A Spirit of Adventure

So here I am doing the blog. Seems like the thing to do. I still don't understand why, but I'm game. So far it hardly hurts at all. :-)

I'm trying to decode this craft business formula. Which has been surprisingly impenetrable.

I'm surprised, because arts and crafts have always been a part of my life and a part of my family. My mother worked in the public art gallery for many years, and then launched her own designer craftsman gallery. My father, an accountant, wrote a book for craftsmen (crafts people?) to help them manage their finances.

So, I have the pedigree -- what am I missing.

Here's an example. One school of thought says, if you have too much variety in your store, it looks like you aren't spending enough energy on any one thing (the Walmart Syndrome).

But how to know what will sell, if you don't experiment a bit? This week I have added several items to my Etsy store (http://artsibitsi.etsy.com/). Now I have at least three distinct product lines: purses, jewelry and paintings.

Now I'm watching the views and the 'hearts' on my listings. What's going to be my signature item? It looks like the purses get a lot more views. But some of the paintings get more hearts.

The Monster Bags definitely get attention. I like working with the higher quality material on the other bags, but I don't think that, in the Etsy market, they are distinctive enough to attract buyers.

The other consideration is volume of inventory. I wish that I could just make that personal connection with each buyer, so that I could make them an item that is completely custom to their heart's desire. However, buyers can't trust you with their heart's desire unless they see several examples of your work and know that you can satisfy them.

So watch for me to continue to fill up my store with purses and paintings (and less jewelry) for the next few weeks. Hopefully I'll hit the perfect balance of variety, novelty and volume soon.

:-)
Artsi Bitsi