Last night I was in Oakville hosting a launch-slash-shopping party to introduce the shop and my product lines to the public. If you’ve been following along you’ll know that the site has been live and taking orders for the past 2 months or so, but it’s been pretty slow.

Mother Dearest

I thought I’d take a page out of the book of Avon, Tupperware and Mary Kay and try a shopping party. So I hauled all my current stock out, corralled my mom into helping me host and went for it!

We bought a ton of wine, cheese and other snacks and set about making all the stuff look nice. Later that evening all my mom’s network arrived and the party was underway.

All things said and done, it went pretty well. I made a little bit of money, but more importantly I got a chance to introduce the shop and the products to an influential bunch of people. A lot of them enjoy shopping for these kinds of things, and also have daughters that are into the kind of stuff I carry. I hope the word gets out!

Let the shopping commence!

I spent this morning tallying up all the receipts (most paid in cash so I did hand-written receipts) and then entering everything into the website. The website is hooked up to QuickBooks so that inventory can be managed a little bit easier. I just hope everything worked out!

It was a lot of fun “launching” the shop last night, but I am pooped! There were loads of questions to ask and general hostessing for the night.

I came home late today and have just now finished putting everything back in order in my office. The good news is that I’ve got more space now that some of the items are gone! My entire carton of Pre de Provence Lait Soap is gone now, I only have a single bar left!

It’s a good thing, too! I’m going to need that extra space for the adorable new Boojiboo Retro Aprons I just ordered!

Anyway, that’s my update for right now. I’m just working on updating the email list right now and figuring out what kind of announcement to do for the shop.

I know, I know. I should have thought of this waaaaay sooner. But I’ve been so busy! I guess Oct. 1st can just be the *suggested* launch date… LOL

For pictures of the launch party, check out the With Heart Facebook page, or click here to go directly to the photo album.

My sales assistant for the evening