The Career Game

As my life is settling down a bit. I'm not playing Manic Monday any more. At least not until I have a manic day. I am back at "that" house so things may change at any moment.

I was looking at my DD's keyboard and the ten key at the side and remembering when I was a bookkeeper. That bought me to think of all the careers I've had. I'm going to try to remember them all and list them for you. Some, you will not believe.

My first real PAYING job was at age 16. I did evening billing for a local department store. It was long before computers, and we used adding machine to tally receipts and hand write the amounts on cards for the customer's permanent file. We also subtracted the amount of checks paid. I wasn't very good at it, and I quit before I screwed up too many bills. I've always been dyslexic, and was much worse as a teen.

Next career was more in my line. For several years as a teen, I did freelance crafting. Macrame accessories and clothing, hand painted leather jewelry, beaded jewelry. But for the most part, I didn't get money, only trade. But for me, that was awesome. I kept some of the trade clothes (my fave) for years.

I finally got another Real job when I was 19. It was temporary, but real money and something I could do. I managed a booth at a local mall, selling little glass blown figurines. I found I was actually good at handling money, and managing employees, even at 19.

The next job was selling memberships at a national auto club. It was pretty horrible. I had to make cold phone calls and even drive out to the clients houses wherever they were, even in the city, to close the deal. I discovered that I REALLY hated solicitation.

I moved right from phone sales to department store sales. Quite different. First I was a floater, moving from department to department, then jewelry took me. I liked that, and much different when the buyer comes to you. I had my eye on the art department and the pet department, and when I finally took an offer from  the pet department, I got an offer for art. Too bad I didn't take it. Might have changed my life. Pet department was mostly fun, I wore a snake around my neck at work, and occasionally brought home bags of frogs or snakes to transfer from one store to another. I became a supervisor at 20, and things were great until my married boss made advances. It was a whole different world back then. No protection for employees. I quit.

What would a young girl of 21 choose to do next? Why become a store detective of course. I started with a national detective agency as a store detective and eventually progressed to an undercover detective, working in factories to ferret out thieving employees. It was a lot of hours, writing reports every day, and the deceit was hard for me to handle. I couldn't tell anyone what I was doing, especially friends I made on the job. I finally quit. Not something I was cut out for, but interesting all the same.

I had met the man who I would marry while I was a detective and during our transition from dating to marriage, I got another job in sales at a clothing store. I also did a little repair sewing when they found out I was a seamstress, having taken tailoring in High School. But it was time to have kids and I stopped working for a few years.

Finally when my youngest was only 3 months, I decided enough was enough. If only there was online sales back then, how different my life would have been too. But I got a part time job as an evening bookkeeper at my husbands auto service garage. I worked there and other stations for quite a few years while also going back to school. School would end up taking 11 years to complete.

Bookkeeping turned to station management and eventually computer accountant for the entire Cleveland Area. But I was stubborn, when the company refused to give me the $.25 an hour raise they promised me, I quit. It cost them quite a bit too, because my replacement payed every employee holiday pay, and corporation payed them too. No employee told, my husband was one of them. Karma will get you every time.

While I was finishing school a friend offered me a job at her interior fiber design studio making drapery and slip covers. It was fun, but interfered too  much with my difficult program in industrial design. So I had to quit that job too.

While at school I took various jobs, like part time assistant in school departments, summer school art instructor, and computer tech. I loved computer lab tech, because I was so strict, no one came to use computers on my watch and I could do my own work on several at a time. They were pretty slow for graphics back then.

Graduation time and I had my hopes set on toy design. that was my focus at school, but actually I had more experience in home fashion and lighting design it was. That was supposed to be a temporary move, but lasted over 15 years. My focus was Tiffany style lighting and painted finishes. I decided to move around to get better positions and well, that was my downfall.

After my last full time job as designer, and art director, I got some work as a freelance paint finish designer, working for a US lighting company a few times a year in China. Money was good. I also sold supplies and children's clothing on eBay.

Then came the market crash and a little place called Etsy. Lighting wasn't selling, but handmade crafts were. I still sell online and do a little freelance lighting design. Not sure what the future holds, but I'll keep you updated. I'm thinking of writing an illustrated children's book.

Lifetime Gurantee

One of my first jobs, well actually my fourth job, not including my freelance craft and art work that I started when I was 16 (I really didn't like working for the "man" even then) was working in the pet department of a major department store.

Could I tell you some stories about my few years working there, like the day I picked up a bag of snakes and a bag of frogs from one store and kept them in my bathtub until I could get them to another store. But that's a story for another post.

We sold mostly parakeets and fresh water fish, but we had small animals, hamsters, gerbils, mice, snakes and lizards, and occasionally a spider monkey. They were mean.

