My Amazing Online Robo-Shop

Greetings from the future!

I have traveled here at great expense, to share a small part of our advanced knowledge and technology with you.  For example, in my time, we enjoy vending and shopping from elaborate "cloud" malls.  These are places that do not exist in real-space, but where a multitude of wondrous and handcrafted items may be bought and sold.

However, as amazing as these cloud malls are, what makes them so useful are their robot caretakers.  These clever 'bots liberate the artisan from the drudgery of store maintenance and enable them to pursue their craft.  

So what kinds of services do the robot shop managers provide? I have listed several below. Set these up once and free yourself to do other more interesting things.

• Use statsy-clockbot to schedule your relistings. Set up all of your renewals a week or more in advance. You can pick the date and the time for optimal exposure.
• Send your Etsy shop's RSS to twitter. Look on the bottom left of your Etsy store front. There is a link for the RSS feed from your shop. Twitterfeed is an app that will convert this into a tweet automatically for you.
• Tweet your Facebook posts using the Facebook Twitter app. Everything that you post on your Facebook Fan Page will be automatically tweeted to your followers.
• Use Hootsuite or Tweetdeck to consolidate your social media accounts. You can selectively tweet or post to any of your accounts. You can also schedule your posts so that they are sent when your followers are most likely to be online.
• Use hashtags like #etsy and #handmade to catch the interest of 'tweeps' who might not be following you.
• Use Craftopolis' Edit Express. This tool lets you easily edit multiple listings at a time. So add text to titles and descriptions, and change prices to quickly set up sales and discounts.
• List your coupons on Etsycoupon.com. Its a clearinghouse for Etsy sellers to promote their coupons.

Read on for more tips and links to these tools.  http://www.squidoo.com/artsy-business

The Bulldozer's Guide to Selling on Etsy

A few weeks ago, an Etsy colleague made a remark about my approach to business. She said that I was always pushing pushing pushing, like a bulldozer, through obstacles and putting my Etsy shop out in front of people. She said that she was probably too shy to be that aggressively self-assertive.

Well.

At first I was sort of taken aback. Am I really that pushy? And apart from being rather attractive big yellow pieces of machinery, are bulldozers really all that pleasant to be around?

But I've decided to embrace it. Hell yeah, I'm a bulldozer. A big yellow bulldozing monster of an Etsy entrepreneur. Grr. Rawr. And what does a big yellow bulldozing monster of an Etsy entrepreneur do? She makes her own road and drives it.

So here are some notes and tips from the cab of the yellow monster truck on doing business on Etsy.

1. Etsy entrepreneurs are dead serious about business. They are not flirting and they are not fooling around. They have business plans and promotions and financial statements. They may be perfectly nice people, but make no mistake, they are thinking about how to build their business all of the time.

2. Whatever book you read on how to succeed on Etsy? About ten thousand other people have read the same book. When everyone is following the same rules, it only levels the playing field. To win, you have to do something exceptional.

3. You are already exceptional. You are an artist who is also an entrepreneur. That's a hell of a unique skill set. Conventional wisdom is you know, conventional and common. That's not for you. You're creative, by definition. Do things that work for you even if they're uncommon -- especially if they're uncommon.

Now go out there and create your own model of business. You don't have to be a bulldozer to move mountains. Even a drop of water is powerful. Look at the Grand Canyon.

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Love Yourself First.

Treasury by ArtsiBitsi (also for ArtsiBitsi)

Do you know about Etsy Treasuries? They're a member curated gallery of handpicked items from Etsy member stores.  Each treasury features the best in a particular category, or the best example of a certain style of work.  Etsy sellers love to get featured in a treasury, for the distinction, and for the opportunity to have their work seen by a new audience.  Anyone with an Etsy account can make a treasury.

Now here's a little activity for you to try to see how this can work for a seller.  Click each of the two links below and note the differences and similarities in the results.  (Try substituting your shop name for ArtsiBitsi in each one.)

