Archive for the ‘crafty business’ Category
This contributor post was written by Tiffany Moore.
Even though you’re likely stuck in the midst of holiday craziness, the time is here to start thinking about 2012 and how to set yourself up for success in the coming year. Today I’m offering three steps that will focus your efforts and to help ensure that 2012 is the best, most successful year to date in your creative business:
1. Set your intention for 2012
Spend some time figuring out what you want 2012 to look like for you. Not just your creative business, but your entire life. Who do you want to be? How do you want to spend your time? What goals (both personal and professional) would you like to accomplish? See What’s your Vison to help clarify if you need some tips.
2. Calendar out your big goals
Take a calendar and write out your goals for the year. Do you have a stationery business, but can’t seem to stay ahead of the holidays? Take a look at the year as a whole and determine now when you’ll need to get started on those mother’s day cards to get them to your wholesale accounts on time.
This is a great tool for helping you establish deadlines and processes as well as to help you figure out what jobs you’re able to say yes to as the year commences. The key is to stay deliberate and in control of your business, instead of having to approach it from a reactive standpoint.
3. Reflect & Repair
Now is the time to sit down and look at what worked and what didn’t work in 2012. Once you recognize what didn’t work, take some time to come up with a game plan for the new year.
For example, if you have no clear way of tracking the financial components of your various income streams (full disclosure: I’m totally guilty of this myself), now is the time to devise a system for 2012 so that you don’t find yourself scrambling in February to backtrack and set something up on the fly.
The key is to start with systems in place on January 1 so that the year will run as smoothly as possible. It can be done, I assure you!
Resource Roundup:
Jessica Swift’s printable 2012 Goal & Intentions Kit
Jennifer Lee’s Right Brain Business Plan
Craft Inc. Business Planner
Outright for small business accounting (Note: I have heard amazing things about this system and will be checking it out shortly. I’ll definitely report back to let you know what I think!)
Ali Edwards’ One Little Word 2012
What are YOU doing to set yourself up for success next year? Do you have any helpful resources to share?
I’d love to hear about them in the comments!
*image via stefanie renee photography: pink royal typewriter
Tiffany Moore, co-founder of Teahouse Studio is an artist, life coach, change agent and magic maker. She helps creatives live their happiest, most sparkly lives (starting NOW) and thinks that everyone in the world is beautiful, including you.
As a retailer, you should prepare months in advance for the Holiday season, but this doesn’t mean you can’t increase sales if you’re late to the game.
These 5 Quick and easy Action Steps will help you make more Holiday Sales this season:
1. “Hey, did I mention it’s the Holiday season?”
Do This: Sprinkle reminders you so happen to have a holiday sale and some holiday stock that would be perfect for gift-giving in your blog and social media posts.
2. Create a Holiday Sale for your online shop.
Do This: Get creative and make a fun holiday sale for your shoppers to enjoy, then promote it on your blog and social media sites.
3. Ask to Host Holiday Giveaways
Do This: Ask blogger friends if they’d be willing to host a Holiday giveaway for you, maybe you can do an exchange, too.
4. Make Gift Guides
Do This: Divide your shop into fun gift guides: for him, for her, for the kids, for tech-lovers, etc.
5. Make it seen: add buttons to your site
Do This: Add a prominent button on your blog or website to remind shoppers that you have holiday gifts available for sale.
Everyone’s looking for something handmade and special for friends right now, it’s up to you to remind them that you’ve got what they need. Just be natural and have fun. Don’t push too hard, you deserve to do some Holiday celebrating and R&R of your own!
(Just take notes on the experience now and get ahead on making Holiday merchandise with the new year!)
image credit Jolliest of Jollies letterpress print
Vanessa wrote this post. She is a full time copywriter and webmarketer with a passion for art, creativity, and thrift. She writes about thrifting, creating, and saving money every weekday on her blog, Thrift Core.
This contributor post was written by Tiffany Moore.
The holidays are here (whether we’re ready or not!) and, for many of you, now is that time that it all happens at once: holiday gatherings, family, extra shopping. Additionally, if you have a creative business, this is likely you’re busiest season.
Here are my tips for staying sane this holiday season AND for getting the really important things done:
- Say no to social media: I learned this trick from the lovely Erin Loechner — Social media sites like twitter and facebook should be used to connect and promote. That’s it. Having a hard time saying no? Try putting limits on your social media time: start with 15 minutes twice a day, and see how much else you are actually able to get done. Bonus: you might just surprise yourself with how little you miss.
