500 Sales in 10 Months...and I Need a Nap!

Hi all! I hit 500 sales yesterday!

Here are my top 5 tips to creating a successful shop here in the land of Etsy:

1. Find your niche! Figure out what you want to do and then EDIT it down. Create a product line that is cohesive and specific. Shops that are full of lots of different handmade things are overwhelming for shoppers. Do one thing really well rather than lots of things kinda sorta ok.

2. Create a brand! Find a graphic artist and have them create a logo for you. Use that logo on everything, packaging, business cards, stationary, etc. Soon people will recognize that logo and associate it with your product. Tada, you are a brand! I simply posted my need for a logo in alchemy and found someone who shared my vision. My vision was fat blue birds but I'm guessing yours is different.

3. Work hard! Some people start shops on here, list some stuff and then sit back and wait for sales. Gonna be a long wait, homeslice. This takes WORK. A lot of it. I'm not sure I have worked harder on anything in my life. And I have the excuses, too. I have a full-time day job, a five-year-old daughter, a house to clean... that whole life thing. But I was determined. So, I pretty much gave up sleep for several months. Stuck Together blossomed in the wee hours of the morning for months. Does that suck? Oh yes, total suckfest. But I wanted this to work. I wanted it to work more than I wanted to sleep 8 hours a night. So my nights were spent perfecting pictures, promoting, drafting press releases, facebooking, etc. You have to make time for that stuff... and for me, I had to find time where I thought there was none.

4. Learn how to take a picture! This is still a challenge for me, but I have come a long way. If all those other people can take good pictures, then so can I.. and so can you. I use a light box because most of my pics are taken in the dead of night. Also, use editing software. Crop! For the love of Pete, CROP! If you don't know how to do any of this... learn it. There is info all over the internet about lighting and how to make a homemade light box. Google mofo!

5. Embrace the internet and social networks! I am not a tweeter by nature and I am not really a fan of Facebook. But I use them as a means to an end. I get a lot of traffic from Facebook... therefore I use Facebook. I use the internet to bring people to me. This is where people are... roaming around in cyberspace. They need magnets, I know it. So, find out where your customers are and waggle your tail feather on that corner. There is no shame in self-promotion. If you love your brand, share it proudly with people. How can they love it if you don't?

Hope this stuff helps anyone who may need it. I love Etsy and am so happy to be there... even if it is at 3am.

Peace, love and magnets!
Wendy

All Things Cupcake!

Check out All Things Cupcake, a blog dedicated to... well.... cupcakes. How could you not love that? Cupcakes are heaven! They were kind enough to feature on my Cupcake Magnet Favors! They are also doing an awesome giveaway for Diva Entertains, an online party favor store.

Party Favor Magnets are FUN!

I am expanding my line of magnets to include party, bridal shower and wedding favors. And, they are FUN! They are all personalized and customizable. I am very excited about it. This new line has reminded me of how important it is to keep growing and expanding your business. Customers love NEW stuff. I love NEW stuff. Everyone wins. Progress keeps people interested and coming back for more.

Big Cartel - Same Eggs, New Basket

I have been thinking about starting my own website with my own domain name since the beginning of this venture. It just seemed soooo overwhelming to me. I know very little about html and I am not really web-savvy. Because of that fear, I had been putting it off for some time. Then... THEN.... I found bigcartel.com! So exciting! It is a stand alone site, so you are not competing with other vendors like on etsy. You do have to drive your own traffic to the site, but that seems like an interesting challenge to me. I am researching how to do that now.

Big Cartel is a site that hosts your shopfront, provides a shopping cart and allows you to have a custom url (http://www.stucktogethermagnets.com). But, it is easy to format! Trust me, if I can do it, so can anyone. The only tricky thing is that you need to find a host for your domain (godaddy.com or networksolutions.com). You buy your domain name and then point it to your Big Cartel shop and there it is. I used Network Solutions and I called them to get help with the technical details of redirecting my domain. Took all of 10 minutes.

As a result, I now have my own website! I will not leave Etsy because that is my bread and butter. But, another basket for my eggs... can't be a bad thing.

Know what I love?

MAGNETS!!!!

I'm just sayin....

Sleep is Overrated!

So, let it be known that I am a horrible blogger!! I have been so busy with my first craft show, keeping up my etsy inventory and custom orders that I have not had a chance to update. But I always feel better when I blog... so here I am....

The first craft show was.... interesting. I was very happy with my booth set up. All the ideas I had in my head came together nicely on the day. Very valuable lesson learned is that the wind is an evil, evil skank. It was such a windy day and it took its toll for sure. At one point my tent took flight and my displays hit the ground. And I didn't even cry! Sales were ok. Traffic was not great, but I made my booth fee and little extra. People seemed to really like my stuff and it was great to get some feedback face to face. I really enjoyed talking to people while I held onto my flying nun of a tent all day. I have another show coming up on June 5 and I can only hope that all I learned will make show number two better.

Hope you all are well!

My First Craft Show.... EEEEK!

Sooooo, my first craft show is in less than two weeks. I imagine it will either be a smashing success or a tragic train wreck. I am trying so hard to be prepared, but I feel like I could never do it all in time to be ready. I went to a show yesterday to look at booths and try to get some ideas. Here is what I learned:

1. Color matters! The booths that had color, either in product or set-up decorations, had more traffic. I think I am going to get some of those strings of colored flags for my tent. My product is colorful, but it is small, so I need some help making my booth stand out.

2. Fill er up! Some of the booths had very sparse product. They had tons of space and not nearly enough product to fill it. This will be an issue for me because my product is so small. I am trying to make a huge inventory push over the next few weeks to make sure I can fill the space.

3. SMILE! I really liked interacting with the vendors as a seller. I plan on being interactive, even if it just a simple "hello." A smile goes a long way.

4. Bring a friend. Set up and break down seem like they would be very tough on one person, so I'm bring my boyfriend to help. It gives you another set of eyes on the booth design and a potty time backup. I knew he'd come in handy one day ;)

5. Make friends. Other vendors are a source of information like no other. I'm gonna make nice with anyone who will hold still long enough!

Fingers crossed that my first show will be a success!

Anyone have any words of wisdom?