1. Treasuries featuring ArtsiBitsi: http://www.etsy.com/treasury/search/?search_query=ArtsiBitsi
2. Treasuries created by ArtsiBitsi: http://www.etsy.com/people/ArtsiBitsi/treasury

   Lend yourself to others, but give yourself to yourself.  ~Michel de Montaigne  

Sometimes I make treasuries for fun.  I like the challenge of filling up a treasury with a particular color, or difficult to find item.  Sometimes I make treasuries especially to feature members of one of my teams.

And sometimes I make treasuries just to promote myself.

   Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson  

Here's how it would work.  Say for example, I have a new item in my store, like a new zombie or alien design.  To promote it, I do the traditional things like post about it on my Facebook, twitter, and Flickr.  But sometimes I also build a treasury around it.

To make my promotional treasury, I put in one item from my own store, but fill it out with other sellers who are doing something similar.  Making robot paintings or robot t-shirts, for example.  This is really fun.  There are some really amazingly talented people with stores on Etsy.

After I build and publish the treasury, I contact each of the sellers and give them the link.  Now they are happy because they are in a treasury, and they look at all of the items.  They might even see one or two things that they really like -- this being a treasury of zombies or whatever.  Hopefully they also tell their Facebook Fans and Tweeps about being featured.  And these people look at my treasury too.

   If I am not for myself, who will be?  ~Pirke Avoth  

In the end, a few more people see my new design than would have seen it otherwise.  And fifteen other sellers get a little more exposure than they would have gotten otherwise.

Is it such a terrible thing?  To love yourself first, so that others can love you too?

   Put your future in good hands - your own.  ~Author Unknown  

We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?  Actually, who are you not to be?  You are a child of God.  Your playing small does not serve the world.   ~Marianne Williamson, 1992 (commonly misattributed to Nelson Mandela)

Safety in Numbers

Have you ever noticed that all of the shoe stores in the mall are all clustered together in one spot?  All the trendy, hip clothing stores are located in the same part of town.  And there's a Starbucks on every corner.

Seems weird, right?  Shouldn't these businesses be more concerned about their competition stealing their customers?

Well, it's not that they don't understand about competition, its that they understand that consumers do 'destination' shopping.  Take fast-food restaurants, for example.  They are almost always in groups.  You'll see KFC, Burger King, Taco Bell and McDonalds, all in a row.  The Taco Bell might even be selling Pizza Hut items.  My local KFC sells Long John Silvers fish.   

So what happens is, when someone is hungry, they start instinctively moving toward this area.  Usually I start moving before I even decide where I want to eat.  Co-locating is good for everyone's business in this case.  When a new fast-food place opens up, they find a ready-made customer base already in place and expectant.

Consequently I'm pretty happy to be a part of a crafty consortium.  Not only does it make the business of selling online less lonely, its a great way to help my customer do 'destination' shopping.

The group that I joined is Etsy Team Columbus.  This is a large, broadly and deeply talented group of artisans, who have shops on Etsy, all located in the Columbus, Ohio area.  If you live in the Central Ohio area, you can go to the ETC group to "buy handmade, buy local".  The ETC group is growing rapidly, and gets involved in lots of shows and arty activities.

 

Click this logo to see the ETC blog and links to all of the ETC member shops.

Mini Smoochies - SWAK!

Did you (or a loved one) get some fun personal electronics as gifts? Are you wondering how to keep them safe and give them a fun place to hang out? 

SMOOCHIE MINI POUCHES are a new product that I developed for this spring.  I think that they'll be a popular alternative to the MONSTER MINIS (which I'll continue to make -- don't worry!).  And maybe even a fun Valentine's Day gift for your favorite geekette.  

Supplies are limited.  There are only two for sale on each of my online stores: Etsy and also on Artfire.  Go check 'em out.  

...

