♥lollipops: shop talk

Showing posts with label shop talk. Show all posts

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Shop Talk {Move to Storenvy}

here's why i moved to storenvy
it's free! no listing fees, NO selling fees! what? i don't know. yea, pretty awesome.
that was enough for me to decide right there.

i also love the storefront, they make my product photos look so awesome!
i easily added a pretty background.

i love the individual product pages

it's a social shopping experience...

great dashboard

if you want to pay, add your own domain and discount codes (still can't beat the deal!)

here's the bad
so far no orders.
really?
yes :(
help storenvy!
while i was with etsy i had my best sales out of the 3 places i have sold with.
is that just a coincidence?
not sure how to proceed other than keeping both etsy and storenvy
phasing out of bigcartel slowly as all my biz cards say bigcartel.
btw, just got an order through bigcartel last night! sooo, ahem.

for reference see my etsy vs bigcartel post here.

what do you think?

have you sold/shopped with storenvy?

xoxo,

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Inspiration & Incentives

Welcome to our last day of our shop talk series.

from piccsy

Staying Inspired is super important. Sometimes we get stuck in a rut and can't reach that part of our brain that is creative. Other times we are flowing with so many ideas we can't write them down fast enough! I find when I walk away from the computer, TV, magazines is when I have a burst of ideas. They usually pop into my head at the most inconvenient of times, such as while I am driving or showering, or almost asleep! These times are when the mind is quiet and has a chance to explore, ponder, and brainstorm freely without limits. And always, always, always write your ideas down the minute you can. Keep an idea book for all your ideas and inspiration so you can remember that innovative product and refer to it. I have a binder with tabs for Blog, Shop, School, Children's lessons and such. One binder to put everything in :)

Brainstorming is one of my favorite things to do - there are no bad ideas during a brainstorming session, isn't that great?!! You can be as out of the box impossible as you want to be. Then later focus and see if these ideas are possible somehow. What if you hired help for something that is our of your skill set? Would it be worth it? Are there things you can learn to make your terrific ideas a possibility? You can do it!

Taking regular breaks is key for your mind to quiet and allow for inspiration.

I also find that life experience keeps me inspired. Saying no to going out with friends and going places and hanging out with family only leads to isolation, which leads to depression, which makes for a very stifled imagination, it might as well be extinct if your life is cut off.

from Departika

Find ways to incentivize yourself when you are hitting a wall or getting burnt out. Besides taking regular breaks also consider rewarding yourself when you finish the job. Instead of having that cookie, or the new boots now, reward yourself with them when you meet your reasonable goals.

from enjoy cupcakes

It keeps you motivated with something to look forward to, a goodie like a carrot waiting on the other end when you're done! Go to coffee, get a pedi, bake, go out to the movies with friends. Yay! you did it! Celebrate! It doesn't have to be something big you finished, just reward yourself when are feeling glum. It will put a smile on your face and a spring in your step + you will probably work faster :)

To conclude our series I wanted to leave you with some experts in the field
and how they can help you...

I took the class Blog Love from Elsie Flanigan of a beautiful mess. It was a wonderful view into how she got her start and key elements of work and staying inspired and motivated.

I loved Indie Biz 3.0 from Leigh-Ann, Lisa, and Jill. It was chock-full of a ton of stuff I had no clue how to do - you know the nuts and bolts - the logical stuff that my creative mind doesn't go flocking towards such as pricing your products, organizing your calendar, advertising, hiring help, finding resources, making your schedule work with family and life, production, packaging and so much more. No indie shop owner should be with out this 6 week course! They will begin Indie Biz 4.0 early winter this year so be sure to check it out!

Staying connected to shops and blogs and networking at craft shows, and conferences will also be a huge asset to you and your business. Having support by your closest family members is also necessary. Just that they believe in you is all that is needed anything above that is frosting on your cupcake :)

Thank you so much for joining me!

xoxo,

krystina

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Shop Talk | Collecting $$

Welcome to day twelve of our shop talk series!

Etsy and bigcartel use paypal for completing transactions for orders. You sign up for a paypal account and your money goes from your shop to your paypal account and then you can deposit it into your linked bank account. Paypal is safe and easy, I have used it for 10 years -since my old eBay days!

What I am really excited to tell you about is an awesome app called

I love square. This free app works with your iPad, iPod Touch, and iPhone! They will send you a free credit card reader that plugs into your headphone jack and swipes credit cards for a small fee!

