CASES FOR CANCER CO.
Amela's Blogs
12-13-13
Today, we are going to look into what mason jars we want to use for our project. The style, brand, color, and price are all factors we're going to be considering as we make a decision. Eventually, we do want to make a profit off of our product, so we want to be efficient with our money. We also need to make a decision as far as the lids of the jars. In addition to that, we will be looking into how we want to decorate the jars themselves. This includes the supplies we'll be using, which could include spray paint, ribbons, fabric, stickers, and glitter that could be used to personalize the jar.
1-10-14
Today, we decided to change our direction with our idea. We realized when we were looking into the mason jar idea, that it would cost too much money to produce. We were trying to come up with another idea because we knew that we wanted to make and sell a product. When we started brainstorming products that we would enjoy making and find a purpose for, phone cases came to mind. Now that nearly everybody our age has a smart phone, we are always looking for ways to personalize something that everybody else has. Today, we found some plain clear phone cases that might be an option to use. They are relatively inexpensive, but we will still be searching for several more options and styles that we might want to use. After looking at several DIY phone case ideas on the internet, we came up with a list of ways that we want to decorate and personalize phone cases. We have a plan to make models of the phone cases over the long weekend next weekend. This is because we want to take pictures of these models to have on our social media accounts (twitter, instagram, etsy). Customers will then have an idea of what their phone case could look like when we are finished decorating.
1-24-14
Today we made an email and all of the social media accounts for our company including instagram, twitter, tumblr, and etsy. These social media accounts will let people see our phone cases and get an idea of what we have to offer. Since our phone cases will appeal to many teenagers (and teenagers are the primary users of social media), all of our accounts will help get the word out to our main crowd of customers. These accounts will also be a good way to communicate our ideas and see what customers think. Our company is officially called “Cases for Cancer”, and all of our social media accounts are under this name. This is because we decided to sell our cases and donate the money to Relay for Life, which is a cancer fundraiser we were all apart of last year. Since it’s coming up in the spring, we have enough time to get our business and all of our supplies together by that time. We wanted to give back to the community while doing something we enjoy, so I think this idea really fits what we want to do.
1-31-14
Today in 20 time we got a lot done. We created our sales pitch and cleared up all of the confusion that was going on with our goals and main idea for the project. We came up with the purpose of our project, and we created a google presentation outlining our idea. We looked online for images and we found some ideas for what we want to do. We decided that in order to separate ourselves from the other group that is making phone cases, our phone cases will be personalized. The customer will be able to tell us what letters or items they want on their cases. If they describe or send us a sketch of what they want, we will try our best to execute their idea. Some types of phone case ideas we might want to focus on are monogrammed phone cases because of how personalized they are. Many teenage girls, who are our primary customers, really like monogrammed items. The personalization of our company is what we hope will make our business successful, being able to change designs based on what the customer wants. We will have to see how the business goes and then make adjustments according to that. We also put the mentor contract on your desk.
2-7-14
Today in 20 Time, we looked at more do-it-yourself phone case ideas. We have found several websites that give you step by step directions on how to make these types of cases. The materials used in these cases are affordable and easy to use, which was what we were looking for. We found glitter phone cases, studded phone cases, chevron phone cases, and spray painted phone cases that we are interested in recreating. These designs seem to look the best design wise on plain clear and white phone cases. Also, we have started coming up with a more detailed list of materials that we need, including Mod Podge and gloss finish spray. These materials are used in nearly every do-it-yourself phone case idea, and would be staple items we would need in making our phone cases. We are looking into what phone cases we want to use and what would be the most economic choice. In order to help us make this decision, we started looking more into business plans as well.
2-14-14
We are trying to decide exactly on what phone cases we are wanting to use as the base or foundation of decorating. We are having trouble because some of the places we are wanting to buy from don't seem as reliable as we need them to be. Their pictures don’t match their product description and we don’t want to spend our money on a product that we can’t rely on being exactly what we want. Our number one focus is making our customers happy with a stylish yet good quality phone case, and that is why we need to make sure we order the right product. We continued looking at some designs and are getting more and more ideas on how our customers would be able to personalize their phone cases. We are really hoping that our customers will like our ideas!
