Bi-weekly updates

Since life becomes busy at holidays, I decided from now on I should always plan to update every other week instead of weekly. It's easier on me when I don't have much to say.

This week I photographed the last of what I have made and ready to go. I haven't tallied the value yet, so I'll just add it as I list things.

Among things being listed, there's a few pairs of graduated pearl earrings going straight to the clearance section since I have so many earrings in that style already!

Graduated pearl earrings, $2.50

Sales have been unusually slow this time of year, only one pair of earrings finding their way out so far. But it's better than nothing. Everything is forward momentum!

Total value of items made: $1070.50
Total expenses to run business: $109.21
Total income: $303.50

Catching up

It's been a long time since I had a moment to update this blog. I'm still working on this project, but this season has been really busy for me and it doesn't look like it'll get any better. So instead of a big breakdown, we're just going to catch up with the numbers as they currently are!

There's not a lot new here - Still haven't had a chance to photograph the rest of the jewelry waiting to be listed, but things are slowly trickling out of the shop.

After doing the big special order in September, I decided I liked the new roses I was using much better than the old ones, so all the old rose earrings are now on clearance for half price. $2.50 a pair and $2.50 for shipping in the U.S., so you can get a pair of pretty handmade earrings sent right to your doorstep for five bucks.

Rose post earrings, $2.50

There's still a few colors available, so take a look!

Now for the numbers.

October saw four sales and November's seen one so far - rose earrings heading out the door. All in all, the bill since I last updated was just shy of ten bucks, and the income was at $59. Just enough to push us over the $300 mark, woohoo! How exciting! That means we're pretty close to one third of the goal. I'm thrilled, because this little project has paid for Christmas gifts for my family. What a blessing, huh?

There's lots of goals I'm aiming for as we move into the holiday season, but I'll speak of those more later now that I've finally got this blog caught up!

Total value of items made: $1063.00
Total expenses to run business: $108.72
Total income: $301.00

Week-end tallies: Nineteenth/Twentieth weeks in review

I've pretty much just gone to bi-weekly updates here, there's simply no time for anything else. Especially as we move into the holiday season. The side project shop has business booming, and it's all I can do to keep up with moving those orders out the door. Things are slower in Moonsea Creations, though. Not a bad thing, since the other stuff has me so busy!
Since we've hit the 3 month mark after reopening, a lot of stuff is up for renewal, so that has operation costs creeping upward again. Here's how week 19 closed:

Total value of items made: $983.00
Total expenses to run business: $68.81
Total income: $144.00

Week 20 saw me busy with jewelry, though, since I had a large custom order to fill. The end result was really pretty!

Custom order from Moonsea Creations

The order was bracelets, earrings and necklaces for a wedding. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough of the right color of roses on hand and needed a few other last-minute supplies, so I had to do a little shopping. As if shopping is a bad thing, right?

Another order for a rose quartz pendant went out the door while I worked on fulfilling the big one, so all in all, week 20 was great. Here's the closing numbers for week 20:

Total value of items made: $1063.00
Total expenses to run business: $99.51
Total income: $242.00

And... WOW. Everything really jumped up! But see? We passed two landmarks! The project has brought in over $200, and I've finally made enough jewelry to reach a total value of $1000!
That means if everything I've made and listed at this point sells, the shop will be able to reach the project goal.

The next landmark isn't far, either - Once we hit the $250 mark, we'll be a quarter of the way to seeing this project through to total success, so here's hoping for a successful week 21!

Week-end tallies: Seventeenth/Eighteenth weeks in review

Once again, I'm rolling two weeks into one. I had the delight of having my mom come and visit for a while, which is great for the spirits but not so great for pushing business, since I'd much rather tackle a household project while I've got the extra set of hands here.

Week seventeen saw a slow creep up with new items being added, though, bringing the total value ever closer to the $1000 mark.

So what did week seventeen close out like? Like this:

Total value of items made: $946.00
Total expenses to run business: $65.38
Total income: $126.00

As we push toward the holiday season, I expect sales will pick up; they almost always do. Of course, I'll be busy with the other shop then, too!

Last time I updated, I mentioned trying to decide whether that shop should be included in the income here or not. Well, I decided it shouldn't be, mostly because it's a separate project that I never closed when I shut down Moonsea Creations before. I do have some non-jewelry crafts I may consider listing in this project, though, since they may fit better here than anywhere else! For the moment, though, we're sticking to jewelry.

Wire wrapped red glass earrings, $9

And for how week eighteen closed out:

Total value of items made: $983.00
Total expenses to run business: $66.81
Total income: $144.00

Week-end tallies: Fifteenth/Sixteenth weeks in review

Two for one, eh? Yep - I had everything set and on track for updates, and then I came down with a cold last weekend. Drat!

It's been a slow crawl forward, but at least progress is being made. The bowl of jewelry I have to list is emptying out, bit by bit, and traffic has been steady - Even if I haven't made any more sales recently. No biggie, it'll happen!
So what were the numbers like at the end of week 15?
Like this:

Total value of items made: $870.00
Total expenses to run business: $63.98
Total income: $126.00

Not bad! And one of the pieces that went in last week was a pair of earrings with a design that's always been a popular seller for me.

Graduated red pearl earrings, $9

And this week, I added more of the ever-popular keys.

Wire wrapped key necklace, $10

As I move into fall, I find myself wondering if I should include other crafts aside from jewelry in this project. I do make more than jewelry, after all, and I have a few new things sitting on my craft table that will go into one of the other shops I manage for hobby creations. I've always kept Moonsea as strictly jewelry and beading, while posting costume accessories in another place. Should I list some of the costume bits in Moonsea? Or should I count them toward this goal, even if I sell them in the other shop? Hmm...
Things to consider, at least.

And that's a wrap for week 16.

Total value of items made: $901.00
Total expenses to run business: $64.58
Total income: $126.00

Week-end tallies: Fourteenth week in review

So it's only Thursday, and here I am writing the weekly tally. Why? Well, it's our anniversary weekend, and Joe and I have lots of plans for fun things to do as a family. So, I'm treating myself to a weekend off!

