Final Year Project

I was approached by Kirsty Stober, informing that she was hosting an event on the 6th of April showcasing Afro-Caribbean businesses that reside in Birmingham. I took this as an opportunity to delve into the community and have my first appearance as an independent retailer. To prepare for this event, I made 5 baby hats in 3 colours. Although it sounds like I made a few items, these items took a long time to prepare. It allowed me to understand the speed of the business and understanding what I can make. I also made a pair of booties. The event itself required promoting, and I had to advertise it to friends and family. On the contrary, I did not invite them because I knew it was not my best work, and it was not something I wanted them to see. For this event, I also had to consider how I wanted the table to be set up, which is something I had never had thought about until a week before the event. I was under-prepared for the event, and it showed. Now I know what I need to do for future ...

I have now completed my website. I have been able to photograph my products. Right now there is not much of a range to work with; however, I have to remember that I am just starting out. As time progresses, I will be creating new things and uploading them to the website. This not only looks good to the customer because I am building and extending the range, but it helps develop my skills as a knitter. The website features images of my own, and images that are royalty free from Shopify's database. Over time I will get rid of the photos and put my own pictures in, however, for now, they are right where they are. Overall I am proud of the website I have created. The link to the website is here: https://www.petiteapparel.co.uk/

I did it, I went to the CHSI event at the NEC. Luckily there was free parking and that the exhibition itself was open. There were so many other retailers and businesses that took part in the event. According to the NEC website, there were over 60 businesses there. They ranged in all sorts of arts and craft, knitting, quilting, making candles, new fabric and printing. I enjoyed engaging with the businesses that were there. I was able to learn many things from talking to them. For example, I found that they were all approachable and were willing to engage with people. This is an excellent skill to have especially as a future businesswoman. I want customers to feel at ease when conversing with me as well as having conversations with them and building rapport. Going and partaking in this event was something I needed to do. I was able to learn so much from the people that were there. It was also an opportunity to boost my self-esteem, while I was there I conversed with many business owne...

Now that I have established to foundations to my website, it is time to start creating and learning the ways of Shopify. There is a range of free themes, I have decided to use the Narrative theme as it has many features that I want to incorporate on my website such as the opportunity to zoom on pictures. Learning a new hosting site is something that I am not entirely familiar with, as I usually code my websites. Netherless I am grateful to say I that I am enjoying the ease of using Shopify. I want to make sure I get everything for my website, to do this I am going to refer to my Gantt chart and make sure that I am top of all of my tasks. As of now, the website I am building is hidden and requires a password to enter. I like this feature as it gives me time to process and take my time making the website.