July was a month of fostering community and networking. We capitalized on collaborative opportunities. Crystal Café opened and has been growing steadily. We’re getting the hang of the F&B department. We have increased spontaneous foot traffic during our new hours. The store has gotten cuter, if that’s possible, its the table cloths. We were able to meet several of our goals for July month.
August is National Black Business month. This is us. We’re important because only 10%This month our goal is to honor, recognize, support, and uplift black- owned businesses in Kansas City.
#NationalBlackBusinessMonth
In this newsletter you will find:
Review of July’s performance, photos, news, events, and more. Keep Reading!
Cultivate Community
This month was heavy on creating community for us. July Fae Frolics theme was Retro Game Night. We had fun frolicking with two new faces. Should do again! We had a queer human come hangout that was visiting KC. #QueerSafeSpace! Our business neighbor, HairKCMO, has started interacting with us irl and on social media. Come on neighbor, promoting us on their IG and inviting us to advertise in their space. Queen Village hosted a successful event, not because any pregnant women showed up (lol), but we had high foot traffic We were able to pay henna artists. Our 1sr Books and Brews was a small but fun event We networked heavily on 7/20 during the basement event. The table in the hall helped bring people in the store.
New Consigners:
Chan Teas
O’Dews Wish
July Vendor Events
REVIEW: PULLED IT OUT
Strawberry Swing 4th of July ��������
Art Garden 4x ��
Ivanhoe Farmers Market ������
Paramount Pop-up��
For the Culture ����
Last Sundaze ������
Meetings Updates
WE HAVE LEARNED SO MUCH!
Started the month with a meeting with The Combine on the 1st. The agreed suggestion was an email to management. Email was sent. We met with a promoter, Eric, the owner of Kiazen. Kaizen throws parties for people interested in cosplay He gave us good information about promoting events/parties. Potential event collaboration We met with Q for the second time. We discussed the power of a good social media bio. CONSTANTLY
Energized Crystals
“The night is winding down and people are still at your shop making their final purchases”
Strawberry Swing’s annual event was a great time. Whole team was there, it was nice to have extra hands. Dj joined us for the first time, we enjoyed his energy. The fireworks were mesmerizing. It was a great 4th of July celebration,themoneywasright This was the first time Aizen has had the chance to be on the news. The staging was the highlight of the night. Thank you guys for looking like customers. This is a funny memory for the ages. The first of many future opportunities to be in & on the news.
Memories
One for the books!
Things in Motion
PUTTING IN WORK
AGAIN I SAY, we have a lot to be proud of this month! We had fun and memorable moments. The mountains we moved last month, we have been able to keep the momentum going in the right direction Being able to be outside vending and have the Crystal Café open has ben instrumental for our success this month. The efforts of vending every weekend has been the bird in our the hand strategically This has made it possible to fund and market ourselves consistently. Though it was super hot outside, we showed up and collected our coins. We are succeeding in our efforts to increase foot traffic to the store.
We started the month, aiming to resolve the noise issue with neighboring business. Extremely happy the environment has changed. Lesson learned, speak up Believe in our power to move mountains because things are always working out for us. Chief preseason is upon us, but we’re getting a sound dampening curtain installed.
Officially Open
JUL 8TH - BRAND NEW DAY!
Can you believe we have survived the first 23 days of having the café open! Square has been updated for easier payment The butterfly lemonade is a crowd fav By July 31, we have sold 63 lattes.
WEEKLY MEETING
TUESDAYS 3:00
Baby Bumps & Paint
QUEEN VILLAGE REVIEW
This was a well planned and organized event We got to get our space cute with a special photo opt space. We appreciate Wafflez for the beautiful event pictures Sutton’s mocktail idea went crazy. The Golden Apple for the win IDEA! We should do a mocktail regularly. Would love to do this again. Hopefully, Queen Village comes back.
AIZEN’S
SOCIAL Trends
MEDIA
Social media is a FREE marketing tool for our business. It is time for us get serious about capitalizing the power of our platforms to reaching our target audience. We have experienced significant growth this month. Our lives are improving. Our grid has improved and is looking catchy. Our reels are improving our reach. Taking Q’s advice has been paying off. This section will give you an in-depth look at the impact of our last 30 day.
FACEBOOK JULY REVIEW
INSTAGRAM JULY REVIEW
themonthofJuly.
