April 11, 2012

Almost done with my Four Months. This is what it was all ABOUT. Not sure I'm meeting my goals. I certainly haven't come to any conclusion about WHICH of my businesses to focus on. But maybe I would be too bored if I only focused on one. I do have ADD after all, and the more things I have on my plate, the better I function. Maybe doing too much will keep me younger in the long run. At least my mind will not go stale.

I did learn a lot about my flower jewelry product. As a matter of fact, I'm changing my line about daily right now. I know I shouldn't but while making my flowers, I find that I can make in bulk, certain flowers, better than others. I have also found that some are more desirable than others. I have found that I can tint some of my own acrylic beads beautifully. I only need to buy a base color, so I can easily buy those beads in bulk and color them.

I found that my product line was not what it should be. I added several items. I added brooches, which have been the best selling yet. I have tiny brooches, which can easily be used as boutonnieres too. I could slap myself for not thinking of that one. Actually I was going to work on that before I left my previous selling site. But in the move, I forgot what my focus was. I simplified the line and made it more accessible to everyone.

That's what I learned about my flower jewelry. I still have a few things to do before I can offer them retail though. There is my packaging. I'd love to use vintage un-pasted wallpaper for the cards in the packaging.  I think I'm going to have to go with a stamped gray cardstock though. I need to find a big gray inkpad, and maybe carve my own stamp. Hmmm, I wonder if I can draw with some flexible rubber material, Silicone maybe, on an acrylic sheet. I need a pretty big stamp. I'll have to look into that.

Tomorrow I'm going to do a quick review of what I learned about my product design business so far.

April 7, 2012

Today I really only spent time listing new Flower Product. It takes so long. I really wish I could just list pictures of all the flowers and have people choose their own, but that rarely happens. Most want items already pulled together. I can list variants on Artfire, but they are linked to the original somehow and I'm still not sure how that works and if it's a good, or bad thing. I should check into that more carefully.

Someone tweeted this awesome blog about what you should have in a press kit. PRESS KIT I need to make one, but don't really have any press yet. So I have to be creative on making it. I suppose I should approach it as a neophyte. Or one who just started to come out of the indie business into the wholesale world. I might add that I was a professional lighting designer and want to move on with that. That would be good press I suppose. Hmmm, I think I have it. I need to work on my press kit soon. I'll tell you what I did, when I have it all together.

I have to finish taxes this week, then I will move on to packaging which needs photography for brochure and then press kit. I also have to finish my design website, which is coming along much faster than I expected it to. The most important new part is my resume. I have to finish that and add my latest work experience.

I really need to add more product here and link them too. Here are a few - bow tie and flowers.