you can tell when Flash is away...the house is not untidy, but there are piles everywhere, laundry...kitchen table...coffee table, the kitchen is kept spotless because of the risk of cockroaches in this town...but thats about it, his side of the bed contains pads of paper, pens, books, stitch guides, magazines and yarn, the table is now "marketing central" more books, pens, paper, coffee cups...the couch is my relaxation area, more yarn, needles, coffee cups, and dvds.
I need an office - bad.
I also need help guys.
(not the pharmaceutical kind)
I noticed today that someone from The Gap ( yes THE gap) had spent an hour perusing my site, now I can understand that they may wish to ensure that I have not copied any of their designs, and am flattered that they are concerned about such a small player...BUT... on the other hand, knowing that all of my designs are original...I am slightly worried that some "designer" (the job description a few years ago was - someone who goes overseas four times a year and buys garments to take apart and copy) has decided that because I am such a small player, they can "borrow" my designs without any fuss.
I have a "terms of use" statement on the site, and have printed out their details from my stats collector (IP address and activity path etc.) but am not sure what else I can do to protect myself. I did have "no right-click" installed on the pages, but that stopped some people frim being able to navigate the page, and as I was told by a web designer - these are easy to disable, and if someone wants they pictures they can just print screen, and it doesn't work in Safari (most designers have Macs).
My second concern is that I have basically no advertising budget, a small (black and white) ad in a USA magazine is $46K (yes you read right). I am working at my marketing plan at present (the resident Sales and Marketing Guru is rightly baffled - being used to obscene marketing budgets - but is trying to get on board quickly) any ideas folks? I have joined a press release service (free intro offer - yay!) and have signed up for Google adwords, I am not sure where to go from here, gone are the days when you could send a "freebie" to a magazine and have them include it in their fashion pages, now it is a freebie and lots of cash!
I'm open to any suggestions.
(the knitting in the picture? - simple triangle shawl in kidsilk haze, with stripes of Louisa Hardings Kimono, and Artyarns Regal silk, will have a lace border)