TRENDS & INSIGHT
s us to cross postonIGandFBandgivesusstaticsonour audience interactions and post reach. Last month our top post on FB was the signage announcement. This post boosted our interactionsandreachforthewholemonth FBexperienceamonthofbeingupinreach and interactions but down for followers
IG saw our consignment reel out perform our signage post with 6 fewer days. We should consider posting more of these and collaboration tag the businesses. Significant decrease since June. We reduced our post frequency by half. Our 2 highest post , had more interactions than usual. People want to see us winning and supporting other people. The number of followers we gained last month was down, therefore we haven’t reach our 1000 followers goal, as projected. We ended the month with 960 followers. Wh followersdown?
New IG Profile
We have made the decision to split our IG social media profile into two pages @CrystalCafeKC is our newest profile for promoting our F&B department, instore activities, and events happening in our space.
Team
Our media and marketing team is growing. We have 2 new members on the team. this will allow us to divide and conquer easier The CMO is responsible for leading the team, and making sure all expectations and goals are being met on a weekly bases. The CMO will continue to meet with our social media mentor monthly and learn. we are grateful for all their hard work and dedication.
This is the beginning of a season of change and full capitalizing on free advertising. Our main goals is to increase foot traffic into the store, sell jewelry, build brand recognition, and reach potential networking opportunities. We have been called the best kept secret in KC, we need to get the word out There is room for improvement, organization, growth, focus, and learning. July we discussed profile bios without mentor, this month we will update all social media bios with attention grabbing key words. We recently learned about grid presentation. In the last 30 days, we have upgraded our Instagram grid, we look like we have more direction Jewelry has made it back to our grid from the cover of our Monday Jewelry Showcase. We have also implemented using more reels. We learn and apply well.
Our Chance To Shine!
The plan for the two IG pages is to use them to cross promote each other. We are moving in the direction of making commercial style content. Across platforms and pages the expectation has been set to post 3x weekly and on the stories daily. We intend to use Snapchat as a behind the scenes of AiZen type of vibe. Feel free to be more transparent and informal on there, but don’t get crazy We have a 1000 followers goal across platforms and now including the Crystal Café. With this month being National Black Business Month, highlighting and featuring other business on our story will increase our reach and followers, because other business will repost us, posting them. This will also help build post engagement for us
When we reach 1000 followers we should giveaway 10 free drinks of any kind. This month we will develop a marketing strategy to create structure and weekly measurable goals, especially with efforts to get our TikTok account moving in the upward direction this month. How can we use our following to encourage people to cross follow us?
CRYSTAL CAFE UPDATES
The F&B (food and beverage) Department director, Sutton, directly oversees and manages the Crystal Café its social media She is doing a fantastic job keeping up with everything, creating delicious drinks, and provides amazing customer service She has started training Kiarra Immense gratitude
We now have and unlimited supply of ice Finally! This will help reduce cost. We are currently saving all used coffee grounds We have regulars! That’s amazing and a huge flex in a short time The lemonade is a hit! Every Saturday the F&B Director will provide a list of needed items to COO We’re getting close to our FREE 100th latte, projecting selling it in the next 2 5weeks Tell social media that we ’ re doing this campaign and inform them when we are in our last 25 drinks, in two separate posts We can use this as an advertising tactic
Please remember to a picture of the customer with the drink for promotional purposes We will start giving the person working the front counter of The Combine a promotional Butterfly Lemonade drink once a week on their business days NFL preseason starts this month, we have an idea how to benefit from this, TBA Started discussing Fall/Speciality menu, scheduling team tasting
Encourage customers to leave a review for addition to menu We want to add a sugar-free drink option & a mocktail, using housemade syrups to the menu this month Ideally, a base mocktail with interchangeable or mixable syrups. Things to be supplied: Ice Trays
Coffee ground holder, create a watering calendar Café goals:
Second month of Q3. Third month in a row AiZen has paid its own rent and the first month of paying an intern biweekly. We have a lot to be proud of. We worked hard, It show Our progress is consistent, this has been essential in our success Our signage was hung early in the month We’ve been celebrating that for close to a month. We are making valuable connections through networking. Sutton met a potential grant writer, who lives in the building. Foot traffic has increased. We have REGULARS! The Crystal Café is budding and bringing joy to those around us We have been making progress everyday The drinks have been all the rave, we’ve been receiving positive feedback. Word of mouth has been spreading. Keep up the good work team.
