Feature on DaisyMaySipes

I am so pleased and excited to share a nifty shop with you, that I came across during one of my many trips, browsing thru stores looking for things that catch my eye.

This shop is from a group that Amanda and I both belong to, the Team Wisconsin group, also known as the Moo Crew, or Team Wist group. In my never ending search for that perfect item, that will make my hair all I want it to be, instead of what it really is, I came across DaisyMaySipes (http://www.daisymaysipes.etsy.com/). I am not blessed with great hair, but I am blessed to find stores, like Amanda's, that help me to deal with what I was given.
So, here is my interview with Amanda, about her amazing shop.

You make the cutest hair accessories, who is your target customer?
I feel my target customers are fun loving, free spirited young ladies from teenagers to their mid thirties.

How long have you been running your shop, and how has it changed since the first day?
I opened my shop in September of 2009. Since then I've learned to sew with beads, which has helped in my design process (and sanity). When I started, I was gluing rhinestones on my flowers and cursing them as they stuck to everything but the flower!
The biggest change is the quality of pictures. I've become friends with the macro setting on my camera and have done lots of experimenting with lighting. My first listings were embarrassingly dark. Now I’m doing better.

What is the hardest part about having a shop, and how do you deal with it?
The hardest part of having a shop is trying to balance between creating new products, photographing them, cropping the photos, listing, getting ready for craft shows, all after I've put in a full day, at my day job. Lately I've been focusing on craft shows so my shop has suffered a bit, but when I don't have shows coming up, my shop will florish again.

Attracting customers is always a new challenge, what are some of the ways you bring customers into your shop?
I've had a hard time with this. I have a facebook fan page, a twitter account, I hand out cards at craft shows, and when I'm gutsy, I'll leave my card in fashion magazines when I'm at the dentist or salon.

Do you advertise, and if so where?
At this point, I'm not spending money on advertising.

What shows, if any do you attend?

I've done several shows this summer, most of them have been poorly attended, and all vendors suffered from poor sales.

Which show is you're most successful? Maybe not the most profitable, but the one you consider to have filled your expectations of yourself and the show?
I feel like the East Troy Women's Club show in East Troy, Wisconsin was the best show I've been to. They were very well organized, very well set up, and it was my first show without helpers!
The attendance was still low-they said it was the lowest they've had in years. I made my entrance fee back and some extra, and I got my name out there handing out business cards. I also feel a sense of accomplishement, as I was there by myself and had to set it all up, and tear it down by myself. I am attending the Craftacular in Madison on August 15th. From what I've heard, that will be a wonderful show and I'm doing a lot of prep for it.

What was your most pleasant experience at a show, and what was the most unpleasant?
The most pleasant was the East Troy fair I mentioned before. The worst was Moosefest in Montello Wisconsin. I will not be going back to that one.

What is the most important thing you've learned about dealing with customers?
I'm slowly learning to get over my shyness, which is hard for me.

If you turn back the clock, and take what you know now and apply it, what would the top things you'd do differently from the day you started your shop, to today?
I would have invested in my newer camera right away!

Do you blog? If so, how do you get the word out about it?
I can't find the time in the day to blog. I hardly have time for what I do now!

Is your art something you hope to go full-time with?
I would love to go full-time with my creations. I have lots of ideas floating around in my head that I would get out there, if I could find the time. I would love nothing better than to run my business full-time.

Who has helped guide you the most, on Etsy?
The forums on Etsy have been the most helpful for me. You can always find answers to your questions either by reading past posts, or by asking a new question. There's always someone on line willing to help.

What was your first group?
Team Wist (Team Wisconsin) is my first and only group.

What is the most interesting thing that has happened to you when dealing with customers?
I had a bride that was trying to match a color on her bridesmaid dresses. She asked if she could send a sample of the dress to me and tell her if a specific flower would match. I told her I would send her a sample of my flower instead, as I didn't want to think it matched, and have her thinking it didn't.
I sent a sample, as well as some other samples in the same color scheme. When she got them, she said she found one that matched. Then she told me which one it was, and it needed to be 4 inches wide. I use silk flowers, so there isn't the option to make them bigger. They are only made in certain sizes. The issue was, she had originally inquired about a flower that was only 2 inches wide.

