SUCCESS (depending on your definition)

Ok ok, it's been 2 months, and I doubt by any measure my business can be called "successful".  But not to worry!  I am still going and have a clearer picture of how to proceed.

I think I said it before, but only selling jewelry online seems nearly impossible.  There is too much competition on Etsy to have a reasonable chance at showing up near the top of search results, and Etsy is just a microcosm of the entire Internet.  There is even more competition there.  I do think if I spent a load of money on advertising, I could get more traffic in my store and probably more sales, but right now I'd rather spend money on supplies (or myself!).

I think a more cost effective way to advertise is just staying local.  I'm going to be selling at a flea market with a couple friends in October.  My hope is that I'll have a better chance at gaining a repeat customer if people can actually see and hold my jewelry right there.  I can even lower my prices since I won't be paying Paypal or Etsy fees.  If the shoppers like what they see, maybe they will shop from me online when I'm not at their flea market.

Another project I took up this week was search engine optimization (SEO to those in the biz).  It was something I started to read about in July, but it seemed boring to do.  Basically, SEO is wording everything from your shop description to item titles just right so you are more likely to come up when someone uses a search engine to look for jewelry.  Etsy doesn't have a super stream-lined approach to editing listings, and at the time they started adding a bunch of questions to answer each time you listed or edited an item.  I was lazy, pretty much, and didn't want to edit everything I had already written or do the research into what keywords would be best for my store.  Anyway, I had lunch with a friend last week who hailed the benefits of SEO and even offered to help me out.  Well, if a friend supports this SEO, then I guess I can try it!  I did some more reading and researching, which didn't really take all that long, and started re-writing my shop.

Regarding actual product, I'm focused on this flea market.  I started making purse charms to sell.  They are small, inexpensive, and seem like good flea market merchandise.

One of the great things about making them is that it doesn't take much time to whip up a lot of very different and pretty decorations!  I'm also going to start making more jewelry to put out at the table.  It turns out this flea market and the fundraiser are on the same day (eeeek!).  Aside from the set I'm donating to the fundraiser, I'll also be showing, and the pieces have to be all set up a week before.  I'll need enough for both places then.  My Etsy shop will be closed that day, so I'll just use a lot of what I've already made.  Luckily, no one buys from it, so it's ok to take it off-line for one day :) HaHA!

And so, I continue on this long road to small business nirvana.  There is yet a great amount of work to do; I probably won't be setting anymore deadlines for success, and my only promise is I will keep my eyes on the prize.

Making up for Lost Time

Well, not so much lost time...just three weeks. Oh, you know how it goes; there's the week to prepare for vacation, then the week of vacation, and finally, the week to recover from vacation. That put quite a dent in my two month timeline! Not all is lost, and I did accomplish some in those three weeks. I made my first custom necklace for a friend:


I made the fall-themed jewelry set that I'm donating for a fundraiser for a local charity called Community Cooks:

During vacation I started making purse charms, which I plan to sell whenever I get a table at a flea market. Also, I found lots of awesome wampum on the beach, which I started making into pendants last night. By the way, wire wrapping is frustrating!


So, I'm starting to get into the swing of things, and I did accomplish some of the goals I listed in my last entry! Chris FTW!

I think I've hit a bit of a wall with Etsy for the moment. It's too much to try to compete with the tens of thousands of other jewelry makers on the site. I definitely have to get customers more locally, maybe at craft fairs and flea markets. Then I can direct them to my online site so they can buy more later if they want. Everything I do now will be for the flea markets and craft fairs that I hope to be at in the fall. Lots of inventory and pretty displays are on the horizon!

Cutting the Cord and a Mea Culpa

So, Friday was my last day of real work. Yes, folks, I quit my job in a recession. It was part-time anyway, so whatever *head smack*.

My parents don't even know! Hopefully they don't read the About Me section of my Etsy shop where I have a link to this blog! I AM 30 years old, but I still don't feel like dealing with that conversation.

Anyway, I confess my weekend was not as productive as I hoped. I admit to panicking Thursday night because Friday was my last day of work (and so, the last day of pay for a bit). I also admit to panicking most of Friday and Saturday. Panic, I have found, is not conducive to creativity. It is conducive to sleeping late, which was not a goal of mine but was still nice. So, tomorrow is catch-up then.

My first real day of working for me.

I will probably get started on that organization I mentioned last time, focusing on the spreadsheet I keep to price my items. Right now I have a worksheet for each, but if I actually become very successful, this is a bad idea. I also promised a friend a necklace, and since I hope to see her this week, I better get on that! I will get nowhere by panicking. So, goals for the week: spreadsheet (infrastructure), necklace (gift/advertising), designing a jewelry set for a fundraiser (charity/advertising), posting new items (inventory), and picking a couple flea markets to eventually sell at (expanding customer base beyond my friends and mom).

Here I go.

A Banner in the Works

The first order of business on Wednesday was to spruce up my Etsy store's banner, which was:


*scream!*

And then, and couple months later:



Ok, better...there are beads featured. Still kind of gross. I downloaded Inkscape from the web, a free graphics editor. Some people had luck with that, I read on Etsy forums. It took about 5 hours and a couple spikes in blood pressure, but I got this:


Yay! Much, much better! And with a tag-line, too! The bracelet in the picture was my first sale, by the way :) I'll be happy with this for a while. The next steps to business success: writing better descriptions for my items for sale and organizing (everything).

Prologue

One girl...

...thousands of beads...

...an Etsy shop...

...ten sales (mostly to mom)...

...thirty-two dollars in advertising (mostly to FB)...

...sixty-six likes (mostly NOT friends!)

...lots of ideas...

...a couple of custom requests (for friends)...

...a fundraiser obligation...

...100 pieces to make...

...one flea market...

...two months (self-imposed)...

...no job (also self-imposed)...

...I hope this works.