"Bulk Liking" Facebook Pages

Originally posted on 19/01/2011

So I have taken to "Bulk Liking" Facebook pages. When a business (such as MWWAH, Family Capers, Families in Business, Bizoomi) refers it's likers to another page, rather than tagging that particular business multiple times on each page, I tag them in one post from my page, and thank them in subsequent posts that I tag other pages in.

I have really been giving it alot of thought, because, although I like to acknowledge the page that has referred me to another page, some of them have such a huge fan base that if every fan did that for every page they were referred to, these referring pages would have quite alot of posts that users would be forced to wade through to find the important stuff!!

And while my fan base is still small (and trickling over from exquizite mynx's predecessor) I don't mind being tagged (word of mouth is everything!) but I do hope that one day I can turn around and politely ask fans to keep the tagging to a minimum!!

exquizitely yours

Jackie O's MWWAH Basket

Originally posted on 17/01/2011

Some time ago (long before her baby was born) Jess from MWWAH organised a heap of small business and work and home mum's contributions to put together a baby basket for Jackie O. She did such an amazing job chasing up promised donations and getting it all together, and today she is a little upset (to say the least) that not only has there been no acknowledgment of the gift, but also, no response to calls or emails to verify receipt of the basket!!

I just feel this is a little rude ... I mean, how long does it take to say "Thank you"? Or send a simple message to say "Yes, it has been received"?

I understand that celebrities are busy people, as are first time mothers, as are mums to any newborn!! But even if Jackie O herself doesn't have time to respond, surely there is some radio executive (or "gofer" even!) who can take 10 seconds out of their day to give Jess a response.

Gee, even if there are a hundred people waiting for a response, that's still only 16 minutes to respond to everyone! Not alot of time is it?

I know that every single WAHM / MWWAH / small business owner puts a heck of alot of time into what they do (especially the ones who hand make their products, or spend much of their time administrating their business!), so to be acknowledged for something that you have put your heart and soul into means alot to us (and especially Jess, being the brains behind it all!)

Maybe it's time that celebrities took a step back and realised that they wouldn't be where they are without the support (and often times admiration) of the general public! Remember when they were the "little people" .... just a thought there celebs ....

exquizitely yours

Charity Auction - Calling on the help of the blogging world

Originally posted on 16/01/2011

Bloggers we are asking for your help to re-blog this on your blog so we can exceed our 10,000 target in the next 24 hours and even double or triple it!

The Wholesale Baby Charity Auction is coming into its last 24 hours and we need your help to exceed our target of $10,000 and really help those affected by the recent floods!

We have many great Families in Business including work at home Mums and Dads who have got behind this Auction to make it a success and Nicole McIver is an example of what a Mummy with young kids can do to help families in need out!

There are over 300 items for you to bid on over 2 albums at the Wholesale Baby Page on Facebook and items for all the family to win!

In Business we have advertising packages, coaching and time with an accountant plus more for you to bid on too.

The auction closes at 5pm AEST Sunday the 16th Jan the target we reach is up to you how many people can we reach and get to bid!

exquizitely yours

New year, new beginnings

Originally posted 16/01/2011

Every year I start writing a blog, and every year. I don't get very far ... This year, I am hoping to start afresh, and with a new image, new name and new site!

We have encountered so many changes over the years, from products right through to family! And even though I spent the majority of last year pregnant, running a business and homeschooling two of my children proved challenging! Now I have five children, and three of them are of school age, while the youngest two are still very dependent upon me. I am confident that getting into a routine of blogging will help me with journalling my childrens' educational progress too!

I have to say, I still don't really fully comprehend "blogging" ... past experience has shown me that putting ideas, thoughts and feelings "out there" only encourages other people to copy your ideas. And although I am not quite ready for it, Family Capers blog challenge has encouraged me to give it another go!

At exquizite mynx, we are aiming to have lots of beautiful things for you this year, including nappies (day and night!) bibblets and even some soft toys (created from the off cuts of other products, thus reducing waste!)

