Limping Past the One Year Mark

Naiad Necklaces and Gift.i.Gami turned 1 in October 2015. Yay me.
Photo courtesy F_A. Flickr user January 2011

Well I did it.  I managed to outlast more than 95% of all new businesses by staying in business for a full year.  But only barely.  It's been a year of sobering realizations and frustrations as I juggle full time motherhood/dance mom status, a demanding part-time job, two Etsy stores, and, oh yes, a very disruptive home remodel.  The latter has been particularly vexing.  Supposedly a 6 week project, we are now entering *month* 7 with no end in sight.  My studio has been packed up since June, including my photographic equipment.  With no way to take photos, there has been no way to post new listings in the shops.  Or at least no way to post *high quality* listings.

I am grateful for the customers I've attracted.  I've met some great mentors and cheerleaders along the way. I've learned a lot about e-retailing, and soon I will put those skills to use as a volunteer for a non-profit organization (further eroding into my productivity, but it's a good cause).  I've been humbled by how hard so many Etsians work to make a full time living in the online retail business.  Doing a back-of-the-envelope calculation I estimate that even those handmade jewelry stores with more than 100 sales a year gross at best $10,000 a year.  Most gross far less than that. Hopefully they have other income streams.

As for me?  I plan to stick around a little longer.  My goals and expectations are more realistic.  This is not going to replace my other job.  My productivity is going to be low and slow given my other responsibilities.  However, I truly love creating and touching people with my work, and I hope they feel the same.

Tripped up Tuesdays Gets a New Name and a New Schedule

Well, it's open!  After approximately 18 months' build up and prep, Naiad Necklaces is ready for business.  I had a crazy couple of weeks moving to the finish line that was not helped at all by the fact that my day-job hours tripled during the same time period.  I made multiple, multiple mistakes those last 2 weeks--all in the interest of generating fresh material for this column, of course!  The most apparent and painful of my mistakes was vastly underestimating how long it would take to write a single listing.  While I got marginally faster (?sloppier?) as I went along, I averaged 45 minutes for each of my 21 inaugural listings. 

It also became apparent that, even though I have lots and lots of material for this column, I don't have lots and lots of time to write it.  I have therefore decided to rename this column "Mistake of the Month Mondays," with a goal of publishing it on the first Monday of every month. Thanks for stopping by.  I'll see you in a month!

Tripped Up Tuesdays: Setting limits in the blogosphere

A depiction of the blogosphere. Courtesy of gephi_org. Flickr user

    If you have been visiting this blog, first of all, thank you!  I am completely new to social media, and find all of this daunting.  And yet, to support my soon-to-be opened Etsy store, I have created a Facebook business page, Hubpages profile, and Tumblr account. The social medial gurus tell me I should also open Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram accounts, but I just can't quite find the energy yet. So far, each format has had its own set of rules and its own steep learning curve (for me anyway).



Blogger Effort per Week. Courtesy of Zemanta. Flickr user

   Also, you know that social media recommendation of posting 5 times a day to each account?  So not happening.  Instead, I have decided to divide my postings in the following manner:


1.  This Blog.  My goal is to continue posting weekly Tripped Up Tuesdays blogs.  Think of these as a "Mistake of the Week" column--accounts of the "Stupid Stuff I do in the Studio" in hopes that you won't do the same.  When ever possible, I will try to post a remedy to that week's mistake. This is the sort of posting where one really does hope to run out of topics, but sadly, I seem always to have fresh new material.  Right now I offer links to my other blogs on the sidebar, which I update and change weekly.  Soon, however, I hope to organize secondary pages for past Tripped Up Tuesdays posts and for "What I'm Working On" pictures.  I also hope to create a secondary page that will provide brief overviews of my Hubpages posts.

2.  Hubpages.  Longer, magazine-length articles that I hope to post monthly.  Although many of these will be related to jewelry and jewelry making, I am also looking forward to discussing more esoteric topics, such as the economics of playdates. This month's blog gave a short personal tour of other businesses with the name, "Naiad" in them.

3.  Facebook. Uber-brief comments posted 2-3 times a week.  I think of Facebook as a running diary of notable day-to-day experiences; store events (e.g., sweepstakes, flash sales); and fun, interesting news from others.  In my opinion, Facebook is the most user-friendly forum for getting feedback and having a conversation with others in the blogosphere, so I hope you will consider liking my page: I'd love to hear from you!

4. Tumblr. Most people seem to use Tumblr as a photo diary, and that's what I do as well.  I typically post a picture of "What I'm working on now" once a week along with a few tags.  I also repost summaries of content from my other blogs (including this one) as it arises.  I find Tumblr the most mysterious of all my accounts.

There you have it:  My first baby steps into the blogosphere.  I think now I'll go and make a necklace.  See you next week!