Welcome to 2009!

We started off 2009 here at Building New Worlds with a look back at the year and our wins and loses for the year. There were some great times and some not so great times in 2008. we know where we did good and what went wrong. In the end of the day on New Years Eve we slept better knowing that 2009 was set up and ready for a better year. The best part of today we have been kicking back and web surfing, talking some and dreaming about the year ahead. Its all in a days work.
The last couple of days of 2008 were spend getting 2009 book keeping set up, checking up on the tax records for 08 and planning out the steps to build a stronger system for the new year. In the final hours we feel this will be much more work in some ways but well worth it. Our goals for the new year are pretty lofty but they can be reached with some effort. It is all about working smarted and not getting caught up in the fear factor.
The Network is kicking and growing stronger so we are going to focus more effort into that this year with plans that should boost interest even higher for the coming months. Again goals are high but well worth it we think. Only time will tell what comes of the work in front of us. Our members seem hopeful also. This is a great sign for the coming months.
Over all 2008 was a good year with some pit falls in the mix. We learned from our short comings and will take this into the coming months to give it another go around. The worst that could happen is not trying and ending up with nothing from this. Not part of the plan! We are moving forward to bigger and better things.

Struggling but still kicking

With the uncertain future of the retail part of BNW we are still working on projects for the up coming year for the Network and it's memebers. One of the projects we are looking at and have started of sorts is You Tube video not only talking about village collecting but also showing video on how to landscape villages and more. We are excited about this idea which came from some of our members.
Another thing we are thinking about doing along with this is a kind of broadcast about villaging. We have opened up an account on one of the more family friendly sites to do this in time if this looks like an option for us. Again something that we are exicted about and hope that this works out in our favor.
We are also looking at the idea of creating a booklet about landscaping and village collecting but this is a bigger project that might take some time. We will update this idea more as we look at doing it. There are a lot of things we dream about that takes a lot of time to do. That is one of them.
Overall even with the grim look for the retail for now we have high hopes still that 2009 will be a brighted year. Keep coming back to see what we are up to and what the scoop is on our progress. You never know what we are thinking up next!

BNW Retail maybe die!

Unless things change very quickly for us in the next few week or so this could be a short run for the hopeful village store that we had planned on bringing. This years sells barely covered the cost of frieght for our order of Lemax this year and the money coming in right now which is from my other job is going to pay off bills. It is hard to say where the money will come from to order new stuff for 2009. Most likely if we can not order again this next year that could be the end of the retail scector already. Without new product to sale there is not much chance of getting many sells again next year with product that will be a year old. The out look is not good right now.
What will this mean if the retail store does dry up? Most likely the future of BNW will be one that is pretty dim for a while. Interest in the Network is at an all time high but without the retail scetor it will not be the same. Prospects for any future projects will be on hold for a very long time. The progress we have made here in the last year was amazing in many ways but will it be enough to keep BNW alive and active as it is now? We are not sure.
If we fail at least we tried to give the village community a place to not only share ideas and interest but to shop and find products for the village collections they have also. Big chains like Michaels have put small shop owners and on line seller out of business in the past so BNW is not the only one that could be about to go under. We will just have to wait and see if something happens to turn things around.

Results of the 2008 Halloween Contest

Building New Worlds hosted the 2008 BNW Halloween village with fewer entries than normal but it was a successful contest none the less. Here are the results of this years contest which BNW retail store sponsored.

Main Village contest go as follows
1St Place Entery #4 Georganne
2Nd place Entery # 1 Cithie
And Ties going for 3rd Place to Jason and Sly Granny!

Accoessory contest
1st Place entery 2 Jea
2nd Place entery 1 Georganne
3rd Place entery 3 Pam

Newbie Contest We only had two enteries this year
1 Place Entery 2 Tim
2nd Place Entery 1 Donna

We will be starting the Christmas 2008 contest after the Holidays and are taking entries from our members from now until Dec 30th 2008.

Building a Stronger New World

Today I have made a brake through with the networking in the office area. The old computer and the new lap top now talk to each other for a couple of the programs I will be using for updating the web site and for data keeping. Now we are rolling. This whole high tech thing is not easy for me. I do not have an IT degree. Things are coming along though now. we are making headway into a place that for us is a bold new world.
Another brake through this week was network growth. We reached our 430th member mark today! That is 30 more members in the short time since our 400th! Fastest we have grown to date this past couple of weeks. Before years in I am projecting us to be very close to 500 but that could be hopeful guessing. We have been getting the word out more about the network and store so maybe it is paying off now. Searching for villages is something all of us do every day. Its not that hard to get people looking and we have our place on the web so they will find us in time.
The winter season has me thinking about revamping the web store for 2009. We are now at the point in the year where local sells are by appointment only. The brick store itself will be closed until spring 2009 and stay open until Oct 2009 again as of today. If this changes we will post these changes here and else where also.
Winter also means tax season is coming up so I am off in the next couple of days to revisit the books and make those work. With the office network coming along better now I think this will be a huge step to making this an easier year for book keeping also.

Gearing up for the Big Day!

Building New Worlds first year of retail has officially come to a halt now that Halloween is over and its getting time to find out what the big picture was for the year money wise. What our profit/loses were for the year. Typically the first year of business is going to be rough and it is not going to be the big success you would hoped it would be. Most businesses in their first couple of years or so lose rather than gain. I know this and yet I can not help but wonder what I could have done differently for the year that would have made it a lot more effective than it was. The retail sector for everyone this year was not so good. I know that also so this is something I have to take into account also and the lack of time to promote BNW this year also. the cost of start up for a new business is not cheap even with low overhead and all that.
In planning for 2009 I am hoping to have more time to do some things that I think will build our visibility on the www and will make it more fun for us in the long run. The learning curb is a friend and yet not so kind at times. This year was not as fun as I had hoped but I am not whipped yet!
Over all some of the things I hope to do are workable as of now. Some of the things I hope to do will still mean making some sacrifices that I am pondering at this moment. Mean while I keep telling myself it is all a matter of time before I get it right and we find our place in this big ole world!
On the other hand the Network has grown in leaps and bounds this year. We are seeing more people come in by the day and there are few issues going on with that part of BNW. Nothing that can't be fixed easy enough. Some projects I have started for that are on hold this week. We have a life outside of all this and with work and the death of a close friend some things this week will have to be held off until there is time and energy for that. I am find with this though I would no doubt wish things to be different. At any rate, life is life and we go with what we are dealt. Until next time,this is Neo Dreams saying, Dream big!

Growing Every Day

First things first. This week BNW network reached it's 400th member! This is a huge mile stone for us and we are very happy with this turn of event. Most of all we did it in 18 months and with little more than some cyber links and word of mouth. Not a lot of paid ads or things like that. This makes up offically the fastest growing on line community for village collectors that we know of at this time.
With all this growth going on we are planning some new things and working on new projects as well as some old ones with the help of the new lap top and the way we have set up the office space here now. collecting information and managing that information is becoming easier, so the data bases for village collections that we were working on is now in full swing. We will also be using that new toy for aiding with the retail sector also. This will help not only make us able to gather data we need for sales and all that stuff but for orders, tracking invetory and custerm information more effectily. All this adds to a much more effective way to grow along with the network and our supporters.
As we go through the next couple of winter months of planning and building upward we will be working on the on line store also and updating with, making some corrections that need to be made and investigating adding a shopping cart to the site inorder to give you better and faster serivce. Until next time, build your world with love!