| Earthly Comforts Projects Diary Entry 3 |
| Earthly Comforts Home and Garden Services Sandwich May 2023 Merchandising the Brand |
| Life is busy at present and exciting, too, in many ways; l am now in a good position regarding my volunteering with more responsibility with Gazen Salts, and today the Jubilee Garden Project committee made contact as that concept will soon be starting in June, and l am to be part of that also. I want to be part of these projects for many reasons – 1] l feel that l am doing something positive for the community of Sandwich first and foremost, 2] They are involved with something l am passionate about, 3] l am gaining more experience and wisdom regarding my passions and learning new things. Finally, 4] l am out there as a brand and networking in the community, which will benefit my business. The allotment, whilst hard work on this side of the season and for the remainder of this year too, will lessen off once we have 1] the seedlings in their growing positions and 2] all the projects currently in various stages of development finished – like the polytunnel, water station and the fruit cages. It is fun and rewarding and a staging area for the business concepts like Earthly Comforts and the Compost Doctor, as well as the vermicast side hustle and hopefully, from next year, l can look at creating courses. The seedlings and seed sowings take the longest time, especially as we don’t have a separate growing on area at present, which is why the polytunnel is vital to everything and key to future successes in creating additional time windows for us to be able to dedicate elsewhere. But we are satisfied with the progressions on the allotment. We are still running slightly behind, but all the sowings will be done by June. That will be a considerable burden, weight and headache off Suze as if they are left too long, they become leggy and are prone to bolting. Holding the seedlings in either the end of the kitchen or Edward’s greenhouse with the constantly changing weather means we must always be on top of issues as they arise before plants can be sown to ground. Trying to keep little vegetable seedlings happy is like trying to appease the kids or a pet at times. Trying to find the right balance can be challenging. The polytunnel is being built, we have at least the exoskeleton now in place, and l am thankful for the help l receive from my friends. The next stage is the two doors, and once they are done, we can finally take the wooden components out of the house and down to where they are needed. All is going well, the polytunnel, complete with doors, will happen early next week, and the covering can be on to make the tunnel look real. I will, of course, write about it – like everything else – soon. Soon, soonish, sooner are fast becoming track words with me. Everything is soon, and we are pleased when Soons is replaced with the Dones. In addition to everything mentioned, the volunteering, the allotment, the special projects and the future business concepts or side hustles, there is the all-important one – Earthly Comforts – Home and Garden Services, which is to be the business itself. We have one fixed and permanent client on the gardening side as regular work and a unique project for them in Dover, one occasional and two new which will commence in June. These are all by word of mouth only, and as of yet, l have not advertised the business name anywhere, although a few know of it. Earthly Comforts is a twinned business model that services the home and the garden. As l mentioned in many of my posts, you know about the gardening side. You have occasionally read about Suze’s work for a company. Still, we decided to incorporate that into Earthly Comforts, the home companion care service. I am a self-employed sole trader currently. Suze will become the same, and together we will become a joint partnership for Earthly Comforts. I need to get public liability sorted, especially as we are planning to start the marketing of the business in the next few months, and this will mean more clients, more gardens and if unlucky more accidents or mishaps, but more importantly, it offers security to those we are to work for. Suze has a potential gardening contract with her friends in Canterbury, but that requires public liability insurance and an official business that can invoice. Until those are in place, we cannot advertise or market the business. This arrangement suits our current needs as the allotment is the primary priority and needs the planting stage finalised. However, once done, we can breathe a sigh of relief and focus on other priorities like the business. Suze and l discussed the merchandising package we need for Earthly Comforts earlier this week alongside what we want and wish to provide clients with the business. From catchy slogans to promotional literature to tee shirts and stickers to invoicing and logos and, of course, features and what makes us unique and different from other gardeners, why use our services over other providers? But that will be for another time when l will reason all the decisions and display the merchandise and promotional options we chose and why. |
| Thanks for reading. |
Earthly Comforts 
You’ve many pots on the fire and are giving them a lot of attention and putting in a lot of hard work. All the best Rory
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Thanks Sadje, it’s a long slog but we are slowly getting there 🙂
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Yes, you’re and then you can relax a bit
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Hopefully so 🙂
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👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
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👏👏👏👏
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your very busy rory! Good luck with the new business, advertising is always tough going! I know you’ll be great!
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Hey Carol Anne, many thanks 🙂
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