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Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Thinking, Changes, and a Pre-Sale

I have spent a lot of time in the last couple of months thinking about my business.  Well, let's be honest, I have spent a lot of time in the last several years thinking about my business, but these last few months I cannot. stop. thinking about it.

I think about it in the shower.
I think about it while I rock Penelope to sleep.
I think about it at stop lights.
I fall asleep thinking about it.

All this thought because I just haven't been sure of what the future holds for Much Ado About You.

I am still not sure.

That's where you come in.

Let me explain...

One of the things I love about our planners is that they are very custom.  I love being able to make exactly what each of my customers needs and wants in a planner.  And for the first few years of my business I was able to keep up with those customizations.

But this year Much Ado About You turned a corner.  We went from being a part-time hobby business to a Full-Time Real Business.  And I haven't quite figured out how to make that work.

I am not ready to give up on my business.  I have put so much blood, sweat, and tears into this business {well, more sweat and tears than blood, but I did staple my finger once... and paper cuts are common}, that I die a little death every time I think of giving up.

Not to mention that I have the most amazingly loyal customer base, and a few fans I fear might jump off the deep end if they are forced to find another planner.

Something has to change.  I can't keep up with my business the way it is going, and selfishly... I would love to make a profit this year that would pay me a salary of more than 17 cents an hour.  {I know... it's all about me, me, me.}

So all my thinking has brought Much Ado About You to this place: changes are coming.

Some big changes.

Are you ready???  Let me tell you about them.


The first, biggest, and I'm hoping most revolutionary change is that every planner listed in our shop will be pre-printed and bound so that it can be personalized and shipped THE NEXT BUSINESS DAY.

The good news is that you will no longer have to wait 3+ weeks to receive your order.  You will also be able to order Christmas gifts up until just a few days before Christmas.  That is huge.  This year our Christmas deadline was December 1st, and if any of you are like me, you probably hadn't even thought about Christmas by December 1st. 


The second change is that we will be offering two date ranges for our planners from this point on: an August thru July Academic Year Planner, and a traditional January thru December Calendar Year Planner.  The Teacher & Student Planners {which we have combined into one format} will only be offered in the August thru July date range.

Finally, we have revamped the layouts {don't worry, the general layout is the same... it's just prettier} to include a lot more color and fun.  I am giddy about the changes!  It's something I have wanted to do for a long time, but haven't had the skills.  I got skills.


Now here's the part where you come in.  In order to pull this off, we need to pre-sell some planners.  Preparing the line is going to be a big investment, and we need to make sure that it will work.


So if you love your Much Ado About You Planner and don't want to have to begin the search for the perfect planner all over again, or if you have never ordered one but have been wanting to join Team Much Ado About You... would you consider ordering your next planner very soon???  Yeah, like, in two weeks.


February 29th {Leap Day} thru March 4th we will be holding our first ever 
Much Ado About You Pre-Sale


If you choose to order during the pre-sale, you will not only get $5 off of each planner that you order {yes, feel free to order more than one}, but you will also get to choose your cover design before they are available to the public.  First dibs!  AND, you will also get a very special FREE GIFT as our thank you for your amazing support. 


*Here's the catch: if we don't pre-sell at least 200 planners, Much Ado About You will close its doors {and I will go back to having a clean house}.*  No more pretty planners for you.


So visit our website in two weeks {not our Etsy shop, we are running the Pre-Sale elsewhere} for all the details, and consider helping to save Much Ado About You from becoming another Small Business statistic.

5 comments:

  1. Will the my events add on become obsolete? I would pre-order. But the thing that made your product amazing in my opinion was the customizable events. Still love the calendar.

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  2. Not a calendar person or a planner person or an address book person. Ever thought about a book that holds e-mail addresses and passwords??? Just trying to think of other things you could do that are on the same line. I love your products wish i had a use for them. I pinned you on Pinterest and will put something on facebook with your web address. I pray a ton of orders come in.

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  3. Count me in on the pre-sale!

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  4. Definitely count me in for AT LEAST two!!!! :)

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  5. I have stumbled across your blog after googling freak thinking (don't worry I'm actually fairly normal...or at least most of the time). Anyway, I was blown away by what you are doing. I write a newletter, a blog, and do motivational speaking and would like to use you as a reference point when I talk about freak thinking (which basically is just about taking lighter fluid, spraying it on the constricting box we have in our head which limits our ideas and torching it). Let me know what you think. I will not reference you unless I have your okay. Kind of an integrity issue with me. And always...be encouraged.

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