Indie Seller Tips - Refreshing Your Shop

I've been looking around at some shops lately and I see that for the past 4 years some of you have been selling the exact same merchandise. Many of you have improved and changed. But it's a very competitive market out there. If you're selling the same thing as you had in the past, or you're selling the same thing as 1000 other shops, why should people come to yours.

I've also found that my felt flowers, no matter how lovely, do not sell well on Artfire. I am going to revise my offerings at akaCINDERS. I will still have a limited flower section, but I just can't live off of the very few customers I have that love them. This is busy season, so I need to focus on other things, and work on it later.







I have focused heavily on PoppysGardenGate, which is my bread and butter. I have added several new items this year and it's paying off. Some I dreaded adding, but turns out they weren't so bad and fairly easy to make, like the new purse that is doing very well after only two short weeks online.

 I've added bow ties, and I'll be adding men's neckties soon. Not looking forward to that one either. I have even started to design my own fabrics on Spoonflower and I will continue to make more original fabrics as soon as I have free time.


I'm trying to be competitive, and it's working. I'm looking for trends and meeting buyers needs. That's what we need to do.


 Be flexible, even if you're old and set in your ways. If you're not satisfied with how your business is doing, take a good long look at it. Take a look at your competition. Is there anything you can do to make your business successful?

More Ramblings on Why we Create

I've been writing about how we can create better art, but more importantly I think I have to write about why we would create a craft or art. Through the years art has been primarily an expression of religious beliefs. There was a period in European history that even a noble-person's self portrait had to be incorporated in a religious painting. It's only been in the past few hundred years that Art has been used for self expression. We are very lucky to be living in this age.

As many of you know, I've lost my most lucrative selling venue recently. I was crushed at first, but it allowed me to look at you all and myself from a different perspective. I realized that what I was doing was spending a lot of my time promoting the venue I was selling on and not spending time, honing my craft, creating, or exploring the world outside of the venue.

I see what that venue has done to me and others. It has taken nice people and made rivals of them. It has created petty infighting, jealous rages, animosity and more importantly social (or anti-social) cliques. If you step back from what you are doing, you can see that it is the venue and your fight for exposure that has led to an unreasonable amount of stress in your life.

I, for one, am taking it easy. I plan to make money, not from my art, but other sources. I will go back to painting for creative release and maybe one day list them on Big Cartel.

Many of you are successful selling on Etsy, but if you aren't making minimum wage, after you factor in your time on your craft, photography, editing, listing, shipping, promotion, and constantly running to the Front Page or craftcult to see if you've made it. Is it really worth the stress?

I guess more than anything I would suggest that you look at your fellow artists as resources, not enemies. Relax and enjoy your craft and worry about the sales lastly. Do your craft because you love it, not because you can make money from it. You will be happier and your blood pressure and stomach pain will both reduce a bit. Say to yourself, today, I'm going to do something really different. Today I'm going to say a kind thing to someone who made me angry. I have, and it feels good.

If you choose to continue to sell on line, you do have to promote, you do have to try to get on the FP, but don't make your life revolve around it. There is a bigger world out there to live in. Success is not always counted, by the money in your bank account.