Wanna' Trade?

[belimited]

Hi Will,

you were quick adding this to the site, congrats!

As I suggested it, I'll happily put my services up first. Have a look at my site and if I can help you in any way, logos/branding, flyer/advert design or you would just like some nice artwork for your office or a limited edition t-shirt, let me know.

There's nothing I'm really after at the moment, so am open to offers.

This is just like Noel Edmonds' Multi-Coloured swapshop! (if you're over 25 you'll probably understand)

I'll look forward to seeing who's out there and what they do....

[Will]

Thanks Belimited, always open to suggestions.

I must have just missed the multi-coloured swapshop, was it a lucky escape?

Glad to see you voluntering to get it started.

Will

[belimited]

You would think it was a lucky escape, but I have really fond memories of it. It was a Saturday morning kids show - people would phone up and offer Kerplunk for an Action Man or trades like that. I think that's probably what happened to all those unwanted Christmas presents!

[Will]

Off on a side line, but someone was telling me a story the other day about someone on the net who managed to continually swap a paper clip for other items, and in the end got a house. Not sure how accurate the story truly is (I did here it in a pub) but it sounded good.

Will

[belimited]

Here's the guy's blog - I remembered reading the article on yahoo...

http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/

looks like the guy's done alright out of it too, not only has he got a house, and set up a business based on it, the whole town is backing him because he is bringing trade to an otherwise sleepy town.

Just goes to show you, the best ideas are the simple ones!

[Paul]

Sounds like a spoof to me, just to get the site media attention...maybe I'm wrong but sounds like it is made up. I've known other webmasters to publish ridiculous information/news on their site and it is amazing how quickly the story spreads, and the tabloids are more than willing to publish.

Paul

[Geoff]

got to agree with paul on this trading a paper-clip for a house, sounds like a tall story to me!

geoff

[Karen]

Hi to belimited.
I checked out your site but I couldnt find anything that lead me to limited designs tee shirts?? anyway.. I thought it might be a great idea to have cloth bags with a logo on so clients on my narrow boats could go shopping locally with them whilst promoting "aNarrowMiss". My company fully supports the use of sustaining local economy and the environment so like other companies such as fair trade and world wildlife fund I think it would be a nice idea to make the cloth bags insted of using plastic carrier bags given to them in many small shops. It would also be a good way to keep my business in mind as they would be able to keep the bags and use them over and over again.
So albeit I cant place any orders as yet maybe you can help with some ideas.. Thanks Karen

[belimited]

Hi Karen,

Thanks for the interest in blak ltd.

Sorry about there not being a link to the tshirts, I'm currently developing my online store and as such, the clothing is only available directly through myself.

I do have a design for a bag, which is not yet in production, but would happily discuss the possibility of you being the first to get your hands on them...

I'll pm or email you with some more info.

[belimited]

Hi all,

some of you might be interested in some of the ideas myself and Karen came up with over a couple of emails....

Karen:
bought goods at a fair trade shop the other day and I also paid £4 for the bags that they "SELL" simply because in the first instance I didnt have a bag to carry the goods and they didnt have carrier bags which may be something they just dont do..however I did like the look of the bag and enjoyed walking round with it because it felt sort of trendy too! (dont you dare say i'm sad).

Ok Now this bag is made of sort of pure cotton/calico in natural colour (undyed) and is made by the fair trade farmers etc. The printing on it is probably a natural ink/dye. It is reletively strong albeit lieghtweight enough to keep in my pocket, to be taken out as and when I make a purchase in any shop and tell them to keep thier plastic bags cos I have my own.
It's the whole concept that appeals to me so much. If I provided my clients on the boats with one of these bags to keep (hey it could also be a side line thing if they are prepared to buy more who knows?) I have got my name "aNarrowMiss" out there and we are all doing our part for the environment which I'm a big advocate of.
So in a nutshell there it is.. natural fibers and inks, re usable washable, trendy, easy store enviro-concerned bag and with my company logo on!

Well thats just a budding idea which I like very much... and as for numbers I'm not sure as of yet but I presume the artwork setting up is the initial cost and then maybe fifty at a time to be made up??? obviously I dont want massive stock holding unless it becomes a secondary business and they keep buying more than I wish to give as a free promotion.. are you still with me?

belimited:
The bag does sound good, simple and effective, with the reusable feature being an excellent quality.

You're right in the fact that it's the initial setup costs where the money goes, but after that, to produce bags will cost practically nothing! If you can fit the bag folded up in to your pocket, storage shouldn't be too much of a problem - I would advise strongly to go for a fairly large number - even if you end up giving them all away for free, it'll still be cheap advertising.

You might want to look at ' howies' - they are a skate/urban clothing company, who only use organic fabrics. A lot of big companies, supermarkets and dept. stores are also getting friendly with the environment - check out their websites (Sainsbury's and Ikea are two that spring to mind) you might find some useful links.

Don't miss out on this being a great publicity stunt - when you get the bags made up, contact the press and let them know how you are helping the environment and are proud to be associated with fair trade and environmental issues (and also mention you would be happy to comment any time they have editorials on environmental/fair trade related subjects).

I'll have a look around in the next couple of days, see if I can get any links to manufacturers.

Karen:
Actually you hit the nail on the head half way through your text. being associated with fair trade could mean.... why not have the bags made up by the fair trade farmers and import them?? hmmm some research to be done here. However I am also supporting local economy ie promoting women in rural enterprise for example.. so maybe I can also find a local lady in her own business..Lots to do eh?

belimited:
I've got a seemingly endless list of things to think about and do, I think that's one of the major parts of setting up on your own, lol.

You're probably on to a really good thing there - if you succeed and manage to get a local, rural, female owned business who can produce the bags using fair trade or organic materials, you'd be able to get lots of media attention. I'm reading a book at the moment which deals with getting publicity and one of the things it mentioned was to think laterally when it comes to contacting people i.e. if it was just you launching a organic bag, the press might not be interested (outside of a local paper), but if you combine all the elements we've discussed - it has a lot of legs.

• Local Papers - good local interest story, local business helps enivronment
• Regional Papers - combining several aspects of regional interest
• Farmer/Rural Magazines - Local business woman works with farmers on enviro-friendly bag
• Woman's Magazines - Business woman who helps promote other females in business
• Environmental Publications - Use of Organic/Fair trade materials, also a good place to mention how environmentally friendly your business is

That's just a few ideas I thought of in a couple of minutes. The main thing I got from the book I'm reading is that you have to make it of interest to as many people as possible if you want the news editors to pay an interest in what you are doing.

You should also think of how you are going to announce the press release - why not invite local journalists, radio and tv reporters to a trip on one of your narrow boats. It'll make a good visual presentation for photos or a news reel - invite along the business woman you (hopefully) end up working with, somebody from a local environmental group, somebody from the marina and a local mp, more people for the press to talk to means they are more likely to show up.


I hope this is of interest to somebody, Karen and I both felt that some of the information maybe of use to people in the forum.