We had one and only one animal with a lifetime guarantee. If you purchased one of our parakeets, you got a lengthy piece of paper with a certificate for a lifetime guarantee. We had to fill them out at the time of sale, sign them and hand them over to the buyer, who took their little bird home in it's cardboard box and never took a second look at the certificate they filed away in their important papers.

A lifetime guarantee on a parakeet. The purpose of course was to protect the buyer if the bird passed in the first few days, which is possible when bringing a young delicate creature in a new environment. But more often is was the little old lady, sobbing and crying, who after 5-10 with their loving parakeet, would bring their cold little bodies to us in a cardboard box, The fine print on that certificate? The parakeet is guaranteed for life, but what you get is a replacement parakeet of your choice.

I can't begin to tell you how many of the sniffling little old ladies broke down when they heard they weren't getting their money back. They didn't want another bird, how could they love another, their sweet bird was barely in it's grave (not really, it was in that cardboard box). We really didn't require the body either, but they never read the certificates.

There just HAS to be a moral to this story. But I'm not even sure what it is. Oh, maybe you can offer your buyer a lifetime guarantee on your product, because chances are, they'll either loose their certificate, or never read the fine print.

Biz Buzz - Holding On or When to Close Shop

early photography with flash

I see a lot of twitter and blog posts lately from sellers debating whether or not to give up their shops. I can tell you from several years of experience, that July is a very bad month and not one to really judge the validity of your marketing and design skill from.

There are several factors that should go into your decision making. First look at your annual profit. July and early August are slow. It's a great time to relax and organize. Look at your sales figures and do your monthly sales for the first half of the year. That way, in January, you won't have so much to do. I do monthly profit sheets so I can see how I compared to the previous years. You may think this will upset you to see your sales figures, but you might just be surprised at what trends you find. For instance, although this was a lousy July, it was still better than last year for me.

natural light photo

If your sales are a bit lower, don't be discouraged. this was a particularly bad July. the only reason my sales were up at all, is because I opened a new venue since last July.

Look at your product. Are there too many similar items on your venue? Are you unique enough to hold on? If not, think of what you can do to make yours different. It can even be customer service or packaging. How about making your tags out of seed embedded papers, or packaging in a little reusable satin bag? Your product may be pretty, but what makes you special. This is a perfect time to take a good hard look at what you're selling.

How about Photography? Do your photos outshine your competition? Handmadeology has some great photography tips HERE.

professional photography

Maybe you're just tired of trying to climb to the top. Maybe it's just hot, and you're too busy with the kids, and your sales are so low this month, that you just don't want to try anymore. It's OK. We are not all cut out for this thing. Some people are better at selling in person at shops or craft/art shows too. Internet sales is a lot of extra work with photography and marketing and listing descriptions. The reason I like it, is that I can make a sample and, then make the product when it sells. I don't have to have an inventory. Very nice for my very small house.

Let's take a close look at your bottom line.

PHOTOGRAPHY - Is it good enough? Look at my early photos compared to my pro photos and improved home photography. Can yours improve too?

PRODUCT - Is your product unique? When I started selling beach glass jewelry, I was the only Etsy seller with it. Then there came all the others, so I decided to try something unique. My flame shaped flowers are different that others on the market. Are they unique enough? Maybe not, because I'm considering dropping this line and moving on to something else.

PROFIT - This is the biggest deciding factor. Are you making a profit? If you haven't made even the tiniest profit in 3 years, you are doing this because you love it.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with loving your craft and not making a profit,but if it has become a chore, and you don't love what you're doing anymore, then your decision to quit is valid. It's OK to so something you don't love if you are getting something out of it, but if your heart doesn't sing, and your wallet is empty, you just might be right. There is a place for you and your art  in the world somewhere. maybe just not online sales.

Biz Buzz - Should I Close My Shop?

Dr Who Bow Tie

I know I'm not the only one who has ever considered closing up their handmade shop. I hear it all the time. The depression when you go for a week or two without sales. Imagine what it's like for sellers who have been forced off of Etsy, and believe me, there are a lot of us now.

Helleborus Necklace

Actually there are a lot of sellers who do very well on other venues. Sometime you just have to find the right one. I do very well with my genre Aprons and Accessories on Artfire, but my felt flower jewelry sales is very slow. Although the sales have doubled from last year, they still are not enough to do much more than pay for materials and shop fees. If I was on Etsy, with the changes I've made, I'm sure I would do very well, but I'm not on Etsy, so I have to be more flexible.

