Handmadeology

It’s tough to be seen when your work operates out of a spare room and your personality has to shine through in Twitter or in an email.

What’s my UVP? I help creative’s find the “ah ha” moments in their business that turn ideas to profit. What do you do?

Often when there is slow or no movement in a creative business, a lack of inspiration, or worse a lack of profit I see the business try to fix the problem by getting bigger hoping to capture something more.

Utilizing your online presence is about building up your virtual brand so that your potential buyers become long term investors in your work.

Why hit the pavement day after day in your business? How about in place of working HARD (ie. 12 hour days, mile long to do lists, and 5 email accounts) you worked SMART?

The buzz over the holidays has begun and you are about to enter the best time of year to be a handmade business. As more people crave shopping local and buying smaller what you do becomes increasingly important. But this is also a time to rev up for next year with some cash in your pocket.

Make the most of your holiday season by adding a little more to your holiday plan. Create some assurance that this season is setting your up for next year, selling the brand you worked hard on in preparation, and above all else don’t let the hectic-ness get the best of you.

How to be a walking, talking brand Have you ever cringed when someone asked you, “What do you do?” Even when I discovered work I truly loved doing and practiced how I would tell others the moment the spotlight was on me I froze! In these moments you have two options–one is to state your [...]

I recommend two avenues, driving traffic from within the Etsy community and from outside. I know, that’s not very specific, so here are some more details for you.

The best kept secret to getting those customers who are yearning for what it is you create? Put yourself in their shoes. Of all the possible groups of people you know you can sell to who is it you most love?

Here are 7 tips for Marketing SMART. I hear things like this too often, “How do I allocate money I don’t have to marketing?”, “How do I know how to spend advertising dollars wisely?”, “Is it true I have to keep pouring money into promotion and just wait?”

Here are five things I learned this year about building my dream. There really are more than five but these are the ones at the top of my list. Whether you are still gathering momentum, are in the midst of your best year yet, or are ready to evolve I think these will resonate with you. Five things I’ve learned about building your dream:

We will always look back on parts of our lives and say, “I wish I knew then what I know now…” so here are 10 insights that I wish I knew during my first creative business.

Customers want more and more peak/polite/over the top customer service but also want a good deal.

Your brand is you and your ability to not only build a great creative business worth buying from, but your ability to be a business. That is where success happens and you pass that thresh hold into full time.

Why hit the pavement day after day in your business? How about in place of working HARD (ie. 12 hour days, mile long to do lists, and 5 email accounts) you worked SMART?

If I took away all the products that make up your creative business how would you define yourself? A little scary, isn’t it? The product and business can become synonymous and when a creative business relies on the product we can inevitably get stuck. Stuck between where we started and how we want to move onward as a brand.

For those of us working out of our spare bedroom/basement/living room table those office meets home boundaries tend to get a little blurry. You never really leave work as you are always just a doorway away.