Fall back, for sure!!

I've realized that keeping up with this blog is something I am not very good at. It is difficult and like a full-time job to even post everyday let alone carry enough information to keep the masses busy, informed and amuzed. I just can't do it. Well, I could if I did nothing else and quite frankly I just don't know how others do this while maintaining an etsy shop at the same time. I have all I can do just to keep up with that let alone this too. While online sites such as etsy are great for us crafters and artists, they are merely a vessel. We, the crafters, have to do all of the leg work if we expect to have any success with sales. Because it is an online venture, one of the most important aspects to success, besides the obvious great items and quality, is to take great photographs and provide indepth descriptions. When I say great photos..I mean professional grade photos!!! Buyers expect handmade items but not handmade pictures of those items if you know what I mean! Not to mention that when you do get your items listed you must expect to have to relist those same items if you are expecting to get them seen by potential buyers. Etsy moves quickly and the items listed in it move even quicker. There are thousands upon thousands of listed and relisted items daily on etsy and if you don't keep up with your items then they will get buried on page 1 bazillion and six if you are not quick and careful! So, it is not enough to just create great items...how good are they if no one is seeing them? Once the artistic part of you handcrafted venture is complete..you then have to become Ansel Adams with a twist of Maya Angelou to get those great items looking there best over the world wide web. During that process, much consideration also has to be given to purposeful price points and the configuration of shipping fees..it's all a guessing game and a gamble that most of us artisans seem to sell ourselves short on...We have to maintain a competitive edge with all of that and try to consider what our time is worth and hope that we have somehow mastered the configuration of the US postal service's 'zone' rates so that we don't lose out on the shipping prices. All of this has to be done just from creating one item..and it is over and over again when we add more..and then don't forget to promote those items..anywhere youcan so it's more time spent on blogs and flickr and the like to get your name and product out there just to be seen. None of this is ever a guarantee either...doing all of this in no way solidifies a sale...all a gamble. So, you could have the greatest, best made and most creative handcrafted item in the world but if you don't impose all of the aforementioned steps for that piece then it won't matter if you're giving it away let alone trying to sell it! I rant about all of this because these steps are what consumes me and my time aside from the crafting portion of my venture. This is a very busy, make or break, time of year for crafters too. The craft show, fair, festival time of year is upon us all and that too is a gamble if you are a newbie to the 'circuit'...There is a laundry list of do's and dont's associated with success at these venues and I have yet to participate in one yet. On October 25th I will be attending my very 1st craft fair..fall festival. The majority of my time has been coming up with and crafting unique items of different price points. My goal for this show is of course to make $ but to also get my name and products out there among the public. Networking and word of mouth are big plusses for future success so if I am fortunate in that area then I am more than happy and will mark the success box!!! I will write again before the show and of course after it as well but I do have much more still to do and only hope that i'll be able to meet my own expectations and visions for this event!! Until then...

A Spotlight interview

Hi all! I am so very happy to share this spotlight with you all. A wonderful etsy shop owner and blogger has featured my shop on her blog. It was an in depth interview with some great questions for me to answer. The woman behind the blog, Amber, truly is a fantastic person, great blogger and proud owner of a growing etsy shop. I would love for you to follow the link to her blog where you can read the entire featured interview. http://naturalamber.wordpress.com/2008/09/19/etsy-spotlight-thinkoutsidethebox/ While you are there, take a moment to browse around Amber's blog too. She really has spent much of her own time to create a blog loaded with great tips for etsy sellers! There are many posts dedicated to this very topic with invaluable information for us all. Amber speaks from fabulous business experience so her advice should be taken very seriously! I thank her tremendously for spending her valuable and limited amount of time...even through a very bad illness these past few weeks....to selflessly promote my shop and others! Not only do I get this great feature full of limitless exposure but Amber has also shared some very heartfelt words of kindness about me as a person. I thank her over and over for everything! She also has her own personal website up and running now too! Take a moment to check it out in addition to her blog and etsy store. On her new site you, the buyer, will be able to easily request and create personalized and custom orders through the myriad of selections she has...here is the link http://www.Naturalamberdesigns.com and her etsy store... http://www.naturalamber.etsy.com I do hope everyone will take a few moments to check out all of the great links I've provided..enjoy! Rachel

Yet another really cool blog to visit!!!

You must have a look at this fabulous blog. It is another in the ever growing list of blogs and bloggers who selflessly spend their free time promoting OTHER etsy shops. Some of those featured on this blog and the others like it are in fact, direct competion for the blogger and their own etsy store..but they don't care becasue they are just super wonderful and caring people. They are worth having a look at for just that one reason alone not to mention the unique and cool ways that they have come up with to feature other sellers. This blog in particular, owned and run by Amanda, features countless other etsy shops by featuring a few each week, adding links to their shops, providing an item picture and then to top it all off..creating a super cool rhyme about that shop!!! For this I applaud these blogs and the people behind them who take the time out of their hectic daily schedules to spread around some promotional love in unique and creative ways to people other than themselves. All of this for nothing more than an occasional 'thank you'. Well, I thank you greatly from the bottom of my heart.. Visit Amanda's blog...Unique Fabric Needs... http://sygnetcreations.blogspot.com/ and again I'd like to showcase the tags and buttons blog because it was through her that I found Amanda's blog...(funny how all of these great individuals know one another!) http://tagsandbuttons.blogspot.com/ Thanks again ladies!!!!!