It Is Time to Expand!
Five years ago I started The Traveling Ewe with a shoestring budget after a brainstorming session with Shannon. My artsy friend Tara pasted together a super cute logo for me, another amazing friend, Emily, put together a great little website. Some lovely folks signed up to go on my very first trip and we were off! I did two trips that first year.
Every year I have expanded the number of trips, with this year The Traveling Ewe doing four day trips, two weekend trips and two small group 4-5 day trips to fun fibery locations. It's such a great combination of my love of hotels and traveling, my degree in Hotel, Restaurant and Event Management and my fascination with all things yarn that I'm amazed every day that this is my job! How lucky and blessed am I? Thank you so much to everyone that has come on my trips, has told people about my trips, or has wished they could come but have had fun following along with us from their armchair on social media. I've had such fun with you all and am so very proud to be your local Pacific Northwest fiber tourism company.
I have great plans to expand to doing day trips in the Seattle metro area next year, other locations on the west coast after that, and tons of exciting ideas for other trips. But I need a bit of a boost to get to that next level. I am hoping you are as excited for this next step as I am and will help give me that boost. I would not be able to get a bank loan for this kind of expansion, even with a five year track record, so a crowdfunding campaign seems like the best option. As knitters and crocheters, we really understand that a lot of little tiny stitches can all add up to a finished sweater, so I hope you will want to add in your "stitches" to our community project by contributing to this campaign.
Here is what I need and what I am offering to you:
As much as I love the sweet logo my friend Tara made for me, it's complicated and expensive to print. So after five years, it's time for a new logo and some rebranding. My website has done really well, but it's about reached the max of its capabilities and won't be able to handle many more trips at a time. In order to break into a new market a lot of networking and advertising needs to be done to get the word out. I was super lucky that people here in Portland knew me and were willing to help spread the word, but that won't happen as much in new locations until a few people have gone on some trips. It would also help to be able to join some of the local knitting guilds (both here and in Seattle), local travel bureaus, as well as other organizations and professionally to get my Meeting Planners International certification.
This campaign will allow me to redo the logo and rebrand The Traveling Ewe to look just as fun, but a little more professional with a logo that is easier and clear to print, as I expand past my home base in the Portland Metro area, and then get new business cards, banners, etc with the new logo image ($1,000), get some professional certifications and memberships in the travel and yarn industries to increase my marketing and networking opportunities ($2,000), obtain a more robust website and maintain it ($1,000), do some national advertising ($5,000), and purchase a new laptop and software to keep up with it all ($3000). If we are unable to reach the total goal of $12,000, the money would be spent on the projects in that order, rebranding, memberships, website, national advertising, and then a new computer.
I have lots of great thank you gifts to offer! Collectible pins and tote bags with our new logo, discount coupons for future trips, and lots more, even a turn on the microphone during one of our trips!
Why This is Important
After five years doing trips from the Portland, Oregon area, I am really excited to work more with the Seattle area shops, farms, indie dyers and mills and especially all the lovely knitters, crochets, spinners and more that are in the Seattle metro area! I love helping our local yarn shops thrive, taking you all to interesting and educational fiber-related locations and showing you all of our amazingly talented local dyers, designers and other makers here in the Pacific Northwest. As a local, I have a unique insight into what will make a good and interesting stop on a tour and with my education and hotel and event experience am uniquely able to turn all of those stops into a great trip.
Our local yarn shops are going through a rough time, so any chance to support them by bringing them some new customers is going to benefit us all. And our local dyers, designers and other makers are always excited to show you what they are working on. By keeping this all local, we are supporting our local economy as well. Everyone wins!
I love watching new friendships blossoming, solo travelers finding fellow fiber fanatics to shop and eat with, and showing people from Alaska, Australia, Texas and more our beautiful Pacific Northwest and our incredibly vibrant local yarn scene. The community that has grown around my trips is really beautiful and sweet.
What Could Go Wrong?
As crazy as this sounds, there is always the possibility that the knitters, crocheters, and spinners in Seattle are not interested in going on a fiber tour. Another company might decide to start offering competing tours in this area, maybe even one that is bigger and more nationally connected than I am.
With five years of experience growing this company, my local experience and "on the ground" learning here allows me to offer an engaging, entertaining, sometimes educational, and better planned local tours than anyone else. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, it would just mean I was on the right track, right?