If you could choose any occupation, and live anywhere in the world, leaving out finances, family, and practicality, what occupation would it be, and where would you be living?
I love to craft and garden. I want to live somewhere warm where I can grow my own food all year-round. I want a couple of acres so we can have some apple trees, orange trees, banana trees, a field for other fruits, and a large field for veggies. Than after a morning of picking fresh body nourishing food, I could go into the house, and craft my heart out. I'm a gardner right now, both of flowers and veggies. That's where I got my start with the flower hair accessories. Flowers make me whole, so I started making them to wear for our dreary Wisconsin winters.

What is the most important thing you want people to know about you, personally and what is the impression you want people to have of your store?
I hope people get a sense of free spirited fun when they come to my store. You can never have too many flowers in your world, and you can decorate yourself with these! Putting a flower in your hair, or clipping it onto your purse, just puts a smile on my face, and I know it will put one on yours too.

Are you planning to expand in the next 6 months, or add any new products, so we have an idea of what to look forward to, in your shop and in your art?
Yes, I have a lot of new products I want to start listing. I have wine glass charms (I currently have one set listed but there are more to come), more mirrors, flower kissing balls, earrings, and holiday items. I hope to be listing a new item every day this month, so stop by often and see what I've been adding.

What thing, have you struggled with the most, running your own business?
Time management, time management, time management!

Any advice for other shop owners?
Do what you love!

DaisyMaySipes Featured shop for July 12 2010

The next featured shop, after Erin at DramatiqueDesigns feature is finished running this weekend, is Amanda at DaisyMaySipes (http://www.daisymaysipes.etsy.com/).
If you are looking for something pretty to put in your hair, DaisyMaySipes is definitely worth a look. She does have some of the prettiest hair pins. A must have for someone like me, that seems to change my mind about having long hair again, about the time I'm finally getting some length back.
I am eternally working towards having long, thick, shiny hair. Which means, I will need hair replacement surgery because I have fine thin hair, that breaks easily. My days of having hair to my waist ended when I got sick. Medications effect and grow out with hair, and mine just doesn't have what it used to. That's where the pins come in. I can dress up what I have, or pin it out of place during one of my many, many ackward growing out stages. I'm looking forward to hearing how Amanda is doing with her shop, and what plans she has for the future.

Follow this blog

Dramatique Design

I am pleased and honored that Erin with DramatiqueDesigns (www.dramatiquedesigns.etsy.com) here on Etsy, has agreed to be the first shop owner featured. Being first, she has trusted me, a baby blogger, to not screw it up.

Erin's wrislets are fun, extremely well made, and in my case, custom made with the fabric I chose from her shop, and sewn to the specifications I chose for my blackberry. She's funny and dedicated, and extremely easy to work with.
So with that, I'm taking the jump into store features hoping to spread some knowledge, insight on the store owners, and information on how to make our stores more profitable, both by avoiding the costly mistakes, and finding out where the money can be made.
When did you start making wristlets and why?

I started making wristlets about 7 months ago while I was thinking about opening an Etsy shop. I realized that there weren't a lot of choices for very feminine and unique cell phone cases out there. I wanted something cute and pretty I could dangle from my wrist, not just something with a uniform look to it. I also added purses about 3 months ago. I felt it would be a great balance to my wristlets; Have a purse and store your wristlet inside.
After I was let go from my job last December, I applied for jobs but realized that with this economy I didn't know how long it might take to find a new one, and I've always been creative, being a stage actress, and have always had a dream of selling products with a dramatic, creative flair.
I hope to turn this into a full time income. My mantra is "You do not try, you do".
Have you done any advertising?
Facebook, twitter and my personal blog at http://www.dramatiquedesigns.blogspot.com/
I've toyed with the idea of placing ads, but believe that I need to be bringing in a steady income, and have a solid business before I go pouring my dollars into something of that nature. Ads bring traffic to the sites, but if you do not have enough product and are still creatively trying to market your business, in my opinion, it can look unprofessional.
Do you do craft shows, and how do you approach potential customers?

At this time I do not do craft shows, but would love to make that part of my business. Exposing yourself face to face with customers is the best kind of marketing you can do.

