Changing the Way we Create - One Puppy at a Time

"Sit in this cubicle, with these gray walls, don't talk to any of the other designers, don't leave the office, and create something amazing that we can sell or you will get a pay cut and a demotion. Remember, don't talk to anyone and don't use the computer for anything other that communication with staff or to do your design work on. No browsing websites."

Does this sound familiar to any of you? If it doesn't you haven't ever worked in an office as a professional designer. Maybe this is too extreme. I was allowed to browse the internet occasionally and I did talk to the designers, but then I got written up on it at review time. I talked too much. How does one stay creative without ANY outside influence? I did get to travel occasionally too, to Mexico, Asia and shows in other states for work. Not totally sheltered, but not as much stimulus as a designer really needs.

I got to the point in my life, where I decided that I would rather have a job standing and scanning, than having a supervisor standing behind me, watching me work, over my shoulder. As a matter of fact, mid menopause, I blew up at the owner who was doing just that. There was more to it, but the explosion left me totally disillusioned and needing to escape. I joined the circus, figuratively. First starting on Etsy, then moving around the internet and now on Artfire and my own website. I did a little freelance work at first, and still do a little, but I seem to pick the scariest companies to work for. I think there must be good ones too.

Creativity has to be fed. No matter what way you find you need it. If human contact is the way, or travel, or just browsing the internet for inspiration. Did you know that many art museums have virtual exhibits? They do. It's pretty amazing. Better in person, but not bad online.

I think, like our country, the model for the workplace was created by old school white men. I think if we want to get anywhere in the global economy, we all need to tear down those gray walls install lavender sofas, and all sit down with a puppy, next to a bouquet of roses with a cup of Chai tea, a sketchpad and ideate (that's a product design term) together.

Life on Mars - Business as UNusual

At the beginning of this year I wrote a blog about spending Four Months trying to increase my sales of my handmade jewelry and doing some freelance design work because I really didn't enjoy making the Aprons and Bow ties as much as I liked making the jewelry and designing.

It's really the sewing thing. I have to cut fabric on the floor and it hurts my aging hips and knees, and I have a hard time actually seeing what I'm sewing. Meaning I have to wear reading glasses to sew, then I can't see anything else when I look away. It's kind of a pain.

I guess I have to wear them to make jewelry too, but I just need to complain. It's who I am.

Well I did increase business in my jewelry shop a bit, by reviewing my product and making some serious changes. Mostly I added reasonably priced brooches and have sold a lot of those and some large orders too. But still, that shop income is nothing to make a living at.

As for my design career, I'm sure the small commissions I get will be good, and it is fun, but I'm not willing to give up my freedom at the moment, to go at it full time, and that's where the money really is.

I have however, found that opening up a real store on eBay has found me the income I really needed, through my Aprons, Bow Ties and Pillowcases. Yes, the thing I really didn't want to do. By opening a store, and a facebook page and more promotions, I've nearly doubled my sales from last year. However, that does include better jewelry sales, and freelance design commission, no matter how small those are.

I've resigned myself to sewing. I've even accepted it as my lot in life at this moment in time. I'll still keep my jewelry shop open, and work on new merchandise for a time, but my main focus right now is income. And after all, those designs are cute too. Now I need to finally design those messenger bags I've been wanting to make. And maybe, just maybe, I'll add some jewelry to my eBay store.

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 - Life Without Etsy Part Deux

I had another post written for today, I bumped it to next week because I wanted to write this post about my amazing Daughter Poppy.

About a year ago, Etsy made an unfair decision to shut down Poppy's shop. She had been on Etsy for years and was a top supporter and a top seller of handmade original clothing designs. She also reconstructed shirts and there was where the problem lay. While she sells reconstructed shirts on other sites without problem, Etsy chose to remove her and all of her shops including one we shared, because of excessive flagging, even though her items were legally made and the flagging not valid. Etsy didn't listen to reason. You can read more about the incident in these past posts. Etsy Shop Closings

Poppy's clothes are beautiful, original and wonderfully comfortable and well constructed. She's amazing at her craft. Watching her design is a treat. She gets an idea in her head, lays out fabric and just cuts it. She takes her pieces to the machine and just like magic it's perfect. No patterns, no measuring and she can reproduce it over and over without pattern, in any size. I could never sew for her when she was in the hospital, because her patterns are all in her head. When she was on Etsy, she was on the front page regularly. You remember her adorable Poppy Longstockings I'm sure.