Our live views and interactions have increased, mostly because of us, but some spontaneous viewers have popped into our lives. We didn’t make goal for selling 4 things on live, but we showed up, had fun. We made 1 sell this month. Our relationship with Hair KCMO is blossoming
We got the ice machines repaired! Goal ✔ -$315
Increase store foot traffic! Goal ✔
2 Networking meeting! Goal ✔
Started QuickBooks! Goal ✔
Peerspace application! Goal
Expanding Team AiZen
WELCOME...
it’s a pleasure to welcome our new intern Kiarra Jones who will be helping with the Crystal Cafe and caring for the plants We’re excited to have Da’Jion aka Wafflez joining our team to grow our social media and marketing team
Website Report June 2024
How can we push people to our website? Prioritize ticket purchasing from website, establishing E-Commerce, educational information, then we can push people to our website We need more hands that update the site
Unique site visits have been significantly low the last 2 months. We didn’t reach our 500 unique view goal, still stands. Avg. pages per unique visits has increased to over 5 pages steadily increasing. We recently added a pop-up to join our newsletter and updated a few pages, hopefully that helps reach our goal. We’re still sleeping on the potential power of our website for making money, store foot traffic and building a brand
Thoughts. Reflection.
We need to address our website marketing strategy. Our Ecommerce needs immediate attention COO are going to set up 3 days this month to working on E-Commerce.
Goal: CMO & COO will learn how to update website, by attending 2 workshops.
Goal: COO seriously prioritize developing E-Commerce in Aug
We need an incentive to increase in foot traffic to our website. July was a low online activity month. We have updated the site with event ticket. We need to aim for 500 unique views this month.
SITE TRAFFIC IS DOWN WITHOUT ADS & PUSHING E-COMMERCE IDEAS FOR INCREASING SITE TRAFFIC?
AT A GLANCE
NATIONAL BLACK BUSINESS MONTH
This is the month of capitalizing on money making momentum! A season of growth and grinding as we slide into the back-to-school energy. We’re hosting our 1st Little Picassos event. We need to focus on marketing and sending out our 1st newsletter to the people. Our pop-up schedule is still being lined out for Aug & Sept. FAERIE BARTER MARKET MONTH!
Events:
In-House
Brews and Book Swap 8/25
Fae Frolic 8/8 & 8/21
Henna Happy House 8/24
Little Picassos 8/11
Venue Hosting
Faerie Barter Market 8/10
International African American Art Show 8/17
Focus:
increase walk-in traffic to Crystal Café
Inform surrounding businesses about café henna & bead bar with signage
Redesign store layout
Create the advertisement for 3 foam boards front and back
Gratitude
AUG 9TH 6P-8P
Banquet
This month we'll be taking the time to express our deepest thanks to those around us that volunteer their time and talents to ensure our greatness. This is private dinner that AiZen will provide, with no expectations except for fun and fellowship. If you can't make this one, it's okay. This is an event we will host again and periodically.
Goals
& Intentions
Financial & Inventory
Make Sept rent
Pay bills on time
Make a payment on Coffee Repair Bill
Order more inventory
Buy Café’s needs
Start saving for Nov.
Pay Intern Stipend biweekly
Manage Tax account
Create Budget for Aug CMO needs
Café advertisements
Social Media & Marketing
Grow Social Media accounts to 1000 followers
Post on Snapchat daily
Post on Stories daily
Post 3x week on all platforms
Increase Live Jewelry Showcase viewers minimum of 4 sells from live
Run a Promotion on social media cards
Create portfolio of stock photos including jewelry
Create 3 double sided Foam boards for tall metal signage
Give HairKCMO printable promotional flyer
Update website pages consignment event venue create meet the artist
LEVELING UP!!
WE ARE UNSTOPPABLE.
We need to ask people to take photos in our space and us tag is in their post, especially during events. This is going to assist with increasing our reach and following. We need a QR on the counter for reviews. We should get a coffee flyer for outside Its back to school season.
Goals & Intentions
Crystal Café
Goal: Schedule min of 3 events for July
Attend 1 networking event [COO & CMO]
Advertise event space
Goal: Create Henna Bar Space & Signage
Goal: 3-5 henna appointments weekly
Buy henna flag for outside
Goal: Create Bead Bar Signage with visible pricing
Advertise: Run promotions for Coffee at Crystal Café
Post New HOURS of Operation!
Move-in new consigners for Q3
Sell 100 Lattes this month
Start paying Coffee repair bill
Creativity Department
Goal: Start selling Affirmation Jars
To-Do: Design & Order Stickers for jars!
Start designing Affirmation decks
presale plan by Oct (decide how many to presale)
Goal: Increase Crystal Café traffic
To-Do: Create Henna Bar Space & Signage
Drive 500+ unique visitors to our website
Goal: Finalize Black Queer manuscript for print
Goal: Take Photos for Peerspace
Chief Of Operations
Goal: Add to E-commerce
To-Do: Jewelry
To-Do: Affirmation Jars
Presale Affirmation decks
Goal: Apply for G.I.F.T grants to apply for Start & finish application process