- Do as much as possible as early as possible: Are you already dreading addressing your holiday cards? Make life as easy as possible for yourself by printing address labels NOW. Who cares that your cards aren’t ready? Once you get them picked out and back home, getting them into the mail will be easy peasy!
- Follow the flow of easy: Think you have to cook Thanksgiving dinner for 14 people and entertain the kids and host your family all by yourself? Let people help you! I repeat: LET PEOPLE HELP YOU! There are so many people in this world who are ready to love and support you…all you have to do is ask.
- Learn to distinguish the good from the great: Now is not the time to say yes to every opportunity that comes your way. An invite to a holiday party that sounds fun but that you aren’t feeling 100% about? You’ve got other plans. The chance to cook for the school’s annual bake sale when you’ve got etsy orders piling up? Sorry, but not this year. You can help in February. If you’re willing to commit to only saying yes to those things that really make you giddy, you’ll find that you’ll not only have more time to get your things done, but that you’ll also really love the things you say yes to.
Remember, during the holidays, time is just as valuable a resource as money and it’s up to you to spend it wisely. (Hint: you have a choice. You always have a choice)
*image via shannonblue photography: Christmas Candy Cane
Tiffany Moore, co-founder of Teahouse Studio is an artist, life coach, change agent and magic maker. She helps creatives live their happiest, most sparkly lives (starting NOW) and thinks that everyone in the world is beautiful, including you.
I am a little behind on sharing what I’ve been up to lately. So to square things up, I’ll just tell you about them now…
-Bridgette.de named papernstitch one of the 12 most beautiful Kreativ-Blogs (#5). Thanks so much Brigitte! Certainly an honor to be amongst the other ladies that were part of the top twelve.
-I recently created a holiday project for HGTV.com: how to make a unique floral holiday centerpiece (slide 18 is me).
-I did a mini interview with After Nine to Five, where I share my inspirations and the best piece of advice I’ve ever received.
-I wrote a post for Scoutie Girl about finding your zen. And another one called The Guide to Getting Anything Done in 3 Simple Steps. And oh yeah…One more about unleashing your secrets. Juicy stuff.
-I spill the beans on my strategies for getting things done, along with three other accomplished entrepreneurs, over on Psych Central.
-And I was interviewed by Coral Lee of Creative Women’s Business about defining your target market, doing market research, building a following and the common mistakes new creative business owners make. You can listen to the audio now. Its about 30 minutes. This will (hopefully) tide you over until my next podcast here on the blog. I know its been a while. I’m working on it.
*The insanely beautiful image above is from Myan Soffia (who is exhibiting in the current papernstitch exhibition). Amongst the cold weather and quickly falling leaves, I thought you could use a little more color in your day.
This contributor post was written by Genevieve of Lightbox SF.
When a new client comes to me I always start with their story. I ask them to tell me their story, tell me what makes them different, tell why I would buy their product over the competition. Most of them struggle; they don’t have the words because they haven’t really given it much thought. And to the ones that can rattle off confident answers to my questions I usually say, “Why doesn’t your website say all of that?”
Consumers want to find meaning; they want to know the why behind what they’re buying. It makes them feel like their making the right choice and it gives them a story to pass on. “I bought this handbag because the woman who made it is totally obsessed with vintage and every piece of fabric she uses is at least 20 years old.”
Look at the way you communicate with your customers, via your blog, Facebook page, Twitter feed, and website. Are telling your story? Do you share why you make what you do? Have you ever written about your process? Don’t be afraid to say what makes you different from your competition and if you solve a problem make sure that’s clear.
The obvious way to communicate your story is in your about page. Leading with a point of reflection or aha moment is a great way to bring customers in. They can relate to a struggle that lead you to design the “perfect” messenger bag for a more girly girl. Rewrite your about statement to include an aha moment and what really makes you different from the competition.
Your blog is also a great way to engage and connect with your fans. Post pictures of your process, talk about finding inspiration, tell us your backstory. Depending on how often you post make sure to work in one more personal or behind the scenes post every week or month. Some of you may have really personal blogs already, but are you sharing the things that set you apart or are you just sharing your life? There is a difference.
Your Twitter and Facebook posts are also a great way to tell more of your story. Post pictures of things that inspire you. Share blog posts that are part of your research. Talk about the problem you solve and how you are a great solution. Don’t be shy we really do want to know all of this.
What are some of your favorite crafters and designers that really share their story?
photo by Tascha
Genevieve Robertson writes about creative marketing strategies over at Lightbox SF. She helps makers, artists, and crafters brand their businesses by telling their stories and embracing what makes them unique.
This contributor post was written by Tiffany Moore.