This week has been great for seeing forward momentum again. I set a goal for myself to get 10 new pieces listed in the month of August, and I managed to get them all posted this past week. A couple sales saw some pieces going off to new homes, and I still have 20 pieces photographed and ready to trickle in over the next three weeks. Great stuff!

Here's a peek at one of my favorite additions this week:

Embellished silver key necklace, $10

Since I haven't listed the other 20 items yet, I decided not to include them in the value of pieces on the table. I'll add their value to the tally as I list them, which is exciting, because it means that number will slowly start creeping up. I'm excited to see it break the $1000 mark, because that means there'll officially be enough jewelry around to meet the overall goal.

'Til next week!

Total value of items made: $826.00
Total expenses to run business: $63.18
Total income: $126.00

Why edit photos?

Cleaning photos can be a lot of work, especially when photographing a lot of pieces at once. I spent some time taking photos of 30 items over the weekend, which meant I ended up with 245 photos to filter through, crop and clean up. That's a lot of work.
Sometimes I look at the huge numbers of photos, sigh, and feel discouraged. It's a lot of work for seemingly little payoff, so why edit your photos?

Cameras have come a long way, but they still don't capture most things exactly as you see them. Colors aren't always quite right, the purple spectrum is especially hard to capture accurately. This is why post-processing has always existed. Adjustments made after the photograph is taken can make a world of difference! Don't believe me? Here's a photo straight off my camera, it's only been cropped to eliminate useless white space.

These earrings are made with beautiful, shiny red glass beads and antiqued brass wire. They were photographed against a piece of white poster board, in natural morning daylight. As you can see, the red isn't too red, the brass isn't too brassy, and the white background is definitely not white. In fact, it doesn't look anything like what I was actually looking at!

Less than a minute later, I've made a few simple changes to the photo. Using Photoshop CS5, I made the following fast tweaks:
• Auto contrast
• Auto color
• Adjust levels (increasing whiteness)
• Auto tone

That's it! Less than sixty seconds. Eight clicks of the mouse. And now it's not just closer to what the image looked like to the human eye, it's better a better product photo. When you compare the two, which looks better?
The first one isn't bad, but the second is a much higher quality photograph. That's why even basic post-processing is important for your shop.

But that's it for today - I still have 244 photos to clean up!

Week-end tallies:Thirteenth week in review

What, thirteen?! Where did eleven and twelve go?
Shame on me, the weeks were so busy I didn't have a chance to write about them at all. But that's okay, because I didn't make much progress, either! That's the thing about busy weeks, they're either busy with the shop or too busy for the shop.
But week 13 saw some advancement!

After sending off a sale, there's a delightful thing to report: The next milestone!
Yes, the shop has finally reached one hundred dollars in income. That's one tenth of the total goal for this project! Of course, it's both a good and a bad thing - As great as it is to reach this landmark, it also puts some things into perspective. For example, since it took 13 weeks to hit the $100 mark, that means at this rate, it'll be another two and a half years before we reach the $1,000 mark.

Ouch.

But hey, one step at a time, right? It's still forward momentum and a great bit of progress, so there's no shame in that. Plus, I think starting a new month with a landmark at our feet and a bunch of new ideas and prospects is a great way to go, so... Onward!

Total value of items made: $716.00
Total expenses to run business: $60.16
Total income: $103.00

Making an activity schedule

When you run a business of your own, it's important to keep regular activity going. This helps entice people to come back regularly to see what's new. Even better if you consistently update on the same days each week! I update my regular blog every Tuesday, which means I always see traffic spikes on Tuesday afternoon. People who read my blog are used to seeing my updates then, so they expect to see a new post every week.

You don't have to solidly schedule updates, though, as long as there's activity during the week. This can be anything from new items, updates to existing items, new blog posts, or general updates to your business.

Photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto.com/SparkleArt

For me, I like to create a list of things to do for my shop, and add it to my regular to-do list. But I'm also a huge fan of lists, so I realize it may not work for everyone!

But what if I can't keep up with my activity schedule?
That's a question I ask myself a lot. But by breaking it down into bite-sized pieces you can tackle in a spare 5 minutes here and there, you can get a lot accomplished!

Everyone's needs are different, but here's a rough idea of what my shop's weekly activity schedule is like.

• List one item in the shop each day, if items are ready
• Photograph items once every 2 weeks
• Clean and crop photos once every 2 weeks
• Change unsuccessful listing keywords on one item per week
• Post something to social media sites once a day
• Shipping sold items and answering questions as needed

And that's it!
With the exception of the photography and photo cleaning, which takes about half an hour to an hour each on the days I sit down to do them, everything on my list can be done in 5-10 minutes.

Productivity doesn't have to be scary, but it does take determination. Do yourself a favor early on and figure out what work needs to be done each week.  The earlier you start with it, the sooner it will feel like second nature.

Week-end tallies: Tenth week in review

I've been bad, I admit. It's hard to work when the sunshine keeps luring me away.
I did make a little headway, just not with photographing or adding anything to the project shop. Instead, I took some time to sort through old pieces and figure out which ones are worth keeping, and which should be disassembled and turned into new things.

I ended up with a whole bag of things to remake later and I'm excited to get started, but that's all I have to report for week 10.

Total value of items made: $716.00
Total expenses to run business: $60.16
Total income: $78.00

Week-end tallies: Ninth week in review

FIFTY!
That's how many items are now listed in the project shop. That's halfway to my goal of 100 items, and I'm super excited to have made it!

June was a crazy busy month here, which means my stock of photos and products has run dry, but I'm going to be working to rectify that this week. I always work best by making a day where I photograph 20-30 pieces, then I try to sprinkle new listings through the week. I do have a plan for shop activity, which I'll be sharing here soon - This week, if I'm able.

In the meantime, here's the lucky earrings that got to be item #50:

Green crystal drop earrings, $9

How great that they're even green, the color of luck.
That's it for this update, though - Aside from a few new listings, there's nothing going on here, though I am working on fleshing out details for a few custom orders. Here's hoping everything pans out, because hitting that $100 milestone is so close!

