Time is not on my side

Summer months are the optimal time to start planning for and getting your shop ready for the holiday season. Etsy's holiday season picks up from October through December. Harvest and Halloween seasons pick up as early as August, so start stocking up on and listing your holiday offerings now in preparation for the seasonal rush ahead
     • Media Tip: Press outlets begin finalizing their holiday issues and series in the summer. Have your holiday items listed, tagged, and available now for buyers and PR reps looking to pull items for holiday gift guides.

-From Etsy's Merchandising Desk: July Heats Up

Oh, holy crap.

I am not expecting to have anything from my shop catch the eye of any media folk and wind up in some magazine in time for the holiday season. I may be talented, but I'm not that talented.

Yet.

No, this just reminds me that the first craft sale that I want to be part of is in 3 months. Three months. Ninety days. Again, oh, holy crap.

I'm not sure what I'm going to sell at that sale, but I don't have enough stock for a sale. And trying to sell the same things I have in my Etsy shop is not going to happen, either (mainly because if I tried to do that, it would be just my luck to have everything in my shop sell online at the same time people are buying them off of me at a sale).

There's a small list in my notebook for ideas of what to make/sell at the sale (this is only the first; I'm aiming for two more, and I know there's at least one more for sure), but haven't actually started any of it. I've decided that I'm going to try to get as much product done and ready to list in my shop by the end of June so July will be when I come up with new products. What those products are is another question.

I've been debating about opening another shop, either on Etsy or one of the other online handmade sites (like Artfire or Zibbet), to see if I can sell my efforts elsewhere. But how much more time can I devote to doing things that may or may not sell? Already, it's what I think about the majority of the time; it's what I spend my 'spare' time doing; and it's an even more difficult financial commitment for someone who doesn't have an income. So, yeah... do I keep all my eggs in one basket or start spreading them out, even though it could be a waste, which is what I'm doing now is turning into.

*sigh*

Sometimes I wonder if things would have just been easier to keep working rather than putting all this effort into something that's not exactly succeeding (which is no one/thing's fault but my own)... at least by working at home, I get to spend time with Maddy and drown my sorrows in cartoons and reruns all day.

Poking the bear

I don't remember the last time we - as a family - had a chance to actually sit back and relax. I don't know if it's because we just believe we don't have any time now that Maddy's getting older or if my work is taking away what free time I used to have, but it would be nice if we - Keith, Maddy and me - could just stop all the fussing and rushing and go-go-go for a few days.

But, then again, if we did stop and relax, I think I'd have a breakdown because I wasn't doing something. I used to slack off with the best of them, but in the last few years - especially since Maddy was born - nothing drives me more nuts than doing nothing. Idle hands, devil's playground... well, not really. It's more of a 'I know I can be productive - let's see how' thing. Gets frustrating sometimes... tiring, too.

With three months of an open shop under my belt, there are many, MANY areas of this business that I need to focus on and learn more about. Promotions and marketing, for one; time organization for another. It's not enough to just produce pieces, you have to sell them to people, too... and putting pretty pictures of them online doesn't mean a damn thing. People can't see you if you don't show them where you are.

There's been a debate - for lack of a better term - in the Etsy forums for the last few months about why sales and views have been down. If you told me that without any back story (or accusations), I would think that a lack of sales would be because:

• the economy still sucks. The government and banks and economists can all say it's getting better, but all those people who were unlucky enough to lose their jobs 18 months ago are not going to be spending money on luxuries; they're going to be paying off bills or putting away some extra money just in case this happens again.
• the handmade fad is starting to wane a bit. A couple of years ago, when the economy started to nosedive, lots of people turned back to homemade/grown/produced products to save money. Lots of those people sold their products, too... and now everyone and their dog makes something to sell. Add in a flooded market and you've got the perfect storm as to why no one is buying anything.
• there's a lot of crap out their and people don't have time (or the desire) to sift through it all. I went to the big local craft show last fall and wasn't impressed at all. There was a lot of amateur "crafters" who really should have just kept their work in their garages or basements to save themselves the hassle. I'm not saying what I do is the best in the world and that everyone loves it, but there's a reason Regretsy exists. 
• people got lazy and expected Etsy to do everything for them, including promotions and marketing. And solve their problems. Surprised some didn't expect Etsy to also tie their shoes and brush their hair.

I'm in the 'I don't blame Etsy' camp, mainly because I see Etsy as no different than the facility hosting a craft sale. It's my job as a show owner to make people see that I exist. I am in charge of promoting my shop and making people want to stay in my shop to make a purchase. Sure, it's nice when people find me through Etsy, but based on what Google Analytics is telling me, very few people do. I get more visitors from Twitter, this blog and other blogs I comment on than through Etsy.