Follow this blog

Dramatique Designs Featured Shop July 2, 2010

I am excited to announce the premiere of the weekly and bi-weekly features on my favorite shops here on Etsy.

DramatiqueDesigns has graciously agreed to be first. We'll be finding out about more than just what she sells but also, about who she is, how she made the decision to open her shop on Etsy, what she'd like us to know about what goes on behind the shop, and where she hopes her path will lead.

The features will include not just the people and the art, but ideas on marketing, if they've advertised, where, and how it worked out (I'm currently doing Facebook Ads), tips for handling shows, how to handle the various joys of dealing with customers both the good and the ones that teach us new things about managing our businesses. A recent topic that seems to keep coming up, how to calculate international shipping and if that's where you want your shop to go. Different questions for different shops, and the unique people behind them. From the 1st to the 1000th sale, and the journey in between.

I will also be posting a master list of shops that will be featured in the future, and shops that have already been featured. There is nothing more frustrating than finding out about a great shop, and then not being able to find it again. Or reading some great advice and information, then not being able to go back and reference it.

There is a very long list of shops that have already signed on to be featured, so to try to get thru some of those during the summer show season, I'll be having bi-weekly features, and will announce when the change from a weekly feature, to a bi-weekly feature will happen in the coming weeks.

Please check in and read about the shops that are the same teams you're on, in the same forums, clubs, and just shops you've come across. It's a great way to support each other, and you never know who will share that little piece of information that helps drive traffic to your shop and increase sales.

I can thank Kat of H2OWorks, for introducing me to my very first group, the ParadiseBnR forum, and that has resulted in an increase in sales for us and turned things around from Etsy being a chore to be done, into something that is actually growing our business and something we enjoy. It's one of the reasons I wanted to start doing features, because we all have knowledge, but no central place to share it.

So welcome, I hope you meet some new friends, find some great new shops, and find out some things that will help lead your shop to become what you want it to be, whether it's from a part-time income, to a full-time job and eventually into a growing business adding employees of your own, or keeping it just the size it is now but generating greater income.

We all started in different places, with different ideas, and our paths have all led us here together in one place. I am trying to share the how, why, who, when, and so much more.

 

Blog on my Chance

So, I just wanted to say thank you to Patty at CatCalls.Etsy.Com (http://artandsewforth.blogspot.com/) for featuring my tiny cat Chance on her blog. I am so honored. Chance's story is about love,
strength and survival. It made me cry and I know her story from the day she was born to today.

The fundraising drive for HelpTheGulfCoast and The Humane Society is slowly but surely raising
money. A portion of every purchase from my shop, http://www.circleanaturals.etsy.com/, without exception, is being donated until the 4th of July.

I will also be starting a weekly feature about different stores, who operates them, they're goals, ideas behind what they sell. I want it to be more than just what they sell, but who they are, what inspires them, why they sell what they do.

As a stop owner, of course I want to make a profit, but it's so much more than what I sell. It's our hopes for the future, part of what keeps us up at night, part of what inspires us. I want the stories to be a story
of the people behind the store, and then what they sell, not about the merchandise, and then the people.
I hope that whoever reads these stories, knows so much more at the end,
then what is for sale.
Take care.

Follow this blog

So, I just wanted to say thank you to Patty at CatCalls.Etsy.Com for featuring my

tiny cat Chance on her blog.  I am so honored. Chance's story is about love,

strength and survival. It made me cry and I know her story from the day she was born to today.

The fundraising drive for HelpTheGulfCoast and The Humane Society is slowly but surely raising

money.

A portion of every purchase from my shop, http://www.circleanaturals.etsy.com/, without exception, is being donated until the 4th of July.

I will also be starting a weekly feature about different stores, who operates them, they're goals,

ideas behind what they sell. I want it to be more than just what they sell, but

who they are, what inspires them, why they sell what they do.

As a stop owner, of course I want to make a profit, but

it's so much more than what I sell. It's our hopes for

the future, part of what keeps us up at night,

part of what inspires us. I want the stories to be a story

of the people behind the store, and then what they sell,

not about the merchandise, and then the people.

I hope that whoever reads these stories, knows so much more at the end,

then what is for sale.

Take care.