Total value of items made: $716.00
Total expenses to run business: $60.16
Total income: $78.00

Outposting your business, and why you shouldn't do it

When you think of an outpost, you probably picture some sort of lonely fortress on a distant hilltop.You'd be right, of course, at least in the normal, everyday world. But what is an internet outpost, and what does it have to do with a crafting business? Keep reading!

Any time you set up a place online where your work can be found, it's an outpost. This blog, my Etsy shop, my Facebook page, Twitter - All of these are outposts.
But wait, you're thinking. Why are you saying outposting is bad when you have so many outposts of your own?
Outposting in and of itself isn't a bad thing, but the idea is simple: Never put all your eggs in one basket, and definitely never put them all in a basket that doesn't belong to you.

It's important to have your own website, and it's now easier than ever to make one. I keep a site of my own for my writing (which you can see here) and it's great, because it's ad-free webspace that's completely under my control. I back up my own content and the only way it's going anywhere is if I decide not to pay the hosting bill. No one closes my site except for me. I'll never have to worry about my portfolio vanishing out from underneath me, it won't go anywhere unless I decide it will!

But why all the outposts, if I have my own site?
Because accidents happen, too. Web hosts suffer outages due to hardware or power failure. Sites get hacked and forced offline until repairs are made. Accounts get suspended because you forgot to change the autobill information after you got your new debit card. Not that I've ever done that one, or anything.

While none of these will put your site out of commission permanently, it's important to keep alternate avenues of communication at your fingertips so that your clients know you're still around. It only takes one attempt to refresh a missing page for visitors to get scared and think their order is lost in the ether, trust me! But if you've also set up communication outposts on social media sites, it only takes a moment to share a message saying that you're aware of the outage and everything is okay, and will be back to working order soon.

Even if you set up shop on your own webspace, always keep a separate communications outpost. This can be social media platforms like Twitter or Facebook, or even a mailing list with the email addresses of your customers. Never back yourself into a corner by having your work found only where other people control it.

For a quicker explanation to finish things out, here's a short story: My husband does a lot of art and posts a great deal of it online. Aside from his personal blogs, he also posted it places like deviantART and CGHub. Then one day, CGHub - and everything on it - just vanished. No warning, no explanation, just there one minute and gone the next. Nobody had a chance to back up their work, and several prolific artists found themselves in trouble, because their CGHub gallery served as their online portfolio, showing off their work and drawing new business in. Without warning, they had no way to contact fans or clients, nothing. They lost their entire following in an instant because one site vanished.
All because they outposted their work.

Week-end tallies: Eighth week in review

Wait, what? Did this week even exist?
It did, but I wasn't here for it. I was out of town, so nothing happened in the shop at all. No new additions, no item renewals, no modifications, no sales. Nada!  But that happens when you're on vacation, no matter what business you're in.

There was a lot of traffic this week, though, since that green and black bracelet I shared a few posts back was featured in two separate treasuries on Etsy! (You can see them here and here.)

This week is back to the grind, so we'll see more progress. For now, the numbers are at a standstill.

Total value of items made: $716.00
Total expenses to run business: $59.36
Total income: $78.00

Startup expenses, a summary

Ideas aren't free, and businesses aren't, either.

If you're into crafting, you've probably heard the suggestion to sell on Etsy more times than you can shake a stick at. It can be a good way to earn some money on the side, but not without first investing time, effort, and yes, money, into it.

Did you know that most businesses don't turn a profit in the first two years? In fact, they're doing good to break even by that point. Business is expensive, and selling on Etsy is no exception.
But how much should you plan to invest in your new venture? That, I can't tell you, but I can offer some insight into how much it cost me to get going.

When I list my expenses to run the shop this time around, it's important to remember that I'm not counting money already invested into the project. That's money I already made back, money spent and returned on over the course of a few years. This time, I'm starting with an advantage. I already have everything else I need. But how much have I invested overall? Well, let's look at some categories.

Crafting tools
These are the things I had to have to start making what I wanted to sell. There were quite a few things I had to buy to go from casual crafter to full-time businessperson, and that meant replacing a lot of old tools that weren't good enough for professional-grade products. So what did I buy?

• Set of basic pliers, $9
• Crimp pliers, $7
• Cordless Dremel, $20
• Soldering iron, $20
• Hammer and anvil, $25
• Beading needles, $5
• Leather punch, $10
• Extra drill bits, $11

Which comes to $107 all together. But that was just to get started. What else?

Business tools
There are other things necessary for getting a business going. There are several things I was fortunate enough to get for free or through barter, but I'm still going to list them so you know what to consider for your own lists!

• Packing materials, $30
• Padded mailers, $25
• Storage containers, $20
• Postal scale, free (traded artwork for it)
• Shop graphics and promotional images, free (did my own graphic design)
• Basic camera, free (already owned)
• Photo editing software, free (already owned)

Which adds up to  $75 and brings the total to $182. Not too bad, but consider that a postal scale averages $20 for a basic one, and a simple camera can cost $100 if you don't already have a way to take pictures. Graphic design is something you should never expect to get for free, unless you have children who work in the field. In that case, you can probably trade those 18-plus years of grueling labor and unconditional love for a few images.

Materials
While I wish I could give an itemized breakdown of the supplies I purchased, I didn't do as good of a job keeping track of those as I should have. But I budgeted $250 for beads, findings, wires, stringing supplies, and other items that are consumed by the creation process. And I spent every bit of it, so we're just calling it that - $250 for starter materials. That puts our total expense to get started at a whole $432.

For a serious business, $432 is chump change. But for someone starting a small home business making and selling crafts as a means for extra income, that's a pretty substantial chunk out of your wallet!

Unless you've already got most of what you need to start selling, like me, remember that you have a big investment to make. Be sure you're serious about what you're doing, and unless you're absolutely certain you'll make a return on your investments in a reasonable amount of time, don't borrow the money to get started. It's better to put a few months aside and save up the cash you'll need to invest in your project, start making products, and start laying your business foundations before you open your doors.
Waiting and saving to get started doesn't always sound appealing, but trust me, it's worth the wait!