No SMOOCHIES for 1000markets.  Nyah! :-p

A Product for a Different Price Point

So, the last time I was at the Open Door Art Studio, Ashley told me that they seem to sell more items that are small and lower priced.  Seems like the price of my Monster Bags continues to be an obstacle.  Courtney reassures me that $40 is a reasonable price, but she also says that most of their customers don't want to pay it.
Okay, okay.  I get it.  I need another product that hits a lower price point.  

Introducing MONSTER MINIS. Basically this is a scaled down, Mini Monster bag for just the few items that you absolutely, positively need. 

These little pouches are 3.5" x 5.5" -- just a little bit bigger than your standard phone or coin purse. You can even put a digital camera or PDA in them. Or if you prefer, you could hide a couple (ahem) "sanitary" or other personal items.

There's a skinny pocket on the back for your business cards or ID. But keep it minimal. These mini-purses are strictly for folks who like to travel light and move fast.  

I designed and constructed four of these over the weekend. The assembly line worked a little better and I averaged one hour each. Since the labor and materials are a fraction of the regular bags, I can price them lower. I listed these at $13 each. I have a few corrections to make on the design, but I will probably keep them under $15.  That seems to be the price that others are asking for similar wristlets/pouches.

The good news is that Courtney and Jon both seemed very excited about this design and the price, and want me to make lots for the store and the upcoming shows.

Birth of a Monster

Would it be interesting to see the process of the creation of a Monster? It might surprise you to learn that it does not involve a dark tower, or stolen body parts nor even a serendipitous thunderstorm.

Here are some photographs of my studio after yesterday's cut-a-thon.   

This is my work table where all the pinning and cutting happens.   It features a most excellent, stainless steel table with an adustable height shelf underneath for my supplies.  It fits a nook between two closets, with set of big windows that look out across the woods. My kitties like to lay on the fleece (back left corner of the shelf) and watch the birds come to the feeder.  The feeder is only a few inches from the window, so both the kitties and I get a good look at the woodpeckers and nuthatches and tufted titmouses.

The other important station in my studio is the sewing and pressing table.   This is not ideal space, as it's a little crowded and underlit.  And there is nothing really to look at but the material that I'm working on.   Maybe I need to put a mural on the wall. Or some mirrors.   ... Or maybe I just need to concentrate on making straight seams.  :-)

BTW, that's just an ordinary Brother i6000 sewing machine.  It has about 60 different stitches, but I probably only use three of them.

So I am basically designing eight monsters at once -- an heroic feat which has not been attempted before.  By me.  

Aren't these fun colors?

Every monster needs a colorful fleece skin, and a coordinating lining.  Most of these will have some sort of funkadelic cotton lining. At this point, I am already starting to think of names and personalities to give to each bag.

In addition to the skin and the lining, I also need to cut the feet and arms and straps.   There is about ten feet of strap for each bag.  Here are all the straps, cut to length, but not finished.  When I set down to sew them, it will be a few hours of ironing and sewing.  And a lot of thread.  I'll probably have to replace the bobbin on my sewing machine three or four times.

Don't the straps look like guts?  Mwah ha ha ha.

We now return you to your program...

Sorry about that.  I don't know how that other political post snuck in here.  Seems like those guys have infected the entire country with their feuding.  Hopefully it will be over soon and we can get back to the important stuff... like sewing!

So, in the last two weeks, I have gotten completely sidetracked by other projects and have not even touched my sewing machine.  It is a deplorable state of affairs.  But I have some good news.

1) This is small and personal in nature, but the bag that I made for my conference worked out very well.  I'm still using it, in fact.  I love the brown/black/red color combination and the more professional feeling of the sueded microfiber and the top stitching.  It's so easy to drop stuff into and the tab with the pin never gets in my way, like the bigger flaps do.  It's a little large for everyday, but at the conference it was a little small.  I could just fit my program and my swag in there.  

2)  On a more professional note, the Open Door Art Studio selected me as one of their featured artists.  (http://www.opendoorartstudio.org/artwork.htm) I am ridiculously pleased about this.  It's so validating, especially when my sales are still not exactly overwhelming.