Bring it to dinner with friends and charge your friends' credit cards when they forget to bring cash! HAHA! Just go to squareup.com sign up - super easy. They will mail out your card reader, perfect for boutiques, trunk sales, home shows, flea markets, and craft fairs. I love how it let's the buyer sign right on your device with their finger and emails a receipt to them instantly with my logo and shop information on it!

Happy selling!

xoxo,

krystina

all photos courtesy of squareup.com

Friday, September 16, 2011

Shop Talk Live Twitter Chat

Calling all craftepreneuers: Join me for a special one-hour chat on Twitter today at 12 noon PST about our shop talk series!

How this works, and how can I participate?
First things first, if you haven’t yet signed up on Twitter — now would be a perfect moment to grab your account.

Also, follow me on twitter @lollipopscards

The way “Twitter chats” work is that people connect by using and following a specific hashtag. We’ll be using the “#shoptalk” hashtag. A hashtag is simply a special keyword (often preceded by a # symbol) that you add to your tweet, which lets people know you’re responding to a particular conversation or issue and connects you with others around topics of common interest.

So, for example, a sample tweet to join this chat could be: “Hi, my name’s Margaret, and I want to know how you organize your day as a biz owner. #shoptalk” (note the hashtag inserted at the end)

Also if you search for #shoptalk and keep that window open you will see all tweets for this chat whether or not you follow the tweeters :)

To see the shop talk series first visit this link: Shop Talk

Talk soon!
krystina

Productivity & Balance

Welcome to day eleven of our shop talk series.

My biggest challenge is balance.

Taking care of myself, exercising, eating right, taking a break, spending quality time with the family.

Quality time: not nagging, disciplining, just being together sometimes one on one if possible. It is a challenge to do all of these things, however, when I do them I find that the kids are happier and well behaved so it is easier for me to focus with less interruptions. I feel better when I eat right and exercise, I have more energy and am happier in general. Getting my rest and relaxing once in a while allows my mind to quiet - and when it does new ideas come jumping in!

Balance doesn't just happen. You need to plan it. Literally write it in your schedule - exercise, quality time with family, and resting.

It's helpful having meals planned out like, breakfast tomorrow is over easy egg on wheat toast with a banana and glass of milk, lunch is greek salad and iced tea, dinner is roasted chicken and root vegetables and glass of water. You can write down a week's or month's worth of menus or sometimes I just jot down an idea during the day so I won't forget my bright idea for dinner when I am starving and the kids are screaming :)

Time for me? Maybe something like this:
Saturday from 11-3 no work. relax, read, lay in the pool, take a walk, sketch. No phone calls, no emails, no social networking UNPLUG for 4 hours a week at least! I pick my toddler's nap time and tell my girls to go read or something or they go off with dad for a walk or ice cream.

The key is planning. If this is done I am more collected, focused, inspired, healthier, happier, and efficient!

I recently read these tips from Robin Sharma on productivity. I believe if you plan these into your schedule you will be balanced and productive.

From Robin Sharma; "I wanted to share 17 of the tactics I’ve learned that I know will help you lean into your productive best in this age of dramatic distraction:"
I love how he said dramatic distraction - it's so true.
Note the down times and boundaries on interruptions.
I have a really hard time doing 10 and 14.
The surfer guy has been getting me up at 5:30 am and doing power workouts with me. The first 2 days I thought I was going to die. Now I'm doing ok. It's a boost and I am glad I am finally doing it. Download this list and print it out and see what you can work towards.

xoxo,

krystina

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Etsy & Bigcartel

I love the ease of use that both these online shops have.

Bigcartel is easy, just sign up add your wares and you're off!
Etsy, same thing.
With bigcartel you can customize the HTML and have ads and change the colors.

Also on bigcartel, people are shopping your shop, not seeing any other competition.
On etsy there are millions of shops with so many beautiful goodies.

However, you might get noticed on etsy because of this, where-as with bigcartel you must drive all your own traffic. If no-one knows you're there then your shop won't get visited. On bigcartel you don't have to have an account to shop as you do through etsy. I wanted to make it easier for my customers to shop so I moved to bigcartel. When I moved from etsy to bigcartel I only had 30 views a day... That was with 200+ blog followers and 400 twitter followers. My sales actually went down once I moved from etsy. I then decided to use both. I already printed my bigcartel shop on my biz cards so I didn't want to close it. Now I am getting orders through both, but slightly more from etsy believe it or not!
Etsy has a wonderful team of help! Every few days I get fabulous newsletters on selling, pricing, ideas, marketing etc.

Etsy is more of a community with groups and circles - it's very fun!
Etsy has a 20 cent listing fee per item and then a percentage of the sale. Bigcartel charges a flat rate per month starting at $10 - there is a free option to list 5 items - this might work for you.