Week-end tallies: Seventh week in review

The past week was a whirlwind, cleaning and organizing and helping friends finish their costumes for a convention. Then the weekend was spent at the convention, which left me exhausted! When we got home yesterday afternoon, I was too tired to do anything at all.

But the week saw some productive forward motion. I made a few pieces and did some product photography, for a total value of $103 added to the value of what I've made so far. It's exciting to see those numbers closing in on the $1,000 mark, even if reaching $1,000 in sales is still a long way off. It'll be great to finally get there, because it will mean we're that much closer to seeing the goal really realized!

Speaking of goals, something special happened this week, too.
The shop is in the black!
Hooray!! Seven weeks later, we've finally surpassed the business expenses and turned a profit. I'm feeling very proud of that accomplishment, and very blessed that it happened so quickly. The next big landmark will be breaking one hundred dollars in sales, and really, that's not too far off. I hope to reach that goal by the end of July, but if not, no biggie - We've turned a profit, and that's grand.

Speaking of turning a profit, we haven't discussed start-up expenses yet. That's coming on Wednesday, so keep an eye open!

I didn't have a chance to list anything new in the shop this week, but here's a newer version of a piece that might have slipped in unnoticed:

Rainy Day locket version 2, $20

Total value of items made: $716.00
Total expenses to run business: $59.36
Total income: $78.00

Week-end tallies: Sixth week in review

Last week was so busy for me that I haven't had a chance to sit down and write this until now, four days late! Better late than never, though.

I've been trying to add one or two listings per day to my shop to get it filled up. If something expires, I count that as a listing for the day. I added six things in week six, which took care of my backlog of photos. Now I have a big box of items to sort and photograph so I can get back to listing, so photography and photo cleanup will be my focus for week 7!

The bad part about a busy week is that business inevitably suffers, since I can't spare the time to sit down and advertise the shop or write consistently for my blogs. I have been trying to remember to post updates on my Facebook page for the past week, so a few things went up, but the page hasn't been used for so long that it'll take a while to build its traffic back up.

I've also taken to posting collections of colors on Tumblr, because I like seeing all my pieces of a particular color together. They make a pretty neat image set. Last week I posted a lot of black jewelry, so that was the collection I put together. Here's one of my favorite black pieces.

Black drop necklace, $20

 And the weekly tally, of course, which should start creeping up again this week!

Total value of items made: $613.00
Total expenses to run business: $56.49
Total income: $49.00

Week-end tallies: Fifth week in review

I didn't have any time this week to prepare new things or revamp any old, but I did spend a lot of time listing items, rewriting old listings to make them more visible, and laying ground work for a business platform.
A lot of my pieces can be found on Facebook now, for one!

One important thing I did this week was take time to properly organize my inventory. It's now neatly sorted into boxes, one for items that are finished but need to be photographed, one for items that are photographed but need to be listed, and one for items that are listed and ready to go. I'll be making dividers for the boxes next week, so I can sort items by material and type.

This week brought one sale, which bodes well for the advertising efforts I started on Tuesday, so the gap between income and expenses is very close now!

In any event, here's a peek at one of the items that went up this week:

Green crystal, shell and silver bracelet, $15

And here's the tally for week 5!

Total value of items made: $613.00
Total expenses to run business: $55.29
Total income: $49.00

Remaking mistakes

Not everything I create looks as good in reality as it does in my head.

Sometimes they turn out great! For the most part, I'm happy with my results, and I'm pleased to be able to photograph, list and show off what I've made.

Yellow flower earrings, $9

Then there are times when I create something, step back, and say what was I thinking?

Even worse, though, are the projects that look great at first glance. I think they turned out well, came together just how I imagined them, and everything ought to be grand...
Except it turns out my vision is what was flawed.

Not quite the stunning outcome I hoped for.

These scenarios happen to everyone, but it's important to remember that not all is lost! There's a few things you can do to fix it whenever these mistakes happen.

Take a break.
It might seem counter-intuitive, but it's the most valuable thing I took away from college. Whenever I began to get frustrated with how a drawing or painting was working out in class, my teacher would encourage me to put it aside, goof off in the classroom, step outside for a quick walk on campus, or sneak off to place a quick call to my fiancé (Now husband.) After a bit of a break, the problems are usually glaringly obvious when you come back.

Rework it.
Take something apart, add different elements, rearrange the pieces. Sometimes you were close, just not quite there, and reworking something after a little break is all you need to do.

Remake it.
If you start over from scratch, some of the problems that hindered you the first time won't be a problem any more. Sometimes creating something without these bumps in the road can give much better results.

Reclaim it.
No matter the craft, pieces can usually be salvaged from projects that just didn't work right. For me, I can easily recover findings like clasps and earring wires, in addition to any beads used. If anything, my losses are wire used for stringing, and occasionally some crimp beads.

Don't get discouraged.
Everyone makes mistakes. Not everything works out perfectly, no matter how much practice you have. Try again, because as long as you keep working at it, you'll see success eventually!

Week-end tallies: Fourth week in review

This week was full of photography and photo cleanup, still preparing lots of things to be listed in the shop. Unfortunately, since I can only work when the baby is asleep, that filled my time for this week. Now that I have a good buffer of photos ready for new listings, though, I'm hoping to spend more time blogging next week - Enough to make two posts here, at least.
We'll talk about pieces that don't work and start-up costs then, if all goes according to plan.
After that, we'll talk a bit about advertising and "outposting," including a description of what that is!

As usual, here's some favorites from the shop this week:

Hand woven hugs and kisses pearl bracelet, $20

Blue sun filigree earrings, $9

In case you can't tell by now, I really love pearls and long, dangly earrings!

This week saw another big jump in value, and those expenses to list items are still creeping upward, but progress is progress, and once I have time to list everything, that'll certainly help the project along. There's already been a steady increase in the amount of traffic my shop sees, so it can only get better from there.

Total value of items made: $613.00
Total expenses to run business: $53.37
Total income: $40.00

Price-saving packaging: Where to buy your supplies

Packaging items for sale and shipping can be intimidating. It can be a challenge, and it's easy for the prices to get out of hand. But don't worry. It doesn't need to be that way.

