March 8, 2012

I have a plan, I work hard at it, and it works. Now that's a rare thing. I am a fairly organized person. I make spreadsheets of everything. Well not everything, but if I have comparisons to make I do. I'll make cost spreadsheets, accounting spreadsheets, product dimension spreadsheets, etc. I have a spreadsheet on all of my flowers and their cut sizes so I make them all pretty similar. So a 3 flower necklace has the chain type, and each flower size and color.

I recently made spreadsheets on the new product with time and cost so I could analyze the dollar per hour of each. I did that to see if wholesaling was a viable option and it was. Nice to know. I know most crafters don't really do that. Most just see the money coming in and don't realize what is going on until they do taxes at the end of the year. I know a lot are loosing money instead of making a profit. If they took the time to do a cost analysis, they could see which items make more and focus on those. Of course you have to sell them too.

So the plan is working, really. So far this month I had a bulk sale in my flower shop (the first at this shop) and I sold 7 product designs. This month I increased my income by just under $400, and the designs have the potential of making much more money in the future, with commission. I am so very pleased. And that is for March alone. The month isn't even half over. I have more design commissions in March that will bring income in April.

I was hoping that my plan would work, but it's really amazing how well it has. I have blogged more, designed a nice website, redesigned my blog, made updates on linked in, and made more Facebook and Twitter posts. I've also posted a few items on Pinterest, but not sure I really want to go there. I might be removing most of my boards and only posting things I am sure people want reposted. I love Pinterest, but the thought of getting sued scares me.