There are several other online shopping sites, however, I am unfamiliar with them and am happy with etsy and bigcartel.

Take a few moments or hours and research the best fit for you. If you already have a huge following, you might save money with bigcartel.

Happy researching and shopping ;P

xoxo,

krystina

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Why Social Networking

Welcome to day nine of our shop talk series!

Without social networking, namely twitter, I would not know many of the amazing handmade community of bloggers that i so love. I would also be completely unknown. Twitter is a great way to get to know people in whatever type of community you choose and a great way to get noticed.

by paddy

However, social networking is not a megaphone that you shout at your followers and friends with. It is not an ever changing billboard to advertise your latest creations on.

The word networking defined is: the exchange of information or services among individuals, groups, or institutions; specifically : the cultivation of productive relationships for employment or business
-Meriam Webstern online dictionary

Keep the conversation going. I might post, "listening to Phoenix right now - I love this album." Someone might tweet back their favorite song on that album or they just got that for their sister last week. Cool, I just connected with someone new and am building a relationship. later i might post "getting so excited about this new stationery I am working on!!!!", building curiosity with my connections. Then later posting a link to the shop for said stationery. It's important to reply to my friends' and followers' posts further connecting and building those relationships. I also make it a good practice to re-tweet (RT) my friend's promotional links.

I like having my twitter, and facebook name match my blog/shop. It makes it easier for me to find others this way and for me to connect the tweeter to the shop to the blog etc

Facebook is also a great tool for getting to know others and getting noticed by others. However, I have noticed more friends on facebook are less likely to click the link to my blog or shop, they may "like" it or comment right there on facebook instead of on my blog. For facebook you can share all the same promotions, and maybe have a special discount code for facebook followers only, and it's a great place to ask a question pertaining to your shop, or do a game like trivia about you/your shop with a prize from your shop.

Be careful automating any social network posts - I don't like doing these. When Osama Bin Laden was captured and everyone was tweeting about it - I saw a few automated tweets advertising blogs, shops, whatever, and it was most likely a little embarrassing for the tweeter. You never know what big news might hit like Japan's tsunami, a devastating earthquake, God forbid, and you auto-tweeted a new scarf just listed in your shop. Another problem with auto-posting is when it goes up -whatever it is- and someone replies right away, you're not there. It's just kinda odd. Seems a bit fake.

* So be real.
* Build relationships.
* Make new connections.
* And promote your wares and blog posts :)

Another great place to learn about social networking and doing it right is from @unmarketing - he has a very popular book on the topic :) Also if you are attending Blog Sugar Gussy will be sharing how to grow your business with social media.

Unmarketing's Scott Stratten suggests "follow and mean it". And I do, you should too.

Your assignment today is to set up a twitter account if don't already have one and get ready for our live twitter chat from the shop talk series this Friday September 16th 12:00-1:00pm PST

See you tomorrow for Etsy and Bigcartel

xoxo,

krystina

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Creating Newsletters

Welcome to day eight of our Shop Talk series!

In this day and age email is the most efficient way to send newsletters. With printing costs and stamps mailing out newsletters the old fashioned way would be pretty, but could run you into the hundreds of dollars per mailing. Email is free and so is MailChimp. There are other newletter services like Emma and iContact - they will provide you with beautiful newsletters for a fee. Fees usually depend on the number of subscribers you are sending them to and depending on how pretty the newsletter features are.

MailChimp is free up to a certain about of subscribers like 1000 or something and then they charge fees for the number of subscribers after that.

Take the time to design your first newsletter. It took me a while to understand MailChimp. Chose a template,

add photos, type in all your sweet info and save.

You have to have subscribers in a list before it will send. They will need to subscribe through your blog or shop or signing a mailing list from a craft show. You can add each one manually as long as you have the subscriber's permission. Once you have a mailing list you can send out your first newsletter!

Newsletters are a great way to promote your shop and

share information and discounts to your loyal customers!

My fall newsletter will be hitting inboxes later this week :)

See you tomorrow for Social Networking :)

xoxo,

krystina

Monday, September 12, 2011

Advertising and Accepting Advertisers

photo by anna betts

I have just started to do this on my blog. Accepting sponsors has helped with expenses but still doesn't come close to matching up with the amount of time I spend planning and writing my blog. If you plan to blog realize that it is a huge investment of time and energy. And that sponsors take 6 months to 2 years to begin advertising with you depending on your exposure.

