Hummingbirds Have Arrived in the Fox Cities!

I'm sorry, I tried to zoom in too close and my shakey excitement got the best of it, but it really is a Hummingbird at my feeder this evening around 8 p.m. Really, it is. I have had Orioles and Rose Breasted Grosbeaks at the feeders yesterday and today, too. THEY'RE HERE!!!! YIPPPEEE......my heart is lifted, my spirit high.

I was rewarded after getting home on Saturday from a full day's work at the shop with the Grand Opening and other nearby shops having special activities, too, making it a very busy, bustling, customer heaven day downtown....anyway, I digress.....I was rewarded after a busy day with a Rose Breasted Grosbeak at my window platform feeder on Saturday evening. It was a beautiful ending to a busy customer filled day at the store. So, these days the birds lighten my heart and lessen my burdens of busy-ness. They remind me of why I am in the business in the first place.....to help others experience the fascination and wonderment of birds in our home spaces. There's nothing like it....that constant reminder of the beautiful wonders of our world right in our own backyards.

They're here, and they're beautiful. My heart is singing with them, filled with happiness.

Grand Opening Celebration planned

Well I'm finally getting around to scheduling a Grand Opening. I initially thought that I could forego such an event since I can be prone toinitial fear and shyness, but as I got more confidence in my new job and environment, I thought I might be able to handle it and go forward with getting a mailing list together and start incubating my own customer base instead of relying totally on Sandi and her NEST customers.

Her customers have provided me with some great contacts and buzz advertising. Plus whenever a customer enters Sandi's shop in the front, she never fails to tell them about "Marie's shop in the back, she has such wonderful stuff", and "isn't her shop cute?." ....when they come back to the front after visiting me. I am so very grateful for Sandi's support and flag waving for me and "Go Wild With Birds".

So anyway, here are the details of my Grand Opening Celebration. It's happening Saturday, May 2 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with refreshments and prize drawings throughout the day. I am offering 10% off all my store merchandise, and 20% off selected professional grade bird feeders on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of that weekend. My store is located at 192 Main St. in the lovely riverfront and historic downtown Menasha, Wisconsin. I need to let everyone know that on Sundays and any day NEST is not open, they must enter my store from the back of the building where the door enters directly into my shop. Hope to see many of you then!

One Bird and Many Shop Photos

This novice birder thinks you are a Hermit Thrush. Picture isn't the best....but for me it's grand. Granted, I'm not a professional. But maybe someone can confirm?

This visitor arrived while I was relaxing at home after an afternoon at the shop. Just what I needed.

Here are some additional photos of the transition into Go Wild With Birds, 192 Main St., Menasha, WI

Finally Can Breathe

Ok, I know it's been a while, but I've been just a bit busy. I feel like I delivered a baby, and in a way I have.

The shop, Go Wild With Birds, is now done. Details are being completed. Shoppers are discovering us. The front window is finished for the time being. Hours are posted in the windows. I just need to work some more on the website. I'm updating my blog. But overall, I feel I can breathe a little easier these days. I miss seeing my birds at home at my feeders in the yard....but I'm assisting others in attracting them to their yards and that is good. With daylight savings time, I am able to watch my birds for a bit before I go to work while having breakfast, and after I get home when I really need to relax. And the birds are always there. I am grateful for that. Be good to nature and nature will be good to us.

New Shop, New Name

Here's a photo of the beginning of my office/shed. Things are coming together. I whitewashed the shed yesterday and painted the cedar trim. The old Habitat ReStore windows on the shed look great. I love them. Brian put the "shakes" on the roof. The shed looks awesome....what fun, what character! I'll take a photo of the windows so you can see them.

I'm off to pick up pickets and inside shed framing for the windows and door. Also need to figure out what color to paint the inside as well. Lots of details and lots of worry as the money just flies out the wallet. But then amidst all this stress and turmoil, I come back home and see the birds. It stops my mind and my body. I relax, smile, and remember why I'm doing this in the first place. Those beautiful beings calm me and remind me to slow down and enjoy my life. I want to help bring that to others and be able to share the experience with my customers and fellow birdwatchers.

And in the middle of all this process, I get a Certified Letter telling me that my business name is infringing on an already trademarked name. My heart sinks. The company with the Feathered Friend trademark is a Fortune 200 business. And because I had previously toyed with the idea of doing a name change for the business anyway, I decide this was the little push to go ahead and do it. The timing might be good and especially with the store being new, it is probably a good time to do it, anyway. So good-bye Feathered Friends Bird Feeding Service, LLC. Hello, Go Wild With Birds. A new shop, a new name, a new adventure.

