Putting it Together - Four Months - A Diary of Progress

Some of you may know that I've  been writing a blog called Four Months - A Diary of Progress for ... well ... almost 4 months now. I started to write it to keep me honest about making a plan to improve my income by either selling my jewelry wholesale or going back to product design. See, my daughter Poppy, is sick and tired of sharing her tiny house with me and wants me out of her living room, so I feel inclined to oblige.


My plan is to prepare my jewelry business for wholesale by:

• Increasing my product line
• Rethinking my current product and approach
• Calculating profit by spreadsheet to get a better handle on worth
• Making a Website geared toward wholesale clients including wedding
• Revising packaging for retail stores
• Creating a brochure for wholesale
• Making a Press Kit
• Reading Posts on improving my business
• Utilizing social networking 

I planed to work on my potential Product Design business by:

• Designing a Portfolio website for potential clients
• Improving my Design skills
• Adding new Open Designs to my portfolio
• Making updates and adding contacts on linkedin
• Contacting potential Clients

I've been working very hard on both plans and the idea was to decide between the two businesses. It turns out that my work has increased my business already, And I hadn't planned to put it all into action until May. I just added product to my jewelry, that has attracted attention, and I updated my linkedin account and that got clients calling.

In March my total income (not profit) increased by $800. $400 was for product design, and nearly $300 was for jewelry. I think I didn't sell that much in jewelry in 2011 altogether. I reinvested a lot of that profit into my plan. I sold more on Etsy, but since the move to Artfire, I haven't had that much traffic. Now with the boost from sales increases and the extra promotion (wanelo and pinterest) I rank higher and get much more traffic there.

I made daily posts on the blog, so there are a lot of posts, but there is a lot of ideas and links to where I got my ideas. If you are really interested in improving your business, you might get some great tips there.

Bizz Buzz - Storm Kit

I had a really bad two week period of illness. It came and went, but mostly came. My daughter was very ill to, so when I was OK, I had to help her with her kids. It kind of put a damper on my new design progress. I was lucky to complete orders I had and I really hope they were OK. There were days I was sewing, that I could barely see.

I thought today, that I have an emergency "Storm Kit" for the house in the event we get stuck here, or the power is out for a few days.I have water stored, and fuel stoves to cook the abundant canned and boxed food with. We have enough to keep us going for probably a week if needed. I could figure a way to run the lake water through our sink filter if we need more. But what about my business?

I'm really not prepared for an emergency with my business. We do have the phone to go on the internet to talk to buyers, but that won't work to list new items. I can't even really drive my laptop to a hotspot without a car. The most important thing is to stay in communication with your shops or websites.

I like to have a supply of most things I am selling on hand so I don't have to run to the store. I'd love to have a backup plan for product. My daughter could make most of my sewn items for me, but she can't make my jewelry. There are some in stock already made. Maybe I should tag them in stock, so that she could deactivate the jewelry I didn't have in stock.

Another great idea, is to leave a few details about your business for your family. I mean, you could slip on a muddy rock and hit your head and not wake up for a few days. Your family could package the things you have ready to go. I guess a detailed note would be a good addition to the "Storm Kit"

Think about the possibility of disaster and what you can do to keep your business storm proof, Are you Ready?

Biz Buzz - Marketing and Loss Leaders

If you read my interview on Maiden Jane's Blog you would know that I was once a Marketing Major. Not that I am a pro, but I do have a lot of product and retail experience. And I do know what brings people to a site or store.

When I first heard that Walmart was removing all of their fabric from their stores, I thought they were, quite honestly, out of their freaking mind. Sure it might take more labor to cut the fabric, and the profit might be very low, but how many people, especially in this economy, come to Walmart JUST to buy the fabric at such great prices, and while they are there, pick up a few extra things. I know I'm not the only one.

That Marketing scheme is called Loss Leader. That link takes you to a wonderful detailed explanation, with great examples, but basically you offer one really good priced items to get people into your store or site so they stay to shop for others.

Of course if you have a jewelry shop on a seller site, or maybe a very specific item like kitchen cutting boards, buyers are not going to hang around your shop and buy lots of your merchandise, no matter how much of a discount you are giving on one item. But you never know.

Another great Marketing idea I use is a leader. Similar idea, just not down priced. The fabric at Walmart is also a leader, because people will come, even if the price is not low, just for the convenience. I always have a current trend item or two in my shop, even if it doesn't sell, just to get people into my shop through search engine. For example I have Halloween Jewelry in my jewelry shop and Halloween Aprons right now in my Apron's Etc shop. Poppy has costumes on her genre Artfire shop, and with links, she is also getting sales to her non genre shop.

Good leaders are holidays, seasonal (summer BBQ, winter skiing, etc), trends, birthstones, horoscopes, and color trends. Also, don't forget that seasons are reversed across the globe. You need to do whatever you can to get the buyer into your shop. Then offer such wonderful product, that they don't want to leave without buying a thing or two. And don't turn your nose up at Target or Walmart marketing ideas, because they make money and that's why you sell right?

As for the removal of the fabric departments in Walmart? Well I guess they should have hired me, although I'm sure they wouldn't have listened anyhow. I had a lot of bosses that didn't think I knew what I was talking about. Silly guys.

Look at this add from Walmart. They are now bringing back the fabric departments they removed. They could have saved themselves a lot of money and trouble if they just asked me