I'm a slacker!

Since joining Facebook again I've been really slacking on my blog posts! I've gotta figure out how to manage my time a bit better :) Wow...FB can be addicting, but it's really nice being able to keep in contact with my old friends.

Sales on Etsy have been right on target this month so I have no complaints there! I've made a bunch of PMC pieces, fired and polished them anyways, now it's just a matter of oxidizing them. I'll be sure to get the pictures up here as soon as I've finished them. The majority of the pieces I've made are for graduation gifts that people have ordered. I really love PMC...it's such a forgiving medium to work with..thank goodness or else I'd have a lot of wasted pieces. I tend to start making something...then half way through it I change my mind. Sometimes it's just because the piece isn't exactly what I had imagined or I'm just feelin' wishy washy and want to make something different..hehe

Well I'm off to fire up my torch and make some rings! I hope everyone is having a fabulous week...it looks like the sun is finally back in my neck of the woods...yay!

Quick Post Before Bed

It's been a few days since I posted anything so I thought I would before I head to bed.

Let's see, February has been a fabulous month so far especially for sales. Over all it's been amazing really, it took me 1 year to reach 100 sales (Sept. 2008), and just 5 1/2 months to make an additional 166 sales. It's been a crazy fun ride that's taught me that organization is a must!! I'm not even a top seller on Etsy...I have no idea how the top sellers do it. I often wonder if they have another job outside of Etsy...a family...and really just how they balance it all.

Aside from my business, the boys are doing great. They just received their acceptance letters to Pacific University....yes it's the expensive private college that I've mentioned before. It's funny because while my kids were filling out applications to various college's they said, "Mom, if I'm going to be $100,000 in debt from my college education I'd rather it be from a college that I want to go to!" I have to admit that I agree, though I hope they don't end up that far in debt! This weekend they attended Pace Setters at the university...it's a scholarship competition. The least they will receive is $4000 and the most is a full ride....I have my fingers crossed! They really like the school so far after the various visits and they've had a chance to spend some time with the baseball coaches...they're really looking forward to being part of their team. As their mom, I'm afraid of the debt, I'm excited for their new adventure with this next step in life and I really hope that they get all that they want and more!

This weekend is my best friends birthday so we're going for an all girls weekend with lots of fun and frolicking on the beach....I can't wait!! I think we're going to do some wine tasting, and we're going to attempt blowing our own glass balls....there's so much to do. I think most of all we're going to relax and enjoy the time together before she moves away :( We won't talk about that though...it always brings tears to my eyes to even think about it!

Well I'm off to bed...the morning comes to fast anymore and I am in dire need of some beauty sleep! I'll post pictures of our trip to the beach when I get back.

A Milestone Reached!

I reached and exceeded 200 sales the next day after my previous post! What a fabulous feeling coming in to the Holidays reaching a much unexpected goal. I couldn't be happier!!

The mail is running slower than usual, unfortunately. I'm tracking all of my packages in hopes that they reach their destinations in time for Christmas. Even priority mail is taking about 5 days when it states that it'll be delivered in 2-3 days. I mail everything first class (unless a customer requests priority) with delivery confirmation. Normally it only takes 3 days tops to get there... so it has me a bit concerned.

If I notice that they haven't reached their destinations in time, I'm going to contact my customers. I have my fingers crossed that they'll make it though.

I'm off to finish up some Christmas gifts! For those of you living in the Northwest...drive safe if you're out in this weather doing some last minute shopping!

WOW!

Really there aren't a lot of words to describe it. You're probably wondering what I'm talking about right? Well I'm talking about my sales on Etsy. The day before my 1 year Etsy anniversary on September 1st, I reached 100 sales. I was so ecstatic because I had reached my goal. So I set up the same goal for 2009 to reach 200 sales. Low and behold, I'm 1 sale away from that goal just 3 months into my 2nd year *Happy Dance!!*

So I'm now thinking of what I will give as a gift for this milestone....I may give an initial pendant (pictured in my previous post), along with tea, and a 15% coupon for future purchases. I'll have to put more thought into it though as it takes 2 days to create the pendants.