Something important to remember is that when you have something shipped, you don't pay for the cost of postage alone. There's a reason most places title the shipping cost shipping and handling. Whenever something is packaged and mailed, the cost of shipping is postage, and the cost of handling is the cost of packing materials plus the cost of time to package and prepare something for mailing. The latter two are something generally not offered for free, and if done right, the cost of packaging will be so minuscule that no one will bat an eye.

As an example, when I sell a pair of earrings, I charge $2.50 for shipping and handling. Postage alone on most packages comes out to $1.92 if I can ship from home, higher if it must go through the physical post office. A few cents cover the Etsy and Paypal fees charged on processing the cost of shipping, and the rest covers the expense of packaging.

Now, when I say packaging, I don't just mean the bubble mailer the stuff is shipped in. It also includes gift boxes, packing peanuts, bubble wrap, tissue paper, gift bags, or anything else that might be necessary for making a nice presentation. When you think about it, 50 cents to cover fancy packaging that leaves a lasting image of quality is pretty good. But when gift boxes at the store can cost upwards of a dollar each, how can you offer nice presentation without cutting into your bottom line?

Here's a few suggestions.

Tissue paper
Ideal for wrapping objects, keeping bundles of things together, and serving as a lightweight padding or filler. It comes in a lot of colors, too, which means you can coordinate it with a theme in your shop or other packaging.
Where to buy: PaperMart has some of the best prices I've found.
If you're in a hurry: Emergencies happen. If you need paper in a hurry, try a dollar store. Dollar Tree sells 50 sheets of white tissue paper for a dollar, making them a great last-minute resource.

Gift boxes
Though they come in a lot of shapes and sizes, my favorite is the pillow-style gift box. They're flat for storage, but fold up stiff enough to withstand mailing. Regardless of whether you want this kind or the traditional square boxes, though, the best supplier I've found is the same.
Where to buy: eBay. Stock changes all the time, so I won't provide listings, but eBay has the best gift box prices I've found, often available with free shipping.
If you're in a hurry: Make your own! A template like this one makes it easy to turn any piece of stiff paper or cardstock into a gift box at the last minute. If you're feeling ambitious, you can even use blank card stock and design a custom box to print for every item.

Ribbon, lace and twine
When you think of packaging, you might not immediately think of these things, but they make an excellent accent for trimming and finishing your product packaging. I tie all my gift boxes with a piece of satin ribbon in either my shop's colors, or colors coordinating with the item inside the package.
Where to buy: HomeSew has excellent prices on bulk trims.
If you're in a hurry: Of all places, Walmart actually has quality ribbons and trims at decent retail prices, if you're lucky enough to live near one with a fabric/sewing department.

Organza bags
Very popular for packaging small items without adding a lot of bulk or expense, though if you ship in bubble mailers, you'll need to add packing peanuts to the package to keep an item in an organza bag from being crushed.
Where to buy: While they do have a minimum order requirement of $25, it's definitely worth it to get these from 8seasons. Most come in packs of 100, for under $4 per pack. Just order a few hundred at a time and it works out great!
If you're in a hurry: Check the dollar bins at craft stores like Michaels or Hobby Lobby. They often have 4-packs of organza bags.

Bubble mailers
A staple for any small crafting business, you'll want to get these in bulk, as well. Most items fit into a #0, which is the right size for a DVD case to slide inside perfectly. A size #00 is a little more than half the size, but can be better for very small items.
Where to buy: eBay. Again, no links for this one because of changing stock, but you can usually find lots that work out to under 15 cents per mailer.
If you're in a hurry: Dollar stores are a good bet for last-minute bubble mailers, because while most stores sell them in bundles of 5 or more for at least 5 dollars, dollar stores tend to sell packs of two mailers for a dollar.

Cardboard shipping boxes
You may not realize it, but cardboard is actually pretty expensive. Boxes take unusual specialized machinery to make, glue and fold. I've actually gotten to see one of these machines in person before, and it's pretty impressive, and pretty expensive, too.
Where to buy: ULINE boxes in bulk work out to be the most cost effective. They sell a lot of other packing materials, too, so if you order them all at once, you can save on shipping.
If you're in a hurry: Make your own. Unwanted cardboard can be found at any major retail outlet. Ask for a few pieces and then get creative with a knife or scissors. I've often cut down pieces of cardboard to make boxes for shipping, and while it's time consuming, it's much better than paying several dollars a box anywhere you can pick them up in person.

There are other types of packaging I haven't covered, but since this post is already rather long, I'll leave it with the basics covered here and come back for more detailed information in another, later post.
Until next time!

Week-end tallies: Third week in review

Once again, the week has gotten away from me before I had a chance to write much. Don't worry, there's still things coming - I have a few things ready for next week, including the promised discussion on remaking and repurposing old pieces, and also a special bit on packaging your products for shipping.

It isn't hard to add a little something special to your packaging to make it really pop. If you package things beautifully, too, your customers will enjoy that as an extra-special treat when they're unwrapping it! It's easy to do without breaking the bank, so I'll be sharing some secrets I've learned over the years.

The total value of items I have ready to list for sale has more than doubled this week, though not everything is up and listed just yet. I'll admit I cheated a little bit, most of the gain has come from sorting things out and finding a lot of great pieces I'd made up ages ago and never sold. I've listed six of them in the Etsy shop today, but here's a peek at my two favorites:

Red pearl and brass filigree earrings, $9

Rose quartz Tree of Life pendant, $25

That's a wrap for this week! We're creeping up on the point now where I'll break even on my start-up expenses.
Oh, that reminds me - Start-up expenses are something we'll be discussing soon, too!


Total value of items made: $471.00
Total expenses to run business: $51.77
Total income: $40.00

Week-end tallies: Second week in review

This was a hectic week for me, between Joe's birthday, Mother's day, Joe working half the weekend and us getting ready for a visit from my parents. Add in a baby who is working on cutting another tooth and two nights of insomnia for me, and it wasn't a very productive week at all!

I was able to dig a few things out of the mistake box to make a couple quick pieces, though, and I added a couple things to the project shop, so there's still a little forward momentum there.
I'll be blogging next week about the mistake box, so you can hear all about what it is and how I use it then.

