Make It

Resolutions for 2 0 0 9

I love New Years Resolutions and I did write some on this blog last year but I'm not going to bother to dig them up because they were so ridiculously unrealistic that I don't want to revisit them. If you feel so inclined a quick search of last December's archives will turn them up. This year I want to be REALISTIC about my goals, business and non-business related.

This year I want to:

Wear dresses more
Sew more
Get better about establishing routines. Among them, a regular gym routine and a regular bookeeping routing.
Do a better job of staying in touch with friends
Be smart about money
Learn how to drive a stick shift /Re-learn how to drive in general (Matt will be thrilled)
Go to Chicago
Become the Etsy Featured Seller (this one is kind of a long shot and one I really don't have any control over but it will be fun to dream...)
Fully form my new soap idea and have at least 12 soaps by the end of the year.

In a recent email Michelle wrote to me that she has a feeling 2009 is going to be the year of Rifferaff. That sounds pretty good to me!

How about your goals?

My year in cities: 2008

I saw this on Anh-Minh and thought it was kind of fun. One or more nights must be spent in each city.

Cambridge, MA
DeBruce, NY
Saratoga Springs, NY
Brooklyn, NY
Rochester, NY
Ann Arbor, MI
Niagara Falls, Canada

Ha, I didn't realize how much time I spend in New York! Aside from the big move this year I really didn't venture too far away from home base. Where have you spent your nights this year? List yours below or list on your blog and put the link in the comments.

Bad recession is good for Handmade

There's a must read article today in the NY Times about how the recession is making shoppers consider making their own gifts and/or buying handmade. It's really encouraging news for those of us who  want to see small handmade businesses succeed. Dennis Anderson, a wildly succesful soap seller on Etsy is featured in the final paragraphs.

On Sept. 29, a day the stock market plunged sharply, Etsy, the leading Web marketplace for handmade goods, had record sales. In November and December, the site has continued to break records. Last month, artists sold $10.8 million of goods on Etsy, up from $4.2 million in November 2007. Some 135,000 people signed up for Etsy memberships and sellers listed 1.1 million new items, both figures more than double the same month last year.

Some Etsy merchants have had such unexpectedly high sales this season that they are shutting down early because they do not have time to make any more gifts.

Dennis Anderson of Citrus Heights, Calif., was prepared for a 50 percent increase in sales of his soaps, which are handmade from ingredients like olive oil, pomegranate and Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. Instead, orders climbed 300 percent. He said he has sold 6,000 items in the last three months, and he has been working 15 hours a day, seven days a week, to meet the demand.

Click over to read the whole thing. (Image source.)

In Print + What I'm up to

What I've been doing:

Working alot in the Zingerman's Call Center. The hours are irregular and a little disorienting which is why I decided to put the shop on temporary hiatus. Too much to juggle at this time. I'm also learning ALOT about how a major retail business handles the holiday season.

Eating/tasting alot. If you're my Twitter friend, you'll see that practically  every other update lately has been about what I'm tasting at work or eating for dinner. Talking about food all day definitely makes me want to put a significant amount of my paycheck back into the Zingerman's coffers. Just today Matt and I made our first trips to the Bakehouse and Creamery and got some pimento cheese (my new obsession), a chocolate dipped brownie and a handmade whoopie pie. It's a good thing this job is only temporary because I can't eat like this all year!

Watching episodes of River Cottage: Yes, food is a recurring theme around here (this is why the cooking/soapmaking connection should be a good fit for me). We borrowed this series from a friend and have quickly become addicted. Chef Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall leaves London to move to Dorset and start a small farm. His farm quickly grows and he sets up a restaurant catering business. It's one part cooking show, one part food education, one part entrepreneurial.

Getting snowed in: Ann Arbor, I'm going to have to have some words with you about how to properly handle a snowstorm.

Prepping for my new job: I attended orientation this week for my new part-time job at the Ann Arbor Library which will start in early January. I'll be helping to promote and coordinate many of their amazing events that are all free to the public.

I was also in the Philly Metro (image above) on December 16th. If you recall this is my 2nd Metro mention. this one was unsolicited, which makes it all the more exciting. Thanks to Joy for including me!

Setting Goals: Week 10

Here are my Etsy stats* from the past week.

Week 1: 57 sales, (forgot to log my # of hearts)
Week 2: 60 sales, 812 hearts
Week 3: 68 sales, 894 hearts
Week 4: 71 sales, 928 hearts
Week 5: 79 sales, 1004 hearts
Week 6: 96 sales, 1045 hearts
Week 7: 148 sales, 1195 hearts
Week8: 161 sales, 1231 hearts
Week 9: 177 sales, 1264 hearts

Week 10: 188 sales, 1310 hearts

*Note: these are my total stats, not weekly stats

My Etsy shop is now closed for a week or so and I now have time to reflect on my 10 weeks of shop progress.

What worked: Listing new items, re-listing regularly, blog mentions, buying a showcase, participating in forums.
What didn't work: I didn't get a huge response from my email list mailing. Participating in giveaways.

I tried a few different approaches, some of which didn't result in direct sales but all of which contributed to overall exposure for my shop. I think a successful web shop has to rely on steady sales, word of mouth and customer interest, accented with occasional big press mentions. That's going to be my goal in 2009.