2-21-14
We officially decided on the phone case that we are going to order this week. After searching numerous websites, we have found the most economical and reliable case that, according to reviews, will suit to what we are looking for. However, since we aren't sure if these cases are what we want to use to make all of our phone cases, we got twenty. This will give us enough to make prototypes of different designs and decide if these cases are the right choice. The total cost of the cases along with shipping and handling was $40.00, so each of our group members will have to spend $10.00. In addition, Anna and I signed up for Relay for Life on the East Broncos Alumni team because we hadn’t signed up yet for this year. Erin has already signed up for Relay for Life and Annie has not signed up yet, but plans to do so soon. Towards the end of class, we started creating our new website on Wix. The website is coming along nicely so far, and the process seems to be moving along quickly because Erin has used Wix previously and is familiar with all of its features. We are planning on ordering the phone cases tonight, and they should come in on Thursday, February 27th at the latest.
2-28-14
A new idea has come to our attention, that after we create our phone cases, we can create decorative iphone stands. This is the website that we are referencing: http://www.madebymarzipan.com/?x=3058. Although we aren’t sure about if we want to pursue this idea yet, it’s just an addition we could have to our company that could potentially be as successful as our phone cases. This could help us make more money to donate for Relay for Life and could get us closer to our initial goal of raising $200 by Relay for Life (April 26th).
3-7-14
Today we got a multitude of things done. We have officially decided on five designs for our phone cases and found out all of the materials that we are planning on using. We also found some Michael’s coupons (the craft store we plan on buying our supplies from) online that will help reduce the cost of our materials since we don’t have any profit yet. We have made a list of supplies we need and are planning on buying all of our supplies at Michaels this weekend. We have decided to all get together on Saturday to buy all of the supplies and start making the phone cases right after we gather the supplies.
3-21-14
Today in 20 time, we made equations to represent each cost of the phone case. The materials used to make the case (including paint, tinsel, studs, glitter, magazines, and flowers) along with the physical labor and the hours it took to make the case are factors to consider. Over spring break, we started working on making the cases, so we want to start figuring out what price would be appropriate for each case. It's important for us to establish prices that will be affordable, yet profitable so that we can pay ourselves pack for the materials. We will need to look through our receipts for the different supplies and figure out how much these cost per case.Most of the phone case costs added up to about 10 dollars each. This is the idea we had in mind for a price that most people our age could afford but would still cover our material costs. We want as many people as possible to be able to afford our product, so we are confident that our price is the best of both worlds. Right now, our plan is to sell as many as we can to friends and family prior to Relay for Life. At the actually Relay for Life event in late April, we plan to have a fundraising table and sell our phone cases here as well. We predict that this will be effective since most people at Relay for Life have been effected by cancer and support our business.
3-28-14
Today in 20 time, we brought our already made phone cases to class so that we could ask the class their opinions. We got a lot of constructive criticism and great responses from the class. We showed the four different styles that we've made so far, including the white daisies with the solid lavender background, the turquoise to dark blue ombré case, the pink cloudy one with the cross, and the dark shade of grey with glitter tinsel case. These cases ar.When we asked which one that people thought was their favorite, everybody chose a different case. This is a good sign because it shows that our phone cases are versatile to different personalities and different styles and tastes. We don't just want one specific style of phone case that only some people will enjoy, we want everyone to have a phone case that represents their personal style. After asking what their favorite cases were, we asked if they had any suggestions for us to make the cases better or more visually appealing. The suggestions we got mostly pertained to possible color changes of the paint used on the cases and mixing elements of one phone case with another.Suggestions:silver studs with dark blue paint backgroundpastel colors with tinselblue and white cross caseneon colors with magazine cut outsombré design with flowersThis weekend, we are going to try to get together as a group again to finish making the phone cases that we initially ordered. Since Relay for Life is coming up in about a month, we need to get the majority of our cases decorated and polished soon. We haven't yet decided if we want to order more than our initial 20 cases, but if we do, we will need to order them by April 10th to allow time for delayed shipping.