Does that bother me? Nope.

Why not? Because the internet is a big place, and I count myself as lucky everytime someone finds me through Google or Craftgawker or some other method. I refuse to blame others for my failings, unless it's completely justified and provable. If I want people to see my work and buy my work, I have to do the work to get them, their eyes and their wallets to my shop. It's as simple as that.

And the internet is ever-evolving. People need to realize that. Things change, and usually it's for the better. What's the harm in letting people do their jobs and accepting that sometimes, "fixes" can take a little longer than expected because, well, they just do.

I know it's quite possible I'm going to end up slammed for what I have said and I really don't care. It's what I honestly believe and would have loved to say it in the forums, but anytime someone tries to say something like this (ie. it's not necessarily Etsy's fault you have no sales), they get ripped apart by the complainers. I'm willing to learn my lessons and try new things to get people's attention; I refuse to let other people force me to stand idly by and wait for "fixes" that I shouldn't need to operate a successful business.

So, yes... marketing and promotion. Need to work on that. And tweaking my photos, as well as gearing up for fall craft sales. I may be trying to come up with some new products soon and hope to post about them as they come along... although, based on my posting history thus far, there's no guarantee. Perhaps there's someone I could blame for that...

(the marigold pictured above is one of many that I picked up today at the best garden centre in the area - The Green Spot. I hate marigolds as a rule - something that dates back to when I was 5 or so and ate some of the seeds... pointy damn things going down... but these marigolds are going to be used in my battle against mosquitoes and aphids. Wish me luck:) )

Meandering about

Since I opened my store, it's been a little difficult to keep motivated. No sales - yet - and the realization that I made a massive mistake in the pricing of my products haven't helped. I fixed the pricing problem (I underpriced my bags by a good 40%) and now I'm waiting for a sale. One of the great things about Etsy is the community, and with that community comes some awesome and invaluable resources. The Etsy Seller Handbook has been a lifesaver. I didn't do a lot - or any, really - research before I launched my store and now there's a lot to catch up on, but the handbook has been nothing less than a godsend. I highly recommend it to anyone just starting out with an Etsy store and little-to-no experience in running a business.

I have managed to crank out a dozen or so new pieces. I finally learned how to do a proper lining, "designed" a new card holder (the green argyle/white piece in the bottom of the photo above would be the new "design"... really, it was just something that was going one way, didn't work so I tried something else), and wasted a fair bit of scrap material trying to come up with a brush/pen wrap that just did not want to work. It's been a bit of a frustrating week.

I went into this knowing that bags/wallets were not going to be the only thing I would produce. There's no way I could be content pigeon-holing myself like that; I still hope to do a bit of graphic design, probably artistic prints, for my store and I am working on prepping a bunch of photos to put up for sale. Spreading myself to thin is always a worry, but at this point, things are going fairly well... especially now that I'm caught up on the bookkeeping that was being put off, and off, and off.

A somewhat-aside: for patterns, go to BurdaStyle.  I love the selection and variety of patterns they have, even the free ones that members have come up with... these two have caught my eye and will likely be added to the pile of things I want to try.


Now that I've got a new pile of pieces to finish up - buttons, snaps, velcro, not to mention checking on wonky threads and weird seams - I'm going to step back and try to get working on a cloth book that's been in the bottom of one of my material baskets for a few months.

I read the Peter Rabbit series when I was young; someone in Keith's family gave Maddy Peter Rabbit for Easter last year. She's at that age where she's learning a lot and if I can tie rabbits together with the alphabet, I'll do it. The book is all on one piece of material, which is great, but the instructions don't make a lick of sense. I'm hoping that my mom can help me decipher them tomorrow when I take it out to their place to cut up. Worst case scenario - I can make a bunch of quilt blocks to frame for Maddy's room.

I'm hoping that things pick up soon with the store. It hasn't gotten completely desperate yet, and I don't actually see that ever happening, but it's a bit of a kick to the ego when people don't buy your stuff. But it is March... people still have Christmas bills to pay off and if people are like us, they're starting to come out of their hibernation modes. I can come up with a million excuses and rationalize every single one of them... sometimes, it's the only thing that can keep a person going.

*sigh*

I'm not a web designer by any stretch, and the last 2 hours have proven - yet again - that I still haven't learned anything after trying to re-design the blogs I've had over the last 7 years.

I can make a mean batch of fudge, though... that counts for something. Right?