June was a month of newness and beginnings, a month of encouragement and potential. We did see a high volume in foot traffic during Faerie Barter Market We redeemed our first GroupOn during Henna Happy Hour! We had lots of new faces come through. Community painting was lots of fun. The Butterfly lemonade is now a staple. We vended at the largest Black owned orchard in KC. Networking is constantly improving, we did well with that. As a collective we gained a wealth of knowledge across the board.
Happy 4th of July! The beginning of a new Quarter. We’re in a season of new growth. Its beautiful.
In this newsletter you will find:
Review of June’s performance, photos, news, events, and more. Keep Reading!
HAPPYPRIDE HAPPYPRIDE MONTH! MONTH!
A month of celebrating A month of celebrating intersectionality POC + intersectionality POC + LGBTQ+ greatness. We did LGBTQ+ greatness. We did a great job decorating our a great job decorating our space & social media. space & social media. Great job team! The art is Great job team! The art is fantastic, it’s giving fantastic, it’s giving informative & interesting. informative & interesting.
WENAILEDIT, WENAILEDIT, PERIOD! PERIOD!
What do you all think
What do you all think about turning this into a about turning this into a zine or a printable book? zine or a printable book? (Yes, and selling it. Hard (Yes, and selling it. Hard work should pay off) work should pay off) Free copies to read in Free copies to read in store. Thoughts? �� store. Thoughts? ��
Moving Moutains
THE INVESTMENT IN OUR POTENTIAL
We had a lot to be proud of this month We all worked hard and as a team. We made our F&B fund raise a success. AiZen’s grandparents came through for a win with café supplies, which was immense support to the continual expansion to the coffee/lemonade stand we are. They saw us pushing at this mountain and helped us move it. Opening the café is going to be instrumental for increasing regular foot traffic and product exposure.
We are succeeding in our efforts to build community around the store, while it is slow going, it is going We have learned signage in the hallway is beneficial for bringing people in from the hallway. We ended the month, dealing with a noise issue from our neighboring business. Extremely, proud of how we have handled ourselves professionally Things are getting resolved.
Café Fund Raiser
JUN 29TH - BARTER MARKET
Great job team! We were able to pull it together and made magic. This was a great FIRST experience. Lemonade was our high seller for the day. Different brand of cakes needed.
WEEKLY MEETING SUNDAYS 4:30
Scents & Sips
VENUE RENTAL REVIEW
This was a successful event Everyone had lots of fun. AiZen got real cute, we made a few dollars This event is looking like its going to be a month regular. The next event we’ll have the café open. Let’s not miss this photo op
NEXT
JULY 26 7-9 SET-UP STARTS @ 6P
Building Community
FAE FROLICS:
June Fae Frolics themes were Community Paint & Munchkin Game Night. This event brings in new faces, a diverse crowd, creatives, and intimate fun into the space. These events are general cost efficient for attendees and AiZen, when we don’t lose money playing Munchkin. We need to improve promoting BIG TIME. Potential for a good late night coffee crowd.
New consigners:
Moss Crafts by Allyse
New Artist:
Marcus Gentry
Hosting the Faerie Barter Market has proven beneficial in our goal of building community. HairKCMO, our neighbors joined in the festivities, they started following us on IG. They want to be in the know & advertise our events. We NEED to capitalize on this relationship because their demographic is our target audience
Sad we missed KC PRIDE, lesson learned, apply timely & plan in advance,
Food & Beverage Updates
COFFEE MACHINES REPAIRED!
We got beans! June was the month of pulling it together. The café is open for business. Technically we’re crawling out of debt. We need to find new prepackaged sweets.
Goal: Remember to tell people to take affirmation with the option to leave one.
Reflect on June 2024
A MONTH OF GROWTH:
2ND OF 12 MONTH LEASE
Last month of Q2. Second month in a row AiZen has paid its own rent. We are GROWING. Pat yourself on the back, we’re seeing the fruits of our labors and manifestations Our best is enough. We didn’t get to go to KC PRIDE, but Boulevardia was a great time. We opened the F&B department and hosted a successful fund raiser. One thing is true, people are always impressed with our cuteness. Kaari’s baby shower was an impressive event space transformation June was a month of organizing and learning. We completed many task and checked off several goals this month, affirmation jars, Peerspace, & ECommerce is still on the intentions list. This month had higher income projections than we actually made, but we pulled everything out financially
We got the coffee machines repaired! Goal ✔ -$914.64
We got a handwashing sink! Goal ✔
No, Gem show this month, it was cancelled & CEO had the date incorrect. Let’s save BIG money for Nov.