4-4-14
Today in 20 time, I worked on my biography to put on our website. This consisted of who I am as a person and what it has been like working in 20 time with this business. I include how my creative personality has aided me in designing and making the phone cases. I have also included how I have learned a lot about the business side of things and the struggle of running your own business. Another thing I talk about in my bio is how the process has posed many challenges for me but we have learned from them. Writing a bio kind of gives off an idea of who I am and what I believe in. Each one of the four members of our company have their own bio, which will give people more of an insight to each of us individually. After that, I started working on the still advertisement to send out to the teachers.Since we barely had any notice that we had to create this, it was really hard trying to get it done. In addition to that, we were struggling trying to edit the pictures to have a transparent background, and we were all trying to help figure out how to deal with that issue. I had to finish this on my own time since it's on my individual Smore account, and we didn't have enough time in class. Because of this, I really wish we would've been given a bit more of a heads up about that.This weekend, we are going to get together again to make more phone cases. I'm most nervous about if we will be able to keep up with the demand of the phone cases with the possible orders coming up. Since relay for life is coming up really soon, we need to start getting the packaging for the phone cases together.
4-11-14
Today in 20 time, we worked on transferring all of our blogs from our kid blog accounts to our official Wix website. We also cross checked that we all had completed each blog for every week since we’ve started doing the 20 time blogs. Since we were all at Renaissance lunch, we didn’t have as much time as we usually have to work. Still, we managed to make the best of our time and made our website look more put together.Our plan for this weekend is to get together and make more phone cases, take pictures for our About Us page on the website, and putting up good pictures of our phone case designs on our various social media accounts (all under the name @casesforcancer). At first, we will probably need to promote our business on our own accounts so that friends and family will become more aware of our project and what we are doing, and then they can look at our website and order a case of their choosing.We have gotten some emails from teachers about personalization, which is great for us to expand our business. We are still in the process of figuring out what type of personalization people would want (initials, colors, entirely new designs, etc.). We have been asking classmates and friends for their opinions on the cases and have taken them into consideration. Last week, we used the design of the original phone cases we made and posted on our advertisement, but changed up the colors and added a few more accessories. The main reason for this is that everybody has different styles and color preferences. In addition to that, most of the phone cases sold will be to people in Coppell, and nobody wants to have the same phone case as someone else they know. Overall, I’m really excited for Relay for Life and to see what people think about our cases.
4-18-14
Today we posted the fully edited pictures on our various social media accounts. Since Erin had the most Instagram followers out of the four of us, she posted a picture of our cases on her own personal Instagram. In the caption, our project’s main information are stated, including our main goal of raising money for cancer research, the general price of our phone cases, and the link to our website that houses everything about our fundraising project. Utilizing our social media accounts will inform friends and family that weren’t yet aware about our project and give them a chance to look at our website. From here, people can decide if they want to order a phone case off of our website or personalize it.Since Relay for Life is coming up next weekend, we need to spread the word about our product as much as we can from now until then. Of course we want people to come out to the event to support cancer research, and also to get a chance to look at our products in person. We will need to make more phone cases throughout this next week to sell that night. Another priority of ours is also to take our personal photos for the “About Us” page of the website.Our overall plan is to see how our phone cases do at Relay for Life and spread the word about them, having the link to our website and social media accounts on the packaging of the cases. This will ensure that we will have customers after the actual Relay for Life Event. After Relay for Life, we will need to perfect our website. It needs to be as professional as possible so that people will take our company and business seriously. Being consistent with our social media accounts and updating frequently is also something we need to work on.
4-25-14
Today, we had a lot of small things to work out before Relay for Life, which is tomorrow night! We decided to meet for a couple hours after school to finish preparing for the event tomorrow and put the We needed a way to package them that would look professional, yet still represent the style of our company accurately. We brain stormed for a while and came to an agreement that the best way to package them would be in clear plastic bags so that the phone cases would still be completely visible and people would be able to see all the details. To dress them up and make them look fancier, we decided we needed our own label. We looked online and found several websites that would help us create our own personalized label. There were many colors, fonts, and non copyrighted images to choose from to create the perfect logo that embodies our company. We ended up agreeing on a red flower with a black dot in the center with the words 'cases for cancer' in lower case letters. Since Erin had label paper and Annie's mom knows how to make labels on word and was able to help us out, we ended up making labels that were the perfect size for the size of our phone cases bags. After this, we decided to dress up the bags more with various colored ribbon. We picked out ribbon that matched our labels perfectly, which were bright red and silver. After we finished making and packaging all the phone cases, we needed to make a poster for our table at the Relay for Life event. We put some basic information like price and what specific phone the cases are made for, which is the iPhone 5s. We are really excited to sell our phone cases tomorrow at Relay for Life!
