Mixing Politics with Business

Something major happened during the 2008 election year. Okay, so a lot of major things happened that year, but I’m referring specifically to the openness in which people proclaimed their political alignments and sparked conversations (arguments) with those who disagreed with them.

Once upon a time there were three topics you didn’t discuss at work or amongst company you weren’t close with: politics, sex, and religion. You didn’t discuss these things because you never knew who could be offended, but not say anything about it. There was a time and place to bring up these issues, and they did not include the latest staff meeting or family reunion with those cousins you only get to see once every three years. It feels likes these boundaries have been broken over the last half a dozen years or so.

I partially blame social networking. For all of the fantastic benefits of being able to stay in touch with friends and families via electronic devices, Facebook and its relative platforms have also done a great job at allowing the majority to gang up on the minority when it comes to certain discussions. Not only that, but these platforms often invite us to openly proclaim our political alliances, in black and white, when we might not always strictly agree with one party or candidate on all of the issues. However, when you look at our profile page, it might look like we do. I’ve often had friends and family assume I support certain things, or am against certain things or candidates based on what I’ve placed on my profile. The real world is more complex than what we are limited to label ourselves as.

More than social networking, I blame televised media. A lot of the news networks report on political elections and issues in the same manner they report on sports. How often have you heard “Team Romney” vs. “Team Obama”? How about use of the terms “points,” “winner,” “loser,” “defense,” “score,” “offense,” etc? in an effort to get people to watch THEIR network versus the competition, the reporting has become more and more sensationalized, to the point of using war vocabulary such as “fight,” “battle,” and “war on [insert guns, women, drugs, religion, etc here.]” I’m reminded of how spoiled I have gotten listening to NPR and reading newspapers for most of my information when I watch just a few minutes of the commentary after the presidential debates by the media pundits following. After about 30 seconds I can’t stand it anymore and have to switch them off.

So with the media molding the latest political race into a sports-like-arena, more people are treating the elections like last night’s football game and bringing it up in polite company. Likewise, I notice several small businesses owners jumping in the mix and posting their opinions via Facebook and Twitter, hoping to somehow convince their fans to jump on board their team with a meme image and oh-so-not-clever caption accompanying it. Is this really a smart decision on their part?

Before you start to promote your personal political preferences via the platform you’ve build your business on, I urge you to consider the consequences of doing so.

First of all: who might you be offending? If you concretely believe that your target audience does not include these people, then feel free to post. But be aware of the listeners you might be losing until you are completely sure that is not the case.

Secondly: are you being respectful? I’m happy to engage in a political debate as long s the person on the other end is as respectful of my opinion as I am of theirs. As soon as name-calling such as “bigot,” “idiot,” or “kool-aid drinker” start being used, there is nothing to be gleaned from the conversation and it only becomes destructive.

Finally: choose the causes you champion wisely. It’s one thing to promote your support for something (or against something) via your personal Facebook profile to the friends and family you know in person, and yet another via your Facebook Page to those who don’t have the benefit of discussing the issues with you in person. If you feel like you simply HAVE to champion a specific cause from your business platforms, make sure it aligns with enough of your followers beliefs to gain support. Being blocked, unsubscribed from, and un-friended won’t help your business OR your cause, and should always be handled delicately.

With the election being just a few short days away, I felt this post to be an appropriate reminder for all of us to tread carefully, and more importantly, respectfully.

What’s Your Biggest Time-Suck?

If you are running a business, big or small, you’re supposed to promote the crap out of it if you want any sales. The more you promote, the more smartly you promote, the more your business will grow.

Duh. We KNOW Megan. Moving on.

Online social networks are a great way to reach new customers and fellow professionals to build connections and get the word out there. There are so many to choose from! Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, Flickr, Yahoo Groups, Polyvore, WordPress, Tumblr, Community Forums, DeviantArt, LinkedIn, Blogger, and so on… If you tried to use them all you would be spending all 29 hours of the day getting your social networking done and have no time for anything else.

But… there’s only 24 hours in the day, not 29.

Exactly. You can’t afford to be everywhere and doing everything, no matter how big the fuss over the new shiny social network is. Try a few out, pick your favorites, and work off of those. Keeping yourself from spreading too thin will prevent your content from going sour. You want to be reliable to your followers. You don’t want to be that person who posts something fresh everyday, to the point where your followers will start to look forward and count on your updates, only to vanish without a trace.

Pick a few and stick to ‘em.

BUT. <<<<- big but here. Watch how much time you are spending with these tools.

