April 2, 2012

I've been beating myself over the head lately for not accomplishing all my goals by the end of the four months. I didn't loose weight (meh), I didn't finish my brochure or packaging, I didn't learn my CAD program well enough to use it exclusively for my designs and more, but I don't want to bore you too much. But I have to stop that now, because I've already done more than half of what I set out to accomplish.

Yesterday, I sold another set of brooches on my Artfire shop. In the beginning of the four months, I sat down and examined my product line. I thought to myself, what would the average buyer want. I thought I had a unique product, and I did. My asymmetrical three flower necklaces, while beautiful, are not for everyone. I thought that I should add single flower necklaces, bracelets, hairbands and brooches.

Not sure that I could make a decent profit on the new offerings, I made spreadsheets of cost of materials and time involved to make. It turned out that the cost of materials for the headbands and brooches, made them very profitable, and the labor was really not that bad. It's actually the cost of chain  and findings that is the highest, even though assembly is pretty quick.

I also noticed with my Apron shop, that your sales increase on Artfire, after you reach a certain number of sales. It's actually about 80, but recently my sales have doubled there, and I've done some off line selling. My goal is to wholesale, but adding a website and offering more product has done wonders. I've also done a little off site advertising (free) and will continue to find more venues and blogs to make offers to.

What I'm suggesting is, that if you are not doing as well as you expect, take a good hard look at your product. Sit down, have a glass of wine, take a bath, visualize your product and what you could offer. Look at what other sellers are doing. I see so many beautiful elegant earrings on Etsy that have the wrong earwires on them. It just takes a little effort to finds a simple clean elegant earwire to raise your beautiful earrings up a notch or two. You can even make your own, fairly easily, or buy from another crafter.

I was shocked at how my efforts have paid off. I've been on Artfire for almost 2 years and was about to give up and close the shop. Last month I sold twice as much jewelry as I sold Aprons/bowties on my other shop. It's a little bit of work and planning, but after all, we're not just crafters and artists, we're entrepreneurs.

March 27, 2012

It's getting so close to the end of my four months. I'm finding that I've given myself too many tasks to do. The reason I am not accomplishing my goals though, is that my workload has increased so much that I can't finish everything. I wish I could have just focused on getting it all done, but I had too many sales and unexpected design clients.

Last year at this time, things were so slow, that I had to sell a lot of my jewelry to make ends meet. Oh well, next year at this time when I have loads of money, I can buy new jewelry, right?

The thing I regret the most is that I didn't have the free time to learn the new CAD program. I can do a bit on it, and I can take what I've done into Photoshop and alter, but most of my drawing has been on Photoshop.

I also wish I had finished my design website. I plan to contact some more people soon and want to have it up and running smoothly. Wish I could put on some of these new designs. I guess I can put some of the rejected ones. As soon as I'm finished with the new client designs I need to finish that site. I can make a decent living just off the drawings, not even including commission from the sales of product.

When I look at my old designs, compared to now, I have grown so much. It's a lot due to the freelance work, and partly due to my time on Etsy and Artfire. I've been exposed to so many techniques and styles by working there and seeing so much, that my work has improved greatly. It has only served to improve my product design and still influences future designs and trends.

March 20, 2012

I've been avoiding Pinterest for a few weeks. Still not sure about the whole legality of it all. Personally I think that if you have something posted on the web, you intend for an audience. I suppose that leaves your work open to theft, and I suppose in the case of photography, that is the bad aspect of it all.

I plan to set up a design portfolio, but will have locked pages that you will need a code to view. I will also only have the code available for 24 to 48 hours. I can't have just anyone looking at and stealing my designs. I can really only show designs that have been produced. I certainly can't risk having my unpurchased designs posted at Pinterest.

I really love Pinterest, and I guess I've been avoiding it the same way people avoid talking to their relatives about the illness they have. It makes me sad that I can't think about it the same way I did. I don't even feel like browsing, let alone repinning. I'm going to go back, I'm just going to be very cautious about what I pin and repin. And I might clear a few things off my boards. For instance, I'll use photography from travel websites, rather than from an individual's blog or site. I'll also pin from seller sites, to help boost sales for friends. You know, the people who want to be pinned. And if I see something I really want to pin, I'll get the originator's permission first.

I really don't have time to think about all of this, but I do need to get back to it, because it was so inspiring. My last designs, that I did very well on, were inspired by Pinterest. They were original designs, not at all stolen, but inspired by party and garden images that are popular themes. Popular colors, and trendy taste, Pinterest is a great way to find out what people really like, and what they are dreaming of. Who needs to make their own design trend board, when you can just go browse Pinterest.