Nice people thread part 8 - worth the wait

fc123

PasturesNew wrote: »

That's perfect to just run a niche portal. Have some criteria local handmade/ethical companies need to meet to be able to wear the logo and advertise theat they are part of that niche...... e.g. stuff has to be made there, materials have to be sourced from the UK, you have to do a visit to see them making the stuff for real to prove it really IS made by them, there. Brand it.

They pay to be members, they pay a cut on sales through the site.

You can then extend that to being a destination workshop experience and organise premises/tutors to bring people together to make stuff..... that they can then get a certificate of attendance/authenticity to say their item was a MIM item. And get them to like/share the MIM/FB page with their creations .....

And ride that cycle of twee.

You, personally, get to champion your own brand and ethical business model by promoting the work of the others on the telly/radio and in newspapers. You become "the new/better Mary", who actually bothers to be there.

yay...extra ideas.;) Locally produced / made is something that appeals and works really well in a visitor area.

Worse ....I found a premises freehold too.....with the ground retail on a lease let to a Ladbrokes...so I could add a bit of worthiness by not renemwing their lease and 'saving' a few people from a gambling compulsion

...but these are all dreams/plans for another day, a day when what I do now has had it's time and we are ready for..well.pastures new and all that. In general fashion goes on a 10 year cycle + we are 5 years in on this one.

The other snag is the area has a long way to go in terms of visitor numbers but it's gettin there.....old town has some seriuosly good eating places and it's great to walk around an area and there is not one single chain of anything at all.....a few in the old high st but not in Old Town.
This site has a list of the shops there at the mo.
http://www.margatetown.org.uk/old-town/
None were featured on Marys show, in fact they were all ignored.


and these guys hadn't regd 'made in M ' but use it in their search http://www.madelab.co.uk/made-in-margate/

silvercar wrote: »

From the other side. A family member has an independent clothes shop. They often hear of someone selling the brands they stock from their house. They are very upset about it and give the agent lots of grief. As you say, they have VAT and overheads and don't like being undercut. In getting the brand, they have to take a certain level of stock and in return the agent promises them exclusivity within a certain geographic area.

Whilst I always try to embrace new ways of doing things and quite admire the new bedroom sellers, we cannot supply them as what indie shops that are left at least need some support and loyalty from their suppliers.

We do supply a few really good online indies but they have to work so hard to maintain sales.

We also treat our google search on brand as one destination so don't want it clogged up with lots of randoms. Key stockists and our own site on 1st page only.

I lose count of the amount of enquiries we get every day on opening a FB shop or wanting free stuff + they mention us in their blog/twitter etc. + they have a zillion followers.
We have sussed the fake twitter / FB followers scam....easy to spot.

vivatifosi

PasturesNew wrote: »

That's perfect to just run a niche portal. Have some criteria local handmade/ethical companies need to meet to be able to wear the logo and advertise theat they are part of that niche...... e.g. stuff has to be made there, materials have to be sourced from the UK, you have to do a visit to see them making the stuff for real to prove it really IS made by them, there. Brand it.

They pay to be members, they pay a cut on sales through the site.

You can then extend that to being a destination workshop experience and organise premises/tutors to bring people together to make stuff..... that they can then get a certificate of attendance/authenticity to say their item was a MIM item. And get them to like/share the MIM/FB page with their creations .....

And ride that cycle of twee.

You, personally, get to champion your own brand and ethical business model by promoting the work of the others on the telly/radio and in newspapers. You become "the new/better Mary", who actually bothers to be there.

As I can't thank this several times I wanted to say how much I loved this post. You should be way richer Patures. You really deserve it so I hope that it happens for you at some point.

fc123

vivatifosi wrote: »

As I can't thank this several times I wanted to say how much I loved this post. You should be way richer Patures. You really deserve it so I hope that it happens for you at some point.

I do try to tell her too.,....but she won't listen to me

fc123

....wonder if madeindorset is free PN?

fc123

...I will make turner print silk scarves one day down there. Don't think there is a copyright issue as over 100 years old.

zagubov

Apropos of nothing this article cheers me up. :beer:
Not that I'll ever visit any of these places but when I was a kid we didn't suspect they existed!

Do the NPs think we are "alone"?

Spirit_2

zagubov wrote: »

Do the NPs think we are "alone"?

Now I have thought about it, not for long I admit, I can't see why we would be alone.

It is rather like how I view the possibility of life after death. I can't fathom how there is all 'this' then nothing. I am probably wrong though.

zagubov

Spirit wrote: »

Now I have thought about it, not for long I admit, I can't see why we would be alone.

When I was growing up nobody thought ( or rather nobody was sure or had evidence ) there were planets around other stars apart from in science fiction.

For all we knew our solar system was unique. Now it ain't and I think the universe got a lot more interesting (as if a universe could be basically dull).:D

lemonjelly

silvercar wrote: »

I have suggested them; my suggestion has been rejected. We now have a 'doors closed when spraying' policy. The problem time is when DS2 has friends over, they all seem to use an excessive amount of deoderant. If they are going out from our house, they seem to give themselves a quick burst before they leave:eek: I hope the objects of their desire appreciate it because I certainly don't.

Put your foot down. Don't suggest, insist.
I have a friend who's child (3) has severe asthma. The whole family (including siblings) have moved away from aerosols. I know his gran has bottles of pump action air freshener which she found, as opposed to aerosols.

This is your health & well being for goodness sake. These are your nearest & dearest. Does it mean that little to them that they can't make a very minor adjustment to their lives?

lemonjelly

zagubov wrote: »

Apropos of nothing this article cheers me up. :beer:
Not that I'll ever visit any of these places but when I was a kid we didn't suspect they existed!

Do the NPs think we are "alone"?

I think it is wierd to think anything but to think there are other life forms out there. Seems very self important to think that ours is the only planet capable of life.

Intelligent life is another thing of course...

zagubov wrote: »

When I was growing up nobody thought ( or rather nobody was sure or had evidence ) there were planets around other stars apart from in science fiction.

For all we knew our solar system was unique. Now it ain't and I think the universe got a lot more interesting (as if a universe could be basically dull).:D

We're a bit more aware of the scale of the universe (yet we still know nothing!
How small are we? http://htwins.net/scale2/