Follow this blog

I am really excited about a new little friend my tiny cat Chance just got from a lovely shop on Etsy called CatCalls. This wonderful cat lover not only makes the cutest handmade cat pillows, but a pillow for humans has become my cat's best friend.
Since my 11 year old tiny cat lost her best friend Pretty to old age, she's been so lonely. Chance and Pretty were joined at the hip, and because of that, Chance didn't develope whatever goes for kitty manners. She really doesn't like any other cat period, including her own sister (same litter).
So anyway, I ordered this little cat pillow hoping it would keep Chance company in her bed at night, so she wouldn't be so lonely, and I was so happy I cried when she actually decided she liked her new friend, Gus the cat pillow. She curls around him at night, and is actually getting territorial. I imagine the days I have to sneak it away to wash him will be tense. Chance might not be really bright, probably from being premature, but she can hold a grudge for a week or more.
Nothing makes me happier, than making those around me happy. Especially our animals, as they have no voice in decisions being made. Though my husbands horse, Laddie, has been known to get really verbal when he has something to say, and our cattle can rattle the windows if you're half an hour late doing chores.
Hard to imagine some people view animals as nothing but possessions. They should come live here for a week. They'd leave with a new perspective on whether animals have emotions and can get their feelings hurt. I have a steer, that won't eat until he's addressed by name and his own flake of hay is tossed at him. I have worked with humans that have shown less emotion:)
Well, I'm off to bed, it's storming out, I have orders to mail (thank God) later, so I can't sleep in. I pray that my campaign to raise money for HelpTheGulfCoast and The Humane Society, by donating a portion of every sale in my shop, from now until the 4th of July, actually raises some decent money. There's so much need. If all the people that can't start their day, without their $3-$4 cup of coffee, would for just one day, donate that money, there would be a lot less suffering. All for the price of a cup of coffee. It seems so simple to me.
I actually have relatives that think if you help people, you make them lazy and dependant. I pray for them. They've been helped along the way from other family members, and that point seems to completely escape them. Or that not everyone has a large family that can help. There are a lot of people, on their own, with no safety net, and people like some of my relatives, that would watch a person starve, before giving up a single cup of coffee. Like I said, I pray for them. I know I would not want to explain how a cup of coffee, trumped a human life when it's my turn to face judgement. Even if you don't believe in an afterlife, I think everyone would agree, if nothing else, it's just sickeningly selfish and short minded.

My thought for today, is my favorite thing to say to myself, when I'm getting overwhelmed, or really angry, the 23rd Psalm (which, though known as the 23rd Psalm, is actually the 23rd thru the 26th). The Lord is my shepard, I shall not want.......
Night all.

Follow this blog

HelpTheGulfCoast and The Humane Society

So, I've decided until Independence Day, July 4th, a donation will be made to HelpTheGulfCoast and The Humane Society for every sale I make in my shop. The more I watch the news about the oil disaster, the more helpless I feel. So, I'm trying. I've donated the entire purchase price of sterling silver items from my shop and can't continue to operate for free, but can't sit back and do nothing, and still feel like a human being, so what I can do, is stick with one of the motto's I live by, share what I have, when I can. I can live with a little less, to give to those, that are loosing everything. We are so careful at home to farm organically, raise our small herd of beef cattle with dignity, respect, and in a humane manner, and then the gulf oil spill happened. It literally made me want to sit down and cry. It made me feel like all the hard work, extra cost, and commitment to honoring all living things, including mother earth, were flushed down the toilet, because of a multibillion dollar corporation trying to save less than $130,000 in safety measures. In our entire lifetime, we can never personally offset even a tiny amount of the ever mounting damage. I could give away all the organic and natural body products I could ever make, all the jewelry, and it wouldn't be a drop in the bucket. It makes me mad, and sick to my stomache, and frustrated by how little I can do. All I could tell myself is, try to give as much help as we can, do all the right things, and pray. Pray hard. If enough people make a commitment, and pass it down to future generations, maybe at some point, this will be just a terrible chapter in America's history. Though how many generations that will take, I don't know. I hate hawking my shop, but the more people buy, the more it will help. I don't want to make a donation for a hundred dollars, I pray I sell enough to make a donation for hundreds, with a dream goal of $1000. We can't short our shop anymore, so the best we can do, is help with the shop. And Pray, and Pray and Pray.