Waking up.

I've been doing some reflection on what I want out of this little project. I'm trying to revive my business with more of a deliberate direction rather than a whimsical one. I've read a ton of articles and blog posts about how to make my business better. I'm in the middle of Artfire and Postling's Social Media Bootcamp (you may need an Artfire account to view that forum thread) as I'm determined to get a handle on that aspect and make better use of it as a means of connecting with people. Also, last month I participated in an online workshop which helped Etsy shop owners to better articulate what it is that makes their work unique and why they do what they do. Out of the fourty-five minute workshop, I not only gained a succinct shop description and mision statement, but I was also able to understand what I'm trying to do here a little better.

There's something else I've realized in the past year or so during my hiatus. I've realized that where I really excel is custom commissions. There's something about creating a piece with a specific person in mind that really brings out the best in my abilities. I use custom pieces as my playground to work with new materials, try new techniques and really stretch my limits. Perhaps my two favorite pieces ever are things I was commissioned to do for friends and relatives as gifts.

This necklace and earring set was commissioned last spring from a friend for her sister's birthday:





It's a huge wire-wrapped snowflake obsidian pendant (perhaps my best and cleanest wrap to date) strung on a beaded necklace of more snowflake obsidian, freshwater pearls, black onyx, "ice" quartz and silver glass seed beads. The earrings consist of the same beads as the necklace that are strung on Sterling silver wire.

This one was commissioned from my mother-in-law for my brother-in-law's girlfriend as a Christmas gift:

It's a Monarch butterfly wing portion set in a copper bezel pendant and preserved with epoxy. I strung it on drapey copper chain which is accented by two beaded sections (freshwater pearls, black onyx and amber chips on copper wire). I only wish I had gotten better pictures of it. The butterfly wing turned beautifully translucent from the epoxy.

I'm wondering if I could possibly apply this design strategy to the things that I put up in my shop for a wider audience. If I could trick myself into believing that I was creating this piece for just one person, perhaps I could pull that sort of custom performance out of every piece made. It seems I'm not able to create my best work just for the sake of creating, but that I require purpose and direction. So, I'm trying to go about everything a little less haphazardly this time around. Wish me luck!

Hiatus over

I had taken some time off since my last writing to both work on researching how I should go about getting my store into public view and also to plan my gardens for the spring/summer. While the former task seems like it will never be complete, the latter is pretty much done. My gardens are on paper, now I just have to order plants and seeds and wait on the weather. I can't wait to get my hands back in the dirt. I know along with it, there will be a lot of back breaking work for at least a month, but also a lot of inspiration and enjoyment. I can't wait to see the first flowers and taste the first tomatoes and peppers and bring in a head of lettuce for the freshest salads possible.

I have learned a TON in the past two weeks about how to get myself out there in a new and constantly changing market. I've acquired an ArtFire account, which I'm looking forward to trying out in addition to my Etsy store. I signed up for the $7/month for the rest of your life promotion that's going on right now and you should too!

I've gathered all sorts of Twitter tools and I've more than quadrupled my followers in the past 24 hours and even though I'm feeling a little overwhelmed, it's easier than it was to keep up with followers and those I'm following with some of these tools.

I've also learned a lesson about how it all works that I never dreamed of. Sites like Etsy and ArtFire have brought sort of a revolution or maybe renaissance to the handcrafted market. I started out thinking I would need to hide my personality from my store, keeping it strictly business and using third person descriptions when writing things like store policies and such to really create a brand. As it turns out, the opposite is true. While I don't intend to link anyone to my Facebook or personal LiveJournal accounts, as I understand it, the Etsy and ArtFire models are just as much about social networking as they are about the business. There's a new age where it's ok for customers to know their artisans personally that help them make a better connection to the product or brand. I think someone in business finally realized that the products of artists are pieces of the artists themselves and that it's OK and even helpful to get to know the artisan behind the artwork. It's finally OK to run a business with an artisan's mindset. It's certainly a refreshing concept since all along I've thought I was going to have to force an unnatural business persona in order to sell my work. It's nice to know I can be myself and still find customers to connect with.

