NewsFrom the lakes to the mountains, from Lebanon to Littleton, Grafton County is a diverse and thriving community. In this new segment, the team at GRDC spends some time with our region’s small businesses; what made them go into business? How are they supporting their neighbors, and in turn, how is the community supporting them? What advice do they have for startups?
Join us every month as we talk to a different small business in Grafton County.
Cosmic Moose Art
Alexandria, NH
Charles Kuizinas and Alison Joyce, owners
GRDC: We have another success story to share! Back in April of 2020, when our small-business community had to shut down, GRDC wanted to help! So, we teamed up with some local website design firms to offer custom, flexible, and affordable website buildouts. Whether a new website or just an upgrade- this program has been a big hit!
Today we’re chatting with our latest small business to launch their new website, Charlie Kuizinas, creator of Cosmic Moose Art.
Charlie- the new site looks great!
Charlie: Thanks! We’re very excited to share it with everyone.
GRDC: Let’s get into it. To start, tell me a little about Cosmic Moose Art.
Charlie: I’m a local/regional artist: I paint wild and fun, sometimes humorous scenes featuring “The Moose”- a character wearing special technicolor glasses that allow him to see vibes and moods in full color. I’ve created a magical world around his adventures. And Alison takes these scenes and transforms them into merchandise. From magnets and stickers to matted prints.
GRDC: That’s really fun! And that Moose is quite the character.
Charlie: Ha- he is. And we love what we do. We don’t have a physical location, though; we sell our products all over the Lakes Regions, which is great. We’ve met wonderful people and work with some fantastic small businesses. But, when Covid hit and the world stopped, sales with non-existent. The Moose retreated back into the Enchanted Forest.
GRDC: Which is just so sad. The Moose, and all his good-vibes would surely have helped to brighten people’s moods! So you went looking for a website?
Charlie: Well, we were already using Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest- but it felt like we were ready to grow- our product line, the Moose’s story, and our brand.
We also wanted more stability. Now, regardless of what’s happening in the real world, Cosmic Moose is never more than a click away.
GRDC: That’s the right idea!
Charlie: We knew we needed a professional website. One that would be easy for our customers to navigate and for us to use. We also wanted it to reflect the “feel good” artwork vibe. But sales plummeted during the pandemic; it was hard to justify spending that money. GRDC’s web program was a ray of sunshine. Someone was willing to help us.
GRDC: What comes first, the chicken or the egg, right? You need the website to sell your products but can’t afford the website until you sell the products.
Charlie: Right, which made the loan from GRDC a great option. We have six months of deferred payments so that our website can start seeing traffic and, hopefully, sales!
GRDC: We’re thrilled to hear that! Our intent with this loan program is to provide an option for small businesses that they can make work but delaying payments for six months after the website launches. Plus, no interest and payments are only $100 a month.
Charlie: All of that is why this was such a good fit for us. We got to work with a great team at Paragon Digital Marketing, and we don’t feel like we took on too much.
GRDC: So, tell us about your experience with Paragon. They’ve done a few websites with us and have been really great to work with!
Charlie: Absolutely. We had an idea about what the Cosmic Moose Art website might look like. But Paragon Digital turned that vision into a reality- it’s pure magic. Dawn and Zach at Paragon understood what we were looking for and organized large amounts of inventory, and we have a beautiful online store. I can’t recommend them highly enough!
GRDC: I’m sure they’ll be pleased to hear that! I don’t want to keep you too much longer; you should get back to creating more fun prints to get on the website! But before I let you go- what advice would you give to another small business?
Charlie: If you think you need a website, you do. If you already have a website but think you need an ecommerce solution, you probably do. If you want a professional, workable website but that it’s financially unreachable, talk to GRDC. They can help make it happen.
GRDC: Thanks Charlie, that’s wonderful to hear!
You can find Cosmic Moose Art products all around the Lakes Region in local gift stores. OR, go on to their brand-new website and check out Charlie’s creations: https://www.cosmicmooseart.com
Lastly, we wanted to check in with Zach Luse, founder of Paragon Digital Marketing.
Zach, beautiful job on Charlie’s website! It’s fun and quirky and really embodies Charlie and Alison’s vision. We appreciate so much Paragon’s willingness to work with GRDC to help Grafton County small businesses recover from the pandemic.
Zach: It was great working with Charlie and Alison at Cosmic Moose Art. They are such great people; their art is awesome, and they were an absolute joy to work with on this project. I think they’ll benefit from their new ecommerce website for years to come.
GRDC: We’ve been so fortunate to have Paragon as a partner for this program, you’ve done great work.
Zach: The Grafton RDC Website Program has created some great opportunities for us to work with NH small businesses to help them adapt their website for a new way of doing business. We’ve been able to help small businesses bring in new revenue streams with adding ecommerce capabilities and online bookings, or increase their service with curbside pick-ups, and providing a more streamlined user experience.
GRDC: Thanks Zach for all your hard work and your support of NH Small Businesses! It’s always a pleasure working with you!
Based right in NH, Paragon Digital Marketing provides online marketing solutions tailored for companies of all sizes! Check them out here: https://paragondigital.com
If you would like to have your business featured in our Small Business Spotlight, email us at [email protected].