3 hours a day spent promoting on social networks is over 2 hours too many. Time yourself. Limit yourself for no more than an hour (at MAX) to spend on all of your social networking, and that includes e-mail, blog writing, forum discussion, treasury making, ALL OF IT. You may think you are not wasting a lot of time doing your online promotion, but I bet you would be surprised just how quickly that time can fly if you started to pay attention to the clock.

But if I only get to use less than an hour, how am I suppose to get it all done?

Smart planning will allow you to manage your online promotion more efficiently. Personally, I like to write most of my status updates randomly, and keep them stored on a basic Notepad file. This means I’m working on updates without actually being on Facebook (and all of it’s distractions). So when I need to update, it literally only takes a second, as I pop open my saved document, and copy and paste the status to my networks. Less than a minute: done. If you choose just ONE DAY a week to spend your hour on writing updates for Facebook/Twitter/Etc., you can use that time to stalk up for the rest of the week. Spend your next day’s hour on writing blog posts. Schedule and save drafts to be published throughout the week. Done. Spend your next day’s hour making treasuries – if you have any teams that require team treasuries to be made, this is your time to get them done. One hour (or less), and no more treasury creation til next week. Done.

I think you get the idea.

It is possible to cover all of your marketing bases without losing all of your valuable creative time to cyber space. Next time you’re about to log on to YOUR biggest time-suck, check to the clock and start timing. Together, let’s see how much valuable creative time we can save!

The Snowball Effect

When you are starting a business people tell you there will be a snowballing effect. Be patient, success will come. You just gotta give it that good initial shove, and then once the sales start rolling in they will multiply, right? Well……. sort of.

There IS a snowballing effect, but what they DON’T tell you is that the course you are rolling your ball on is completely uphill. You can’t just give your little ball a push and watch it travel, gathering momentum and getting bigger as it speeds along. You have to be behind it the WHOLE TIME, grunting and sweating, as you force it to move up the steep slope.

You never get to a point where you have to stop marketing and promoting, it is a constant thing that must be done or you will fade away.

You never get to a point where you get to stop coming up with new products because your current line-up is so good it will last you forever – your customers will want to see new shyte, no matter how long you’ve been around or how good your current shyte is.

I remember when my MegansBeadedDesigns shop reached 100 sales and I wondered if it would get any easier to reach my next 100. While I wouldn’t say easier, I will say faster. And faster not because of any other reason than my pushing them along the entire time.

Instead of working less on my business I’ve chosen to work harder at it, but also leaner – cutting out the tasks and busy work that don’t really have a great effect on the big picture. I like to spend my time on what is working, while keeping in mind that what works may evolve over time. For example, I’ve cut out treasury teams that require clicking and commenting on ALL team treasuries. While there was some nice exposure from them, not enough to deserve all of the time they required.

To maintain my upward momentum, I’ve tried to establish a semblance of a routine. I try to make enough items to keep a certain amount in my Etsy shops, post a certain number of times a day to my social networking sites, publish a blog post every weekday, etc. Setting up a basic daily to-do helps to keep me from feeling overwhelmed.

If you are struggling to get the ball moving again, try setting up your own routine. To-do lists with items you can check off will make you feel accomplished. Keep you overall goals in mind to maintain focus, and things will keep moving in the right direction.

Why Your Tweets are Boring

I’ve had to unfollow a lot of my fellow Etsians on Twitter, because frankly, their tweets tend to be staggeringly uninteresting. Not that I am not guilty of this myself, but at least I’ve become aware of the problem. Now here I am, ready to help you become aware with this blog post. Awareness, or so they say, is the first step to recovery.

Most of us know that we are supposed to mix-up our tweets. Simply tweeting links to our latest listings is a sure-fire way to get un-followed and filed into the realm of the spammers. So we post a link to our newest item. Then we post a link to our latest blog post. Then we post a link to a treasury we have been included in. Then we post an update about what we are having for dinner. Pretty good mix-up, right? Sure. But not if the tweets are boring.

Just like with blogging, there are 2 reasons why people consume online content. (1) To be informed and (2) to be entertained. If I want to shop, I will go to a marketplace web site (like Etsy or Amazon), or a retail website (Like Macy’s or ModCloth), or Google shopping and look for something to buy. I do not go to twitter. I go to twitter for the 2 reasons above. A tweet is boring if it does not fulfill either of those two reasons.

For example, see the boring tweet below:
“Had chicken fettuccine for dinner.”

