont really know anything else but hopeless faith in eventually we will get there........

Went to see a buyer today and had been hopeful that they would say ...can we have 20K s worth of products.... so that we could start the production line...not as easy as all that....they want to trial our products in two locations on a sale or return basis...and we have to supply them with a clearer USP and point of sale ....mmmmm nodding at her ....thinking WOT? So trawling the net for acrylic table top stands and more stickers, boxes and matching bags.......changed all logos to say handmade in Scotland with all profits going to an education charity etc etc......will keep you posted !....Yup as you guessed no profit left after the purchase of all of this ...but next time an all that ....hope...x

handmadeartsace.com

just getting together some craft that we are making at artspace in perth ...we decided to go to the SECC trade fair and have a stall...so this will be our first and it is all new and exciting...will we get some orders so that we can get some cash for artspace or will we not? Will shops want xmassy stuff if the fair is in Sep........do we need to look corporate with fancy banners or will our well used canvas tablecloth do... ...suited up or painted overalls ...aghhh...all because we wat to avoid filling in any more funding applications for grants...get out of that cycle of inane questions ...outcomes outputs..monitoring...evaluation..reporting....wot a waste of time. If we can get out of that cycle by selling craft then life would be much better ...for me anyway who seems to spend days at the computer......