I'm just so very thankful...it has been a crazy busy month so far, but I wouldn't want it any other way! So I'm sending a big shout out to my fabulous customers....You all have been so wonderful, I couldn't be more blessed, thank you so much!!

Have a Merry Christmas!

If you would like to receive a nice celebratory 200th sale gift, visit my store at http://shijewels.etsy.com

ShopHandmade Email

I just got an email from them...and I just had to share an excerpt of it with you! This is just another reason why I love their site :)







We did it! ShopHandmade crossed its first major milestone by listing 5,000 items for sale in our first month after opening! We chose to celebrate the event by planting 5,000 trees – one for each product listed. As they take root and flourish, we hope that this early success will echo forever in their leaves and branches.

Easy Schmeasy

As promised I said that I would let you know how the transaction went with my sales on ShopHandmade. The title above describes it perfectly. It was simple and easy to say the least. You can view your invoice and it posts the sellers address plus the address they want the item shipped to. I do like that portion particularly because I can't tell you how often (on Etsy) the buyers address differs from their address on PayPal. At first I didn't think that I would be able to relist a sold item but I found that it's also quite simple.

1. Go to My Account
2. Click on Inventory (on the left sidebar)
3. Edit the item you want to relist
4. Change the quantity from 0 to 1 (or however many)
5. Save and Continue

Voila...you're done!

I actually relisted a pair of earrings at the same time as posting this.

I still have the majority of my inventory on Etsy and will probably keep it that way, but I'm slowly building my inventory on ShopHandmade as well.

If anyone has any questions about this site just shoot me a message. I'll be happy to answer what I can. Just remember that I'm still new to ShopHandmade so if it's a more technical question you can always contact them...they're very friendly and extremely quick to reply.

If you get a chance check out my shop there at http://shijewels.shophandmade.com . From there you can browse all that's listed within the site itself!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Sales on ShopHandmade.com

I received my first 2 sales on ShopHandmade.com! I just wanted to post this really quick for those of you who have been inquiring about the site. I will post more later on how the process works!

Have a wonderful day!

A Good Day

Today turned out to be a pretty good day! After a couple of weeks with slow sales, I woke up to a sale this morning followed by 5 more...wow! What a way to start the day :) Even my day job was good, plus the weather was beautiful...sunshining with that crisp cold air. Then I had lunch with an old friend...she's a coworker from my previous job, and though we live in the same town we don't often get to spend time together.

After having lunch with my friend I realized that I really need to take the time and meet up with some of my old girlfriends whether it be over coffee, drinks or whatever. It was a breath of fresh air to break from the norm. Just reminiscing, talking about our kids and about our problems over a couple of Margaritas made all of life's problems seem to dissipate. It was lovely...and definitely a lot of fun!

I feel renewed, re-energized and look forward to what the rest of the week may hold. Who knew that these little happenings could make a world of difference?!

New Packaging

Yay...I finally got my new gift boxes!! It was a really tough choice personally to change from handmade gift boxes to these kraft boxes because I loved that little extra personal touch. BUT...economically speaking this was a much better way to go. The handmade gift boxes cost $2 each to make not including ribbon, organza bag, plastic storage baggy, tags, etc. These boxes work out to be .17 cents per box again not including the extras but it works out to be more financially feasible. Plus...these can be sent in a bubble mailer first class. With my previous handmade boxes I shipped Priority Mail, but then again this is something that I can consistantly do during the year that won't hurt the bottom line.

For the holidays though, I will be doing a shipping special that will consist of free Priority Mail shipping. I will also be doing SNS's (Saturday Night Sales/Specials) for discounts during this time as well. Once I've got the details I will post it here!

A Good Start!

Today was a lot of fun promoting and seeing all the wonderful and unique items offered by my fellow Etsy Street Team members. You can take a look at all they're offering by doing a search on Etsy for the tag TSAE . You'll find everything from original artwork, pottery, photographs, jewelry to knitted items and oh so much more. It's never too early to start purchasing Christmas gifts!