Ugh, right? Okay, now let’s transform it so it is informational:
“Tried this new chicken fettuccine recipe for dinner,[link] so good!” or “The white wine I picked up from World Market went great with the chicken fettuccine I had for dinner.” or “Turns out cutting down to half a portion of this chicken fettuccine still made me feel full! Yay for cutting calories! [pic]“ or “Tonight’s dinner discovery: chicken fettuccine goes great with peppered broccoli. Who knew?”

How about entertaining?
“Chicken fettuccine for dinner. #sorryjeans” or “Is it bad I want to marry the chicken fettuccine I am having for dinner?” or “Chicken fettuccine for dinner. What’s on your plate?” or “The chicken fettuccine I’m having for dinner looks so pretty, I almost don’t wanna ruin it. ALMOST. [pic]“

Do you see the difference? I’m happy to read about what you’re having for lunch, your hatred of Mondays, or your latest workout routine… as long as it’s interesting in some way. Before you hit that tweet button, ask yourself if it informational or entertaining, then send.

Releasing the Pressure to Work for Free

What you are an artist or a crafter, it can be a bit too much for someone to wrap their heads around the fact that you actually need to MAKE MONEY. To do things, like, you know, EAT.

Dark Blue Floating Necklace & Earrings Set

Most of the times it’s your very own friends and family who are the WORST when it comes to this kind of a thing. “Can you make me this?” “Can you fix this?” “Can you design me this?” “Can you critique this?”

Considering that I have SO MUCH FREE TIME, I respond, “Well, of course! I’ll get on that right away!”

So my list of freebie jobs for friends and family builds and builds, until I don’t have time for the jobs that actually pay the bills. I’m not going to tell you to NEVER do some favor jobs for people you care about, but I am going to warn you that if you give an inch, people tend to ask for a mile. So…

Know where to draw the line.
One favor for a friend is one thing. For example, if your a knitter and your friend’s hat is starting to fray. Go ahead and fix it for her. When she brings you a box full of hats that need fixed, tell her you charge by the hour. Period.

Let them know your favor counts as a gift for an upcoming event.
Right now I’m designing invitations and bridesmaid jewelry for my friend who’s getting married, along with a dozen other favors for her wedding. These favors are going to count as her wedding gift, not in addition to. Same thing when I design announcements for my friends who are graduating, and so on.

Don’t be afraid to name your price.
When a random co-worker asks me to make a pair of earrings for her, I’ll say right off the bat how much that will cost. I’m not about to make the earrings, and then hope she’ll ask me what she owes afterwards. Chances are, she’ll just say “thank you!” and think that they are free of charge. I’m NOT exaggerating, this has happened to me before. Save yourself the trouble and give your quote ahead of time.

Let people know how much you NORMALLY charge.
If you DO agree to work on a project (as a gift) for someone, for free, be sure to let them know how much it will cost next time. This will also help you in the matter of other people seeing your work from this person and making inquiries in regards to it. It also doesn’t hurt to inform people just how valuable your time really is. Maybe they’ll think twice before asking again.

Getting Support from Family and Friends

There are some AMAZING individuals out there in the world of the internet. They have done me some HUGE favors by referring my business to their own cyber and social networks. I am supremely grateful for their support. I’m talking about those people who I’ve never actually met face-to-face, but they seem to think that I’m awesome enough to share with those that they have. Super flattering. And super helpful for my online business. My thanks goes out to these individuals ten-fold.

But what about those who I do know in “real life”? My family, friends, co-workers, etc.? In comparison, support from them has been fairly sparse. My grandmother occasionally sells earrings for me at the assisted living center she works at, and my mother-in-law is more than happy to tell people about my business (even in her Christmas newsletter, goodness gracious!), but that about sums it up. I’m not complaining about these people, not in the least bit. My lack of support from them is entirely MY FAULT. Partially a result of shyness, and partially a lack of confidence. I have yet to take the initiative to ASK for their help.

Ways in which I plan on recruiting my friends, family, and co-coworkers to help spread the word of my business:

• Invite them not only to “like” my Facebook fan page, but also tell them I will ♥ them 4evahhhhh if they encourage their friends to like it too.
• Give them more than 1 business card, asking them to pass the extras on.
• Leaving flyers for craft fairs I am attending in the break room at work.
• Inform friends of my abilities the next time they are needing a service (design work, gift ideas, etc.)
• Ask friends and family for ideas on what else I could be making and adding to my Etsy shops, that way they feel like they are contributing.
• Offer friendly “affiliate” type incentives. E.g., “Short on freelance graphic design work right now. If anyone knows anyone who would want me to do some design work for them, I’ll buy you lunch if you recommend me!”
• Host an open house jewelry party. Send out invites and encourage those invited to invite someone else.

