[Britni] HAPPY SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY!!! I just realized this morning, I should have done up this email last night so it was ready for all you darling shoppers when you woke up this morning... BUT. In the blackhole of the Coronavirus-time-quarantine-continuum, I've gone and forgotten what day it is again. I mean, I knew yesterday was Friday.. I addressed that in my last email. But for some reason, I felt like I had a week to get this email done between yesterday and today.. Hopefully I'm not too late, most of you probably don't take this special Holiday nearly as seriously as I do.
ANYWAY!! I have something very special for you today. We've been saving this moment for just the right time and while it always feels too soon, at some point you gotta just put that paintbrush down and move in the furniture.
For this very special day, I am not here to tell you about the little Salt Company. You all must be getting bored of it by now anyhoo. Nope, today I want to introduce you to my favorite small business:
A small art gallery and gift shop that features Alaska Artisans. Oh, and the best part, my Ma owns it.
If you have been to our shop on the Homer Spit, then you've probably been in my Ma's gallery, too.
Growing up, my Ma had a little business calledIt Makes Scents,makingand selling candles, lotions, soaps and other smell-y good things. She made these things in our tiny home kitchen and sold them wherever she could (sound familiar?). She did this all while raising me, working full time for her father's pipeline construction company (yep, entrepreneur-ness is in my DNA) and while taking classes at our local college. Like I mentioned in my subject line:
I got it from my Mama.
Every part of me that is a hustler, juggler, creator and do-er, I got from my Ma. You're probably wondering if she has a foul-ass-sailor-mouth like me.. but, Nah, I did that one on my own.
She doesn't think of herself as an artist, but she has always been very creative, inventive and today, she is in the beginning stages of becoming a baller, high-end jewelry maker. & she's getting pretty fucking good you guys!!
A few years ago she and my dad moved to Homer and she started Northern Vibes, with a little nudge from me. She sells her candles, jewelry and my paintings/prints along with works from other local artists like my gal-pal Jen DePesa.
I've watched my mom work so hard to get her little business off the ground. Obviously, I know how tough it can be and she doesn't have a partner like I do. She has pushed through during one of the most difficult times to be a business owner, and today, she is ready to show her sparkling new website (in progress, because they always are) to the world.
Guys. I think we need to BLOW HER SHIT UP!!!
I know I am going on to buy some gifts today and show someSmall Business Saturdaylove. I want her to be so overwhelmed with orders that the stress is just barely manageable - but like, in a good, "my business is going to survive", sort of way. As of now, she feels confident that she can get any art/jewelry/candle orders out in time for Christmas.
Just LOOK at these beauties.
Her jewelry designs are so wonderfully elegant and completely made by her freckly hands. She cuts and bends and wraps and wires each piece. And, she spends a FUCK load of money on gems and stones and pieces and parts - everything has to be "to the nines", which, I respect that. She is always trying to show me her new fancy jewelry things that arrived in the mail and I TRY SO HARD TO GET INTO IT.. and I just can't care about beads as much as she does because that is her JAM. My point, she doesn't skimp.
I adore the unique things she creates and even more, I love how much she enjoys making them. I want her to be able to do it for the rest of her life.
She also has, you guessed it, adorably-hilarious-delicious-smelling-poop-named CANDLES!!! (y'all are like, how many candles is this salt bitch tryna sell us!?!?)
you. can. never. have. too. many. candles.
Here is a true story: the new labels for the candle pictured above are actually still "on the way". I printed this from my home printer on copy paper, cut it out with little kid scissors and taped it one one of our Salty Margarita candles. [insert crafty emoji].
Guys, I haven't shared this, because it has been a little emotional for me - I feel weird even admitting that. But, both of my parents recently became very sick with COVID (to our knowledge, it wasn't from us, my dad had an exposure at his work and, well, it is all over Homer right now). Anyway, both of my parents are in "at-risk" categories and my greatest fear through this whole pandemic has been passing the VID to my parents. Well, the VID finally came and it has been a stressful week. BUT both of them are tough as nails got through it!! Which is why I even feel comfortable sharing this. Whew.
All of that long, last paragraph to say, my mom had planned to have her shit together a bit more before this Small Business Saturday email launch, but you know. Sometimes shit just hits the ole fan and you make do with what ya got. So there aren'tactualphotos of the candles.. but.. you get the idea - the candles are fucking adorable and always, made by hand by my mama. and the labels will be in very soon :)
My mom and me when she surprised me at my first art show a few years ago <3
Please go check out her site, buy a sticker if ya can or like enough artwork to do up your whole house. Sign up for her email list, I am going to help her get that going :) There is still a lot of artwork and jewelry to add to her site but its GAME TIME BITCHES!!!
I LOVE YOU MA! Thank you for always being there for me, telling me I was good at everything I ever tried and being my biggest supporter in this wild life.
It is my turn to cheeryouon. You have a gift and I am so excited for you to share it with the world.
For just one little percent off of your first order, use the discount code:
LOVE.YOU.MA.
or, simply click this link:
https://northernvibesak.com/discount/LOVE.YOU.MA.
Yes, this discount code is only for 1% because she really deserves the other 99%. This discount code never expires, because, well, its only for 1% so its not really a big deal if you decide to use it in 10 years from now. Let's show her some love on this SBS so that her business will STILL be thriving in 10 years from now.
Have a happy weekend everyone!! I will see you all on cyber Monday :) And after Monday, back to funny stories for a while. This marketing shit is hard [insert smiling, but sweating emoji].