For now, though, here's a pair of things that were new to the shop this week.

Pink acrylic crystal earrings, $5

Wrapped sodalite pendant, $20

Deciding to part with the sodalite pendant was tough, actually. It was the very first wire-wrapped piece I ever made, and while I always intended to add it to something fancier and keep it for myself, I realized I've just fallen out of love with it. It isn't exactly what I hoped for, so it's time to move on. I have other cabochons to try again with in the future, and that's a venture I plan to share in the coming weeks, if I have time to get to it!

All in all, the tallies for this week are small. I spent 80 cents listing things in the shop, and the value of things added comes to $65. No sales this week, but since we were so busy, I had no time to promote the project. No surprise there. :)
Here's hoping next week is bigger and better!

Total value of items made: $211.00
Total expenses to run business: $49.87
Total income: $20.00

Finding your niche: Making your shop an audience-based business

There's a lot of buzz on the internet lately about audience-based business models. If you're not familiar with the term, I'll explain.

While there are many different models for businesses to follow, most can be summarized by being product-based or audience-based. A product-based business, as it may be obvious, begins with the product you've created, that you wish to market and sell. When you're first starting out, your shop will probably fall into this category. You don't have an audience yet, but don't worry! It's not hard to convert your business from product-based to audience-based. All you need is a little feedback to get you going.

With an audience-based business, you spend most of your time communicating with your fans and then catering to them. Is there one particular design or product that seems to sell better than all the rest? Something you consistently get more compliments on or receive positive feedback for? There's your niche!

So why convert to an audience-based business? You don't have to, but remember that word of mouth is the most powerful advertising tool there is. The more your audience loves what you create, the more likely they are to share your work--and your shop--with their family and friends, expanding your reach more than you may be able to do on your own.

Once you find which of your creations people seem most interested in, the transition from product-based to audience-based business is a piece of cake. All you do is make more items that are similar in style and type to what's already been successful, and expound on what your fans already like the most.

Freshwater Tahitian pearl bracelet
$16 in the project shop

Another way to expand into an audience-based business model is to cater directly to what your followers ask for. If you ask, they'll tell you exactly what they want! Maybe it's a handmade soap in a travel size. A specific color or size of jewelry.  For me, I have a lot of requests for freshwater pearl jewelry and wire-wrapped stones, so that's what I try to cater to first and foremost. Those products are consistently more successful than other designs, specifically because they're catering to what my audience has asked for.

What if you don't have an audience yet? How do you get the feedback you need?
Well, everyone has an audience! Do you have a Facebook account? Try showing your creations to family and friends there and ask which ones they like best. If one item receives a lot of attention, that can give you a great idea of which direction to grow.

And of course, if you really have no one to ask for feedback, I'm always willing to take a look!

Week-end tallies: First week in review

Well, the end of the week rolled around faster than I expected, and while I didn't meet all my goals for the week, I certainly made a lot of great progress toward getting the project going.

I've had a lot of people share the link for the Crafts to Riches project around the internet, so to those who are helping me get the word out, thank you so much! I'm still working on a list of topics to cover in coming weeks, so hopefully as the site continues to grow, there will be more information here for everyone to share.

There's a lot of new pieces up in the project shop, so I'll be updating the sidebar here with new favorites, but here's the two that seem to be most popular on Etsy:

Pink Dahlia dangle earrings, $5

Lucky Chinese coin earrings - $9

Both have been featured in treasuries and have received a lot of positive feedback, so that's a great sign for a budding business! Just keep in mind that this can be you, a big part of why I'm doing this project is to illustrate exactly how you can reach a successful end result, too.

According to the numbers, I'm still behind overall, but seeing sales at all in the first week of a new venture on Etsy isn't just great, it's fantastic. That said, I hope next week continues to see steady forward momentum!

Total value of items made: $146.00
Total expenses to run business: $49.07
Total income: $20.00

Preparing your listings: Photographing products for Etsy

While I spoke a bit about photos when I wrote about listing things on Etsy in my other blog, I never really went into detail like I'm going to now. There's a million and one places you can find information about photographing things for your Etsy shops, but instead of just telling what to do, today, we're going to talk a little bit about why you should photograph things a certain way, and ways you can accomplish it without cutting into your bottom line.

Quality photographs are one of the biggest selling points for your products, but if you're not an art student like me, you may not have an idea how to make your product photos pop. Don't worry, it's not as hard as you think! There's really only 3 things to worry about:

• Your photos need to be clear
• Your photos need to be bright
• Your photos need to be nicely staged

But as to what each of those things means, that's something we'll explore in a moment. First, I want to make something clear, because it's a concern I hear a lot.

You don't need to have a nice camera or expensive software to have nice product photos.
Seriously, it's more important to know what you're doing than to have a camera that costs $900. Of course, a fancy DSLR might help, but only if you know how to use it. One of my friends takes all her product photos with the camera on her iPhone, and her photos look great! As long as you have access to a camera and a few free tools, your results can be great.

Still my preferred camera for family outings

While I'm blessed to now have a Canon T3i for my photos and a copy of Photoshop my sister purchased, I had photos that were just as nice when I used the shabby little broken Pentax camera we mysteriously found in the bottom of a box after moving. Before I had access to the software I use now, I relied heavily on FotoFuze for cropping items out of photos and putting them on a white background. It's free and easy to use, and faster than cutting things out by using computer software and a mouse.

Aside from any camera and maybe access to FotoFuze, one other thing you'll need is a program that will allow you to adjust the brightness and contrast of your photos, crop and resize them before you take them into FotoFuze. Photoshop is the best tool there is for this, but if you didn't grow up with a graphic designer for an older brother and then luck out with a super-generous sister like I did, you can do just as well with GIMP. It's another excellent free resource, and getting better all the time.

Now that you've got a camera and editing software, let's move on to the next step, shall we?

