This Friday marks IsLoved's one-month anniversary, and the day went to the next product: puzzles. Adapting the dog artwork to puzzle templates turned out to be nothing like a quick crop-and-go. Every image needed its own adjustments, and the rounded-corner border I love had to go entirely to make the designs fit. Slow, particular work — but the details are what keep each piece worth making.
Behind the puzzles, more products are mapped: journals, coffee mugs, pillows, throws, and cozy pet gear — hoodies and bandanas for the dogs themselves.
Now the one-month accounting, honestly kept. I thought I'd be further along by now. I imagined sales picking up steadily and the brand finding the mix that clicks without much searching. Instead, ad spend has outpaced revenue, and the mix is still out there. What I didn't expect is that the testing would be the interesting part — closer to developing a recipe than running a report: try a combination, watch what resonates, adjust. Each round shapes the brand in ways I hadn't planned for.
To keep the build funded, I'm exploring other work alongside it. A detour, but a chosen one, and it buys the store time to become itself.
One month in, the store is less a launch than an education. The puzzles are this week's lesson.
Comments