5-2-14
Today in 20 time we reviewed how our Relay for Life booth went and what we need to do to improve our sales for the next event we want to sell it at. In total, we sold two of the cases, one glitter tinsel sold, and one blue ombré case. We didn't end up selling as many phone cases as we wanted to sell, but I am proud of us for never giving up on ourselves. Throughout the night, we continued to pitch our product to people and get the word out about our product, and we continued to remain enthusiastic and positive the whole time.
Most of the feedback we got about why people weren't buying the cases is the price. We have considered lowering the price, but we won't make any money to donate if we do lower the price. Another reasonable price from ten dollars would be anywhere from five dollars to eight dollars. We might experiment with this price and survey some of our friends/ classmates about changing the price point. Instead of having all of the phone cases all be the same price, we might vary the prices a little bit. For example, since the flower case took more money to make than the glitter tinsel case, and the prices should be set accordingly. We will need to discuss these prices as a group and officially decide them and post them on our website/ all of our social media accounts. Something else we need to work on is updating our social media accounts more recently. In order to advertise our product more, we are going to need to make new phone case designs, buy the materials, and come up with reasonable prices for those. We will also need to update our Smore advertisement we have posted on our website with all of our progress.
5-9-14
Today, we looked at other events that we could actually sell our phone cases at.
These are a couple websites that will help us find this kind of information:
The problem with most of the events on this website is that they are mostly for adults and we couldn't actually go to them. Also, the people we are marketing towards, which is mainly teenage girls, will not be at these events either. We would also need to figure out if we would even be allowed to sell our phone cases at public events or local stores in Dallas. We can either expand the style of phone cases to include both girls and guys of different ages that would be more likely to be at these types of events, or we will have to focus more on marketing our product to people at CHS and our close friends. We will most likely choose the latter because we don't want to completely change the image of our company and our sort of style, and we feel like we shouldn't have to. We also need to figure out if we do want to change the price points of the phone cases. Since our product is targeted towards younger people, they might not be as willing to spend ten dollars on a phone case as most adults would be. Most people were also concerned about how protective the phone case was. The clear phone cases we ordered as a base were thin and scratch pretty easily. To fix this issue, we could experiment by ordering different cases from online stores like eBay and Amazon. The problem with ordering off of these websites is that sometimes the pictures are not accurate and it is hard to see what the actual quality of the phone case would be in real life.
5-16-14
Today we worked on updating our website. Since we have made some new phone cases of various colors and different designs, we want our customers to see them. The more diversity we have amongst the phone cases the better, because we want to have the biggest market possible. Before we can put the pictures on the website, we need to finish photoshopping all of the pictures and making all of the backgrounds transparent. This will make it look cleaner on our website. In addition to photoshopping the pictures, we need to update our advertisements with the new cases. We are still looking into adjusting the prices of our cases, but haven’t made anything on our website official until we know the next event that we want to sell our cases at. We don’t want to vary our prices too much as to not confuse our customers, which is part of the reason why we have kept the prices the same up until this point. We are struggling with finding a new event to sell our cases at that would correlate with our cause as well as Relay for Life did. We still have many phone cases left to sell and we are continuing to make more, so we need to advertise to a larger group of people to ultimately sell all of them. We already have a Smore advertisement, but other forms of advertisements could be more beneficial. I’m thinking that a video advertisement would be even better to catch people’s attention. Since the school year is almost over and all of our schedules will start to clear up more, it would be cool to film an advertisement for our cases. We could then edit it and make it look really professional and clean. When the next school year rolls around, we could even look into it airing on KCBY! This would improve our local business tremendously.