I’m sure I’ll think of more, but that is a fairly substantial list for now. If you run your own business or sell handmade, how do you encourage the people you know to help you spread the word?

Overcoming Shyness for the Sake of Word-of-Mouth Promotion

I’m shy. I’m an introvert. I’m a listener, not a talker. A reader, not a speaker. A thinker, not a babbler. You get the idea.

I’m working on it.

It’s a constant battle for improvement. Extroverts have a hard time understanding it. They are easily friendly conversationalists, who hardly feel awkward in social or business situations. They can naturally be themselves and not be afraid of saying the wrong thing or caring even if they do. The extroverts dominate the business meetings, for better or for worse, and tend to reap the benefits of their exuberant personalities. In the professional world, basting in the spotlight can be a good thing. Avoiding it, as I tend to do, can result in professional stagnation.

I’ve gotten a lot better. I’m still referred to as “the quiet one” at work, but not because I don’t speak up when I need to. I may not blab a lot for the sake of filling the air with conversation, but I am better about saying what needs to be said, and responding to an already existing conversation–therefore establishing a presence. I still feel like I need to work harder than the extroverts, and allow my work to speak for me (hoping that my bosses notice.) But a lot of progress has been made from the girl who was occasionally accused of being a mute in high school.

I still need to work harder on it though. Especially when it comes to promoting my handmade business in face-to-face situations.

What happens in reality:

Observer: What a cute barrette! Did you make it?

My Response: Thank you! I did.

*The conversation ends.*

What SHOULD happen:

Flower Hair Clip - $14.95

Observer: What a cute barrette! Did you make it?

My response: Thank you! Yes I did! I have lots more too! You can see see them in my online Etsy shop. Here’s my business card. I also do special orders, so if there is something that you would like in differentiate colors or in a different design, you can let me know.

Observer: Thanks! *takes card*

The worst thing that could happen is the example observer will throw my card away and never visit my shop. Which would, of course, be no different from the conversation prior in which I never mentioned it. On the plus side, he or she might actually visit my shop, share it with someone else, and increase my possibilities of drumming up business.

Conclusion? Overcoming shyness pays off.

Ways I can work to overcome it:

1. Wear my product
2. Always carry business cards
3. Encourage those I talk to to share my shop with someone else. (e.g. “If you’re not the jewelry-wearing type, maybe you know someone who would appreciate a place where she can get some.”)

This is all a lot harder than it appears on paper. The internet is my safe zone. I don’t feel ashamed or embarrassed asking my friends to come see my stuff at a craft fair on Facebook, but in real life, especially with complete strangers, it takes a lot more effort than one would think. Hopefully, with preparation and practice, I’ll get better at face-to-face promotion.

Do you struggle with shyness? If so, how do you deal with it?

Small Town Craft Show Experiences

Yellow Headband - $19.95

I think I prefer small-town craft shows to the bigger ones in the larger cities. There’s something very community-oriented about a small town show that makes a big difference with the vendors and the customers. And frankly, in small towns there really isn’t a whole lot else going on to do (or places to shop) that just about everyone who lives there will stop by to see what new vendors are there and what great deals they can snatch up for Christmas gifts. For these reasons my last two shows were in very small-towns. One went well, the other… anything but.

On the 19th I did a show at Loon Lake Elementary show. I thought it was a little too relaxed from the beginning. When I had called to reserve my space ahead of time, the coordinator wrote my name down, and told me I could pay the fee the day of the show. Wow, I thought, I’ve never done a craft fair where full payment or at least some kind of deposit isn’t required up front. Interesting…

Gah! Such an empty gym!!

It turned out that this was the coordinators first time putting on the craft fair. Obviously, they didn’t realize that an upfront payment ensures one very important thing: the vendors will show up.

We ended up having a show where literally less than half of the reserved spaces were filled. Many of the other vendors either found other shows to attend, or opted not to travel in the snowy weather. Either way, the gym we were in was pretty sad and sparse looking as a result.

Also, with so few vendors, you get a lot less foot traffic coming through. Most craft shows I have done rely on word-of-mouth advertising as its main source of advertising. I know as a vendor I’ll usually post on Facebook where I’ll be and beg some of my friends and family to come and visit me and the rest of the vendors to help support the show. Well, with so few vendors, that tactic didn’t pan out very well. So between the lack of booths, the snowy weather, and the minimal advertising, this small-town craft fair was a complete flop. I think I just BARELY made back my booth fee, and several other vendors reported a complete lack of any sales whatsoever. I felt bad for them, and I also felt bad for the coordinators, who were young high school kids running it for a volunteer project. I’m sure they were bummed about how the show turned out too.

