Behind the Scenes - 12/6/24

Dear Friends,

For those who are new to our emails, I try to do an email once a week where I go into the details of what is happening behind the scenes of our small business. If you want to catch up on prior messages, check out the blog here or just jump right into the story below.

We are finally deep into the Christmas season now with BFCM in our rearview mirror. All in all, it was a good weekend, and it's usually right about now that Meryle and I have meetings about how behind we are and if we should move Christmas deadlines forward or cut the marketing spend.

But not this year.

Despite having higher than usual sales, our production team has been running like a well oiled machine. It's a totally new thing for us to have Christmas be both good for sales and good for production and I don't quite know what to do with myself.

Usually the week after BFCM is explosive for us. We have sales that often are twice as high as the actual BFCM days (I'm assuming because people realize that the Christmas season is upon them). This week however has been more "steady as she goes" rather than "where did all these people come from" and since we are on top of things, I've shortened our stated lead times to 2-3 days. I've also decided to offer Free 2-Day shipping on all orders (for the time being) to help people feel confident they will get their orders in time for Christmas.

We are even able to do big bulk orders of 30 or more items and have delivery in about a week to 10 days. Normally we say that we can't do bulk orders past BFCM, so a lot of our ads are focusing on our custom logo engraving and no minimum order quantities.

I am personally dealing with the challenge of finding the right gift for my team this Christmas. A few years back I did the gray embroidered sweatshirts, and they have become the unofficial uniform of the shop with most people wearing them most days. It doesn't hurt that Wisconsin is often cold, but they are a popular item for the team.

So with that amazing gift on the books in the past I have been trying to find a gift that people will use frequently and enjoy using, something that works for both the men and women, and is good enough quality to last a long time. This would be easy for other business owners, since our products fit all of those criteria, but I don't think giving the team products they make all day would have the same feel. It would be like a Chocolate company giving the line workers a box of chocolate that they packed. That brings up another thing. I don't want to do food or something else that will just be consumed quickly since I think gifts should be something people will love for years to come.

And I know I need to come up with something soon since we only have about 2 weeks before Christmas. I know it's technically longer but with the way the weekends line up and Christmas Eve being on a Tuesday this year, delivery is going to get dicey if I wait. Due to this strange schedule our last day of production will be Friday the 20th. Even if we did come in to make stuff on the 23rd, it wouldn't arrive for sure in time for Christmas.

We know the last day for us will be that Friday, but the current "deadlines" for when customers can place orders and be confident it will be made, shipped, and arrive before Christmas is still being discussed internally. Perhaps that is why our orders haven't jumped yet. Maybe people just haven't thought that much about the narrow Christmas window this year. It might actually be best for us to announce the deadlines sooner rather than later. I will need to think on that more.

For those still looking to get gifts this year, we are happy to help! There is nothing quite like a good leather journal, and I am a strong believer that every person needs one. Switching from our Classic Cut Leather Journal to a Stationery Cut Leather Cover with Leuchtturm1917 insert for my personal journal has boosted my writing. I don't quite know why, perhaps its just the novelty, but I enjoy the experience a bit more. All that to say if you haven't taken a good look at are full lineup in awhile, there is no time like the present.

Please don't wait to get your orders in. While things are currently going well in production, its entirely possible that we have a big spike and get behind despite our best efforts so don't hesitate.

We may be doing more emails in the next two weeks than usual to help showcase the new things so keep an eye out for those.

Stay tuned for more letters on Fridays in the coming weeks and be sure to go subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you like and watch the videos it helps us get promoted more by the algorithm to people who may never have heard of us.

Ever your servant,

Colin Murdy CEO/Owner

Murdy Creative Co.

Cell: 414-434-9001

MurdyCreative.Co 

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