The value and danger in prototyping
I am definitely one of those people that likes the research and development stage far more than day to day business. That’s not always a bad thing but this week I saw the reality of the downside. I’ve been pushing other things aside to get jewelry done for the show this weekend but as I was packing it all up last night I realized that what went into the box didn’t reflect the amount of time I had invested. In short, I’ve been prototyping maybe a little too much; trying out completely new designs and styles and re-engineering when the first models didn’t come together. So I only have about a third of what I’d hoped to have ready. That’s ok for the first time out because I’ll get some valuable information from what people buy or don’t buy and hopefully a lot more feedback than I’ve collected so far. But, the next time I get out my supplies, I’m going to need to build on the knowledge I’ve collected instead of exploring new territory all the time. There are certainly people that get to live in R&D mode, but they tend to have staff and suppliers that handle replication which is where profits truly exist. I am pleased that I have a variety of colors, prices, and styles to show and I’m really looking forward to doing something else on Monday!
There hasn’t been too much time for anything else this weekend although somehow I also fit in volunteer work and taking the car in for a recall. Also because the recall related to the gas tank I had to drive it around extra to get the gas gauge down to a certain level. Probably the only time in my life when using up gas was something to celebrate.
I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving week being quieter. Time to take a day or so and re-evaluate the to-do lists and make plans to put time in on what I’ve been neglecting.