Q: How do you eat an elephant?
A: One bite at a time.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about vision and how important it is to have a clear plan for what you really truly want your business to be.
This week’s post is all about action.
While vision is the road that we take to get our business where it needs to be, action is the car that allows us to move down that road and actually get somewhere!
Without action, vision means nothing.
So where does that leave you?
You have your vision. Awesome. You know why this is important. Great. Now what?
So often, it’s easy to get stuck there: now what?
“Eek! But my vision is so big and cool and awesome, it’s scary! I just can’t understand how I’d ever get from here to there,” says the artist who then buries her head in the sand which is one very effective way of getting nowhere fast.
How do you do it? How do you hold the vision while not letting the possibility of what can be paralyze you into not doing a thing?
You step outside of the vision and take the very next obvious step.
The next obvious step: If you are dreaming of opening up your own etsy shop so that someday you can spend all of your working hours making homemade jam in your beautiful kitchen but haven’t ever sold jam before, the next obvious step is not to research press releases and commercial kitchen locations.
The next obvious step is to make some jam that people will trade you money for.
The vision is what helps you determine what kind of decision to make and what choices will drive you. Where you are now (here. right now. get really real about this!) is what helps you determine what the next obvious step will be.
Trust this: those next-obvious-steps will get you to your vision if you have patience and keep taking them. Making the vision big and scary and impossible will not.
Which do you choose?
*image via UUPP: Do Small Things with Great Love
PS. What are your biggest struggles with your creative business? Time management, making time for yourself, trying to fit it all in? I’d love to hear about it for future posts!
Tiffany Moore, co-founder of Teahouse Studio is an artist, life coach, change agent and magic maker. She helps creatives live their happiest, most sparkly lives (starting NOW) and thinks that everyone in the world is beautiful, including you.
This guest post was written by Allisa Jacobs.
The holiday season is an exciting time for online creative businesses. The virtual hustle and bustle breathes vitality into your shop and the rush of orders keeps you on our toes. In the frenzy of gift wrapping and last minute shopping, it can be easy to overlook an awesome opportunity though. For online shops, the holidays mean you’re creating for two.
You’re creating for buyers but also their mums, daughters, friends, co-workers, relatives, and secret-santa partners – the recipients of their gifts. These are people who may not have otherwise had the opportunity to get to know your products or who are new to the handmade scene in general. So look at this period of gift-giving jubilee as a golden moment to welcome new folks to your brand.
Here are three tips on how to make the most of this wonderful opportunity and earn loyalty from both gift giver and receiver:
1. Make it gifty: While it’s certainly beneficial to offer super-lovely packaging year round, going the extra mile to prepare your orders for gift-giving can really set your item and shop apart from the rest. Buyers really do appreciate the tissue paper, gift cards, boxes, ribbon and such to make their order ready to share.
Plus, not only are you taking the burden off your customer, you’re also ensuring your item will look its best when presented to someone else!
2. Make it theirs: It can be challenging to offer during the holidays, but any sort of personalization makes for an ultra-thoughtful gift. Whether it’s a gift card with the package sent directly to the recipient or adding that extra customized touch to your product is a sure fire way to make your shop remarkable to them both.
On a personal note, during my first year selling on Etsy, a husband contacted me asking for a custom pouch with fabric and details he thought his wife would enjoy. It was created and shipped with much anticipation and covertness. She was absolutely overjoyed, both with the thoughtfulness of her husband and with my handiwork. Three years later, she is one of my most loyal and supportive customers.
3. Make it easy: Imagine someone gleefully opening up their gorgeously packaged gift sent to them by Aunt Bea in Kansas to find your amazing item tucked inside! Smitten and intrigued, they want to know more. They just HAVE to see more from this brand. In fact, they want to tell their whole world about this lovely handmade gift made by…made by…uh…who made this? There’s a tag without a website and of course Aunt Bea lost the business card. Googling produces 11,234 hits for something else. How will they ever find you?
Make it easy for your gift recipient. Perhaps attach a hang tag, include business cards for buyer and recipient, purchase those labels you’ve been putting off, and ensure your brand name is Googleable.
There you have it. Three tips to make your shop really stand out this holiday season. Not just for your current customers, but for your future ones as well.
Have your own tips to share for the holidays?
Leave your response in the comments below.
image credit mini animal snowflakes
About the author: Allisa is the dreamer and designer behind the Allisa Jacobs line of handbags and accessories. She love the process of making from sketch to finish. She also enjoys sharing her entrepreneurial insights and wrote an e-book, Rise & Shine, to help others develop their creative small businesses.
