It’s that time of year where many of us are thinking of taking our arts and crafts on the road. But how on earth do you find shows? In our experience, in a perfect world, we like to walk a prospective show before we apply/pay the booth fee to do it. But this isn’t always […]
I’ve written about the reality of selling online before, but the message bears repeating. This is the 21st century, and more and more people shop online. Just a few years ago, shopping online was not the norm – you shopped online when you couldn’t find what you wanted locally, in person. But these days, people […]
You have a lot of time, planning, patience and creativity in that wonderful piece. First, you created it to perfection. Then you took a myriad of pictures of it to capture it at just the right angle in just the right light to make it look its best to prospective buyers. Now it’s time to […]
I know for certain that I am not alone when I admit that I have perfectly good items in my shop that have been there forever and remain unsold. There are other sites that will try to convince you that it isn’t sold simply because it’s not near the top of the list anymore; renew […]
We artsy-crafty people do not love marketing. But it’s a necessary evil of having your own small business. It needs to be done well and often, and most of us are not good at it. The fact that we don’t necessarily enjoy it just makes it that much more difficult. But there are many lessons […]
When was the last time that you really took a break? After all, there is so much to be done… social networking, blogging, marketing, finish this project and that one, design the next one. The list goes on and on, and if you are anything at all like me, you sleep soundly at night while […]
The holidays are upon us. As small business owners, we are all thinking of what might sell during the holidays, and possibly considering offering handmade, holiday specific pieces. Is this a good or bad idea? There is really no definitive answer to that question. There are both rewards and pitfalls to creating holiday-specific items, so […]
I have been up to my eyeballs lately in baby blankets. I actually love knitting these. Nine out of ten of them are the pattern pictured, which is handed down from my great-grandmother. It’s so enjoyable to knit in straight rows and end up with this wavy blanket. Plus, baby yarn is a delight […]
Have you ever been told, “you should write a pattern” for something that you make? If you are active in your medium at all, the answer to that question is probably “yes”. But is it a good idea? I’m not able to answer that question for you beyond that, yes, it is an idea. What […]
Introduction We all merrily go along, running our businesses online at our own pace. Some of us are real ‘go-getters’, spending hours a day on promotion, order fulfillment, and creation. Others are more random, working on their crafts as time permits. Others, still, are somewhere in between. But how many of you have spent any […]
