Your Venue? Resellers? Large collectives? Bad economy? Any and all of the above can and will have an impact on our sales. And since they are out of our personal control, what do you think is the best way to rise above all or any one of them? Lately, I’ve seen so many online discussions […]
Before the internet, I often shopped by catalogue and two of my favorites were Coldwater Creek and JPeterman’s. Were the clothes any more stylish or the price or fit better than other catalogues? Probably not but what sold me was the product description. My eye was drawn to the visual but the words used to […]
When we represent our products it is imperative that the artist portrays the product correctly and accurately. The picture to the right is a retail package from a large international company that sells many different items including food. What is being portrayed are “large” shrimp (kind of an oxymoron), and in large print highlighted in […]
(author’s forward: even if you are out of stock or finished with your holiday sales, read this article because you can do the same thing for Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. It WORKS. Many crafts people report making more money in a few hours this way than at a huge craft fair.) It’s just days […]
Hello, So you’ve made a sale and sent a happy customer off with their wonderful handmade item. Now what? How will that customer get in touch with you if they need or want to return for another purchase? How will they tell their friends about the wonderful shop from which they purchase their item? Your […]
I’m sure that you have known at least one person who seems to always be ahead of schedule, accomplishes an amazing amount, yet never seems to be stressed. These people seem to have more than 24 hours in their days, and they must never sleep. It’s all a matter of time management. Time management comes […]
Have you ever asked yourself this question; “Am I working from a comfort zone or from my true passion?” I have before and because of the answer that I had to admit to myself, I now ask this question more and more often. Why? Well I find that the answer was too often, ‘comfort zone’. […]
Have you ever wondered if you are spending your time on the right products? Even more important, what minor change could end up making a big difference in your sales? Lately I have been thinking about marketing strategies outside of fairs, and all the online, electronic options. In my particular geographic location, the option for […]
It’s funny how many people look at us crafters and say……..”ohhhhh I’d love to be you and not work any more?” I always nod sagely and stifle a giggle, if only they knew how much work is involved to run your business successfully and correctly. I’ve never worked so hard, until I stepped into this […]
A little ways back I wrote a posting entitled, “Handmade Inventory Tracking-Part 1“. The focus was on tracking your supplies. For part 2, I wanted to focus on tracking the finished product. For many artists, this is not something we think too much about when we first begin. Once we have a few things created […]
