Monthly Update - March 2026

Hello to anybody who might come across the page! There's probably going to be three of you in total, and one of those people is me. But hey, welcome. This is my first time writing down my thoughts on buddy beans as a business in long form, and I figured it'd be nice to start documenting what I'm thinking and working on once a month.

A milestone!

buddy beans just hit 600 sales on Shopify. That's a huge milestone for me and I'm really proud of it especially considering I've been running this business for about two years now, putting in anywhere from 0 - 4 hours a week on average. One of our characters is almost sold out, which still feels a little surreal. I get very excited every time I can break down one of the boxes that my buddy beans were shipped in.

My next goal is reaching 1,000 sales and I'm hoping we can get there before the holidays this year.

The seasonal challenge

Here's the thing about selling microwavable heating pad plushies: sales come a lot more easily during winter, the gifting seasons, and holidays like Valentine's Day. Now that we're heading into warmer months, it's naturally harder to sell a product that's all about cozy warmth.

Maybe that's partly in my head. Maybe my marketing just isn't good enough yet. But either way, it's pushed me to think seriously about diversifying into other product categories. I want to create products that are functional and useful in people's lives!

What I'm working on right now

1. Posting consistently - I've been challenging myself to put out one short-form video a day. It's been about a week so far. I met with an amazing woman last year who built her own brand entirely through organic content, and she really challenged all the excuses I was making - too busy, too tired, no inspiration. There's a bare minimum quality standard, of course, but given my current bandwidth I'm satisfied with what I'm putting out. I just want to see how long I can keep the streak going. Hopefully forever.
2. Upcoming collaborations - I have some plans I can't talk about just yet, but they should be finalized in the next couple of months. One project has been in the works for about a year and involves a collaboration with someone else. I'm really, really hoping I can put it out soon! I also have a couple other collabs planned for later this year that I'm also genuinely passionate about. I'm super grateful that these people have taken a chance on working with me because my brand is still so small and my product so niche.
3. In-person markets - I just applied for a couple of anime conventions and I'm looking to sign up for more local markets. But I need to take my partner's advice and actually go check markets out in person before I apply willy-nilly. I got burned a couple times last year showing up to events that weren't at all what was advertised or expected. Fingers crossed I get into the ones I applied for though! There's something really special about going back to my roots - I started off selling at anime conventions in high school, and those are some of my favorite memories.

The bigger dream

I don't think I've mentioned this online, but my long-term goal with buddy beans is to build a character IP - something similar to Sanrio or Chiikawa. Imagine a whole universe built around our animal characters!

Honestly, I've always been insecure about writing. I have this core memory from middle school where I shared a story I wrote with a friend and they told me it was like a first grader wrote it. So yeah - I don't fully believe in myself there, which is why I'd want to collaborate with someone to write a real story for these characters. And that means I need the resources to make it happen.

But even with all of that, it's exciting to be chasing such a big, abstract goal. I feel like I have one gigantic mountain ahead of me, and the road is long. But I'm excited to put in the time, the effort, and the work. I want to feel agency and control over what I'm building and where it's going. I think that's the biggest reason I even want to run a business in the first place.

Thank you

To my 600 customers, my friends and family, and my partner who have been incredibly supportive of buddy beans so far - Thank you so much for everything! I'll do my best to keep developing and improving my products, and to make this something really cool that you can tell your friends "I knew about them before they blew up." I'm excited to show you what I have cooking up this year. See you next month!