Working Hard Behind the Scenes - Sage & Oak Updates

I just wanted to make a quick blog to apologize about being so quiet on social media and in general. I have been absolutely swamped with work, but that’s a good thing! I’m so thankful that I get to do what I love for a living. Not only do I get to run a small business, but I also get to do graphic design (on the side…? or is Sage & Oak on the side? I don’t really know anymore honestly). Most people have to get a “real” job in addition to their side hustle but I get to do both things that I really enjoy doing - art and design.

Wanna know why I’m so busy lately? Perfect, this blog is for you then.

I work as a graphic designer.  

Sage & Oak’s earring set up during the Springfield Farmers Market.

Sometimes my graphic design work is sporadic. One month I’ll be swamped and the next month my workload will be much lighter. The need of my clients determines how much work I’ll have. Lately my graphic design schedule has been pretty full with tight deadlines as I have 2 main clients that I work with on a monthly basis as well as other clients that just have one project for me to work on.

I am a website manager.

On top of all of my graphic design work, I also manage Sip & Dipity’s website. (You may recognize the name because our pop up shop is in her studio.) As website manager, I input all of her events into both her shop and her calendar. I also track her signups so she knows how many people will be attending each event. She is a busy woman so this tends to keep me pretty busy as well.

I set up during the Farmers Market every weekend.

Since it’s summer, that means it’s Farmers Market season. Every Saturday morning from June-September we set up right outside of our pop up shop at the Springfield Farmers Market. We sell quite a bit of product every week so that means our first priority of the following week is restocking all that we sold. I typically spend a whole day restocking the glassware, and 2-3 days making polymer clay earrings depending on the amount needed. This doesn’t leave too much time to do much else, but I do it anyway.

I am making room for new products.

Clearance area in Sage & Oak’s booth.

Speaking of restocking, I have been working on honing in on the products that I sell to figure out what I want to make in the future. I have a whole list of ideas but there are quite a number of products that just don’t sell and that ends up taking up quite a bit of space. That being said, I am clearancing out a bunch of things like our vinyl decals, our keychains, and our sticker sheets. In the near future, I am going to be making our sun catchers a little bit larger so I’ll be marking down our current selection as well. Keep an eye out for that. Most things are already marked down both online and in person. Plus, if you visit us in person, our clearance earrings are buy 2 get 1 free!

I am looking for a new sticker manufacturer.

As many of you know, I used Stickermule to print the stickers that I designed. I’ve used them for years. I loved them and their customer service. They recently sent out a politcal and distasteful email to everyone who subscribes to them and I have decided to part ways with them. I just can’t support them any longer. A quick Google search can answer all of your questions regarding this topic.

That being said, I currently am searching for a new sticker manufacturer. There are many that have been recommended so I am order samples from each to see which I think would work the best.

Unfortunately, with having to switch manufacturers, I am going to have to slightly raise the price of my stickers because they’re more expensive for me now as well. I don’t want to get rid of them because they’re my favorite so this is really the only way to make it work. I’ll post more about that soon when I decide who my new printer will be. I appreciate your patience with this.

I took time off to go on vacation.

Giant Pacific octopus friend I made at the Akron Zoo.

Because all of these things have kept me so busy, it was time for a small family vacation. If you know us, you know we frequent our local zoos A LOT. We took a 4 day trip to Cleveland to visit the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, the Cleveland Aquarium, and the Akron Zoo. We also visited Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Edgewater Beach, the 27 Club, Voinovich Park, and a few other really cool places. I got to meet 3 new giant Pacific octopuses, my second favorite animal, and I’d be lying if I said the whole trip wasn’t planned around just that. The whole trip was incredible and I’d absolutely redo everything about it. It was so hard to come back and get back to work so quickly. I needed a few more days to recover.

I am working on things behind the scenes.

Lastly, I am working on a couple really cool new things that will be huge for Sage & Oak. I won’t give it away just yet what I’m working on, but you’ll know soon. Just know that it will take a lot of planning, quite a bit of time to implement, and a lot of patience to get there. I can’t wait to see what the future of Sage & Oak holds.

Take all of this and try to throw in personal/family time and it’s almost unmanageable. I could honestly keep this blog going with things I am currently working on, but it’s already going to be posted 2 days late and I have other things to work on as you now know. Anyway, thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed the quick little update.

Also as a special thank you for reading this blog, take 10% off your next order with promo code: “BLOG10”!