We look forward to bringing all of this to you!

exquizitely yours

Amalgamation of blogs

In cleaning up my site, I have decided to amalgamate all of my blogs into one. I will be putting each post under its original heading as was on the old blog.

Decisions, decisions ....

I have been having a rough time of things lately, trying to figure out what the MCN world expects of me! What do people want? I mean, I love ALL of my designs, they all work beautifully ... maybe I'm just trying to cover too large a market, one that is absolutely flooded with a vast variety of products. Add to that orders that just sit in limbo until I am forced to chase them up, which often results in cancellations, or in some cases, no response at all (which I think is totally rude!)

I mean, it's bad enough having bigger businesses or large corporations ignore the communications of a sole individual, but to have a customer ignore the requested communications of a small WAHM business??? Ludicrous!

At the end of the day, I am one person, trying to evolve my passion into a successful business. And I guess that's the crux of the matter - I am only one person, who just happens to wear a multitude of hats ... sometimes simultaneously, sometimes unsuccessfully.

First and foremost, I am a mother. Everything I do is for the benefit of my children. I guess a sub-hat of being "mother" is being their teacher - literally. As we homeschool, their education is very important, and everything is a part of their learning. And yet another sub-hat is household manager. Sometimes, I really suck at this role, as distractions occur and dishes or washing pile up for days, then it seems such a mammoth task to get it all under control again. But really, no one of these roles is more important than the others, I can't prioritise these very successfully.

Then, when I have time after all of this, I am a sole small business owner (in my spare time lol!) and in this capacity, I am administrator, graphic designer, web designer, pattern maker, fabric cutter, sewer, snapper, marketing manager, ideas person, buyer, decision maker .... the list goes on! I don't have a team of co-workers, or employees, I do it all myself, which I guess makes the blows all that much harder when they come.

So, instead of giving up, I sat down, cleared my head and reassessed the cost of my materials. I don't like cheap materials, and I despise cheap quality workmanship (which I see all too often in the commercial world in general), so my main aim is to retain and maintain the high quality of my workmanship (which is another reason, I guess, why I don't trust delegation of responsibility to others right now), but reduce the price of my products.

So I came up with "Sharing the cloth love by making gorgeous cloth more affordable"!! As most of my nappies are unique, and not mass produced, I take pride in making them different, and I really want to pass on the clothy love so that you can cloth your tots butt for less but still look fabulous! I really do do it for the love!

An alternate side snap design

After various forms of feedback, I decided to bite the bullet and create an alternate design for my side snaps. While I am not entirely dismissing my original design (after all, it does work and is great for night nappies!) I have created a OSFM side snap design, with an adjustable rise and thinner wings with 2 rows of snaps as opposed to three. I have also designed it with a thinner crotch and thinner, ever so slightly contoured booster - currently made of 2 layers of microfibre sandwiched between 2 layers of hemp and topped with bamboo fleece (or velour!!), making it a five layer absorbent booster, which can be folded under on the smaller rise settings.

So what does this all look like?

Like this ....

Front view Full rise
Front view Smallest rise
Adjustable rise snap settings
Thinner wings with two rows of snaps - 5 on top and 4 on the bottom


Slightly contoured booster

Sizing for this new design is as follows:
* Rise approximately 36cm - 45cm
* Leg opening - 24cm unstretched on smallest snap setting to 49cm fully stretched on largest snap setting
* Waist - 36cm unstretched on smallest snap setting to 66cm fully stretched on largest snap setting
* Crotch width of 12cm
* Booster width of approximately 9-10cm

And now, this is what it looks like on my 12.5kg, 85cm tall, 18 month old ...

Full rise view



Rise on first snap setting view




We have 2 snaps left over at the top of the wing and one at the bottom.

To differentiate, I'm thinking of calling the OSFM design the Ticklefish Snaprise ~~ a play on words (think "snap surprise"!!) And I'm still tossing up on the contour ... perhaps I may just leave it a thinner width booster ....