Your photos need to be clear.
It might seem like a "duh" statement, but you'd be amazed at how many blurry photographs I see on Etsy. Never be that person. Retake a photo as many times as necessary to get a clear image. If you have shaky hands and don't have access to a tripod, try bracing your camera against a box or stack of books to keep the tremble at bay while photographing items. This will let you angle the camera and adjust as needed to get a good shot, but will drastically reduce the chance of ending up with a blurry photo.

If your photos always turn out blurry, keep in mind that it may be your setup causing things to go wrong. Setting up in the wrong lighting can cause a camera's sensors to go wonky, meaning most point-and-shoot basic cameras will automatically adjust exposure time and give you a blurry or grainy photo as a result. Natural daylight is always best for photos, but if you just can't work out a photo shoot by an open window, setting up right underneath a good lamp will do the trick, too. Using flash photography usually helps eliminate blur, but use flash only as a last resort, because it can cause ugly glare and cause colors to look all wrong.

Your photos need to be bright.
Proper lighting goes a long way to making a photo look good. Without any post-processing, which usually includes adjustment of the brightness, contrast and color saturation, a lot of photos tend to have an ashy gray cast to them. Upping the contrast and brightness in your editing software makes this a quick fix, but be mindful that it doesn't distort the color of the photo as well!
Colors should be clear, clean and crisp, and the background for most photos should be white, but we'll come back to that in the next section.

A product photo taken in an indoors light tent

Indirect daylight is always the best light source for photos. Indoor lighting gives things a yellow cast, and direct sunlight risks overexposure in your photos. It can take a few tries to get the lighting just right, so don't get frustrated if your photos aren't amazing on the first try. Even with several years of experience photographing my items, I still take between ten and twenty photos of each item and am lucky if I get five that are usable! Also remember that every photo will require editing, so what you see on the camera won't be the end result. Most white backgrounds in photos will look dingy yellow or gray until you correct the colors with a little quick editing.

A great solution for indoor photography is to build a light tent. While it sounds fancy and complicated, you can get similar results just by draping a white sheet where you can shine a lamp in through either side. If you're working with small items, you can find a great tutorial on building a cheap light box for product photography over here.

Your photos need to be nicely staged.
Sometimes, when you're staging your photos, you might not even realize you're doing it. For me, staging can mean something as simple as arranging a necklace chain into a swirl instead of letting it lay however it falls. Anything you can do to make your photos more visually pleasing is considered staging.

Every photo needs to be staged a little, even if most of your photography is happening on a white background. There's two reasons it should be happening on white, by the way. For one, you want most of your photos to be very clean and clear with minimal distraction. For another, having products on a white background will make it infinitely easier to crop them out for placement onto something else, like a collage, banner, or advertisement.

A little staging goes a long way when working against a white background. A great benefit to staging for photos against white is that you can include something to spice up a visually boring product. Items like soaps and candles usually aren't very exciting to look at, but you have the option of including something to represent the ingredients used or the fragrances offered. A candle can be staged with a flower or handful of berries beside it. A soap can be staged with an attractive (but not too fancy) soap dish or wash cloth.

A simple backdrop box

Advertisement is why a small number of your photos should still happen against a backdrop, possibly with more staging. One great way to make a backdrop is to use patterned scrapbooking paper, which can be purchased on sale for a few cents per sheet.

I created a simple backdrop stage for my products, using similarly-colored pieces of scrapbooking paper and the corner of a box. It cost less than sixty cents to put together, but the end result is great photos for advertising that take next to no effort!

Advertising photos can be used in a number of ways. These are the photos that make something look more tangible, the kind you might find in a catalog or brochure. These photos are more visually interesting because part of the idea is to create an attractive overall image that fits with a larger design scheme, as opposed to drawing attention specifically to a single item being portrayed. Generally speaking, though, your white-background photos should compose at least 75% of your product photography.

With those things in mind, now is a great time to start taking pictures of your products and getting your shop's lineup ready to go. That's what I'll be working on, this week!

A good example of simple product staging.

New project items: The first batch

It's been a busy week so far, preparing products and photographs, sorting paperwork, and making important purchases.
While I hate the idea of starting the project in the negative, the expense covered a few necessities, like padded mailers for shipping things and a new postal scale so I can continue to ship from home. I hate that my old scale gave out, but USB devices don't last forever, so there's not much I can do aside from replacing it.

With those things out of the way, I put up the first listings for the project. While you can see everything over in the shop, here's a quick peek at bigger pictures!

Rainy Day locket, $20

Tahitian pearl dangle earrings, $9

Brass filigree and white bellflower earrings, $9

There's lots of other items waiting on my craft room table, still needing to be photographed. Since I'm trying to take all my own advice, I'm planning to have 20 items in the shop by the end of the week so the front page is nice and full. It will put me pretty close to having $50 invested in the beginning of the project, which feels like a lot when your budget is slim, but my dad always said you have to spend money to make money.

Setting up shop: Things to consider when starting your craft business

I'm ready! Let's get started! I want to make things! I can't wait to make my first sale!
Those are the first thoughts I have when I consider the official launch of my crafting business. Maybe yours are similar.

I'm as eager to get started with business as anyone else who wants to be self-sufficient with their income. But here's where I have to be reasonable: You're probably not going to make any money the first week. For that matter, you may not even get your first set of items up for sale!

So what gives? I thought the whole idea was to start selling the stuff we're making? Well, it is. But before you get started with the listing and selling part, you need to do some ground work to make sure you're ready for the outcome.

One day's worth of orders. I was so unprepared!

One of my most successful craft ventures was selling Christmas ornaments with my sister to help raise money for my maternity leave. My leave from work would be unpaid, which meant I had to find a way to scrape together an extra 6 weeks worth of income by doing something on the side. It was wildly successful, and I was wildly unprepared. At 8-and-a-half months into my pregnancy, I spent every hour I wasn't working my day job scrambling to complete over 100 hand-painted ornaments, as well as wrapping, packing, boxing, sealing, marking and shipping each one. It was wonderful and raised the money I needed in less than two weeks, but I was unprepared, so it was a nightmare, as well.

Never again.

You're starting a business. Have everything ready before the doors open.