3) I had a wonderful "mutual admiration society" type conversation with Courtney at the Open Door Art Studio.  It turns out that her application for the Tiny Canary show was accepted. (http://www.tinycanary.com/)

Since I'm new to the crafting business, I didn't appreciate how exclusive this show is.  But several of my fellow etsians over at the Columbus Street Team were pretty bummed about not getting in.  So, I'm thrilled for Courtney, and for the ODAS, who do such great work.  And Courtney let me know that, as a featured artist, my Monster Bags were a critical part of her application.  

It is so helpful to talk to Courtney and get advice and feedback about the Monster Bags.  Etsy can feel pretty isolated.  People buy things (or don't) and often I never hear what they liked (or didn't).  I'm collecting "hearts" and "views" but I don't know why, or how to convert them to sales.

On the other hand, Courtney sees people face to face and watches how they interact with the art.  She says that the Monster Bags are very compelling from a distance -- people come directly to them.  And people like them up close too.  But that the price tag is offputting.  This is a pervasive problem: people want to spend Walmart $$ on handmade goods.  Courtney thinks that the price point is good though and we should stick it out.

Anyway.  Courtney wanted me to know that she needs a lot more Monster Bags for the Tiny Canary show.  And the North Market show.  And the Grandview Gallery Hop.  (whee!)  This is such a great partnership for me.  I get a lot of exposure and it costs me very little.  I like to think that it helps the good people at the Open Door Art Studio too.  So there will definitely be a lot more sewing happening in the ArtsiBitsi Studio over the next few weeks. 

Watch this space.

Is a Trade the Same as a Sale?

Last week was a (relatively) busy week for me, -- as I "sold" three purses. 

Well, let me qualify that.  I traded three purses for five pairs of earrings and a wire sculpture jewelry hanger.  All of which are very cool, and I'm really pleased with my "purchases".  

  

It was a fairly painless process.  Generally I'm a bad haggler, but I have to admit, trading with Etsians seems very civilized and respectful.  Each of the trades did require a lot of negotiation and time.  There were several messages with the other person, to agree on a price for the items being transacted.  In one case, I sewed a custom bag in exchange for a custom set of earrings.  This customization step meant even more messages as we compared fabric swatches and pieces of glass.  But it was all very pleasant and inoffensive.

I still have anxiety about customer satisfaction.  I try to take accurate, yet flattering photographs of my bags.  I worry though, that a customer will have a misconception about the style, or the size or the color.  Something that I didn't document well enough.  It's like Christmas morning -- with a roomful of strangers.  I am hoping for an expression of pleasure, and fearing the expression of disappointment.  

It's easier, I think, to sell something in a bricks and mortar store.  At least then the customer gets to touch the fabric, test the seams and feel some security about an item's construction.  Perhaps this is my hang-up anyway.

But at the end of the week, I feel ambivalent.  I don't feel like the trades were real sales, even though I feel like the stuff I got was really purchased.

I think that this is because money is the only objective measure that we have for value anymore.  Hundreds of years ago, a person could feel comfortable trading 24 chickens for one hog, or paying eight cows for a dowry.  Nowadays, though, we only have currency.  How valuable is a doctor's time?  Oh, its worth about $60-$100 an hour.  How valuable is a waitress' time?  Usually between $10 and $15 an hour.  Thus we conclude, a doctors time is ten times more valuable than a waitress'.

But in a barter society, these valuations are not so straightforward.  How much is a purse worth?  Two or three pairs of earrings?  What kind of earrings are those?  When is a bag worth two pair of earrings and when is it worth three?  Does it depend on the bag, or the earrings?  Ugh, I just can't do this math.

In many ways, a trade is the same as a sale.  There is an exchange of good and services.  And I get pleasure from knowing that someone in NJ, or CA, or FL is using and enjoying an ArtsiBitsi bag.  But in some important ways, a sale is better (if only a little) than a trade.