I advertised first with my friends like Gussy Sews, Allora Handmade and The Pleated Poppy. I also have been featured on several blogs including Lisa Leonard's. Advertising gets people to know you even exist and where. The trick is consistent exposure. When someone lands on your site you want them to stay for a while AND come back. So before advertising you need to work on your blog and/or shop content. Make sure you like it and it's you. The writing should be thought out and purposeful and the photography should be interesting or nice eye candy for your visitors to drool over.

As an advertiser you can send your HTML code to the blog you are advertising with so the fonts, spacing, and picture sizes are how you specify, just check with the blogger on the width you can have for pictures on her blog. To do this write a post in your blog but don't publish. View it in compose in HTML, copy and paste it as code into your email to the blogger.

Once you get a good following you can accept advertisers. Adjust your rates according to your weekly or monthly visitors. Look around and see what blogs with your numbers are charging for advertising and be reasonable. Before accepting a sponsor some bloggers like to make sure they are a good fit, for instance you may not want a wood chip company on your sewing blog/shop. Give your sponsors a lot of love on your blog, facebook, twitter, pinterest etc. Make sure they look good for their monthly feature on your blog and you have their submissions a few days before the post date in case there are any kinks to work out. You can include Ads on your shop site as an added bonus to the advertiser or if you don't blog.

You should have analytics in your shop and blog so you can see how many views you have. You can also see your top referrers to see how many people are coming to your blog/shop from the blog your are sponsoring and if your sponsorship is effective. Site Meter is very thorough and google analytics is easy. Just type in your blog/shop web address and then copy and paste the code in your blog/shop where they tell you. After 24 hours you will have access to all sorts of fun numbers and information!

Today your assignment is to calculate your advertising budget, and look for blogs and shops similar to yours with a large following that you would like to sponsor. To find blogs that are a good fit for you if you are unsure, google your craft and look into the blogs that come up. If they offer sponsorship ask for their monthly visitors. Look if they have a subscription chicklet displaying the number of people subscribed to their blog and/or a google friend connect followers widget to see how many followers they have. Look at what they write about and how many comments they are receiving. Look at how they feature their sponsors.

Here is a neat worksheet for getting started

See you tomorrow for Creating Newsletters.

xoxo,

krystina

Saturday, September 10, 2011

How to Make Your Own Email Signature -Video-

Welcome to day six of our Shop Talk series!

So far this is as close as I will get to "vlogging" :)
I hope it is helpful. Enjoy!

After you watch the video and create your signature, you can add a shop link to you signature so when the email recipient clicks your signature their browser will open to your online shop :)

Here's how to add the link:
In Apple Mail compose a new email and add your signature to the body.

Highlight the part of the signature you want to add a link to and click edit,

and then click link and "add"

Type in the URL.

Click OK. Then copy and paste that signature replacing your signature in "Signatures".

It will look the same but now have the link!

Happy designing! See you tomorrow for Advertising.

xoxo,

krystina

Friday, September 9, 2011

Design & Code Your Own Shop Button

Welcome to day five of our Shop Talk series!

I hope you've enjoyed the series so far :)

Today I will share a bit about how to make a "button".

A button is HTML code to display a picture of your product and

link to your online shop when clicked.

You can use your button on your own blog, in email newsletters,
and as your ad for advertising your shop on other blogs.

I recommend using a photo of your core product(s) importing it into picasa 3, picnik, or photoshop,

whichever you are most comfortable with.

Picasa and picnik are super easy. Just import your photo and add text (shop name?). You can change colors & fonts if you like. Then you will upload the photo to picasa, flickr, photobucket... and all you have to do is use the link to that photo inside the code that tells the browser which photo to display.

here's how to code:

So this code will display my what i love wednesday button:

See you tomorrow for Email Signature DIY ;)

xoxo,

krystina

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Book Recommendations

Welcome to day four of our shop talk series!

I love books, especially helpful ones.

I am usually reading non-fiction, there is always so much to learn.

Here are some great books to help you with your shop!

Craft Inc by Meg Mateo Ilasco; my friend Lindsey of the pleated poppy recommended this book to me.

Craft Inc has mini interviews with artists who started at the beginning just like us. In this book they share their mistakes, successes, and inspiration. Meg gives a ton of business sense, advice, and how to's. From pricing to employees to what to do about burnout. It's put together very nicely, easy to read either cover to cover or a quick reference!

The Handmade Marketplace by Kari Chapin

The Handmade Marketplace is similar to Craft Inc and my favorite sections from this book are: branding your business, setting up an inspirational space, and crafting in a small spaces.