I sold my Carnelian Goddess Adorned Necklace pictured below. I've also made two necklaces to list tomorrow in wonderful Autumn/Fall colors. I love this time of year!

Support some very talented artisans and buy handmade....shop the EAST street teams Spirited Autumn Event Sale!

Treasuries!!

I love the Etsy Treasury ! To me it's one of the highest forms of flattery when someone chooses one of your items to feature. My Sage bracelet is in the lower right hand corner. I have yet to really figure out how to use it, so I don't even try, but some of the treasuries that people put together are so stunning.

If you happen to be lucky enough to be included in one, you're not normally notified because it's considered spam. BUT, I don't mind being notified at all. I think this is probably the first treasury that I've posted here on my blog, though I've saved them all on my computer. This one was put together by Greenfingers a wonderful seller who creates the most beautiful knitted Goddesses around, and she's an EAST (Earthpath Artisans Street Team) teammate.

Speaking of our EAST team, we're going to be holding a special starting on September 23rd, 2008. It's The Spirited Autumn Event (TSAE), and each seller from our team will be offering a discount in one way or another for this special. So when your on Etsy, do a search using TSAE and you'll find some wonderful little treasure's based around the Fall season, Halloween, and items with metaphysical/healing/green properties. I'll be sure to make another announcement the closer we get to it, but if you do a search now you'll find that some of our team members have already started listing items.

Self Promoting, Sales and Discounts

With any small business you have a lot of self promoting to do to get your name out there. I don't sell on any other online venues besides Etsy, so this is especially important for me. I from time to time list on Craigslist but you have to be careful that you don't include your store link or they will remove your listing. Flikr has been especially helpful for me, it's more of a portfolio for my work a lot like TalentDataBase. I've just started listing again on YouCraft.org which is similar to Craigslist but your website can be listed and it's solely crafted items. Of course my blog is also used to advertise. I also use some social networking sites like MySpace, Tribe.net, Facebook and more recently Linkreferral. This is just a few...I've joined others but I'm not really all that active on them. With working a day job, I really have a small space of time to do my self promoting so I have to pick the ones that will get my shop seen the most.

I'd say the most important self promotion that you can do is customer service. I can't emphasize this enough! How you treat your customers can definitely make or break you. If you as a seller and business owner are pleasant to deal with and go above and beyond to make sure your customers are happy, they will Remember, Return and Refer...I like to call this the 3 R's (these are the three things that I always keep in mind). Remember that they are contributing to the success of your business so be thankful, be courteous, be polite and make sure that they know how appreciative you are that they chose "You" to purchase from.

Now on to "Sales and Discounts". A lot of Etsians have SNS's (Saturday Night Specials/Sales), I haven't done one of these yet but may try one soon. I offer discounts during special events and free shipping during the holidays. I will be making Gift Certificates for the upcoming holiday season as well. I also put items on sale within my store...but these are normally items that are out of season. Another thing I do from time to time is include a little something extra with purchases. This can be something as simple as tea, cocoa, earrings, magnet...just use your imagination. I probably wouldn't use candy, the biggest complaint is people want to know how old it is, where it came from, etc., so be mindful of the customer here. Ways you can advertise your sale is to post them on all of your social networking sites (make sure it's not considered spam), in your stores front page, and in the Etsy forum. I don't suggest sending emails to customers who have not signed up to receive them. If you want to send these out I would suggest that with each sale asking your customer if they would like to receive promotional emails from you. Please don't assume that they will, you may lose some customers this way. Everyone likes a sale, but some don't want it shoved down their throats either, so again be mindful of how your customers may feel.

These are all just the way I do things, avenues that I use to promote and advertise. These may not guarantee a sale for you or myself, but they are definitely ways to get your name out there. If you try these, or currently use any of the online places listed above to promote I'd be interested in hearing your stories, successful or not, feel free to share!