This month Poppy is Clearing out her Poppy shop on Artfire at ridiculously low prices as she prepares to close shop. She has to go back the the Genre fashion that brought her to Etsy from eBay. It makes me very sad, and I'm sure it makes her even sadder to see all of that wonderful work sold for practically nothing. But Artfire and eBay are a different animal than Etsy was.

Poppy will still have her genre shop, Poppy's Wicked Garden but that's her cash cow, not her heart and soul. I know how she feels, because I'm not selling my beloved product either, but I chose to try another path with it. Poppy has a new baby and doesn't have the time to try other markets, when she has product that sells.

So if you get a chance, stop by Poppy and pick up a great deal, or tell Poppy how great you think her designs are. She'll appreciate that.

Thank You Poppy for Making the world a prettier place.

The Art of Art

You know the old saying those that can do, those that can't teach? Well apparently I am past my prime in doing and am ready to pass on my wisdom.

I suppose it's hard for me to create anew, when my over active mind is full of all the sights and treasures I've laid my old tired eyes on. I have a fairly eidetic (photographic) memory. Mostly for images, but occasionally I can see a page of text I have recently worked on. So when I remember my shock and awe at the size of the Mona Lisa, I'm still looking at her with the crowd of Japanese tourists posing in front of her. No Flash Please!

I can see the beautifully carved Buddha in the caves at Guilin, China and the lovely intricate metal and stonework and Tapestries from the Musee Cluny in Paris. I can even see myself working on the chalk ghost picture that I made in second grade, that I loved so much and still have.

Was there a point to all this? Oh yes. I have a lot that I can share and I've decided to do it here.

Lesson one of the Art of Art starts Thursday with the three most important elements of Art. The road to becoming a true Artist. I hope you'll tune in. I think it will be quite an adventure.

An interview with POPPY

This is the first of many interviews. I chose Poppy, because she has been selling on Etsy for over 4 years and was easy to find. She lives in the same house. At this point she is the more successful of us, as I am living in her house. Find out how she got so successful in this interview.

Tell us a little about your stores.

poppyswickedgarden is my main clothing shop. It was my first shop and is packed with beautiful fun clothing and accessories. I also have a more fun character and tutu shop Xpoppyswickedgardenx.etsy.com and of course we (my mom and I) share Poppysgardengate.etsy.com for home goodies and poppysprouts.etsy.com for the kiddos!

I started on Etsy over 4 years ago when I needed a place for my more unique clothing items that didn't fit into my Auction based shop. I heard about it from another designer friend and I was greeted by another clothing designer of about 10 that were on Etsy when I started

How has Etsy changed since you started?

Etsy has drastically changed in many ways since I started. I actually started before the changeover to Etsy beta. In general I think that aesthetically it has grown greatly, in most part due to the individual artists trying to better themselves.

Over the years I have had to adjust my clothing line from one of a kind to custom orders for most of my creations. It has become more desirable to have a custom made item since the economy has changed. I also have to do a lot more networking on Twitter and facebook where I used to use myspace.

How many hours a week do you put into your business? - manufacturing? - listing? - marketing?

I seem to always be working I would say that I sew about 20-25 hours a week 6-10 hours listing 10-20 hours of marketing 8 hours packaging and shipping of course my workload usually doubles between September through January.

Any great tips for newbies?

You can always improve your shop, take a really good look at your shop and compare them to shops that are doing very well. Ask yourself... Do your gallery photos look as nice as theirs? Are your descriptions clear and precise? Are you tagging your items with the right tags? Are you promoting as much as they do?

Also always remember that you need to keep making to get people interested, You may have an amazing creation but if you have 5 items in your shop they will likely be missed amongst the sea of other creations out there. I usually list or relist 3-5 items a day in each of my shops.

If I knew then what I know now I would.....

Take better pictures, otherwise I wouldn't change a thing. It has been a wonderful journey to get where I am and I feel very lucky to be doing what I love!

Next week I will be interviewing the ever Snarky VintageEye