Pink Circles Barrette - $14.95

However, one dud is not enough to make me lose faith in all small-town shows. The following weekend (last Saturday) I did a small church show out in Suncrest. It wasn’t super busy, but I did fairly well sales-wise, and promoted my ability to do custom orders like crazy. I honestly think I’ll be hearing back from some people about special projects in the near future. This sale confirmed my belief in the heavy community support for local small-town shows.

I also got to do some trading with the other vendors. A smaller, friendly environment tends to promote such things more. I exchanged one of my beaded barrettes for a couple of adorable wooden heart ring boxes. I think they are super fun! (Amused easily much?) I’m excited to use them as part of my display at my next show at The Service Station.

Behold, My 1st Giveaway!

I appreciate you, my dear readers. I appreciate you more than I appreciate chewy chocolate chip cookies. (And that’s saying a lot because I LOVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEE them.)

But Imma thinkin’ that just saying so isn’t enough. So I’ve decided to pretend like I’m a cool blogger and host a sweet giveaway. This will be my very first. >>>>>> Are you ready for this action?

I’m going to give away your choice of

(a) this sweet pair of holidays earrings [clip-ons also available],

(b) one of my infamous green evil eye rings or,

(c) this bag of destash beads to use in your creative endeavors!

Who WOULDN’T want to win one of these FREE goodies? Contest is open globally, so go ahead and enter even if you live in Antarctica! The ways you can enter are simple and explained below:

1st Entry: Follow this blog. (Mandatory prior to any other entries) Comment on this post afterwards saying you are a new follower (or that you are already a follower, aka: one of my favorites).

2nd Entry: Like me on Facebook. Comment on this entry that you have done so afterwards, please include your Facebook name. Even if it’s “Sadd Arsse,” there is no need to be embarrassed.

3rd Entry: Follow me on Twitter. Comment on this post afterwards that you have done so, and, as you probably guessed, include your @Name.

4th Entry: Heart [Favorite] my shop on Etsy. If I’m already a favorite, you can heart an item that you haven’t yet. (If you have hearted every single one of my items, then you are one of the greatest human beings evahhhhhhh.) Comment here afterwards, leaving your Etsy name.

5th Entry: Blog about this giveaway on yer own blog. Leave a link to the post in the comment you leave here afterwards. :-) This is also a way to promote your own blog, so why not?

6th Entry: Buy something from any of my 4 Etsy Shops (MegansBeadedDesigns, Glamour365, MegansCreativeDesign, or SteampunkDream). Comment with a link to what you bought, and include your Etsy name. Consider it a chance to not only buy something awesome and handmade, but to also win a chance at obtaining something awesome for FREE!

So there you have it. 6 easy ways you can enter to win some FREE prizes. Winner will be randomly chosen from the comments on Monday, December 12th. (Make sure I can contact you by clicking your username or by leaving your e-mail address!) I’ll give the winner a choice of his or her prize out of the 3 and announce the selection here on my blog.

Good luck!

Falling in Love with BLOGGING

Damn you all: I am hooked. What started out as a chore, a I-must-do-this-because-that’s-what-successful-etsy-sellers-do goal, has transformed into one of my favorite daily activities. I have my readers, fellow bloggers, and my own innate love of words to blame. At this point, getting my Etsy shop out there is just a bonus. I’m having a blast sharing my thoughts, promoting others artists with my Friday’s Featured Artist posts, and sharing the business tips I am learning along the way. I had no idea that blogging could be so frikin awesome! (And, not to mention, addicting!)

I love searching the WordPress Topics for things I might be interested in, and discovering a lot of other awesome blogs along the way.
Also, the Etsy Blog Team has a great list of daily posts from lots of my fellow Etsy bloggers! it’s great to go through and discover other artists who also enjoy blogging as much as I do!

I think that this humble blog is off to a great start. The things I could blog about are ever-expanding, and the potential to network is bigger than I ever imagined! The blogging world is ginormous and continually growing! I only hope I can keep up.

If I can, it will be because of you, my dear readers. I’m offering you a huge THANK YOU for all of your support and feedback. I truly appreciate each new follower and fan I gain. I’m thinking I might have a giveaway here soon, just because I think you are awesome and deserve something free once in awhile.

Side note: comments are like crack to me – so comment away!