Ao I've been considering closing my akaCINDERS Artfire shop. I might try another venue. Not sure yet. I've written more details about the where and why on my other blog in the post A Few Months Later. Maybe it's because I've had no sales in the shop this month, although I had a decent amount last month, but when you compare the $0 in sales on a slow month to the $800 in sales on a slow month in my other shops, what choice is there?

Putting it Together - Website

I am so excited about my new website and HOW EASY it was to build, I had to share with you again. The last time I mentioned that I was working on a Website (here) it looked a little different. I wasn't so happy with the design so I worked on a different design template. It was soooo easy.

Here is my plan. I want this website to support my Artfire shop, and be a place where I can offer wholesale options to Brick and Mortar shops. I also want to offer, high end, unique designs on my Web Site. Take a look at how it's developing akacinders.com.

Also I didn't have my own domain, well I got a cheap one at GoDaddy.com and it was so darn easy to set up and for the first year only about $9 with tax. Look for a discount. Maybe at my favorite spot for that, retailmenot.com. I just followed the instructions for adding my domain from GoGaddy to Weebly, couldn't be easier.

Now I tried the website tonight at GoDaddy and I had the account for a year without ever being able to set it up.   I just love the Weebly ease of use. Look at this. You pick a template for your page and work with that. The toughest thing to do is make any graphics you might want. Maybe just a banner, like your Etsy or Artfire one. Now, grab the feature you want and pull it onto your page and edit. It's a SNAP.

I wasn't sure about making a shop either, but that is sooo easy too. If you have PayPal or Google Checkout, Weebly is set up to work with that. All you have to do is authorize it. I made a shop, but it is not visible, because I really want to have web only items for sale, and I'm still working on those. Click on the picture to go to my hidden shopping page if you want to explore on your own. I will be revising this one.

I f you've been thinking about a Web Site, like I was, but were afraid to try I can't begin to tell you how easy it is. Weebly has a Free site option or a Pro for about $60 a year. You can have 10 websites on your pro account. That doesn't include the domain (website name) but there are several places to buy that. There are a lot of options, but they are clearly explained on Weebly. You can use my link for a free month of pro (here) or just go to weebly.com.

Hard to tell from a blog, but I'm really excited about this. I just wanted to share my pure delight at how easy this was to set up. Don't get me wrong, it does take some time. Each picture is linked to my artfire shop and I had to go back and forth between sites and upload all the images. It takes time, but if you can list on Etsy or Artfire, or worse yet, eBay, you have got it made! OH, and PS, don't forget to add your metatags in advanced settings.

Introduction to Etsyquette 101

Etsyquette is little kindness and proper behavior on Etsy. It is Excellent Customer Service. Good Manners on Forums and Treasuries.

I will be Gleaning Forums and Twitter Posts to Find the very Best suggesions on Etsyquette And Bringing you a New Lesson Monthly. I will Start with Customer Service followed By Treasury Posts and then Forum Etsyquette. These are going to be focused on Seller Etsyquette, but may include buyer Etsyquette also.

Please convo any suggestions you have to akaCINDERS.etsy.com or tweet or DM me at akacinders and let me know if you would prefer to be anonymous.

The following are some suggestions from your fellow Etsians.

CrabappleVintage: Contact your customers in some way after their order. It gives them confidence that their order didn't fall into a void and gives you an opportunity to have another positive interaction. I'll sometimes send a convo if I get an order on a Saturday and can't mail it til Monday or if I'm waiting for a pending payment. If I know I'm going to ship an item right away, then I'll simply leave feedback after shipping.

RoughMagicCreations: I find it off-putting when I convo a seller to say I've featured his or her item in a treasury, and the seller replies that, as a special "thank you," I can get a discount on a purchase from that shop.

GlassRiverJewelry: If someone makes a mistake when posting in the forum, many people feel the need to post in the thread pointing out the error that the original poster made. It would be nice if people would not continually point out the error and just let the admins do their job.

Peaseblossomstudio: How about derailing threads on purpose and constantly calling out FP makers. URRRRRGH! Those bug me more than anything!

arosha: 1. If you ask me a question, and I responded (I ALWAYS do, BTW) - then I expect some response back. Even "I read it, thank you" is sufficient. Sometimes buyers have very complex requests that require a lot of effort to answer - and then leave you with no response at all to your detailed answer.

2. Let me know if you blogged about me! I would love to leave a comment and spread the word - but I need to know it's happening.

3. Let the seller know you have some problem with your purchase before leaving a neutral or negative feedback! Most issues can be handled and solved by communicating.

Future Posts will include a wonderful interview with a seller who has taken their shop from ordinary to fantastic, with a lot of hard work,and how she accomplished it. And I will also have an insightful interview about SEO with tips on what it is and how to.