Habitat ReStore Treasures

I love the Habitat for Humanity ReStore! My decorator Julie and I have decided on going with a "Potting Shed Shabby Chic" theme for the bird feeding store. And it is just too much fun! I told her today after our second trip to the store for more stuff and ideas, that it was like "hunting through a grandpa's shed" experience. You never know what cool old stuff you'll come upon and what you can use it for as character decorating. Our imagination was out of control. Hopefully, it will all go together and be spectacular, but if some of it doesn't work.....oh well, that's okay, it wasn't very expensive to try, and it sure was fun.

Here is a picture of some of the stuff we found on the first trip. Old wooden trim windows and screens. A round metal and stainless steel topped rolling table, some metal screen fencing. The cart is not part of the purchases. It just wanted it's picture taken, I guess.

We had a meeting at the shop this morning to discuss the layout plan. I'll need Brian, the carpenter-husband-of-Sandi-who-I-lease-from, to build me an office structure for my bookeeping and supply ordering work, and then we need a checkout table and some task work areas. I also need an area to dispense bulk seed from for customers, so we went back and forth about two different areas for that. Overall it caused me to become excited about it all over again. Julie, too, oozed with excitement.

I shared with Julie that yesterday I had met with my marketing team who is working on designing me some tags for my custom bird feed. The tag colors Nina had chosen correllated very closely to colors Julie had picked out for the store. It was almost spooky scary how these kinds of things are happening throughout this new adventure. Because not only were the colors similar, but there were exactly the same NUMBER of colors chosen in these two separate areas of the project. Julie and "marketing team, Janice" both said out loud what I was thinking, that "you just know something is right when things like that happen". I told Julie that I feel like I'm in a dream and all of these things are all falling into place effortlessly, like it's happening TO ME, instead of me making it happen. Hmmm.....but then again, I am living my dream.

Watch the Transformation

Hi All. I know, it's been quite a while since I posted anything. Let me tell you what's going on with me and my business.

Once upon a time a bird feeding business woman (that's me) decided to peddle her wares to a Downtown Menasha store in hopes they would be willing to purchase for sale her darling items. During the visit to the store's manager, he tells the friendly bird lady that if her wares don't fare well in favor with the upper management of his establishmentl, that he knows of another business woman who will be leasing a different space just down the block that might very well wish to talk to me about sub-leasing space to display my bird feeding merchandise.

The nice "bird wares lady" thanks the kind gentleman for his time, and referral tip, and heads across town to see the other business lady this fine man talked to her about. The business lady, who has a shop called "Nest" is very intrigued by the bird lady's particular wares she is showing her. Upon further discussion it is mentioned that the business lady has already offered the space to another acquaintance who has a dream of opening a bird feeding store and is thinking about the very space she has available to sub-lease. This particular bird lady, me, almost faints with fear that someone else just may open a bird feeding store right beneath her beak! Her heart (and stomach) continues to flutter until a day later she hears that the acquaintance is not in any current position to realistically open a shop at this time and so the space is mine to sub-lease if I would like it!

This was just the type of scenario I had thought could happen to me, that is, someone would open a bird feeding store right in my hometown area, and I would be sick with regret. So back in December, when I thought of that possibility, is when I determined that I would need to go into retail with my existing bird feeding service business sometime in the near future.

So it was during the time of me looking into commercial real estate and rentals that I thought I'd just see if this particular store, the original one I went to first, would be interested in selling my feed and cute container. The night before I walked into that store, I had torn out a newspaper ad announcing the moving of another store, and I tore the ad out because I thought if the first shop wasn't interested I would go to the one advertising it's move. It seemed like the kind of shop that my product may complement.

I had that advertisement in my car when I talked to the nice gentleman at the first store. As it turns out the woman he was referring me to is the very one who owns the store that had the advertisement about moving right down the street from him. Coincidence or Fate? You be the judge. I know what I believe.

So here, dear readers, is a photo of my new retail space in Downtown Menasha, Wisconsin. I offer you the opportunity to watch the transformation occur. I will post some ongoing photos so you can see the progress. I hope you enjoy the ride vicariously, as I enjoy the switch myself from home business to onsite retail.

Wish me well. I welcome your support.