Unmarketing by Scott Stratten

Scott was the closing keynote speaker at Blissdom 2011 and talks about marketing by getting to know your customers, having conversations with them instead of broadcasting AT them. Scott has transformed several companies with his strategies. One of my favorite tweets from Scott - "Every time you auto-cross post to Twitter from Facebook/LinkedIn, a unicorn dies." :) follow scott @unmarketing

Hire Blog Help by Jeannett Gibson

Jeannett of life rearranged recently came out with an ebook. Affordably priced for those who need virtual help with their blogs. It has guests like Lindsey Cheney, Maggie Whitely and Lisa Leonard for help and great ideas. This is mostly for blogging, so if you have a blog or are starting one + a shop you will have your hands full. I highly recommend this book!

Also look for books pertaining to your craft in particular + online video tutorials.

See you tomorrow for Designing & Coding Your Own Shop Button!

xoxo,

krystina

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Photographing Your Wares

Welcome to day three of our shop talk series!

The most important thing i have learned while taking photos of my wares is lighting. The best light? Bright indirect daylight, you don't want the sun directly on your goods, and you don't want shadows. Indoors, near a window is always easiest for me. There are some wares that reflect flash like paper, leather, seqiuns, metal, glass, and glitter -this makes it hard to tell what the product really looks like. You can also use a light box - this is a great homemade light box DIY!

Another important aspect is details. Your product details and the details in the picture with your product. Make sure there is no unfinished stitching, dried glue, dust, etc your product needs to be finished and perfect ready to deliver to your bestie or your most loyal customer (all your products should show your best workmanship every time for all customers). Then the details around your wares - do you have a vintage looking necklace to sell? Maybe place it with vintage shoes or a purse in the background.

Maybe even simpler, a vintage lamb figurine. Just something that gives a feel to the photo. Maybe you only photograph your goods with a pretty, unintrusive fabric in the background. Other ideas: a pretty tea cup, a delicate leaf, brick wall, graffiti, glass pebbles, cork, weathered wood fence/planks, shells, a simple flower, old postal stamps, children's toys, a typewriter, a stack of books, tools that help create your product, the possibilities are endless. Pinterest is a great place to get ideas of details in the background for your photos. I also like design*sponge, a beautiful mess, and a freckled nest.

Try to experiment with different angles it's easy to take a photo of your product looking down at it straight on from above. Although it may be more interesting to take a photo of it from one corner or side almost from the same surface going across your product with the focus.

Or try only focusing on one important aspect of your product while slightly blurring the rest. Can you photograph your product in use, being worn, held by a child's hands, or with items people use it with?

For instance stationery could be photographed with a pen at a desk, maybe even with someone writing a letter on that pretty stationery. A child cupping a necklace charm in their delicate hands. A model (or a friend) wearing your purse or maxi dress on the beach looking out at the ocean.

Again the possibilties are endless. Look at the big guys like Anthropologie, Starbucks, or Apple - how do they get you to want? Just because you're small or just starting out doesn't mean you can't employ the same techniques :)

Ok today your assignment is to try taking photos of your goods with all the details set, experimenting with different backgrounds and angles. Choose 3 of your favorite, blog about them to share your work on our linky party next Saturday September 17th. You could even post before & after (this assignment) what improved in your photography.

See you tomorrow for recommended books :)

xoxo,

krystina

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Time Management

Welcome to day 2 of our Shop Talk series!

Part of having your own shop and selling wares means you need to do things, have a plan, and stay focused. Being busy doesn't necessarily mean you are productive. You might even be more tired than you need to be.

Write down how your schedule looks right now then next to it write how you would like it to look - add things you want to be doing and should be doing. Are you focused or meandering throughout the day? Having goals and setting appointments will keep you focused and productive.

Also having a place for everything and everything in it's place is extremely time saving!

Several planner companies have a system you can learn from their website to stay focused and efficient while reaching your goals each day.

some great planners/calendars are

Much ado about you... ( my favorite )

i have also used franklin covey and day timer in the past...

franklin covey

day-timer

The key is to use it! Write everything you need to do in it, all of your appointments, and engagements. Then look at it everyday. If you don't write everything in it it is useless. If you don't look at it everyday it is useless. The whole point of keeping a planner (this took me several years to realize) is to write in it and refer to it everyday. We can't hold everything in our heads and it's exhausting when we try to. Give yourself a break, write it down and focus on life and work :)

I highly recommend reading franklin covey's how to set goals and write a mission statement. This teaches you how to work toward something you want everyday, while doing it with your best character and values.

I also have used iCal - I love the alarm feature. I also love the fact that I can customize the colors on iCal.

Here's a quick tutorial:
control click the calendar you want to change the color of I chose my blog schedule
click "get info"