Now to just get back to work and give them something to connect with. With the sunny, warm(er) weather today, I'm feeling the spring colors of peridot, lavender amethyst and pale golden citrine. After a good run and maybe some playtime outside for my son, it's to the bench with me for the rest of the day.

Being productive while sick.

The house may be falling apart, I might not be able to keep up with my son and I haven't run in two days, but one of the things I really love about making jewelry and running a business out of my home is that I can do it when I feel completely rotten. It's about the only thing I've been able to do for a couple of days now as I'm nursing whatever funk I've contracted.

I spent most of the day yesterday reading and taking notes (yay, lists!) about how to promote my Etsy store and my business in general. I really feel like I learned a lot and I'm looking forward to putting it into practice. It mostly has to do with things I already do on a personal level (social networking, being an active part of online communities, blogging, etc.). I just have to do it double time now to cover my business persona with the same blanket. I'm finding it a little exhausting to keep up two seemingly separate personalities, but I think this is the best, and possibly the only real way to do it. I've been careful thus far to link my personal life to my business but not link my business back to my personal life, if that makes sense.

One fantastic suggestion I read about was to provide freebies to customers with orders that kind of double as a business card. Magnets, buttons, or in my case, something like a charm or keychain can be thrown in with every order and people are much more likely to keep something like that or give it to a friend even than to hang on to a business card. It's so true!

I actually called a painter who left his magnet on our mailbox to get an estimate on fixing some rust and painting our chimney. Granted, when he got out here, I had the sneaking suspicion that he was just trying to get me to paint the whole house as well and quoted me an exorbitant price. I didn't give him a second thought after he left, however, his magnet sat on our fridge for another 6 months or so after he had made his visit. I just threw it away this week. Point made! It didn't cost him so much as a dollar to have that magnet printed up, I'm sure, but if I had gone with him, he would have gotten an $800-$1700 job. I've seen his truck in the neighborhood a lot and signs in yards of houses on which he's done work. Even though I didn't use him, a lot of people have as a result of his magnets, I'm sure.

Ditching traditional, text only business cards was another fine suggestion. Instead, there are services like Moo that will take product images from your Etsy store (or anywhere else you point them for that matter) and print up art cards, post cards, stickers, etc. with those images and your name and logo on the back. People then get to see what you do and have an instant reference to your work as well as your contact info. Being in such a visual business, that means a lot.

Say you go to an artisan show but can't possibly buy all the great things you see (isn't this always the case?). So, you pick up cards from every vendor you're interested in to hit them up on special occasions or the next time you're ready to splurge on a nice item for yourself. How are you going to remember which one had that fantastic set of earrings you were dying for if they're lost in a sea of text only business cards from 20 different "artisan jewelers" that were at the same show?

Let's take if from the artisan's point of view at the same show. Say you do a show, but you don't sell much. You hand out freebies and chat everyone up who walks within 10 feet of your booth. You're friendly and everyone likes free stuff, no matter what it is you're handing out (magnets, buttons, stickers, postcards, pens, whatever). You leave the show feeling bummed about your bottom line at the end of the day. But the next week, in your weekly rummaging for mentions of your store anywhere and everywhere, you notice a couple of bloggers have written you up or mentioned you in a review of the show. You make some sales through that word of mouth free advertising. Not to mention a reasonable percentage of the people you handed free stuff to will seek out your store and purchase from you in the future. Suddenly it wasn't such a bad show after all.

Of course there are other, more expensive ways of getting noticed, like buying ad space on community boards and relevant websites, Google AdWords and a spot on the Etsy Showcase. But all that will come later for me. Right now I need to focus on the cheap/free stuff I can do to get my store and my brand noticed. Just putting in daily face time on a few key communities will do wonders, I'm sure.

First things first, you really have to be ready for people to find you. My store is not quite there yet with 10 measly items and a thrown together banner. But I know now what to focus on to make it work. I sat down after outlining all of the tips and information I ingested yesterday and made a personal to-do list for myself to start practicing what I've learned. I hope to have some good reports on how it's working in the coming months.