The new flyers are finally printed

The new flyers have finally been printed and have arrived last night. Distribution will be a very interesting issue. Originally there were supposed to be only 1500 flyers printed, they ended up becoming 2300.

The dilemma with getting better premises for costume hire

As many people will have noticed, my space for hiring out costumes is becoming increasingly smaller over time as well as older. As a result I have the following options and issues:

1. Hire the premises across the road for 8000 Rand (ZAR) per month which my income cannot cover during the quiet months and due to the expensive maintenance. This would also include paying a salary to someone to be there during the day as well as electricity and possibly water as well.

2. Get a bigger replacement for my Wendy House which requires 34000 Rand (ZAR) according to one quote. This is not a possibility right now since I do not want to take out a loan.

3. Should my tenants move out then I could use my current flat for the costumes, but it is a matter of time until that becomes too small.

4. Partner with someone and move everything elsewhere which becomes a problem about who is controlling the stock. Recently that nearly happened, then someone else I know did that with that person and lost most of the stock and money.

5. Get another Wendy House for about 9000 Rand (ZAR) and pay that off over a few months.

To afford some better premises, I need to hire out more which means first to spend more money and time on marketing.

Pink bunny photo service

As a minor extension of my costume hire business, I have started advertising services of costumed characters in different poses. Below is such an example where I wear a pink bunny costume with extra padding just to give more character and hopefully a little bit more of a cuteness factor, as well as avoiding that the costume hangs so horribly. This can of course also be extended to have birthday messages or possibly marketing messages, etc.

The service through which I sell this service is very specific in regards to what is being offered, hence this particular service listed is the pink bunny. I have to limit it to generic characters due to copyright reasons.

Do various poses in a pink bunny costume

Starting with costume photo services on Fiverr

A while back, I have started offering costume photo services on Fiverr.com which can be expanded to be videos as well. These services are highly focussed on specific costumes and are more intended for either promotions or birthday wishes or similar things.

At the moment I only offer a pink bunny photo service just to see how this works out. The plan is to add a few more characters to the mix but avoiding any trademarked characters to avoid legal issues. Video will also come in time, but my internet connection needs an upgrade first. Basically anything that fits me of my collection is an option.

Getting ready for Halloween weekend

If this year is anything like the last year, then Halloween weekend will be crazy again. Due to several losses, security problems, thefts and other issues, my finance this year is limited what new costumes for Halloween concerns. The customs import duty of 40% does not help much either.

This year should go smoother due to wireless tablet PC and mobile phone for availability checking and reservations. My website has also date filters to show what is still available for selected dates so that the general public can get their answers quicker. This in turn will save me time to talk with everyone asking questions.

The big problem now is deciding what costumes to get based on requests and hoping that I pick the right sizes and hopefully they will get rented. Finance being the main issue and time is a secondary issue unless I wait much longer. The costume shops also have stock levels and also get busy which causes more delays.

What I will be wearing and where I will end up for Halloween parties this year is another matter. Last year I was about to put on a costume, then someone showed up who wanted exactly that one. In such cases, I let the paying customers have the first pick.

New availability date filters on website

A new date filter for the upcoming two Fridays and Saturdays has been added to the website above the pagination where costumes are displayed. Custom Halloween dates have been added as well. This is mostly to make it much easier to instantly see what is still available for the busy weekends since most people want costumes for Friday or Saturday.

This filter has also been added to the other costume categories to prevent having to select it again. There is of course a disable option.

Losses and price adjustments

Recently there have been too many losses in either costume parts or due to damages or parts never returned. This now finally resulted in a very long overdue price increase. Most costumes are now 150 Rand to rent instead of 100 Rand.

Another recent loss was a costume that came back with large white paint spots. It looks like oil based paint. The costume itself is red and black. Whatever I do except replacing the material will ruin the material even more if I try to get rid of the stains.

What is even more annoying is that people want super cheap prices when my prices are already too low and also much lower than competitors. Last month alone my costs in damages was around 3000 Rand which means I had to rent out thirty costumes that were 100 Rand each to rent if I do not count the washing expenses just to recover that money.