Back in week 1, I started listing regularly, eventually purchased some Etsy showcases (a holiday-themed showcase on the front page) and I believe that got me big exposure (if not sales) because shortly after that I started turning up frequently in treasuries, front pages, Storque articles and gift guides. Sales were steady but slowly rising when I got a nice mention on Design Sponge and I got a great response that has pretty much carried me for a few weeks while I got distracted by my other job and didn't invest as much time in Etsy. What worked for me may not work exactly the same way for you, but hopefully this info will be of help!

Setting Goals: Week 9

Here are my Etsy stats* from the past week.

Week 1: 57 sales, (forgot to log my # of hearts)
Week 2: 60 sales, 812 hearts
Week 3: 68 sales, 894 hearts
Week 4: 71 sales, 928 hearts
Week 5: 79 sales, 1004 hearts
Week 6: 96 sales, 1045 hearts
Week 7: 148 sales, 1195 hearts
Week8: 161 sales, 1231 hearts
Week 9: 177 sales, 1264

*Note: these are my total stats, not weekly stats

I think I must still be getting some residual visits from DesignSponge because I haven't been updating and renewing items in the store very much - mostly due to lack of time and forgetting to do so. I'm picking up lots of shifts at Zingerman's (this is the busiest time of year), plus I just found out I got the job I interviewed for last week so in order to not run myself ragged this holiday season, I'm going to close my shop at the end of the day on Thursday, December 18th. I'll re-open some time after Christmas with a big sale to clear out some inventory so I can get to work on my new soap project! Also, a reminder: the Bloom and XO patterns designed by Black Pearl Press are a limited edition for this holiday season only and will not be in my shop again, so scoop them up this weekend if you've been admiring them from afar. (P.S.: if an item appears as sold, email me, I probably have more in stock that I can relist for you)

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions regarding postage. An update: turns out both of the packages arrived safely to their destinations. The Delivery Confirmation system for USPS is different from UPS in that it only tracks when the package leaves the post office and when it arrives at its destination. It doesn't follow it along the entire route like the UPS tracking system does. So the other day when I looked online and saw my packages were last scanned in Ann Arbor, it meant my items were simply still in transit, not still waiting in the Ann Arbor Post Office. I have had several instances of packages showing up later than expected and items sent together on the same day not arriving together, but this holiday season I haven't had any lost packages, for which I'm thankful. So I guess USPS, you're alright with me.

Oh, USPS

When I ran out of mailing envelopes about a month ago, I got creative (and cheap) and created my own instead of buying new ones. I'm using a modified version of my patterned bags tutorial. Essentially I'm just reinforcing it really well with lots of tape. I think these would be pretty fun packages to see in your mailbox.

Speaking of mail, I've been having some USPS issues lately. I ship packages using First Class Mail and Delivery Confirmation. Just this week I had two different people let me know that only one of their two-package orders had arrived. Delivery Confirmation shows that the other two packages still haven't left Ann Arbor even though I dropped them off nearly a week ago. Ugh. I'll walk over there and try to sort it out. How do you ship packages? Are there any better methods?

Loot

I bartered with a few other vendors at the fair to get some good loot.

Artist: The Silent Giants
What I gave them: Plastic tubing (I brought it for my gift wrap) that they could put their posters in to protect them from the never-ending snowfall outside.
What I got: Screenprinted "Listen to the Trees" print and some Santa cards.

Artist: Letterform
What I gave them: Roll of gift wrap
What I got: Swiss chard kitchen towel and two letterpress Nourishing Notes cards.

Artist: unknown
What I gave them: This woman wasn't a vendor but she was walking around offering to trade for some blown glass that she had in her bag. I was a little skeptical but her work was actually quite beautiful so I gave her a few individual cards and a card set.
What I got: A blown glass votive.

Bartering is now officially my favorite way to shop.

A recap: Shadow Art Fair

The Shadow Art Fair has now come and gone and I'd say it was a success! It was by far the most profitable of all the shows I've done so far. I'm not sure what contributed to that. Maybe because it was a holiday show or the fact that I had a wider range of items and a better presentation than I've had before. Whatever the reasons, I made alot of sales, met some great new artists and hung out with a few new Ann Arbor friends. The fact that the show was twelve hours was a little intimidating and I started to fade a bit at the 4 hour mark (only 8 hours to go!). But I got a second wind and Matt came in at 6 to help me finish the day and we had a great time.

Up next, I'll show some of the items I got from other vendors.

Setting Goals: Week 8

OK, now that I'm working, this week really snuck up on me. The Shadow Art Fair is tomorrow and there's lots to be done so just a quick update on my weekly goals.

Here are my Etsy stats* from the past week.

Week 1: 57 sales, (forgot to log my # of hearts)
Week 2: 60 sales, 812 hearts
Week 3: 68 sales, 894 hearts
Week 4: 71 sales, 928 hearts
Week 5: 79 sales, 1004 hearts
Week 6: 96 sales, 1045 hearts
Week 7: 148 sales, 1195 hearts

Week8: 161 sales, 1231 hearts

*Note: these are my total stats, not weekly stats