Lives are still fun, increasing viewers our #1 goal On Live, we made 1 sells this month, but created great content We met with a social media specialist, Q, changes have been made. Everything is unfolding beautifully, don’t you think? We handed out tons affirmations & business cards, the word is starting to spread
Expanding Team AiZen
Our first intern, Sutton Spellman, is the F&B Department Director. She’s a fantastic addition with creative ideas and delicious coffee creations The F&B Department is a subset of the Department of Operations. The COO is her direct supervisor We’re excited to add her to the team.
Henna Happy Hour
Website Report June 2024
We need to utilize our social medias to push people to our website. We need to create a budget for running ads & boosting post. Most importantly we need things they can purchase on our site in their faces We’re missing $$
Unique site visits are down significantly from the last 2 months. Avg pages per visits has increased to almost 5 pages. People are clicking around our site. The home page for the most visits. Nothing sold on e-commerce. Increase reach goal met on IG, not FB. We have been sleep on pushing traffic to our website to buy something. Can we reach 500 unique view next month?
WE NEED TO ADDRESS OUR MARKETING STRATEGY APPROACH BECAUSE TRAFFIC IS DOWN. WHAT IS OUR STRATEGY?
Thoughts. Reflection.
We did not utilize our E-commerce through pushing event tickets, which lead to the decrease in foot traffic. June was a low online activity month We didn’t update for ticket sales or events. Focus on increasing sells per visit.
CMO & COO will learn how to update website, to assist with site maintenance. Prioritize developing E-Commerce in July.
SITE TRAFFIC IS DOWN WITHOUT ADS & PUSHING E-COMMERCE IDEAS FOR INCREASING SITE TRAFFIC?
AT A GLANCE
GETTING THINGS DONE!
This is the month of completing task, lets get things done! We’re experiencing a season of growth, our goal is to capitalize. On the 20th, we’re expecting heavy traffic from a Blakko, we should use that hall space as a “pop-up” or a tasting.
Our pop-up schedule is as posted >
Events:
In-House
Henna Happy House 7/20
Brews and Book Swap 7/21
Fae Frolic 7/10 & 7/24
Venue Hosting
Scents & Sips 7/26 ($50 reservation fee)
International African American Art Show 7/21
Pregnancy Belly Henna & Paint 7/19
Focus:
increase walk-in traffic to Crystal Café
Inform building about hot & cold drinks pull attention to henna & bead bar with signage
Create the advertisement for foam board
Get F&B department up & running 7/8
Henna Happy Hour & Fae Frolics
WE ARE OPEN. COME BY, SAY HI.
The goals for these events are to raise awareness about the Crystal Café and build community We need to focus on marketing & advertising these events. Henna Happy Hour has potential to pull in strangers from the hallway & Troost. Offer drink tasting in small tea glasses. Great opportunity to sell lemonade and self-love tea.
Goals & Intentions
Financial & Inventory
Make Aug & Sept rent
Pay bills on time
insurance
internet Rent
phone insurance $5/mon
Coffee Repair bill
Order more Soap & Crystal G
Pay Intern Stipend biweekly
Manage Tax account
Create Budget for July CMO needs
Café advertisements
Social Media & Marketing
Grow Social Media accounts
Post on Snap Story daily
Meet with Q 7/21 4:30p
OUR SIGN IS UP!! JULY
Increase Jewelry Showcase v minimum of 4 sells in the
Set up account for Peerspac space photos
Create portfolio of jewelry pi
Create 3 double sided Foam signage
Create printable promotiona Update website about Crystal Café
The sign is up. It’s official. We’re official on the building. GRATITUDE! This is a game changer! We were able to capture the moment, big win for the socials. Big steps towards increasing foot traffic. We Did It Y’all! Things are always working out for us. WE ARE UNSTOPPABLE. LEVELING UP.
Goals & Intentions
Crystal Café
Host min of 2 In-house community events
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
Fix ice machine
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
Beclearinyourgoals.Berelentlessinyour actionsandstayfocusedonyourWHY Whydidyou setyourgoalsinthefirstplace.Bemindfulthat achievementsweekbyweek,monthbymonthare agoodthing,empoweredb the isi f greateroutco