There's a lot of little things that you may not think of when starting, things you lose track of because of excitement. But making sure everything is in order before you start means everything will be more fun and easier to manage. If you spend the first few days of your new venture taking care of the business side of things, it'll save you a ton of time and frustration in the long run, too! So what kind of things do you need to focus on first?

Make sure you can ship your products reliably.
If you're like me, you're mostly selling online, which means everything leaves your house by way of the mailbox. Before you sell anything, stop to consider how it's getting to its new destination.

• Have you ordered boxes or padded mailers?
• Do you have bubble wrap, wrapping paper, packing peanuts?
• Do you have enough tape?
• Are you shipping your items in gift boxes or bags?
• Do you have enough for everything you've made?
• Are you printing postage from home?
• If so, do you have an accurate postal scale?
• Do you have enough printer paper for invoices, packing slips and postage?
• Do you need a paper cutter for any of those?
• Does your printer have enough ink?

All of these are things you need to consider before anything goes up for sale. Running out of any of these unexpectedly can make everything more difficult and more costly than it needs to be. You can get a case of 25 bubble mailers at Office Depot for $20 and tax and have them instantly, but you can get 250 from uline.com for $21 and shipping if you think ahead. So in the first week, be sure to create an office inventory of shipping materials you'll need and make sure you'll have it on hand!

Keep taxes in mind and plan accordingly.
Sorry, folks, but selling from home doesn't mean you can skip out on income taxes. You'll officially be considered self-employed, and have to mind your taxes accordingly. You'll want to make sure you have your paperwork in order before you start. You will need a file cabinet and folders for your invoices, receipts and spreadsheets.

If your business requires you to buy materials from places that charge sales tax, consider applying for a state tax exemption. Presenting your exemption ID to local retailers means saving a few pennies on your supply costs.

Keep all your receipts for any business-related expenses. These can be anything from cost of materials being used to the cost to rent a booth space at a convention or craft show. If you're selling on Etsy, Etsy's fees can be claimed on your taxes as venue costs. If your receipts are printed on thermal paper, like you get at most big box retail stores, be sure to make a photocopy and staple the original receipt to it. Accidental exposure to heat can cause thermal paper receipts to become illegible. I know people who have kept sensitive receipts in the freezer, just to be sure, but that's not necessary for your business. All receipts should be stored in acid-free containers or folders, too, to help prevent discoloration.

Different states have different laws, but there is a minimum income threshold before you have to pay taxes on your earnings. In Tennessee, I don't have to report my earnings until I make over $400 with my home business, but I still keep funds set aside until tax time for just in case.

Consider sales tax, as well. Tennessee requires me to collect sales tax only on sales made in this state. Etsy adds state sales tax to the total for me, but if you're offering items at a flat cost while at shows or craft fairs, that cost will be coming out of your pocket at the end. Plan accordingly and keep careful records of how much sales tax you've collected through the year and where you need to send those collected funds.

And then, of course, we have one of the most important things to worry about.

Start making products well before your launch.
While you can still make sales by only having a few things in your Etsy storefront, their algorithms favor shops with a lot of stock. I've heard many people say that having 100 items is the sweet spot, and that their sales don't increase too substantially beyond that point. To get started, though, you probably need to have about 20 items ready to list when your shop opens.

Why? Well, your storefront just looks better if you have things for shoppers to browse, rather than seeing everything you offer at a glance. The longer people look at your page, the more memorable it becomes, and the more memorable it is, the more likely shoppers are to share your shop with friends or buy something, themselves.

While preparing your shop you'll also want to make sure your product photos and presentation are high-quality and uniform, but we'll address that next, when I'm tackling the task for this venture!

An Introduction

This morning marked a big decision for me: Finally starting this blog. I keep another blog where I talk about writing and general life things, but I decided since this one is for a unique undertaking, it should be on its own corner of the internet.

So, hi! We'll start with the basics.
If you aren't one of my friends checking in to see what my newest project is all about, allow me to introduce myself.
I'm Beth, a homemaker living in Tennessee with my happy little family. I've always loved crafts, and I'm blessed that my husband allowed me to claim the smallest room in the house as a craft space.

In the past, I maintained a shop on Etsy and had a decent go with it. I brought in a couple thousand dollars before I decided to call it quits. After having a baby, I just didn't have the time and energy to maintain my shop any more, so I sold most of my creations off for cost of materials and shipping and called it a day. I tried to sell my supplies, too, but no one wanted to give me a fair price for them, so I just kept it all and figured I could get back to it someday.

See, I left my job to be a stay-at-home mother to my baby girl. I don't regret it, but it definitely cut our budget, so craft supplies were one of the first things I had to pare back on. Not a big deal, since I have a huge craft room already fully-stocked from when I used to work at a craft supply store. But it meant cutting back on other things, too, such as how much money goes into savings each month for our big dream: A slightly bigger house in a nicer part of town.

Enter the Crafts to Riches project.
Okay, so the name is a little ambitious. I don't expect to be rolling in cash and living in a mansion by the time the project is done. But it's a personal challenge, and when you're starting with nothing but a room full of raw materials, any profit can make you feel like a huge success!

The idea is simple: Using items already stored in my craft room and my already-established (but currently empty) Etsy shop, I start making things and selling them, until I reach the goal.

The goal is to make and sell enough crafts to earn $1,000.

Each week, I'll update a set of running tallies. The tallies will represent a few things: The total value of what I've created, what the income from selling has been, and costs incurred by running the shop.
I'm also setting a rule for myself, which is that if I purchase more supplies, they must be items absolutely required to keep the project going, and the cost will be counted as part of the cost of shop operation.

So why blog about it?
Well, I think it's an experiment people can learn something from. Running a crafts-based business is hard, and I know a lot of people who have expressed interest in doing it and just don't know how to start or what to expect after they do. This can help them get a real idea of what the whole thing entails.

There's other things I can share, too! Aside from offering inspiration, my job as a craft store employee means I know a little about a lot of different crafts, which might help you get started on a new hobby you never knew you loved. And since I'm a bit of a Jill-of-all-trades, I can teach a few tricks too, in the form of tutorials and guides to help you get your craftiness going.

So stay tuned, okay? We'll be getting this ball rolling first thing on Monday morning.
Until then!